This is his 19th message to the Federal Assembly, coming just weeks before the country’s presidential elections
President Vladimir Putin is delivering his annual message to the Federal Assembly, Russia’s national legislature. The address at Gostiny Dvor in central Moscow is taking place just over two weeks ahead of the presidential vote in Russia, in which Putin is running for reelection.
The Kremlin typically doesn’t announce the exact issues which the speech is going to touch upon. Putin said earlier that “given the domestic political calendar,” it’ll be dedicated to setting tasks for the country for the next six years.
The head of state personally worked on the address, conducting dozens of meetings and phone calls with ministers and other officials, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier. “The text that appears in the end is a presidential text,” he stressed.
Approximately a thousand people have been invited to hear Putin’s message in person, including lawmakers from the State Duma and the Federation Council, government ministers, governors, religious leaders, foreign diplomats and journalists. Servicemen who have taken part in the fighting against the Ukrainian forces, are also among the guests, as in the previous year.
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February 28, 2024 at 11:13PM
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Rising discontent with the prevailing global order is prompting diverse nations to rally behind Russia, Daher Ahmed Farah said
Neocolonialism is doomed to extinction, Djiboutian politician and writer Daher Ahmed Farah has told RT in an exclusive interview.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Second Congress of the International Russophile Movement and the Forum on Multipolarity, Farah noted support for Russia from non-Western regions and predicted the decline of neocolonialism.
Non-Western nations understand “the domination of a deeply unjust world order procured by the minority,” he said. The politician suggested that many countries perceive Russia as a counterbalance to what they view as an unjust world order.
“The public are not fools. They do see what is going on. And they see discrepancies, the difference between words and actions,” he stated.
Farah also pointed out that there are individuals in the West who support Moscow because “they believe it’s crazy to isolate such a powerful power like Russia.”
Neocolonialism is on the brink of extinction because “one part of the world cannot endlessly dominate everyone else,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the former director of the Ugandan presidential office, David Isoke Rusa, emphasized the urgency of embracing multipolarity in today’s dynamic world.
He noted that traditional centers of power, particularly in Western Europe, no longer hold the same sway they once did, with China and India rising to prominence as leading global economies.
“The West can no longer pretend that they can call the shots,” Rusa asserted. “This is a changing dynamic, a changing situation.”
He urged Western nations to accept this reality sooner rather than later, emphasizing that adaptation to multipolarity would be in their best interests.
Hundreds of representatives from 130 countries have come to Moscow to take part in the Second Congress of the International Russophile Movement and the Forum on Multipolarity. The forum was organized with the support of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Administration of the President of Russia. The event started on Monday and lasted for two days.
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February 28, 2024 at 12:05AM
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Experts from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration say new restrictions won’t stop growth
Sanctions on Russia have reached a ceiling and there is hardly anything Western nations could do that would stop Russian economic growth, researchers at a top university have said in a new study. The experts from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) say new significant restrictions on Moscow are unlikely because they would carry high risks for the West itself.
Last Friday, ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine, the European Union unveiled its 13th package of sanctions. The measures largely seek to close loopholes that could be exploited by the Kremlin to circumvent existing restrictions via third countries.
That same day, the US Treasury Department also announced a new round of sanctions.
In an article published on Tuesday, Vedomosti cited a recent study by several RANEPA experts, who argued that the West had already imposed the most devastating sanctions on Russia. The researchers analyzed two scenarios for the Russian economy in 2024-2026. The first envisages the almost-simultaneous lowering of the price cap for Russian oil to $50 per barrel, the introduction of a total embargo on exports to Russia, as well as secondary sanctions aimed at third countries.
However, the authors expect that even this negative scenario would not have any significant impact on the Russian economy; though the government would be required to act quickly to ensure this. While the country’s GDP growth would likely slow down to 0.3% in 2024 under such circumstances, it would then climb to 1.5% and 1.4% in the following two years.
A more optimistic scenario foresees pretty much the same measures on the part of Western nations, but spread out over time. In this case, Russia could see 2.2% growth in 2026, the experts wrote.
According to the study, the past two years have proven that the Russian economy is in better shape than originally thought, thus rendering Western sanctions less effective.
One of the article’s co-authors, Konstantin Tuzov, told Vedomosti that the West had “already thought up everything it could,” with Moscow’s economic outlook now improving thanks to cooperation with China and India.
On Monday, Euractiv, citing a study by the IESEG School of Management, reported that EU sanctions on Russia are being “massively circumvented” via third countries, such as Türkiye, the UAE, and Kazakhstan.
Earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that the country’s economy had grown by 4% in 2023, eclipsing the 2.7% forecast by the Russian central bank in January.
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February 27, 2024 at 11:29PM
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Slovakia will under no circumstances send troops to help Kiev fight Russia, Robert Fico has insisted
Pro-Ukrainian leaders of EU states seem intent on continuing hostilities with Russia “at all costs,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico claimed after a key security meeting in Paris on Monday. Bratislava’s fears have been confirmed in this respect, he added.
The gathering was convened by French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss EU members’ Ukraine policy, in light of battlefield setbacks for Kiev and other challenges. Following the meeting, Macron said the official deployment of Western troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out, even though there is no consensus on the issue.
The event was remarkable due to a “purely martial atmosphere,” Fico said in a video statement. He declined to reveal who had said what behind closed doors, but stated that pro-Ukrainian participants had appeared determined “to support the war at all costs.”
“I was very surprised that not a single word was said about any peace plan,” the Slovak prime minister stressed.
The Fico-led government remains “peace-oriented” and will not provide weapons to Kiev, let alone send Slovak troops to its aid, he insisted. Bratislava’s help will instead be focused on civilian projects, a position that Fico said he had conveyed to other national leaders.
Macron argued in his post-meeting remarks that Kiev’s backers must “ratchet up” their support because “Russia must not win,” arguing that EU security was at stake.
The French leader cited the escalation of Western military aid to Ukraine – from “helmets and sleeping bags” to long-range missiles and fighter jets – to explain why the reluctance over a direct military confrontation with Russia may change in the future.
”We are determined to do everything necessary for as long as necessary. That is the key takeaway from this evening,” Macron declared.
Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as a US-initiated proxy war on Russia, in which Ukraine and EU nations are forced to pay the price. Fico is among the European politicians to have openly questioned the Western approach and its rationale.
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February 27, 2024 at 12:17AM
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The leading cryptocurrency surged above the $57,000 mark on Tuesday
The price of Bitcoin, the world’s highest-valued cryptocurrency, hit a two-year high on Tuesday.
The token rose as far as $57,036 in early Asian trading, its highest level since November 2021, having recovered from a tumble below $40,000 in the initial days following the opening of US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in early January. Later in the day, it pulled back slightly to trade at $56,325 as of 08:30 GMT, still up more than 9% over the past 24 hours.
Analysts attribute the latest surge to inflows into ETFs, which posted a record-high $2.4 billion in trading volume on Monday. ETFs allow more retail investors to hold Bitcoin indirectly via funds that trade on exchanges.
