The move comes as the Israel Defense Forces continues its deadly attacks on the city of Rafah in Gaza
The Slovenian government on Thursday approved a decision to recognize the state of Palestine, Prime Minister Robert Golob has announced. The former Yugoslav republic became the fourth European state to do so alongside Spain, Norway and Ireland.
The country’s parliament must ratify the government’s decision, but it is widely seen as a formality as none of the parties in the 90-seat National Assembly are expected to oppose it. Slovenian lawmakers will vote on Tuesday, parliament speaker Urska Klakocar Zupancic has announced.
“The government has made a decision to recognize the State of Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the borders from 1967, or the borders that the parties involved should agree on in a future peace agreement,” Golob told reporters after a government meeting in Ljubljana.
The prime minister emphasized that the resolution was not aimed against Israel but was an “a message of peace.”
Although the question of Palestine’s recognition was not on Slovenia’s government agenda on Thursday, Golob said he had pushed for a swift decision due to deadly attacks conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the Gazan city of Rafah in the past few days.
Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon have supported the decision, saying there is “no reason” for further delays.
“The war is escalating, there are no negotiations [over] Gaza,” Fajon said ahead of the government meeting.
Slovenia is the latest European country to recognize Palestinian statehood, alongside Spain, Norway and Ireland.
Over the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have seen a steady decline in Western support due to the mounting death toll resulting from the IDF offensive.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian militants carried out a surprise cross-border raid on October 7 last year, killing some 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages. The Israeli military campaign has since left at least 36,224 people dead, according to health authorities in the Palestinian enclave.
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May 31, 2024 at 12:02AM
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A “limited” shift on how Kiev can use donated American arms may be followed by further loosening, officials have told the newspaper
Ukrainian troops are likely to start firing US-donated weapons at Russian targets in Belgorod Region this week, after Washington relaxed restrictions on where they can be used, reports in the Western press have confirmed.
US President Joe Biden previously maintained that to avoid “World War III,” American arms sent to Ukraine could not target what the US considers Russian territory. The policy change allows Kiev to hit military targets that pose a direct threat to Kharkov Region, which borders Russia’s Belgorod Region and has seen intense fighting this month as Russian troops made significant territorial gains.
”This is a new reality,” a senior US official told The New York Times, “and perhaps a new era” in the Ukraine conflict. Biden appears to be the first American president to authorize attacks against a nuclear-armed nation on its soil, the newspaper noted on Thursday.
The NYT report provides a detailed account on how Biden’s opinion was moved by foreign pressure and some members of his administration. Sources said that the US leader first indicated an inclination to make the change on May 15, when national security adviser Jake Sullivan delivered formal recommendations on the matter. The final decision was taken late last week, after Biden met national security ‘principals’ to discuss the risks of the move.
It was not conveyed to lower-level officials for days. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh defended the old policy during a Tuesday media briefing. By that time, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austing had already issued the relevant orders, but “no one had told her,” the report said.
US officials told NYT the policy change was strictly limited and motivated by peculiarities of the battlefield in Kharkov Region. However, “the president’s restrictions could be subject to further loosening,” the outlet said.
Moscow says it launched an offensive in Kharkov Region in response to constant Ukrainian shelling and drone strikes on Belgorod Region, including its provincial capital. President Vladimir Putin has said that the West omits that part in its descriptions of the situation.
”What caused that? They [the Ukrainians] did that with their own hands,” he told journalists on Tuesday, adding that a similar ramping up of the conflict may follow strikes with Western weapons deep inside Russia.
”This constant escalation may lead to serious consequences. If those consequences happen in Europe, how will the US act, considering our parity in strategic arms?” Putin asked.
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May 30, 2024 at 11:30PM
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Moscow will regard the delivery of the warplanes as a nuclear threat, the Russian foreign minister has said
Moscow will perceive deliveries of the US-designed F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as a “deliberate” signal from NATO in the nuclear sphere, indicating that the military bloc is “ready for anything,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
According to Lavrov, F-16 fighter jets have long been used as part of NATO’s joint nuclear missions. Russia has warned repeatedly that it would regard the jets sent to Ukraine as a nuclear threat because of their capacity to carry atomic weapons.
The fourth-generation fighter planes have been at the forefront of Kiev’s demands for military aid from the West in an effort to challenge Russia’s airpower advantage.
In an interview with Rossiya Segodna published on Thursday, Lavrov said that NATO was trying to signal it is “literally ready for anything” in Ukraine.
“We cannot help but consider the supply of these systems to the Kiev regime as a deliberate signaling action by NATO in the nuclear sphere,” he explained.
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have all pledged to supply Ukraine with US-made F-16 fighters, although none have so far been delivered. However, earlier in May, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that the first planes would arrive in Ukraine “in the coming month.”
Ukrainian pilots are currently training on F-16s in Romania, where a NATO-backed flight school for this purpose was opened late last year.
Lavrov emphasized his view that furnishing Kiev with increasingly destructive weapons indicated the West’s reluctance to end the Ukraine conflict.
The foreign minister stated that F-16s would not change the situation on the battlefield, as they would be destroyed like other types of weapons supplied by NATO countries to Ukraine. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the jets would be targeted by Russia at airfields in NATO countries if they operate from there.
Lavrov also cautioned the West against nuclear escalation, which could result in “catastrophic consequences,” adding that he hopes Russia’s recent nuclear exercise conducted jointly with its ally Belarus will “bring some sense” to NATO.
President Vladimir Putin ordered a drill earlier this month to test Russia’s ability to use non-strategic nuclear weapons. The move was described as a reaction to hostile statements by the West.
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May 30, 2024 at 12:32AM
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The German chancellor’s spokesperson has stated that Ukraine’s “defensive action is not limited” to its own territory
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz now supports Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia, despite his earlier concerns about escalation with Moscow, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, the German leader said that “if Ukraine is attacked, it can defend itself” under international law. He also said he had no legal objections to Macron, who argued that the West “should allow [Kiev] to neutralize military sites… from where… Ukraine is attacked.”
The following day, the chancellor’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit clarified that Germany believes that Kiev’s “defensive action is not limited to its own territory, but [can] also be expanded to the territory of the aggressor.” He declined to provide details on what agreements Berlin has reached with Kiev regarding the use of German-supplied weapons.
Germany has for months refused to send Ukraine its long-range Taurus missiles, with Scholz citing escalation concerns and explaining that the deliveries would only be “tenable” if Berlin could determine the targets itself, which would make it a direct participant in the hostilities.
The chancellor’s apparent reversal on the issue was confirmed by a Politico source close to the German government, who claimed that Scholz was “in favor of allowing the use of Western weapons against targets inside Russia.”
The development comes after several NATO countries voiced support for Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory. This stance was also supported by military bloc's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who last week urged NATO members to “consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions they have put on the use of weapons they have donated to Ukraine.”
However, the US, Kiev’s key backer, has so far been reluctant to sign off on the policy change. At the same time, The New York Times reported last week that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was pushing the White House to allow Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned that debates in the West about allowing Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory could trigger an escalation, adding that the Russian military was already preparing countermeasures for such a scenario. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that Western arms are already being actively used to target civilian infrastructure inside Russia.
