Month: June 2024

‘Before Bucha Was Abkhazia’: Georgians link past Russian atrocities with Ukraine invasion

Tbilisi, Georgia — Campaigners in Georgia are seeking to highlight atrocities committed by invading Russian troops and allied militias during the early 1990s, which they say should have been a warning of the dangers posed by Russia long before Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  Their campaign, “Before Bucha Was Abkhazia,” is touring U.S. and European cities and includes documentary screenings, photography exhibitions and presentations. Russian atrocities As the Soviet Union was collapsing, Georgia declared independence in 1991. There were tensions between Georgians and ethnic minority groups in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions bordering Russia. Many Georgians say Moscow …

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Russia bans distribution of dozens of EU news outlets in retaliatory step

moscow — Russia said on Tuesday it was banning access inside Russia to the broadcasts of 81 different media outlets from the European Union — including Agence France-Presse and Politico — in retaliation for a similar EU ban on several Russian media outlets.  The European Union said in May it was suspending the distribution of what it described as four “Kremlin-linked propaganda networks,” stripping them of their broadcasting rights in the bloc.  It said at the time that the ban applied to Voice of Europe, to the RIA news agency, and to the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.  The Russian Foreign …

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In deal with US, WikiLeaks’ Assange pleads guilty, secures freedom, ends legal fight

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to a single felony charge for publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that secures his freedom and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security.  The plea was entered Wednesday morning in federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific. He arrived at court shortly before the hearing was to begin and did not take questions.  Though the deal with prosecutors required him to admit guilt to a …

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UK’s King Charles welcomes Japan’s Emperor Naruhito for state visit

london — Britain’s King Charles welcomed Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his wife to London at a Buckingham Palace banquet on Tuesday, celebrating economic, diplomatic and cultural ties on the first day of a three-day state visit.   “Our governments are working together to provide a stable world for future generations,” said Charles, flanked by Queen Camilla on one side and Naruhito on the other.  “Supporting all these shared endeavors are the enduring ties between our people that transcend geography — and that does not just mean how much we enjoy tea and talking about the weather.”   The emperor’s trip, postponed …

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‘Sham’ trial of American journalist Gershkovich to begin in Russia

Washington — The closed-door trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich is set to begin on Wednesday in Russia, nearly 15 months after he was jailed on espionage charges that are widely viewed as baseless and politically motivated. A correspondent with The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich was detained in March 2023 on spying charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The State Department has also declared Gershkovich wrongfully detained. Press freedom experts have said that the trial against Gershkovich will almost certainly be a politically motivated sham. The trial is taking place in Yekaterinburg, where Gershkovich was first …

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