“There’s only so much supply... but the demand unleashed by the US spot ETFs seems to be relentless,” Justin d’Anethan from Keyrock, a digital asset market maker, told Reuters.
The rally was also spurred by growing interest in Bitcoin from big market players, experts say. This followed Monday’s disclosure from software company MicroStrategy, a large crypto investor, that it had recently acquired some 3,000 bitcoins for approximately $155 million. Social media platform Reddit also recently said it had invested some of its excess cash reserves in Bitcoin and several smaller tokens.
The recent rally in Bitcoin took the token’s market capitalization to $1.11 trillion, according to Coindesk. So far this year, Bitcoin has gained 33.28%.
The Croatian foreign minister had urged Belgrade to decide whether it is on the side of the EU or Russia in the Ukraine conflict
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has rebuked Croatian FM Gordan Grlic-Radman, who criticized Belgrade’s approach to international relations. Grlic-Radman claimed that Serbia is a de facto “satellite” of Russia, as it has refused to adopt the Western line regarding the Ukraine conflict.
Since the hostilities broke out two years ago, Serbia, which has traditionally maintained close ties with Moscow, has striven to remain neutral. Vucic has said on numerous occasions that his government has come under pressure from Western powers to place sanctions on Russia.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, the Serbian leader wrote that the Croatian foreign minister “not only brutally interferes in the internal affairs of Serbia, but as usual he lies and insults the Serbian people and threatens the citizens of Serbia.”
Vucic added that he has “never been anyone’s errand boy and servant, which cannot be said for Grlic-Radman.”
In a separate statement on Sunday, the Serbian Foreign Ministry said it had “sent a note of protest to the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Belgrade regarding the unacceptable statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Gordan Grlic-Radman,” which was “directed against the President of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vucic and the Republic of Serbia as a whole.”
The Serbian ministry added that these remarks only serve to heighten the tensions in the region, and expressed hope that their Croatian colleagues would refrain from interfering in Serbia’s internal affairs going forward.
The original statement, which triggered Belgrade’s protests, was made by Grlic-Radman during an appearance on Croatia’s N1 TV on Saturday, in which he said the government of Vucic does not truly represent the Serbian people. In an apparent reference to the Ukraine conflict, he also called on the Serbian president to “decide which chair he will sit on, because it is uncomfortable to sit on two chairs.”
Grlic-Radman went on to claim that Vucic “may possibly be some kind of… satellite of Russia.”
Following these remarks and the Serbian reaction, the Croatian Foreign Ministry insisted that Grlic-Radman had merely “stated the fact about Serbia’s nonalignment with the foreign and security policy of the European Union regarding the Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
Zagreb argued that Belgrade’s failure to condemn “Russian aggression” in Ukraine disqualifies it from being a “candidate for EU membership” and the benefits that joining the bloc brings.
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February 26, 2024 at 12:01AM
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Protecting the region from Kiev’s attacks was one of the key reasons for the Ukraine conflict, according to Moscow
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has acknowledged that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, urged him to stop the hostilities in Donbass in 2019. He added that he had strong concerns at the time that diplomacy would freeze the conflict, but not resolve it.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Zelensky gave an account of his face-to-face meeting with Putin in Paris in December 2019, which took place several months after he was elected.
According to Zelensky, he had a long conversation with Putin, who “constantly raised the issue of ceasefire.” The Ukrainian president said he told the Russian leader that it would not work out in the long run, noting that this turned out to be the case.
He recalled that while talking to Putin, he expressed his doubts about the Minsk agreements – which sought to end the hostilities in Donbass – “because... the withdrawal of troops along the line of contact does not work.”
He claimed that he had shown Putin data which proved that the progress was too little and too slow. “I showed him that we would spend 20 years pulling back troops.”
Zelensky said this means that the Donbass conflict would have remained frozen for many years, adding that he and Putin had been “haggling” for a long time over the issue.
Brokered by Germany and France, the now-defunct 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements were aimed at halting the hostilities in Donbass and give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state.
The 2019 meeting between Zelensky and Putin took place in the Normandy Format with the participation of the German and French leaders. At the time, the negotiations made some headway, with the sides reaching an agreement on the disengagement of troops in Donbass and prisoner exchanges.
However, Russia accused Ukraine of failing to implement the Minsk agreements, saying this was one of the key reasons for launching the military operation against Kiev. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces,” a position that was later echoed by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and ex-French President Francois Hollande.
In autumn 2022, several months into the Ukraine conflict, the two Donbass regions and two other former Ukrainian territories voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in referendums.
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February 25, 2024 at 11:05PM
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The money that Washington allocates for Kiev supports jobs in America, the high-ranking State Department official has said
Washington spends most of the money allocated as aid for Ukraine on weapons production at home, Acting US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said in an interview with CNN this week.
Commenting on the pending aid package which Congress failed to approve before going on winter recess, Nuland said she has “strong confidence” that it will pass, as it addresses America’s own interests.
“We have to remember that the bulk of this money is going right back into the US economy, to make weapons, including good-paying jobs in some forty states across the US,” she stated, adding that support for Ukraine in America “is still strong.”
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives blocked a bill requested by US President Joe Biden for an aid package for Kiev worth $60 billion, most of which is earmarked for weapons, earlier this month. They are expected to restart discussions on the package after they reconvene on February 28.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also recently said that roughly 90% of the financial assistance for Ukraine is spent on domestic production of weapons and equipment. At a press conference on December 20, he said additional tranches would “benefit American business, local communities, and strengthen the US defense industrial base.”
According to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks international support for Kiev, Washington allocated nearly €68 billion ($73.7 billion) in aid for Ukraine between January 24, 2022 and January 15, 2024, including roughly €43 billion ($46.6 billion) in military aid.
However, Kiev has been increasingly demanding more aid from its Western backers. Several days ago, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky warned visiting American legislators that Kiev would “lose the war” against Russia without Washington’s assistance, according to US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Russia has criticized the US and other Western states for their military support for Kiev, arguing that it is only dragging out the conflict.
According to a recent survey from the Harris Poll and the Quincy Institute, a growing number of Americans do not support US military aid to Kiev unless it is tied to peace talks. Only 22% of respondents said Washington should continue ‘unconditionally’ providing Ukraine with financial assistance, while 48% said new funding must be conditioned on progress toward a diplomatic solution. Around 30% said the US should halt all aid.
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February 25, 2024 at 02:02AM
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The restrictions were imposed following military coups in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea over the past three years
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is lifting sanctions imposed on Niger over last summer’s military coup, the president of the group’s commission, Omar Alieu Touray, announced on Saturday following a meeting at an ECOWAS summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
A no-fly zone, border closures, the freezing of central bank and state assets, and the suspension of commercial transactions are among the sanctions to be lifted with immediate effect. According to Touray, this step is being taken “on purely humanitarian grounds” to ease the suffering caused as a result – though individual sanctions will remain in force.
The summit of the 15-nation economic bloc, which concluded on Saturday, attempted to address the threat of disintegration facing the region and to convince the military-led countries of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to reconsider their decision to leave the group.
“We must re-examine our current approach to the quest for constitutional order in our member states,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, the current chairman of ECOWAS, said at the beginning of the summit.