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May 29, 2024 at 11:10PM
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The ex-president detailed how he would have responded while in office if Russia or China had attacked their neighbors
Former US President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump has told campaign donors that he “would have bombed” Moscow and Beijing if they’d attacked Ukraine and Taiwan on his watch, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
According to numerous donors, advisers and other people close to him, the former president has ramped up his fundraising campaign rhetoric ahead of his likely rematch with incumbent Joe Biden in the upcoming November election.
Trump, who regularly addresses foreign policy topics at such events, reportedly claimed that he would have bombed the Russian capital in response to its Ukraine campaign, and prescribed the same response to a hypothetical Chinese move to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan. These remarks “surprised” his donors, according to the Washington Post.
Former President Trump is also said to have made a “series of audacious requests” to solicit significant campaign contributions at funding events, as he has reportedly promised tax cuts, approvals for oil infrastructure projects, and other policies that his donors might appreciate.
Some legal experts interviewed by the Washington Post noted that such promises and requests are “testing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws.”
Trump is no stranger to hardline rhetoric, famously threatening North Korea with “fire and fury” when tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs flared in 2017. On the Ukraine conflict, however, he had earlier promised to settle hostilities within just 24 hours if reelected by sitting down with both Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
An earlier Washington Post report suggested that Trump hoped to end the conflict by pressuring Ukraine to agree to recognize at least some of its territorial losses to Russia. In the fall of 2022, four former Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia, following in the footsteps of Crimea, which did so in 2014.
The Trump campaign, however, has dismissed the WaPo report as “fake news.”
In February, Bloomberg also reported, citing an adviser to the ex-president, that if Trump wins the election, he could pressure Ukraine to negotiate peace with Russia by threatening to cut massive US military assistance to the country.
Russia maintains that it is open to talks over Ukraine; however, in the fall of 2022, Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree banning all negotiations with the current leadership in Moscow.
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May 29, 2024 at 12:05AM
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Such a move would destroy established ties in the global economy, Russia’s ambassador to Washington has said
A potential US trade embargo on Russia would not break the country’s economy, but would severely harm international commerce, Moscow’s ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov has said.
Speaking at an event organized by the Brookings Institution in Washington on Tuesday, the White House deputy national security advisor for international economics, Daleep Singh, was asked if the US should “put tariffs on everything Russia exports” as part of sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.
"The history of [trade] embargoes is not a great one. But to the extent that Russia is transforming its economy entirely into a factory for the war machine, we’re going to get to the point where de facto that’s where we end up,” Singh, who has been described by some media outlets as ‘the architect of Russia sanctions,’ said.
Antonov responded to Singh in a Telegram post on Wednesday, insisting that “no embargo or sanctions will break the Russian economy.”
“It is impossible to force Russia to deviate from its principled path. We continue to build up our socio-economic and industrial potential,” he said, noting the country’s robust economic growth.
Despite Russia being the most sanctioned country in the world, GDP increased by 3.6% and was “higher than the global average” in 2023, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Central Bank said last month that it expects growth of between 2.5% and 3.5% this year.
US officials have “nothing to be proud of when issuing such statements” about an embargo, the ambassador stressed. “In essence, America is publicly signaling its readiness to completely destroy established global economic ties,” he added.
According to Antonov, developing economies and businesses of all sizes are “suffering” from the fragmentation caused by more than 4,500 restrictions imposed by Washington against individuals and companies around the globe since February 2022, when the Russian military operation in Ukraine started.
US sanctions “provoke Russia and other countries to retaliate, thereby further fueling the potential for conflict in global commerce” and aggregating the “already deplorable” state of relations between Moscow and Washington, he said.
On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that more than half of Western businesses that announced plans to leave Russia after the start of the Ukrainian conflict have remained in the country due to a rebound in consumer activity and “bureaucratic obstacles.” At least, 2,173 foreign companies continue to operate in Russia, while around 1,600 firms either exited the market altogether or reduced their operations, according to the paper.
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May 28, 2024 at 11:22PM
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The armor has been spotted near Al Awda mosque, witnesses told Reuters
Israeli tanks have reportedly reached the center of Rafah as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued its operation in the Palestinian city on Tuesday.
The armored vehicles could be seen near Al Awda mosque, a city landmark, Reuters reported, citing witness accounts.
Footage published by Al Jazeera on social media purports to show Israeli tanks inside the city.
The IDF’s actions in Rafah have attracted widespread condemnation after an airstrike on the city’s Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood killed at least 45 Palestinian refugees on Sunday. Israel initially said the attack had been a precision strike intended to kill senior officers of the militant group Hamas. However, it later blamed “a tragic mistake” in its targeting process for the deaths of civilians.
Overnight, more strikes pounded the city, residents told Reuters. Rafah has served as a haven for people displaced from all over Gaza since last October, when a deadly Hamas incursion into southern Israel triggered retaliation by the country’s military.
The Israeli government has claimed that a ground operation in the area was required to eliminate Hamas. It pushed forward with its plans despite concerns of foreign nations, including its key ally the US, that it could result in mass civilian casualties.
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May 28, 2024 at 12:33AM
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Aleksandr Syrsky has signed papers allowing NATO trainers to arrive in the country
The commander-in-chief of Kiev’s armed forces Aleksandr Syrsky has said that he supports the idea of French military instructors being deployed to Ukraine to train local troops.
Syrsky wrote in a Telegram post on Monday that he has already signed papers that would allow the NATO country’s service members to visit training centers in Ukraine “soon” to familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and staff.
"I welcome France’s initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian military personnel,” he wrote.
The general also expressed belief that the “determination” of France to assist Ukraine would encourage Kiev’s other foreign backers to take part in the project to train troops on Ukrainian soil.
A few hours later, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry issued a statement clarifying Syrsky’s comment.
The ministry confirmed that Kiev had expressed an interest in hosting foreign instructors on its territory back in February, but stressed that it “was still in discussions with France and other countries on this issue.”
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and the General Staff have, meanwhile, started preparing internal paperwork related to the deployment of the trainers in order “not to waste time on bureaucratic issues when the relevant decision is made,” it explained.
The French Defense Ministry told AFP that it is still studying the issue of sending instructors to Ukraine, but declined to confirm the deployment.
"Training on Ukrainian soil is one of the projects discussed since the conference on support for Ukraine convened by [French President Emmanuel Macron] on February 26,” it said. The project “continues to be the subject of work with the Ukrainians, in particular to understand their exact needs,” according to the ministry.
In February, Macron said that he couldn’t rule out the possibility of NATO member states sending troops to Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia. He has reiterated the claim several times over the past few months. According to the French leader, his policy of “strategic ambiguity” is intended to keep Moscow guessing about NATO’s intentions and the lengths it is willing to go to in support of Kiev.
Estonia and Lithuania have since then expressed a readiness to send either instructors or support troops to free up Ukrainian soldiers in the rear for combat duty.
