Month: November 2021

Russia has ordered the expulsion of a Dutch journalist — the second deportation of a resident foreign correspondent in the past two months — and has reduced natural gas supplies to energy-starved Europe.  News of the abrupt moves came as American intelligence chief William Burns was concluding a rare two-day visit to Moscow, part of a recent Biden administration effort to try to ease tensions over a range of geopolitical disagreements and to foster a more stable and predictable relationship between Western powers and Russia. Western nations have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia for its 2014 annexation of …

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A Russian analyst who provided information for a dossier of research used during the Trump-Russia investigation has been arrested by U.S. authorities as part of an ongoing special counsel investigation, the Justice Department said Thursday. Igor Danchenko is the third person, and second in a two-month span, to face charges in special counsel John Durham’s probe into the origins of the Russia investigation. Danchenko functioned as a source for Christopher Steele, a former British spy who was paid by Democrats to examine ties between Russia and Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. The research he compiled was provided to …

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Ukraine on Thursday appointed a new defense minister with a mandate to strengthen the army, as the country remains locked in conflict with pro-Russia separatists. Oleksiy Reznikov, a lawyer with limited military experience, replaces Andriy Taran, who resigned earlier this week reportedly for health reasons.  A total of 273 lawmakers in the 450-seat Ukrainian parliament voted to approve the candidacy of Reznikov, who was nominated by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Introducing Reznikov to lawmakers in parliament, Zelensky said that his main task would be “to strengthen the defense capacity of the army”. The Ukrainian army is locked in a simmering conflict …

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Russia’s military buildup along its border with Ukraine is not yet setting off any alarms in Washington.  The United States’ highest-ranking military officer Wednesday said the U.S. was aware of Moscow’s military movement, describing it as “significant” but also as “nothing overtly aggressive.”  “We’ve seen this before,” General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a security forum in Washington, noting Russia’s annual Zapad exercises often involve tens of thousands of troops.  “So, what does this mean? We don’t know yet,” Milley said. “But we’re continuing to monitor with all of our capabilities.”  U.S. military and …

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The U.S. government has added four foreign technology companies to its restricted companies list, saying they “developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments” and that the spyware was used “to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers.” The State Department accused the companies of “engaging in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”  The companies are Israel’s NSO Group and Candiru, Russia’s Positive Technologies, and Singapore’s Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE. LTD.  These companies will now face severe restrictions in exporting their products to the U.S., and it will …

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China and Russia are set to introduce a joint resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for an end to a host of economic sanctions on North Korea. Among the sanctions the two countries want lifted are a ban on North Koreans working overseas and sending home their earnings, exporting seafood and textiles and ending a cap on imports of refined petroleum. The draft resolution, obtained separately by the Associated Press and Reuters, urges the 15-member Security Council to remove the sanctions “with the intent of enhancing the livelihood of the civilian population” of North Korea. The U.N. first imposed sanctions on …

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U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced ambitious climate commitments at  the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. He also slammed Chinese and Russian leaders for not doing their part. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara brings this report from Glasgow. Produced by: Kimberlyn Weeks            Anita Powell contributed to this report. …

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“My granduncle — cousin of my grandfather — was a Catholic priest who was put in the labor camp when the communist regime barbarically tried to destroy all the monasteries,” said Miriam Lexmann, one of dozens of legislators from around the world who gathered in Rome last weekend on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.  Their message for the leaders of the world’s richest countries: Take a tougher stance toward the Chinese government, and stand up for those who are threatened by Beijing’s policies, from Xinjiang to Taiwan.  The so-called “counter-meeting” was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), …

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CIA Director William Burns is making a rare visit to Moscow to discuss U.S.-Russia relations, the latest in a series of high-level contacts that show both sides want to keep talking despite mutual distrust and a long list of disputes.  A U.S. Embassy spokesperson said Burns was leading a delegation of senior U.S. officials to Moscow on Tuesday and Wednesday at President Joe Biden’s request.  “They are meeting with members of the Russian government to discuss a range of issues in the bilateral relationship,” the spokesperson said.  Russia’s Security Council said Burns, a Russian-speaker and former ambassador to Moscow, held …

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