Tinubu urged the three countries to “reconsider the decision” and said they should not perceive the organization “as the enemy.”
Earlier this week, ECOWAS co-founder and former Nigerian military leader General Yakubu Gowon called for the bloc to lift “all sanctions that have been imposed on Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger.”
In January, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger announced that they were immediately withdrawing from ECOWAS over the “inhuman sanctions,” accusing the group of serving foreign interests and posing a threat to the countries.
The regional bloc had imposed sanctions on the three former French colonies to pressure them into restoring democratic rule after coups deposed their civilian governments.
The withdrawal may have a significant impact on the bloc’s remaining members, Nigerian lawyer Daniel Bwala, the spokesperson for the presidential candidate from the Peoples’ Democratic Party in the 2023 Nigerian election, told RT. He said West Africa is deeply interconnected, meaning the departure from ECOWAS by the three states will be felt across the region.
Andrey Maslov, the head of the Center for African Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, believes that fewer ECOWAS members show interest in isolating Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger now.
“Togo and Benin are becoming new transitional hubs for the landlocked Sahelian countries. A good example of that will be Niger starting its oil exports via Benin soon,” he told RT.
“Senegal will probably abstain from any harsh decisions given its current unstable situation at home and the anti-French sentiment of the population. As a result, Cote d’Ivoire risks finding itself isolated inside the bloc as France’s last loyal ally,” Maslov added.
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February 25, 2024 at 12:54AM
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Kiev’s forces reportedly withdrew from the village of Lastochkino to safeguard their supply lines and conserve manpower
Ukrainian troops have abandoned the settlement of Lastochkino, a few kilometers west of the strategic city of Avdeevka recently captured by Russian troops, the local outlet Strana reported on Saturday citing Ukraine’s military.
The website cited a Ukrainian volunteer fighting with the neo-Nazi Aidar battalion as saying that units had to withdraw from the area to “avoid the blocking of their logistical routes” and to “save personnel.” The Ukrainian Telegram channel DeepState confirmed the development, wondering where the Ukrainian high command would announce the preparation of a new defensive line.
Several Russian Telegram channels claimed that Moscow’s troops had already entered Lastochkino, posting unverified pictures and a video of soldiers waving a Russian flag in the middle of the devastated settlement.
Neither the Russian nor Ukrainian Defense Ministries have confirmed the reports. However, officials in Moscow said on Saturday that the Russian military “continued to occupy more advantageous… positions” in the Avdeevka sector while repulsing Ukrainian counterattacks.
Moscow announced the capture of Avdeevka last weekend, which has been a frontline city since 2014. It claimed that the Ukrainian retreat had turned into a disorganized rout with heavy losses. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called the decision to withdraw “absolutely logical,” insisting that it was necessary to avoid heavier casualties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the capture of Avdeevka was “certainly a success,” adding that it needed to be expanded upon.
The Avdeevka area was previously used by Kiev as a launching ground for attacks on Donetsk, the capital of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The Defense Ministry in Moscow previously said that the capture would help protect the latter city from “terrorist attacks by the criminal Kiev regime.”
The DPR, along with three other former Ukrainian regions, overwhelmingly voted to become part of Russia in the autumn of 2022 in public referendums.
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February 24, 2024 at 11:55PM
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Locals continue to reel from the devastation brought by the November quake, which claimed 154 lives and left 200,000 homeless
On November 3, 2023, Karne Kami, a 70-year-old resident of Barekot in Western Nepal’s Jagarkot district, was asleep when a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck. While he and his family were able to flee their collapsing house just in time, they soon found themselves forced to live under a plastic tent.
Within weeks, Kami fell seriously ill with pneumonia. He succumbed to the cold and died on November 25, 2023.
Kamala Mahatra, another 70-year-old from Barekot, had been suffering from asthma when the quake hit and was taking medication. According to Deep Bahadur Mahatra, one of her relatives, after the woman's house collapsed, she took shelter in a tent and her health suddenly deteriorated.
“We tried to get her treated but it was unsuccessful,” he said. “As winter set in and earthquakes occurred, many people faced problems.”
While Barekot was the earthquake’s epicenter, there were no initial casualties, according to Bir Bahadur Giree, chair of the Barekot Rural Municipality. But those who lost their homes and had to live in tents and soon faced a different mortal danger: the harsh Himalayan winter. Barekot reported 26 deaths from exposure to cold among homeless quake survivors.
The most vulnerable were those over 60 and affected by asthma, cancer, and chronic diseases; 18 of the 26 dead were over 60. The problem was the same in other municipalities.
As per data from the Jajarkot and West Rukum districts, about 50 people died from the cold following the earthquake (40 in Jajarkot, 10 in West Rukum). While these figures are disputed by the local police, the local government says the death toll is even higher, even if it is not officially reported.
“If they could have stayed safely at home, they would not have died of the cold,” Dumbar Bahadur Rawat, mayor of Nalgad municipality, said. “Therefore, we count that as the cause of death. All the figures aren't available, and may exceed 100 in Jajarkot alone.”
The earthquake forced 5,586 families into temporary shelters in Barekot. “People face various problems including health and sanitation issues,” Giree said. “The cold weather exacerbates the situation. Permanent housing is urgently needed to save lives but we lack the funds and the central government has not responded.”
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the earthquake claimed 154 lives and left 364 injured. Of the dead, 102 were in Jajarkot district and 52 were in Rukum district. Additionally, 26,557 households suffered complete damage, while 35,455 homes were partially damaged. Jajarkot and West Rukum were particularly affected, given their hilly terrain. In rural Nepal, homes are typically made of mud, rendering them vulnerable to seismic activity.
Approximately 200,000 people, including 68,000 children, endured a cold winter in temporary shelters and still require humanitarian assistance to rebuild their lives.
The Nepal government budgeted for temporary shelters. Anil Pokhrel, CEO of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Authority said that although the government allocated $100 million for the construction of temporary housing and works in the earthquake-affected areas, only $1 million has been disbursed so far.
Immediately after the earthquake, different international non-governmental organizations such as UNICEF and Care Nepal, provided tents, food etc. But for the construction and reconstruction, as Pokhrel pointed out, Nepal will require a larger budget, and the government is looking for donors. Still.
Most affected
Dr. Patrickshya Bharati, chief of Jajarkot’s district health office, said the situation has been returning to normal since the beginning of February. “Until a month ago, there was a significant issue with cold-related illnesses,” she said. “People, including pregnant women, the elderly, and children, were suffering from colds and asthma. We reached the villages by organizing health camps and providing treatment.”
According to the local health office, there has been a 30% increase in patients compared to the regular numbers in the ambulatory care unit. Ram Bahadur Rawat, Barekot’s health chief, said that after the earthquake, there was a surge in health issues both at health camps and local health posts. “Cases of cold and cough were higher than usual,” Rawat said.
For those residing in temporary shelters, pregnant women, children, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. A significant proportion of fatalities affected marginalized classes, particularly those known as Dalits. Of the 154 quake casualties, 81 were children.