Earlier this month, Russia slammed Macron’s statements as “irresponsible” and insisted that his attempts to create “strategic ambiguity” for Moscow were “doomed to failure.” In March, the deputy chairman of Russia’s State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, warned in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV that “we will kill all French soldiers who set foot on Ukrainian soil. Every single one that comes.”
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May 27, 2024 at 11:08PM
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The storm caused devastation on Sunday as authorities moved people inland from coastal areas
Cyclone Remal unleashed winds up to 135kph and caused widespread destruction after making landfall between the coasts of eastern India’s West Bengal state and Bangladesh on Sunday. At least four people were killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, according to media reports on Monday, as the storm continues to pound low-lying coastal areas.
The cyclone uprooted trees, damaged electricity and communication towers, and disrupted transport. Bangladesh’s electricity authority cut power generation by more than half as a safety measure on Monday, leaving hundreds of thousands without power across the country, The Daily Star newspaper reported.
Bangladesh evacuated 800,000 people from low-lying coastal areas before the cyclone made landfall. The country’s authorities have set up more than 7,000 cyclone shelters and mobilized 78,000 volunteers, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Mohibur Rahman told Reuters.
In India, more than 100,000 people were shifted to cyclone shelters. The airport in Kolkata, the capital and a major metropolitan city of India’s West Bengal state, was shut down on Sunday due to the storm, and 394 flights were canceled. Normal operation resumed on Monday as the storm weakened.
VIDEO | Cyclone Remal: Heavy rains cause waterlogging at Chittaranjan Avenue (C.R. Avenue) area in Kolkata, West Bengal.
However, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued red alerts for Kolkata and neighboring cities as downpours are expected to continue. The state capital is also plagued by flooding issues in the aftermath of the storm, the Times of India reported.
On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting to review “preparedness” for the cyclone. He asked the Home Ministry to monitor the situation and conduct a review after the cyclone made landfall, as well as extending “necessary assistance for restoration.” India has deployed its disaster relief force in West Bengal and neighboring Odisha state, which has also been affected.
#WATCH | Cyclone Remal: The Indian Coast Guard is closely monitoring the landfall of cyclone Remal with a disaster response team, ships and hovercraft on standby at short notice to respond to post-impact challenges. pic.twitter.com/0zmKmizo2s
Thousands of people in India and Bangladesh have been killed as a result of cyclones in recent decades. In 2007, an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ dubbed Sidr killed more than 3,000 people in Bangladesh. In May last year, Cyclone Mocha destroyed thousands of homes. In 2020, Cyclone Amphan killed at least 80 people in the two countries.
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May 27, 2024 at 12:27AM
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Supporting both the Jewish state and international law is becoming increasingly difficult, the bloc’s chief diplomat says
The EU is divided over the war in Gaza because the goal of upholding international law appears to clash with support for Israel, the bloc’s security and foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has admitted.
Last Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in the Gazan city of Rafah, where over a million people are currently living in severely overcrowded conditions.
While addressing a European University Institute event on the same day in Florence, Borrell mentioned the ruling by the Hague-based court, acknowledging it a divisive issue for the EU.
“We will have to choose between our support to the international institutions and the rule of law or our support for Israel,” he said, adding that making the two “compatible” will be difficult.
The EU resoundingly condemned the Hamas incursion into Israel last October and recognizes the Jewish state’s right to defend itself, but “this right to defend has to be implemented in accordance with International law”, Borrell stressed. “The question is: does it happen? And if it doesn’t happen, what to do?”
On Sunday the Israel Defense Forces bombarded the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, calling it a targeted strike on two leaders of the militant group Hamas. At least 35 people were reported killed in the strike.
The EU diplomat also said that all member states agree on the need to seek a two-state solution. He refuted the notion that recognition of Palestinian statehood is a “gift to Hamas” – after such accusations were leveled at Ireland, Norway and Spain, over their pledge last week to recognise Palestine.
Borrell called the criticism “completely unfounded,” as the Palestinian Authority rather than its rival Hamas serves as the “the nucleus” of a future Palestinian nation state. He maintained that “there is not a military solution to the conflict in the Middle East” and that diplomacy is required to break the “stalemate.” Otherwise “we will go from funerals to funerals, generations after generations,” he warned.
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May 26, 2024 at 11:05PM
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Ukraine’s leader urges the world to unite against Moscow
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has urged the global community to work together against Russia, stressing that no nation can single-handedly survive a war with Moscow.
In an interview with Central Asian media outlets on Saturday, Zelensky said the goal should be to ensure that President Vladimir Putin “thinks about his survival and his security,” and that “the Russians think about how they can avoid losing the independence of their country – without threatening them – simply by showing how united the world is, how strong it is.”
Such unity is needed because “no one can survive a full-scale war with the Russians on its own,” the Ukrainian leader stated, as quoted by the Kazakh online magazine Vlast.
"We were alone, we were on our own” when Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Zelensky claimed. “But then we agreed with our partners on some sort of sanctions, some sort of weapons and other things,” he said, referring to the support provided by the West since the start of the conflict.
Even Beijing “must protect Ukraine because we were attacked,” as “China says that territorial integrity must be respected,” the politician argued.
Beijing has maintained a policy of neutrality on the Ukraine conflict, while consistently calling for a political settlement that would respect the interests of all sides. The Chinese authorities have blamed the hostilities on NATO’s eastward expansion, rebuffed Western calls to impose sanctions on Russia, and opted to boost trade with its neighbor.
Zelensky was also asked if he was concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement earlier this week that in Moscow’s view the Ukrainian leader’s legitimacy has “expired.”
Zelensky’s five-year term as Ukrainian President ended on Monday after he refused to stage a new election, citing martial law imposed due to the conflict.
”They don’t concern me much at all,” he replied. “These statements by the illegitimate president of Russia regarding the legitimacy of the president of Ukraine are, frankly speaking, boring and uninteresting.”
Putin won a fifth term in office in March, claiming 87.28% of the vote amid a record turnout of over 77%.
Zelensky argued that anybody who knows how to read laws can swiftly confirm that his continued stay in power is legal. “The Ukrainians know their Constitution, they know the law,” he added.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said last month that attempts by the US and its allies to isolate Russia have failed, and pledged to “expand pragmatic, equal, mutually beneficial, partnership relations with friendly countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America.”
According to the president, unlike the European elites, “who aren’t pursuing policies that are beneficial for their peoples,” there are many citizens on the continent who support Russia’s stance.
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May 26, 2024 at 04:13AM
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The ex-president’s warning comes after Poland said Washington would hit Russian targets if Moscow were to use nukes in Ukraine
Any US attack on Russian targets in Ukraine would automatically trigger a world war, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned.
The official, who currently serves as Deputy Chair of Russia’s Security Council, made the remarks after Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski claimed Washington had threatened to conduct such a strike should Russia use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Medvedev suggested that Sikorski “apparently, has decided to scare his masters.” He noted that Washington, unlike Warsaw, has so far refrained from making any such threats publicly “because they are more cautious” than the Poles.