Kalpana Nepali, 24, of Kushe Rural Municipality in Jajarkot, passed away on December 27 shortly after giving birth to twins on December 3, 2023. According to Hari Chandra Basnet, Chairperson of Kushe Rural Municipality, Kalpana’s untimely demise could have been prevented had she not been forced to live in a plastic tent, deprived of proper care and nutrition.
Similarly, Sarmila Biswokarma, 25, from Nalgad, succumbed to pneumonia on November 26, just a month after giving birth. Tej Bahadur Singh, Chairperson of her ward, expressed remorse over the inability to provide adequate shelter for pregnant women, acknowledging the tragic consequences.
Impact on children
Low birth weight babies are being born in earthquake-affected areas. According to Bharati, over 12 cases have been reported so far. “It may be due to the lack of nutrition in pregnant women,” she said. “They must take iron supplements, but after the earthquake they did not have access.”
On November 19, 2023, Laxmi Mohar of Nalgad gave birth to a baby weighing 2.1 kilograms. Tapta Bahadur Canara, a health assistant, reported that 17 cases of low birth weight babies have been recorded in his municipality so far.
Senior gynecologist Dr. Madhu Shrestha said a child’s birth weight should ideally be at least 2.5 kilograms. “This situation has been observed in earthquake-affected areas, and it is primarily due to malnutrition,” she said. “A low birth weight baby may develop problems such as asthma, cough, pneumonia, and diarrhea. In such cases, special care should be given to the child.”
Nalgad in particular has been providing special care for low birth weight babies.
According to a study by Nepal’s National Women commission (NWC), 16,127 children under five and 4,067 pregnant women are affected in the two districts. The study says 3,781 senior citizens, 596 chronically ill persons, and 516 disabled were affected by the quake in those districts.
The earthquake caused extensive damage to 898 school buildings, affecting the education of approximately 134,000 school-aged children. Although over 17,000 children have since returned to school, the disruption to critical services remains a concern.
Furthermore, the earthquake inflicted severe damage to homes, schools, health facilities, and water supply infrastructure, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Despite support from various countries and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), temporary settlements have proven inadequate for long-term recovery.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, an estimated $500 million is required to rebuild infrastructure, including government offices, schools and health facilities, as well as 95,787 homes. However, the Nepal government has yet to commence the rebuilding process, prompting local government representatives to demand immediate action.
Giree emphasized the critical need for permanent shelters to prevent further loss of life among earthquake survivors. “If the people cannot be kept in permanent houses, more people will die due to cold and other diseases than due to the earthquake,” he says. “We have to connect with people as local government, on a daily basis. Monsoon (season) will start soon and things will get more difficult.”
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February 24, 2024 at 01:13AM
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New Delhi maintains that the vessel was attacked by an Indian destroyer during the 1971 war between the two countries, a version that Islamabad rejects
India has discovered the wreckage of a Pakistani submarine that was sunk off of its eastern coast during the 1971 war between the neighboring countries, local media reported on Friday.
The wreck of the PNS Ghazi was located by an Indian Navy deep submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV) at a depth of around 100m about 2km off of the country’s east coast.
The Navy has decided not to disturb the submarine out of respect for the lives lost, the reports noted. The sinking of the Ghazi on December 4, 1971 is considered a significant event in the war that ended with then-East Pakistan becoming the independent country of Bangladesh. The Soviet Union sided with India in the war after the countries signed the ‘Peace and Friendship’ treaty, while the US and UK were aligned with Pakistan.
The Ghazi was dispatched from Karachi, Pakistan, on November 14, 1971, and traversed 4,800km around the Indian peninsula to reach the coast of Vizag, a port city in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh state. The sub was originally built as the USS Diablo for the US Navy in 1944 before being loaned to Pakistan in 1963.
The vessel had reportedly been sent to lay mines on India’s eastern seaboard and also had the aim of destroying the INS Vikrant, New Delhi’s first aircraft carrier. However, it was sunk before achieving any of these objectives. India credits the INS Rajput, a UK-built naval destroyer that served during World War II, for sinking the Ghazi. The crew of the Indian destroyer was subsequently honored with gallantry awards. Pakistan’s navy, on the other hand, claimed that the submarine sank due to “accidental explosions.”
Apart from the Ghazi, the Indian DSRV has also discovered the remains of a Japanese submarine that was sunk during World War II. On Tuesday, India showcased its two rescue vehicles procured in 2018-19 from the UK to delegates from 50 countries at the Milan-24 naval exercise, offering their capabilities to friendly countries, the Indian Express reported earlier this week. DSRVs can help locate disabled submarines, rescue trapped personnel, and provide emergency supplies. India is among 12 countries, including the US, China, and Russia, that employs such technology.
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February 24, 2024 at 12:32AM
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The conflict in Ukraine is closely related to the bloc’s eastward expansion, Beijing’s UN envoy has said
NATO should cease its “saber-rattling” and start promoting global peace, Chinese envoy Zhang Jun has said at a UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the second anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine.
The struggle between Moscow and Kiev, which started on February 24, 2022, is a “tragedy that could have been avoided,” Zhang stressed in his address on Friday.
”The situation Europe is facing today is closely related to the repeated eastward expansion of NATO since the end of the Cold War,” he said.
Russia singled out preventing Ukraine from joining NATO as one of the main goals of its military operation in the neighboring country. Moscow warned on numerous occasions that it viewed Kiev’s possible membership in the US-led military alliance as a major threat to its security.
The Chinese envoy underlined the need to “respect the legitimate security concerns of all countries,” who are members of the UN. “Regional security cannot be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding a military bloc,” he added.
”We encourage NATO to do some soul-searching, come out of the cage of Cold War mentality, and refrain from acting as an agent of trouble instigating bloc confrontation,” Zhang said.
He also called on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg “to look at the world through an objective lens, stop saber-rattling, and do things that are genuinely conducive to world peace.”
According to the envoy, the parties to the Ukraine conflict should work towards creating “favorable conditions for the resumption of negotiations... not man-made obstacles to make peace harder to achieve, much less to supply weapons, stoke the fire and pour oil on it, and to profit from the prolonged crisis.”
In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that “the promise was that NATO would not expand eastward” after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. But the West deceived Moscow, with the US-led bloc adding new members from among Eastern European and former Soviet states on several occasions since then, he said.
In 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland were the first former Soviet-bloc nations to join NATO. An even bigger wave of expansion occurred in 2004 when Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia became members.
At its Bucharest summit in 2008, the alliance said that Georgia and Ukraine would become members in the future, spurring vigorous protests from Russia.
The next year, NATO added Albania and Croatia to its ranks, followed by the inclusion of Montenegro and North Macedonia in 2017 and 2020, respectively.
The latest country to join is Finland, which acceded last year citing security concerns over the conflict in Ukraine. Neighboring Sweden is also on the verge of being accepted, lacking approval only from Hungary to finalize its membership.
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February 23, 2024 at 11:34PM
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Eco-friendly Western-made weapons are unsuitable for the realities of an actual conflict, the French paper is claiming
Some of the military hardware supplied to Ukraine by the West has become inoperable after being damaged by rodents, Le Figaro has reported, citing a French fighter in the ranks of Kiev’s forces.
The eco-friendly weapons provided to the Ukrainian military by the country’s foreign backers are “sometimes unsuitable for the realities of the front” and “don’t come out well” in an actual conflict, the French paper says in an article on Thursday.
As proof of its claim, Le Figaro provided an account by an unnamed French fighter, who complained that “rodents ate the cables on some of the vehicles” used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Some of the protective sheaths of electrical wires [in the Western-supplied hardware] are made of corn fiber,” which attracts the gnawers, he said.
Le Figaro stressed that “the phenomenon is marginal, but it tells the story of the confrontation of the Western military equipment with reality.”
“Western vehicles were designed as a technological showcase. But, in the mud and cold, they don't always work,” the French fighter is cited as saying.
“Luckily, the Ukrainians still had a few crusts” in their arsenal, he added, referring to the old Soviet-made hardware.
In December, the UK Ministry of Defence warned that a mild autumn and an abundance of food from the fields left uncultivated due to the hostilities had fueled an increase in the rodent population in areas of conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The animals “are likely seeking shelter in military vehicles and defensive positions,” it said. According to London, the rodents “exert additional pressure on soldiers’ morale” and also “pose a danger to military equipment by chewing through cables.”
That same month, President of Russia Vladimir Putin remarked that “the myth of the invulnerability of Western military equipment has collapsed” during the fighting in Ukraine.
The statement followed the failure of a Ukrainian counteroffensive that continued for six months but couldn’t deliver any significant territorial gains for Kiev, despite heavily relying on German-made Leopard 2 tanks, US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicles and other foreign hardware.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that deliveries of weapons to Kiev by the US, EU and their allies will not prevent it from achieving the goals of its military operation and will only prolong the fighting, and may increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to Russian officials, the provision of arms, intelligence-sharing, and training of Ukrainian troops means that Western nations have already become de-facto parties to the conflict.
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February 23, 2024 at 01:18AM
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Linde reneged on a contract to build a gas processing plant in Russia in 2022
An arbitration court in Russia has ruled to confiscate the assets of German company Linde over its refusal to honor contract obligations to build a gas processing plant in the country in 2022.
The German firm received an advance payment from a Russian company in 2021 but, after the EU launched its sanctions campaign against Russia over the Ukraine conflict, the company suspended the work, citing EU restrictions.
The St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Arbitration Court ruled in favor of Linde’s client, RusChemAlliance (RCA), stating that more than $1 billion worth of assets belonging to Linde GmbH and its subsidiaries in Europe should be seized to cover damages and interest associated with the breach of the contract.
According to the court, work under the contract did not fall under EU sanctions. Among the assets in question are Linde’s shares and stakes in Russian firms.
RCA, which is owned by gas production firm RusGazDobycha and Gazprom, signed a contract with a consortium of Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries in July 2021 for the design, procurement and construction of a gas processing plant in Leningrad Region. After the work was suspended following the start of the sanctions campaign in 2022, RCA filed a claim against Linde for roughly €1 billion. In late 2022, the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Arbitration Court ordered for Linde’s assets in Russia to be seized as an interim measure.
Quito was “surprised” that Washington openly admitted that the weapons would be given to Ukraine, President Daniel Noboa says
Ecuador will not send any Soviet-era military equipment to the US over concerns that the weapons would be passed on to Ukraine, President Daniel Noboa has said. Moscow had protested against the weapons transfer scheme, saying Quito had no right to send hardware to a third country without Russia’s consent.
Noboa first announced plans to hand over its outdated Russian and Ukrainian military hardware to the US in exchange for American equipment to the tune of $200 million in early January, while dismissing Moscow’s protests on the matter. Back then the president claimed that the move did not violate existing treaties, which he said only applied only to military equipment, and not “scrap.”
Russia responded by warning Ecuador that the shipment would violate its neutrality in the Ukraine conflict, since the weapons likely be sent by the US to Kiev. Russian Ambassador to Ecuador Vladimir Sprinchan said last week that Quito had abandoned those plans, noting that the country was committed to “the resolution of conflicts peacefully, through diplomatic instruments.”
Speaking to CNN Espanol on Thursday, Noboa confirmed that the transfer to Washington was now off the table, explaining that “we don’t want to triangulate weapons,” and that Russia was “right” in this regard.
“To our surprise, the United States publicly communicated that this was going to be carried out for the armed conflict in Ukraine, we do not want to be part of it.”
He also recalled that Russia is the third largest trade partner for Ecuador, and stressed that his country did not want to violate any international treaties.
The US has for months been looking for Soviet-era weapons all over the world, including Central and South America, in order hand them over to Ukraine.
Kevin Sullivan, Deputy Undersecretary of the US Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said earlier this month that the weapons exchange deal with Ecuador was “an arrangement to transfer equipment to the Ukrainian government,” while noting at the time that it was still under consideration by Quito.
Russia has repeatedly denounced Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning that they will only prolong the conflict and make the West a direct participant in the hostilities.
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February 22, 2024 at 11:34PM
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The West African country’s government has postponed a presidential election for ten months, triggering violent protests
Heightened tensions in Senegal sparked by the postponement of a presidential election by ten months have prompted widespread concerns of a threat to democracy, in a region plagued by coups.
At least three people have been killed and over 200 others, including journalists, arrested across the country during protests against the move.
On February 3, Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is not running for a third term, announced the decision to delay the ballot by ten months, just weeks before the scheduled date of February 25.
Sall, first elected in 2012 for a seven-year tenure and for a second time in 2019 for five years, said he had signed a decree repealing the law that requires elections to be held every five years. He cited a dispute between the judiciary and federal lawmakers over the exclusion of key opposition candidates from the final electoral list published by the Constitutional Council – Senegal’s highest election authority – as the reason for the decision.
Ousmane Sonko, the leader of Senegal’s Patriots for Work, Ethics, and Fraternity Party (PASTEF), and Karim Wade, the son of former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, were among those left off the list for allegedly not meeting the set criteria.
Sonko, who has been at the center of political unrest since 2021, was disqualified for having a criminal record after he was imprisoned in 2023 on charges of “corrupting minors” and “inciting insurrection.”
Wade was disqualified for holding dual French and Senegalese citizenship, which he later renounced. His Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) submitted a formal request to postpone the election after accusing two Constitutional Council judges of “corruption” and “discrimination” regarding the compilation of the register. In January, lawmakers adopted a motion to investigate the allegations.
Senegalese lawmakers approved an amended electoral bill two days after the president’s decree, pushing the vote back to December 15. Out of the 165-seat National Assembly, 105 MPs endorsed the law, while security forces reportedly arrested several opposition lawmakers who had attempted to block the parliamentary voting process.
Sall had stated he would launch a national dialogue and implement “reconciliation” measures to resolve the issues and pave the way for a peaceful electoral process.
Senegal had never delayed an election since gaining independence from France more than six decades ago. The unexpected ten-month postponement was met with anger, with opposition candidates and civil society organizations denouncing it as an “institutional coup.”