“Americans hitting our targets means starting a world war, and a Foreign Minister, even of a country like Poland, should understand that,” Medvedev added.
The former Russian president also cited remarks made by Polish President Andrzej Duda last month, when he said his country would be willing to host US nuclear weapons if offered such an opportunity under NATO’s sharing mechanism. Medvedev warned that in case of a nuclear confrontation “Warsaw won’t be left out, and will surely get its share of radioactive ash,” asking if this is the outcome the Polish leadership really wants.
On Saturday in an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Sikorski expressed skepticism regarding a hypothetical Russian nuclear strike in Ukraine.
“The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn’t kill anybody, we will hit all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we’ll destroy all of them,” he claimed, describing the presumed warning as a “credible threat.” The Polish diplomat alleged that China and India have also warned Russia against a nuclear escalation.
The minister also suggested that Ukraine’s Western backers should allow Kiev to use their weapons to strike military targets on Russian territory as “apart from not using nuclear weapons, [Moscow] does not limit itself much.”
According to Sikorski, the EU should not be afraid to escalate the situation, and should not impose limits on itself regarding the Ukraine conflict, so that Moscow is left guessing what the next step will be.
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May 26, 2024 at 01:06AM
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Four vessels were beached after disconnecting from a $320 million floating pier off the coast of Gaza
Four US navy vessels, which had been connected to a floating pier off the coast of Gaza, have broken off their moorings and run aground on an Israeli beach due to a storm, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said.
The pier, built on orders from US President Joe Biden to deliver aid to Gaza amid the Israeli military operation, has been in operation since last week. According to the Pentagon, the project is expected to cost the US around $320 million.
Four vessels were disconnected from a jetty on Saturday, CENTCOM said, adding that there were no deaths or injuries, and that the pier’s operations were unaffected.
The first ship became stuck on a beach in the Israeli port city of Ashdod, and another vessel sent to extract it also ran aground, the Times of Israel reported.
"Two vessels are now anchored on the beach near the pier,” CENTCOM said, adding that the third and fourth ships were beached on the coast near the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
According to CENTCOM, efforts to recover the vessels are being assisted by the Israeli military. “No US personnel will enter Gaza” during the operation, it stressed.
Earlier this week, three US soldiers were injured while working on the pier, and one required hospitalization in Israel.
The UN, which distributes aid from trucks ferried by US ships to the pier, said deliveries had to be halted on Sunday and Monday after Palestinians rushed at the moving trucks and looted their entire cargo. The capture “represents a minority of the overall shipments,” Daniel Dieckhaus, USAID’s Gaza Response Manager, said in a briefing on Friday.
"This humanitarian maritime corridor alone is not enough to meet the staggering needs in Gaza, but it is an important addition. It is meant to augment, not replace or substitute for land crossings into Gaza,” Dieckhaus told reporters.
The pier – which is able to carry only a small fraction of the humanitarian aid that could potentially be brought through Israel-controlled land routes into Gaza – has been slammed by US lawmakers citing the high cost and danger to personnel.
Earlier this month the UN warned that the humanitarian aid ground route had been completely blockaded due to Israel’s offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah. Egypt has maintained a blockade on the Rafah crossing since Israel forces captured the Gaza side of the border.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi agreed on Friday to funnel humanitarian aid trucks to the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, at the border juncture between Egypt, Israel and Gaza.
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May 26, 2024 at 12:49AM
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A Financial Times report this week claimed that a second wave of mass recruitment in Russia will “inevitably” come later this year
Russia has been signing up volunteers for contract service and does not need another mobilization, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated, refuting a Financial Times report from Thursday claiming that such a measure was being planned.
The FT claimed, citing several sources who spoke to the outlet, that in order to maintain its momentum in the conflict and launch a new offensive this summer, Moscow will need to mobilize more troops. According to one source, allegedly close to the Russian Defense Ministry, “by the end of this year, or early next year, a new partial mobilization wave will become inevitable.”
“It is unlikely that FT understands the real picture. I can only say that we are actively recruiting volunteers willing to serve on a contract basis, the process continues daily. And the president [Vladimir Putin] has said more than once that, according to our military, there is no need [for another mobilization],” Peskov told reporters on Saturday.
Last month, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky also claimed that Russia was planning to mobilize an additional 300,000 troops by as early as June 1. To that, Peskov at the time simply responded “not true.”
Russia carried out a partial mobilization in September 2022, seven months into the conflict. This allowed 300,000 people, primarily those with previous military experience, to be called to duty. Following this, further recruitment was carried out on a voluntary basis.
In December, Putin said that Russia does not plan to announce a second mobilization, noting at the time that the inflow of volunteers had been exceeding expectations. In early April, the Defense Ministry said that more than 100,000 Russian citizens had volunteered for military service since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has been struggling to replenish the ranks of its army amid a series of setbacks in the conflict. Last month, Kiev adopted a new mobilization law that lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25, expanded the powers of enlistment officers, and introduced stricter penalties for draft dodgers. Earlier in May, a law was also passed allowing some prison inmates to be released on parole for joining the military in an effort to address critical shortages of manpower on the front line.
Zelensky previously insisted that only 31,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed in the conflict so far. This figure was treated with skepticism even among Ukraine’s Western sponsors. The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, has claimed that Ukrainian military casualties this year alone have amounted to over 111,000 soldiers.
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May 25, 2024 at 01:12AM
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The WikiLeaks founder should not be prosecuted for exposing government corruption, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said
The US authorities should stop prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and instead erect a monument in Washington DC to celebrate his “heroic” deeds, independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said. He insisted that the case against Assange runs counter to the freedom of the press.
The US indicted the WikiLeaks founder under the Espionage Act for helping whistleblower Chelsea Manning in her 2010 disclosure of hundreds of thousands of classified and sensitive documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which WikiLeaks later made public. Assange is now battling US attempts to extradite him from Britain.
Speaking at the 2024 Libertarian Party Convention in Washington, DC on Friday, Kennedy criticized ex-President Donald Trump’s track record during his first term in office. He claimed that the Republican, who is also running, “assaulted” the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press.
Trump “continued President [Barack] Obama’s persecution and prosecution of Julian Assange,” Kennedy argued, eliciting an ovation from the audience.
According to the independent presidential candidate, “Assange should be celebrated as a hero for doing exactly what journalists are supposed to do, which is to expose government corruption.”
“We shouldn’t be putting him in prison, we should have a monument to him here in Washington DC,” he added.
Kennedy went on to say that the “same is true for Edward Snowden, who exposed illegal spying by the NSA,” calling the US whistleblower a “hero, not a criminal.”
The former computer expert and contractor for the National Security Agency revealed in 2013 that the agency was systematically engaged in mass illegal spying on American citizens. Fearing for his safety, he fled the US and ended up in Russia, where he was granted asylum and later citizenship. At home, he faces charges under the Espionage Act.
“On my first day in office, I’m going to pardon Edward Snowden and I’m going to drop the charges, all of the charges against Julian Assange,” Kennedy said.