With a longstanding distrust in Sall, his political rivals – 20 at the time – have accused him of attempting to extend his current mandate, which expires on April 2, by amending the electoral calendar. He has previously been criticized for a “political witch-hunt” over the recent crackdown on the opposition, including the imprisonment of PASTEF’s Sonko. More than a dozen opponents have filed legal challenges against the vote delay law.
Deadly clashes erupted across the country, including the capital, Dakar, between police and protesters who defied government orders against demonstrations after opposition candidates called on their supporters to “defend democracy.” Authorities in the former French colony – one of Africa’s most stable democracies – temporarily blocked internet access in the wake of violence.
The UN human rights office said it was “deeply concerned” about the escalating unrest in Senegal, condemning the “unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against protesters and restrictions on civic space.”
The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) both directed Senegalese authorities to reverse the election timetable to original. Last week, ECOWAS, which has been embroiled in disputes with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger over restoring democratic rule following coups in these member states, sent a diplomatic mission to Senegal to discuss its political situation.
The Constitutional Council, which rules on voting appeals in Senegal, intervened last week, declaring President Sall’s decision “unconstitutional.” The top electoral body revoked the legislation that rescheduled the ballots and ordered the authorities to hold them as soon as possible.
In response to the ruling and mounting regional and international pressure, the Senegalese leader vowed last Friday to organize presidential elections “as soon as possible.” Sall’s failure to immediately set a new date has, however, prompted concerns among opposition candidates, some of whom are calling for the election to be held before Sall’s term is due to end in April.
On Tuesday, 16 of the presidential contenders claimed in a joint statement that the “inexplicable slowness” in implementing the Constitutional Council’s ruling demonstrates the president’s unwillingness to initiate a process for a change of power.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Council published an updated list of candidates for the postponed presidential election, removing Rose Wardini, one of the initial 20 runners, who withdrew her application.
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February 22, 2024 at 01:23AM
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The American president reportedly called his Russian counterpart a “crazy S.O.B.” at a public event
Americans should be ashamed of their leader after their president reportedly called Russia’s Vladimir Putin a “crazy S.O.B.” during a public event, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Joe Biden’s alleged name-calling occurred during a fundraiser on Wednesday.
According to US media, Biden singled out the Russian president while arguing that climate change was a worse threat for humanity than a nuclear conflict.
Officials in Washington have claimed that Putin resorted to “nuclear blackmail” when discussing the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has denied this characterization.
“This is a great disgrace for [the US],” Peskov said on Thursday, when asked about the reported incident. “If the president of that nation uses that kind of language, that is shameful.”
The spokesman suggested that Biden was emulating a “Hollywood cowboy” to appeal to domestic audiences. Such remarks “can hardly hurt any foreign head of state, yet alone President Putin,” Peskov added.
Biden has in the past used the same insult that he reportedly directed at Putin on Wednesday. During a press briefing in 2022, he exclaimed “what a stupid son-of-a-bitch,” after a member of the press corps asked him about inflation. In 2018, he resorted to the same language while bragging at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, about pressuring Kiev to fire its prosecutor general. He threatened to withhold a credit line.
“I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch, he got fired,” Biden recalled of events in 2016, when he served as vice president.
Last week, media reported that Biden had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “a**hole” on three different occasions in private conversations with other people, including with Democratic Party donors. He was said to have been venting frustration over Israel’s refusal to follow US suggestions on how it should prosecute its military campaign in Gaza.
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February 22, 2024 at 12:41AM
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The leaders of seven African states are planning to visit Moscow and Kiev together
A number of African leaders have plans to visit Russia and Ukraine, with the aim of persuading President Vladimir Zelensky to initiate negotiations with Moscow, South Africa’s Ambassador to Russia Mzuvukile Maqetuka told TASS on Tuesday.
The heads of state of Egypt, South Africa, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Senegal, Zambia and the Comoros are members of this peace initiative.
Maqetuka believes it is “only a question of rhetoric” how to “deal with the decree” signed by Zelensky that prevents him from negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“African leaders will work on how to solve this problem. Therefore, the next round of talks will start in Kiev. The heads of state will go there to convey the position voiced by Putin in (St.) Petersburg, and then will go to Russia and, hopefully, be able to present a solution to the problem,” the diplomat added.
Such a visit could take place after elections are held in South Africa this summer, Maqetuka noted.
Last June, the leaders of the seven countries visited Kiev and Saint Petersburg and presented a 10-point peace initiative.
This called for the de-escalation of the conflict on both sides, diplomatic negotiations, ensuring the sovereignty of states in accordance with the UN Charter, a prisoner exchange, and post-war reconstruction.
In response to some of these points, Putin pointed out that Kiev itself had withdrawn from negotiations with Moscow.
Earlier, South Africa called on Kiev to invite Russia to meetings devoted to the discussion of the “formula of peace.”
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February 21, 2024 at 11:49PM
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The measure would be introduced if the IDF continues to escalate its operation in Gaza, sources told the agency
Britain is considering restricting some arms exports to Israel if the country launches an offensive on the city of Rafah in Gaza or keeps hampering aid trucks from entering the Palestinian enclave, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The worry in London is that the expansion of attacks on Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) without additional efforts to protect civilians may see Israel breaching international law, the agency said in an article on Wednesday.
According to the latest data from Gaza’s health ministry, 29,313 people have been killed and 69,333 others wounded as a result of the Israeli airstrikes and ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave. Israel has been attacking Gaza since October 7, when Hamas carried out an incursion into the country, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 253. The group is still holding 134 hostages.
In the event of further escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, legal advice given by the British government law officers to UK ministers in charge of issuing export licenses could change, potentially affecting the sale of some weapons and technologies to the Jewish state, the sources said.
The UK doesn’t supply a lot of arms to Israel, with sales amounting to £42 million ($53 million) in 2022, but the potential restrictions are a sign of increased Western pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act more cautiously with the military operation against Hamas, Bloomberg said. The amount of military aid provided to Israel in 2022 by its main backer, the US, stood at $3.18 billion.
In his letter to British MPs on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron expressed “deep concern about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah,” the city near Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, which has become the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians displaced by IDF attacks. “We do not underestimate the devastating humanitarian impacts that a full ground offensive, if enacted, would have,” Cameron said.
Netanyahu claimed last week that “those who want to prevent us from operating in Rafah are essentially telling us: ‘Lose the war.’” He vowed that he “won’t let that happen.”
According to Bloomberg, the UK and its allies also want some 500 trucks with essential supplies to enter Gaza on a daily basis. However, Israel is currently letting through a “significantly smaller” number of aid vehicles, which increases the risk of famine in the Palestinian enclave, the sources said.
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February 21, 2024 at 11:49PM
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Kiev is moving to reform the mobilization system to provide the military more manpower
The Ukrainian parliament is debating restrictions on the children of draft dodgers as part of sweeping mobilization reforms currently being pushed by Kiev. The penalties to children of draft dodgers would include barring them from higher education, a member of parliament has revealed.
Kiev is overhauling military service legislation due to a manpower shortage, which is undermining its war effort against Moscow. As part of the new rules, people who fail to report to conscription offices will face significant penalties.
Vadim Ivchenko, an MP who sits on the National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee, told the Ukrainian news outlet Telegraf on Tuesday that the challenge is to ensure that coercion is constitutional. “Leaving a person without money to die, that would be wrong. But there have to be other measures,” he explained.
“The political leadership proposes this: if you don’t want to fulfill your civic duty and defend the homeland… the state can deny you services. For instance, you will not get supported by the state, your children will not enter a high education school, and neither will you,” Ivchenko explained.
The MP claimed that failing to defend the state may be unconstitutional and pointed to Israel as a positive example of a militarized society.
Ivchenko claimed that cutting access to bank accounts would be effective in a cashless society. “They will withdraw cash but what can you buy with that except groceries? Nothing: not an apartment, not a car, not a train ticket. Everything is electronic now,” he mused.
Dismissing any possible appeals to the European Court of Human Rights, Ivchenko said the authorities counted on the support of rank-and-file soldiers. “Those, who are at war, need this bill because they want to be demobilized,” he said.
Amendments to the bill will likely be debated this week, before the legislation is expected to be passed to a second reading, the MP predicted. Members of the ruling party of President Vladimir Zelensky will vote “as they are told” by the government, he said.
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February 20, 2024 at 11:00PM
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Republicans in Congress have blocked foreign aid to Kiev for months, demanding the inclusion of funds to secure the US southern border
A bipartisan group of representatives has put forward a reworked foreign aid and border security package that includes support for Ukraine, The Hill reports. Republican Brian Fitzpatrick and Democrat Jared Golden allegedly urged their colleagues to pass the bill in short order, playing up the dire situation Kiev is currently in.
Congressional Republicans have for months refused to greenlight Biden’s foreign aid package, which calls for the allocation of $60 billion to Kiev. They insist that they will keep blocking the legislation unless the current administration tightens controls along the US-Mexico border and stems the flow of illegal migrants.
Washington has already provided Kiev with $44.2 billion in defense aid. Amid the deadlock in Congress, the Biden administration announced last month that it had run out of funding for Ukraine.
In its article on Monday, The Hill cited a letter to the House reportedly penned by Fitzpatrick and Golden, in which they proposed to earmark approximately $47 billion for Ukraine, $10 billion for Israel, $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific and $2 billion to support US Central Command operations. The plan also features border provisions, including reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy for one year, the media outlet claimed.
The Hill quoted the letter as saying “Ukraine’s position is imperiled” with its troops “running out of ammunition and withdrawing from the East, paving the way for Russia’s further advance.”
“This is a direct result of Congress’ gridlock,” the two lawmakers concluded.
They reportedly noted that without “American arms and ammunition” Ukraine “may fail.”
On Saturday, President Biden stated that “Ukraine’s military was forced to withdraw from Avdeevka after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction.”
He also acknowledged that “no-one can be” confident Ukraine won’t lose more ground without American military aid.
The US head of state chided House representatives for going on a two-week vacation on Friday after having failed to pass an emergency $95 billion spending bill that had been approved by the Senate earlier in the week.
On Friday, Ukraine’s newly-appointed top military commander, General Aleksandr Syrsky, revealed that his forces had retreated from the strategic town of Avdeevka, located less than 10km from the outskirts of Donetsk. On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the capture of the long-time Ukrainian stronghold in Donbass.
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February 19, 2024 at 11:25PM
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Zimbabwe’s government has warned that any such “un-African and unchristian” offers will be regarded as unlawful and criminal
Zimbabwe will not tolerate attempts by foreign agents to entice and recruit students into homosexual activities through educational scholarships, the government of the southern African nation has warned.
In a statement late Thursday, Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said any funding for LGBTQ people in the country’s schools would be illegal and a criminal offense.
The government’s declaration reportedly came in response to an online advertisement by Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), an association of LGBTQ people in the country, inviting applications for its ‘Munhu Munhu’ scholarship program. The scheme has been in place since 2018 and covers full tuition, accommodation, and other expenses for gay people aged 18 to 35 to pursue degrees in democracy, governance, justice, human rights, and conflict resolution at any Zimbabwean state university.
Denouncing the latest announcement, Chiwenga said the government “sees such scholarship offers” that attempt to mislead “Zimbabwe’s less privileged but able students” into homosexuality as a “direct challenge to its authority.”
“Our schools and institutions of higher learning will not entertain applicants, let alone enroll persons associated with such alien, anti-life, un-African, and unchristian values,” he said. “Zimbabwe is a sovereign African state with definite laws and values which typify it, cutting it apart from other mores.”
The vice president added that Harare “will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to enforce national laws,” saying young people “should never be tempted to trade or sell their souls for such abominable and devilish offers.”
On Friday, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum told the Associated Press that the government’s response to the GALZ scholarship scheme demonstrated that sexual and gender minorities are under threat in the former British colony.
“We are extremely concerned about the statement from the second-highest office in the land because it exhibits intolerance, especially taking into account that the advertisement opens young people to so many opportunities,” Wilbert Mandinde, the programs coordinator of the NGO, has said.
The landlocked country, which has been under US and EU-targeted sanctions for more than two decades over alleged human rights violations, bans same-sex sexual relations under its Criminal Law Act of 2006. The law carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a fine for offenders.
Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who ruled for 37 years, had repeatedly described gay people as “worse than dogs and pigs” and unworthy of legal rights. The late Mugabe had accused Western leaders, including former US President Barack Obama, of attempting to force Africa to accept homosexuality.
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February 19, 2024 at 12:12AM
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The African bloc is looking for a partnership to enhance the organization, Omar Alieu Touray has said
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is ready for a mutually beneficial partnership with Russia, its commission president Omar Alieu Touray told RIA Novosti on Sunday.
ECOWAS is looking for a partnership that would unite and enhance the bloc, Touray said.
“I think there are a number of areas ECOWAS has been cooperating with many partners on. And, I am sure that when we sit around the table with our Russian friends, we should be able to identify areas which would benefit all of us,” he stated.
“We are looking for a partnership that would help us develop, that would unite us.”
In January, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger announced that they were “immediately” withdrawing from ECOWAS, accusing it of serving foreign interests and posing a threat to the countries. The regional group had imposed sanctions on the three former French colonies to pressure them into restoring democratic rule after coups deposed civilian governments in Ouagadougou, Bamako, and Niamey.
However, Touray described the announcement to quit the bloc as a “hasty decision” by the military regimes with no substantive reasons provided.
“The three member states have not really reflected on the implications of this decision on citizens,” the ECOWAS commission president stated.
The three countries established the Alliance of Sahel States in September 2023.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the new organization was also pursuing a course of rapprochement with Russia. Moscow continues to work actively with African nations in a wide range of areas, she added.
Commenting earlier on the withdrawal of the three African nations from ECOWAS, Zakharova said Russia was closely following the situation. She expressed hope that problems with the relationships between the members of the association could be resolved through dialogue.
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February 18, 2024 at 11:10PM
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NATO states, most notably the US under Donald Trump, have repeatedly criticized Berlin for failing to pull its weight
Germany's multi-billion military budget increase could bring the country's spending on its army to as high as 3.5% of GDP, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said. However, he did voice certain doubts about Berlin’s ability to maintain expenditure at such a level in the long run.