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May 25, 2024 at 12:46AM
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Kiev’s foreign minister had earlier claimed that Russia is “scared” of the event’s success
Kiev’s claims that Moscow is trying to derail the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit scheduled for next month are ridiculous, because the much-hyped event is a hoax in the first place, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
On Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba weighed in on a recent Reuters report which claimed, citing senior Russian sources, that President Vladimir Putin was ready to end the conflict by freezing the current frontline, but is prepared to fight on if the proposal is rejected. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that while Moscow remains open to talks, any settlement should meet the goals of its Ukraine campaign.
According to Kuleba, the Reuters report is Russia’s attempt to undermine the June 15-16 summit on Lake Lucerne, which is expected to focus on several points of Vladimir Zelensky’s peace formula, which Moscow has rejected as unacceptable. Russia was not invited, but has said it would not attend even if it were.
The top Ukrainian diplomat suggested that Putin is “scared of [the summit’s] success,” and that is why “his entourage sends these phony signals of alleged readiness for a cease-fire despite the fact that Russian troops continue to brutally attack Ukraine.”
Zakharova vehemently disagreed, accusing Kuleba of “shamelessly lying.” She remarked that Russian officials have said hundreds, if not thousands of times, that Moscow is ready for talks on Ukraine, while Kiev walked away from engagement in the spring of 2022 on the advice of the UK.
”As for the ‘peace summit…’ this is another scam invented by the US State Department. And everyone understands this,” the spokeswoman said, adding that such events cannot be held by those sending weapons to the conflict zone.
At least 50 delegations are expected to attend the Swiss-hosted summit. However, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that neither US President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris will be present, as the Biden campaign is focused on fundraising ahead of November’s presidential election.
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May 24, 2024 at 11:08PM
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Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was declared the winner of Chad’s contested May 6 elections after three years as interim leader
Former military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has been sworn in as president of Chad, making the Central African state the first among a group of Sahel countries under military control to transition to civilian rule.
The president-elect, who won a contested vote earlier this month, took the oath of office on Thursday at a ceremony in the capital, N’Djamena. The event was attended by several regional leaders, including Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe and his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Ould Cheikh AI-Ghazouani, who is also the current African Union chairman.
The military ruler of Gabon, Brice Oligui Nguema, and the interim prime minister of Niger’s military government were also in attendance.
The swearing-in came a week after the Chadian Constitutional Council declared that Mahamat Deby had won the disputed May 6 election outright by claiming 61% of the total ballots cast.
Succes Masra, his main opponent, obtained 18.53% and had filed an appeal to have the results annulled due to alleged “blatant irregularities” and “serious violations of electoral law.”
Masra, who was appointed prime minister by Mahamat Deby’s military government in January, resigned on Wednesday after the Constitutional Council confirmed the results, rendering his challenge unsuccessful.
Mahamat Deby first took power as interim leader in 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled Chad for three decades, was killed fighting rebels. He promised to hold elections within 18 months, but in 2022, the military regime extended the deadline by two years, to October 2024, sparking protests that killed dozens of civilians.
The former French colony adopted a new constitution following a referendum in December, allowing the military ruler to run for president.
In his inaugural speech on Thursday, Mahamat Deby said the return to constitutional order “opens the way to a better future” for Chad.
“To my brothers and sisters who did not choose me... I would like to say that I respect your choice, which contributes to the vitality of our democracy,” he said.
“We must surpass ourselves to strengthen our democracy and build a new Chad, resolutely focused on integrated and harmonious development,” the president added.
Mahamat Deby made several pledges, including modernizing agriculture and livestock farming – the two pillars of the Sahel state’s economy – during his five-year term. He also promised to devote 70% of the government budget to social welfare programs, such as improving access to education, water, health, energy, and food security.
Shortly after the swearing-in, the new government announced Chad’s ambassador to China, Allamaye Halina, as prime minister after Masra’s resignation.
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May 24, 2024 at 12:57AM
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Washington reportedly wants to maintain influence in the enclave through a “civilian adviser” to new regional security forces
The US wants to have a “prominent” role in Gaza after Israel’s military operation in the Palestinian enclave ends, Politico has reported. Washington expects a joint Palestinian-Arab force of several thousands troops to take charge of security in Gaza after the current conflict.
On Thursday, Politico revealed details of discussions within the administration of US President Joe Biden about what a post-war settlement should look like. The outlet cited the accounts of four officials and a leaked document from the Department of State.
The US wants to have a “civilian adviser” to any future security force. They would “never enter Gaza itself” in order to avoid the impression that Washington was “dictating the future of the territory.” Instead, the adviser would likely be based in Egypt or Jordan.
In March, a classified document envisioned an American filling the role of a “director-general” of the future security mission. Under that proposal, the force would consist of roughly 2,000 Palestinians and 1,000 troops from Arab-speaking nations. It would be commanded by an officer from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, or “ideally” Egypt.
The timeline for the implementation of Washington’s plans are unclear, according to a US intelligence assessment described by Politico earlier this week. The document said Israel had managed to reduce the strength of Hamas forces by up to 35% since the group’s attack on Israel last October. However, it has recruited thousands of new fighters in recent months, a source in the intelligence community told Politico.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s efforts to deliver humanitarian aid via a floating pier has been undermined by logistical and security issues. No foot reached starving Palestinians between last Friday and Tuesday of this week, spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters. He blamed the delay on local NGOs that were tasked with distributing the aid.
The US has refused to work with the UN Refugee Agency, a prominent provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, after Israel accused some of its employees of involvement in the October 7 attack. Last month, the UN said it had closed or suspended its probes into the allegations because Israel had failed to provide evidence.
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May 24, 2024 at 12:24AM
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A gust of wind during an election rally caused the structure to fall on a crowd of spectators
Nine people have been killed and at least 50 injured after part of a stage collapsed at an election rally in Mexico on Wednesday, according to authorities.
The accident occurred during a campaign event for Jorge Alvarez Maynez, the presidential candidate for the center-left Citizens’ Movement party, in the city of San Pedro Garza Garcia in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.
Video footage posted on social media shows the stage suddenly falling forward into the crowd. Strong wind has been blamed for breaking the large, concert-style structure.
En este video se ve cómo se derrumba toda la estructura sobre la multitud, se reportan 5 muertos y más de 50 lesionados en San Pedro Garza García.
One child was among the dead, local governor Samuel Garcia said on social media. Three of the injured required surgery, he added.
“I’ve never experienced something so sudden,” Reuters quoted Alvarez Maynez as saying, as he described how quickly the wind had picked up before the stage collapsed. Several members of his team had been injured, he added.
Alvarez Maynez, who is polling in third place in Mexico’s presidential election ahead of the vote on June 2, escaped unharmed.
Governor Garcia urged residents to stay indoors as strong winds and storms continue in the area.
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May 23, 2024 at 01:00AM
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The Ukrainian media regulator urged journalists not to use dehumanizing language, but later withdrew the instruction
Ukraine’s media regulator has withdrawn instructions urging news outlets not to use insults when referring to Russian troops and officials. Branding people as “orcs” and “retards” is poor journalism, its guidelines had stated.
The advice on how to cover frontline news was released earlier this month by the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting. It had remained largely unnoticed until Wednesday, when some of the content was highlighted by the media. As of Thursday, it is no longer available on the regulator’s website.
The guidelines had urged journalists to avoid dehumanizing language when describing Russian military personnel and officials, citing several reasons.
It claimed that such insults “are not ethical or justifiable” in journalism and can fuel tensions in Ukrainian society. It also said the use of derogatory language “does not further objective and open coverage” of news, and may “undermine perception of media outlets as reliable sources of information.” Inflammatory rhetoric could also prolong the hostilities, it suggested.
”Journalism should remain objective towards all belligerents,” the regulator said.
There have been a number of emerging trends in the public use of language, including by media organizations, which are apparently intended to express disdain for Russia.
For instance, it has become a common practice in Ukraine not to capitalize the name of the country and its leader, President Vladimir Putin. Last September, the Ukrainian commission on language standards issued a formal opinion stating that such practice was legitimate anywhere except in official documents.
Some Ukrainian news organizations, such as UNIAN, make a point of using derogatory terms for Russians in their output.
Before the conflict with Russia erupted in February 2022, the government of President Vladimir Zelensky had cracked down on critical media outlets in what it claimed to be a fight against Russian propaganda.
Since then, Kiev has further tightened its grip on the news landscape by replacing all national television broadcasts with a single ‘Freedom Marathon’. The New York Times reported earlier this year that Ukrainians were tired of the programming, because it had turned into “little more than a mouthpiece for the government.”
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May 22, 2024 at 11:28PM
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Moscow has called such remarks by officials in Washington “a fake”
Russia has placed a satellite in orbit that is likely capable of attacking US spacecraft, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder has claimed.
The satellite was launched by Moscow on May 16, Ryder told journalists during a briefing on Tuesday.
According to assessments by the Pentagon, the craft in question is “likely a counter-space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” he said. Its characteristics resemble those of “counter-space payloads” deployed by Russia from 2019 and 2022, the spokesman stated.
“Russia deployed this new counter-space weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite,” Ryder said, adding that the Pentagon will be monitoring the spacecraft.
The US has “a responsibility to be ready to protect and defend... the space domain and ensure continuous and uninterrupted support to the Joint and Combined Force,” he explained. Washington will “continue to balance the need to protect our interests in space with our desire to preserve a stable and sustainable space environment,” according to Ryder.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov rejected the Pentagon’s claims as misinformation. “I don’t think we should be responding to every fake coming from Washington,” he told journalists.
The Russian space program is developing “smoothly” and includes “launches of spacecraft for various purposes, including those that solve the issues of strengthening our defense capabilities,” the diplomat said.
However, he reiterated that Moscow “consistently opposes the deployment of strike weapons in low-Earth orbit.”
“The Americans may say whatever they want, but Russia’s policy [on the issue] will not change,” Ryabkov stressed.
If the US really wanted to achieve security in space, “it would have reconsidered its destructive approach” and accepted Russia’s proposal “to develop a treaty on the prevention of an arms race in outer space,” he said.
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May 21, 2024 at 11:59PM
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Moscow could derail Kiev’s diplomatic campaign by presenting an alternative to its ‘peace formula’, the president has said
Russia must not be present at the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit next month because it could gain the support of other countries and hijack Kiev’s agenda, President Vladimir Zelensky has said.
In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Zelensky weighed in on the prospects for the high-profile June 15-16 meeting on Lake Lucerne, which is expected to draw at least 50 delegations. Moscow has not been invited, although it has said it would not go even if it were, arguing that the summit will be devoted to promoting Ukraine’s “peace formula.”
The ten-point initiative calls for Moscow to withdraw from all territory Kiev claims as its own and for a tribunal to be set up to prosecute Russian officials for alleged war crimes. Moscow has dismissed the initiative as “detached from reality.”
According to Zelensky, the Swiss-hosted summit is meant to put international pressure on Russia, with nuclear security high on the agenda. He added that Kiev needs to win the support of a large number of countries, after which a joint plan of action could be developed.
”Why is Russia not involved? Because they will block everything. They will disrupt everything, they will not calm down until they show one or another plan for ending the war, which will be an ultimatum,” Zelensky claimed. “That’s why it cannot be the agenda of Russia.”
The Ukrainian leader added that if Moscow is allowed to seize the initiative, it will be able to leverage its economic ties and diplomatic clout to achieve its desired outcome. For this reason, Zelensky argued, the participants of the summit should develop a plan without Russia, and then hand it over to Moscow via intermediaries. “Then, Russia will have to answer to the global majority,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that while Moscow is ready to hold talks on Ukraine, it will not attend the summit in Switzerland, as the sole purpose is to impose an “ultimatum” on Russia. He added that the meeting completely ignores other peace initiatives, and that Switzerland – which has taken part in the Western sanctions on Russia – has lost its neutral status.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Moscow seeks the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine, which implies neutral status for the country and a rejection of its ambitions to join NATO. Moscow views the US-led military bloc’s expansions towards its borders as an existential threat.
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May 21, 2024 at 11:11PM
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Neuralink is planning to extend the trial to 10 people this year, allowing them to interact with a computer using their thoughts
The US health regulator has granted permission to Elon Musk’s Neuralink to implant a brain chip in a second patient despite some initial issues with the first test subject, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The brain-chip startup received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a trial with a second patient using a modified procedure after the company proposed to fix a problem that occurred with its first test subject, the outlet said.
The chip, which is named Telepathy, was successfully implanted for the first time last February. It allowed 30-year-old quadriplegic Noland Arbaugh to control a computer mouse using his thoughts with “no ill effects,” according to the neurotechnology company.
The surgery involved a specially designed robot placing the computer chip – which is about the size of a coin with ultra-thin flexible threads – in the region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink explained. The chip was then used to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an app that decodes movement intention.
Earlier this month, Neuralink said tiny wires implanted in the brain of its first patient had been pulled out of position. Last week, Reuters reported that the company had known from animal testing that the wires, which are thinner than a strand of human hair, could retract, along with the electrodes used to read brain signals.
With the second patient, the quarter-sized chip will be implanted deeper into the brain to prevent it from retracting, according to the WSJ.
Neuralink expects to implant its device in the second patient in June, and another eight people will participate in further trials before the end of this year, the report said. More than 1,000 quadriplegics have signed up for its patient registry.
The startup has claimed that the ultimate goal of the project, dubbed the PRIME Study, is to develop a “fully implantable, wireless brain-computer interface” that would give people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone. This would later make way for groundbreaking treatments for people suffering from physical disabilities such as paralysis and blindness, as well as illnesses like obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia.
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May 21, 2024 at 12:17AM
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E-commerce billionaire Tatyana Bakalchuk believes a new progressive system would stimulate healthy competition
Increasing taxes for big businesses in Russia will help smaller companies compete with larger rivals, Tatyana Bakalchuk, the CEO of national e-commerce giant Wildberries, has said.