Other NATO members, especially the US under former President Donald Trump, have repeatedly called out Germany over its failure to reach the bloc’s target of spending at least 2% of GDP on defense. Following the start of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine two years ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to start investing in the Bundeswehr in earnest.
To this end, his government set up a special fund for the military totaling some €100 billion ($108 billion).
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Pistorius said that Berlin “might reach 3% or maybe even 3.5%,” with the figure depending on “what’s happening in the world and in our economy,” as quoted by Bloomberg. Germany is, among other things, seeking to step up its arms manufacturing capacity, the minister explained.
According to Pistorius, Germany and other European nations should not be content with reaching NATO’s 2% target, as that “can only be the starting point.”
At the same event, Chancellor Scholz vowed that Germany would fulfil NATO’s spending commitment “in the 2020s, the 2030s and beyond.” However, his defense chief acknowledged that there is a huge question mark hanging over where the country will be able to find the money once the special fund is exhausted after 2027.
Over the past few months, Pistorius has repeatedly spoken about the need for a thorough upgrade of the German military and the creation of a “credible deterrent” in the face of a potential military confrontation with Russia in the future.
Last month, the minister clarified that while “at the moment, I don’t see any danger of a Russian attack on NATO territory or on any NATO partner-country,” the situation could change down the road.
Commenting on Pistorius’ remarks in January, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia has any such plans, claiming that politicians in European countries were increasingly using the image of an “external enemy” as a diversionary tactic amid various problems at home.
Around the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that “no one wants a big war,” especially Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin has also stated on multiple occasions that Russia has “no geopolitical, economic… or military interest” in provoking a conflict with NATO.
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February 18, 2024 at 02:10AM
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The conflict is a “tactical” issue for the West, but an existential one for Moscow, the Russian president has argued
The Ukraine crisis is of existential importance for Russia, President Vladimir Putin told reporter Pavel Zarubin on Sunday.
He noted that the main goal of his deep dive into the country’s history during an interview earlier this month with American journalist Tucker Carlson was to give the Western audience a chance to understand Moscow’s mindset on the issue.
Putin admitted that understanding all the intricacies of Russia’s more than 1,000-year history is “not easy” for Western viewers, especially Americans, whose country has only existed for 300 years.
However, the president said he believed that it was important for the Western audiences “to understand how we think… to understand how sensitive and important this [Ukraine] issue is for our country.”
For them, this is about improving their tactical positions. But for us, this is destiny. This is a matter of life and death.
The Russian president added that this was the core message that he wanted to send to the West. “Whether it worked, it is not up for me to judge,” he added.
During the two-hour interview with Carlson, which has garnered tens of millions of views, Putin spoke at length about how the Russian and Ukrainian states came to be. He said that while the territory of modern Ukraine had come under heavy Polish influence, many people in the region still wanted to join Russia because of close cultural and religious ties.
According to Putin, any talk of Ukraine’s independence started only in the 19th century, and he explained that the state was formed by Soviet authorities after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. He also noted that after World War II, Ukraine had received a lot of territory from its neighbors, making it an “artificial state.”
Russia has repeatedly said its military operation against Ukraine, which started in February 2022, seeks to “denazify” and “demilitarize” the neighboring country. Moscow has also for years voiced concerns about the expansion of NATO – which it has called a “tool of confrontation” – toward its borders after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin has also said that Ukraine’s push to join the US-led military bloc was one of the key reasons for the current conflict.
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February 18, 2024 at 12:48AM
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Budapest will continue to refrain from supplying weapons to Kiev, Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky has said
The West is not ready to supply Ukraine with weapons for its conflict with Russia indefinitely, Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky said in an address at a Business Leaders Forum in Budapest on Friday.
Kiev has been asking its Western backers for more financing and weapons, as it faces severe personnel and ammo shortages on the front lines. However, the EU is yet to finalize its next aid package to Kiev, while US lawmakers failed to approve additional funding for Ukraine before going on winter break earlier this week.
According to Szalay-Bobrovniczky, “we, the West, are waging a war [against Russia] in which the Ukrainians are fighting with Western money, Western weapons, and Western ammunition.” He stressed, however, that in terms of weapon systems, ammunition, and other supplies, the West is not prepared strategically to shoulder a “seemingly endless war.”
Calling the Ukraine conflict a “terrible massacre,” he claimed that it has changed the balance of power and the economic situation in Europe. According to Szalay-Bobrovniczky, while Hungary continues to resist supplying weapons to Ukraine and “will not change this position under any pressure,” the country should strengthen its own military force so that it can protect itself from outside threats.
Hungary has taken a neutral stance on the conflict, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the start of peace negotiations. Budapest has also criticized Brussels’ sanctions on Moscow, arguing that they are hurting the EU more than Russia, given the economic problems the bloc has faced over the past two years, including soaring inflation and a slump in economic growth. Hungary had opposed the EU’s move to provide Kiev with another €50 billion ($54 billion) in aid, but eventually lifted its veto amid pressure from Brussels. The package is expected to be approved by the European Parliament by the end of the month.
The activist’s passing is just an excuse for Washington to push for new sanctions, Anatoly Antonov has said
The US reaction to the death in prison of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny is an attempt to meddle in the country’s internal affairs, Anatoly Antonov, Moscow’s ambassador to Washington, has said. He also rebuked the US for not trying to get to the bottom of the issue before making accusations.
Russian prison officials said that the 47-year-old Navalny died in a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle on Friday, saying that he collapsed after a walk, and resuscitation efforts failed to revive him. The exact cause of death remains unclear, although a source for RT Russian suggested that it was a blood clot. The Kremlin said that medical professionals were looking into the matter.
Numerous Western leaders were quick to suggest that Russia bears responsibility for the death. Navalny was often described as an ‘opposition leader’ for his participation in anti-government protests.
US President Joe Biden acknowledged that while “we don’t know exactly what happened… there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his thugs did.” US Vice President Kamala Harris also claimed that “Russia is responsible” for the activist’s passing.
On Saturday, Antonov described the barrage of accusations as a “flow of bile.”“We have a feeling that the main goal for Washington is not to get to the bottom of the problem, no matter how sensitive it may be, but to hit our country harder,” the envoy noted, suggesting that the US was looking for an excuse to introduce new sanctions against Russia.
Acknowledging that “the death of a person is always a tragedy,” Antonov stressed that it was important to figure out all the details of Navalny’s death. “However, local [US] politicians do not want to wait and have already blamed the Russian authorities,” he remarked.
According to the ambassador, Washington has no right to judge in the case. “There is another attempt to interfere in the internal policy of the Russian Federation,” he said. Antonov called the US position “unacceptable” and urged America to focus on its own domestic problems.
The opposition figure was jailed in 2021 over a long-standing fraud case, and in 2023 he was sentenced to 19 years on charges of fomenting, financing and carrying out extremist activities and “rehabilitating” Nazi ideology.
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February 17, 2024 at 12:18AM
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