A new progressive tax scale, which is currently being mulled by Russian lawmakers, would promote the development of small- and medium-sized businesses, Bakalchuk argued on Monday at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes.
“We believe that the progressive tax scale that will now be considered by the State Duma is a very good [proposal]… We have finally approached this task, we will be very happy if we are potentially involved in this,” Bakalchuk added, stressing that Wildberries is among the country’s biggest taxpayers.
The businesswoman also called for transparent business activities, arguing that taxes should correspond to the scale of a company’s activities. The entrepreneur expressed confidence that a progressive scale would allow the Russian government to solve a number of economic and social problems.
A former English teacher and a mother of seven, Bakalchuk launched her e-commerce business in 2004. Her fortune amounts to $7.4 billion, according to Forbes, which ranks the Wildberries CEO as the richest woman in Russia.
In April, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced plans for public discussion on proposals to update the tax system. He highlighted that any improvements to the system would be based on a more equitable distribution of the tax burden. The minister also specified that changes would target those with higher personal or corporate incomes, while pledging to close tax loopholes.
In 2024, Russia introduced a windfall tax on any businesses whose profits in 2021-2022 exceeded 1 billion rubles ($10.5 million), charging 10% on any excess profits earned during that period. Companies established after 2020 and energy sector firms are exempt from the payment.
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May 20, 2024 at 11:59PM
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A former infrastructure minister says the country faces months of blackouts due to Russian strikes
About 90% of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been taken out by Russian missile attacks, according to former minister of infrastructure Aleksey Kucherenko.
The situation is not expected to improve dramatically, as the damaged infrastructure cannot be restored quickly, the member of parliament warned during an interview with the YouTube channel Vishka.
“We have lost around eight thousand megawatts of electricity, that’s a lot, out of eight thousand, 800 are currently working,” he said, citing power engineers, and warning of extensive power outages through the summer and winter.
Moscow began targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the autumn of 2022, after Russia’s Crimean Bridge was bombed that October.
In recent months Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukrainian military and energy facilities. In April, the Russian Defense Ministry said the bombardment was in response to Kiev’s attempts to target Russian oil infrastructure. Since January, Ukraine has launched multiple long-range attacks on energy facilities deep inside Russia, including oil depots and refineries, using kamikaze drones.
In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s strikes on energy facilities “directly affect the defense industry of Ukraine,” calling them part of “demilitarization” efforts. Moscow reiterated the attacks are only aimed at Ukrainian military targets and facilities that support their operations, and never at the civilian population.
To alleviate the pressure on the power grid, Ukraine has introduced temporary blackouts for industrial and household consumers in all regions. The nation has also ramped up imports of electricity from neighboring EU countries – Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – and also from Moldova.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko claimed that the combined financial losses from Russian attacks amounted to more than $1 billion, and warned that the figure is likely to rise. He noted that the main damage was to thermal and hydro generation, as well as power transmission systems.
In April, Galushchenko urged Ukrainians to prepare for outages during spring and summer, and advised the population to stock up on electricity generators and power banks.
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May 20, 2024 at 12:04AM
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Expressing his condolences, the Indian PM underscored Raisi’s role in enhancing bilateral ties between New Delhi and Tehran
India stands with Iran in its time of sorrow, the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Monday in response to President Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter accident near the border with Azerbaijan.
Raisi, 63, and his entire entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Malek Rahmati, governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, died in the accident. The Iranian leader had embarked on the trip after joining Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday to inaugurate a dam.
Modi, posting on X (formerly Twitter), said he was “shocked and saddened” by Raisi’s demise, and added that his contribution to strengthening New Delhi’s bilateral relationship with Tehran “will always be remembered.”
When the first reports of Raisi’s helicopter crash surfaced on Saturday, the Indian PM said he was “deeply concerned.”“We stand in solidarity with the Iranian people in this hour of distress,” he wrote.
Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His contribution to strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran.…
In November last year, Modi discussed the turbulence in the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Modi expressed “deep concern at the terrorist incidents, violence and loss of civilian lives” while also reiterating India’s “longstanding and consistent position” on the Israel-Palestine issue. Both leaders also emphasized the need to prevent escalation, ensure continued humanitarian aid, and work towards the restoration of peace and stability.
Indian Foreign Minister Subhramanyam Jaishankar on Monday also took to X to express his condolences, recalling his “many meetings” with Raisi and Iran’s foreign minister, with the most recent taking place in January of this year.
Jaishankar travelled to Iran to discuss the volatile situation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping lanes, which have come under attack from Houthi rebels, allegedly backed by Tehran. He also held talks on Chabahar Port, as the two countries have been working on a strategic logistics and infrastructure project since 2018.
Last week, New Delhi and Tehran signed a 10-year deal allowing India to operate the port, which is seen as a gateway for unlocking India’s trade potential with Iran, Afghanistan, the Central Asian countries, Russia and Europe. The development of Chabahar is also vital for the North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), an alternative shipping route envisioned by New Delhi, Tehran, and Moscow.
The long-term deal, seen by New Delhi as benefitting the entire region, hasn’t gone unnoticed by India’s partners in the West. Hours after it was inked, the US State Department warned that anyone cooperating with Iran needs to “be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to.”
Reacting to the statement, Jaishankar suggested Washington should not take “a narrow view” of the project. The diplomat pointed out that the US has previously been “appreciative” of the fact that the port of Chabahar has “a larger relevance.”
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May 19, 2024 at 11:03PM
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The British, German and French economies are among those which would be hurt the most if they saw their trade ties cut with no chance of parallel imports, analysts claim
The US, Russian and Chinese economies could weather a full trade blockade with relatively little damage, while Germany, France and the UK would be badly hurt, the Russian news outlet Vedomosti reported this week, citing a study by the Sino-Russian Laboratory for Assessing the Consequences of Intercountry Trade Wars.
The research, conducted in early 2024 at China’s National Supercomputing Center, tested the resilience of 19 global economies to large-scale economic sanctions using mathematical modeling. Analysts assessed the direct gross domestic product (GDP) losses each country would suffer if faced with a complete trade blockade without the possibility of parallel imports.
The study revealed that while all countries would see their economies contract under the proposed scenario, some would be hit worse than others. Russia would be among the three most resilient, with its economy shrinking by no more than 3.5%. China would see its GDP ebb by 3.1%, while the US would witness a 2.3% drop.
Meanwhile, the German economy would be the worst hit if its trade ties were cut, contracting by 8.1%. Significant damage would also be suffered by South Korea (down by 7.9%), Mexico (7.2%), France (7%), Türkiye (6.6%), Italy (6%) and the UK (5.7%).
The study also found that the economies of Australia, Indonesia and Japan would see a contraction of 3.7-3.8%, making them less vulnerable to trade sanctions than India, Brazil and Canada, which would see GDP declines of 4%, 4.2% and 5.5%, respectively.
Analysts linked the comparatively good stress-test performance of the American, Chinese and Russian economies with the conditional Composite Index of National Capability, explaining that these countries have more significant natural resources, as well as human, scientific and military potential than others.
Commenting on the findings, Stanislav Murashov, Chief Economist at Raiffeisenbank, noted that when dealing with economic restrictions, the least affected countries would be the best prepared.
“The winner is the one who, in general terms, geared up for [restrictions] by localizing their production, or someone who will be able, for example, to abandon some imported components, parts, raw materials, equipment. Judging by the study, a possible thesis is confirmed that Europe is more reliant on the global market than China, the US and Russia,” he told Kommersant news daily.
The Russian economy, which is already subjected to a wide array of international economic sanctions due to the Ukraine conflict, initially contracted by 1.2% in 2022, but last year posted growth of 3.6%, according to official statistics. The first quarter of 2024 saw the country’s GDP further increase by 5.4% year-on-year, according to preliminary estimates issued on Friday. The International Monetary Fund said last month it expects the Russian economy to expand 3.2% this year, a projection which puts the country ahead of a number of major Western economies, including the US (2.7%), UK (0.5%), France (0.7%), and Germany (0.2%).
“Many” civilians were also wounded in the attack on Russia’s Kherson Region, according to the local administration
One person has been killed and “many” others wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike on a minibus carrying civilians in Russia’s Kherson Region, Governor Vladimir Saldo said on Sunday.
The attack took place in the village of Radensk on Sunday morning, Saldo wrote on Telegram. The UAV targeted a vehicle with workers on their way to harvest strawberries, he added.
“The explosion killed one person. There are many wounded, who are receiving necessary medical assistance,” the governor said.
Russian regions have seen several attacks on buses by Ukrainian drones since the start of this month.
On May 6, seven people were killed and dozens wounded after UAVs targeted two minibuses carrying farmers near the village of Beryozovka in Belgorod Region.
Two days earlier, two people were injured when a drone struck a bus in the village of Voznesenka, also in Belgorod Region.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that “a number of attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks” on Russian territory with the use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles and drones were prevented overnight.
Nine ATACMS were shot down by air defenses over Crimea, while a total of 57 drones were intercepted in the Krasnodar Region, the ministry said. Three UAVs were destroyed in Belgorod Region, it added.
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May 18, 2024 at 11:10PM
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Hamas killed the three civilians while they were escaping the October 7 Nova festival carnage, Israel says
The Israeli military has retrieved the bodies of three hostages from Gaza, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Friday.
Among them is a 22-year-old German-Israeli woman, Shani Louk, seen in a widely circulated Hamas hostage-taking video during the raid on the Nova Festival, an all-night musical event held near the Gaza border on October 7.
Louk’s parents told the Washington Post the day after the carnage that they recognized her tattoos and long dreadlocks in the footage, which was posted hours after the raid.
It appeared to show her face-down and unconscious in the back of a pickup truck as militants surrounded her body, cheering. After watching the video, Louk’s mother posted a plea for “any help or any news” of her daughter.
Initially it was believed that Hamas kidnapped Louk alive, but her mother told German media back in October that the Israeli military had confirmed the death after finding a part of her skull. However, it was hoped that the two other hostages were still alive.
The other two deceased were identified as Amit Buskila, a fashion stylist, who was on the phone with her uncle during the carnage, and Yitzhak Gelernter, who reached the site a couple of hours before the attack.
Hagari said all three “were murdered by Hamas while escaping the Nova music festival… and their bodies were taken into Gaza”. He did not specify the location from where the remains were retrieved. Israeli media reported that the bodies were taken from a Hamas tunnel, and the military said it located them through “interrogations”. Israel is currently conducting a ground operation in the Gazan city of Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the soldiers conducting the military operation on Friday, calling the latest discovery “heart-breaking,” and reiterating a pledge to return all the remaining 129 hostages, “the living and the deceased alike”.
Hamas said that the other hostages will only be released through a ceasefire truce.
“The enemy will not get its prisoners except as lifeless corpses or through an honorable exchange deal for our people,” it said.
Fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas, which has lasted more than seven months, was sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s surprise incursion into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people.
Hamas also took over 200 hostages, half of whom were later released as part of prisoner exchanges.
Over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed and 78,755 wounded as a result of Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to health authorities in the enclave.
Qatar, one of the international mediators in the Israel-Hamas conflict, said this week that ceasefire talks had reached an impasse following the Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah.
Israeli officials told news website Ynet last week that the negotiations had not completely collapsed, and that indirect talks would resume “if there are answers from Hamas that we can work with.”
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May 18, 2024 at 04:14AM
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Russia’s special envoy to Kabul has said New Delhi and Moscow share similar approaches to the Afghan crisis
Russia and India have similar approaches and views on resolving the Afghan crisis, according to Zamir Kabulov, Director of the Second Department of Asia of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Kabulov was in New Delhi to take part in bilateral consultations on Afghanistan, which covered various aspects of the political, humanitarian and socio-economic challenges facing the country.
According to the senior diplomat, it became clear at the consultations in New Delhi that the positions of Russia and India on Afghanistan are “much closer than previously thought,” and that the approaches offered by the two countries to settle the crisis are “practically identical.”
“I cannot say that the Taliban have become our [Russia’s] number one friends, but they are definitely not our enemies. The Taliban openly state that they trust Russia as the successor to the USSR,” said Kabulov.
Although Moscow has not formally recognized the Taliban, which took power in Kabul in 2021 during the final stage of the withdrawal of US troops, Russia was among the first nations to establish contacts and agree to business deals with the new government. New Delhi also doesn’t recognize the Taliban government. However, in June 2022, it re-established its diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a “technical team” at its embassy.
“The Taliban’s rise to power was an unpleasant surprise for New Delhi, although we’d had friendly warnings that this would happen. Due to several reasons related to Pakistan and China, the Indian side had a restrained attitude towards the Taliban. However, the Indian side understands that what Russia is doing [to settle the crisis] is beneficial for India and does not contradict its interests,” Kabulov told TASS.
He recalled that India had very closely interacted with the previous Afghan government, investing heavily in it both politically and economically. Following the consultation in New Delhi, Russian and Indian officials highlighted the urgency of providing assistance in the form of international aid to mitigate the suffering of the Afghan people.
Earlier this year, an Indian delegation participated in a Regional Cooperation Initiative meeting in Kabul hosted by the Taliban. In March, senior Indian diplomat J. P. Singh held talks with the Taliban’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The two sides discussed security, trade and ways to counter the drug trade, according to an Afghan statement.
Singh also noted India’s interest in expanding economic cooperation with Afghanistan, and enhancing trade through Chabahar Port in Iran (https://ift.tt/d5izyXw), the statement added. New Delhi signed a 10-year agreement with Iran to manage the strategic port earlier this week.
“India’s commitment to Chabahar Port is to realize its potential as a connectivity hub for Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesman of New Delhi’s foreign ministry said on Friday. He underscored that the project is crucial in continuing to provide humanitarian supplies to Afghanistan.
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May 18, 2024 at 02:36AM
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