Category: Євросоюз

Europe is in danger of becoming as reliant on China for batteries and fuel cells as it was on Russia for energy before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a European Union report obtained by the Reuters news agency. The paper will form the basis of a summit October 5 in Granada, Spain, on Europe’s economic and energy security. The paper, prepared by the Spanish presidency of the European Union, said that because of the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources like solar or wind, Europe will need ways to store energy to reach its goal of net-zero carbon dioxide …

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Ukraine lodged a complaint this week at the World Trade Organization after several eastern European states imposed import bans on Ukrainian food products, exposing divisions in the European Union as its members try to support Kyiv in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia banned the import of Ukrainian grain and other food products last Friday, saying the shipments were undercutting their own farmers. Kyiv confirmed on Monday that it had filed a complaint at the WTO. “It is crucially important for us to prove that individual [EU] member states cannot ban imports of Ukrainian goods. That …

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday the government would not force households to take energy efficiency measures as he announced new changes to some of its commitments to tackle climate change. He said that although the nation will continue to subsidize energy efficiency, it “will never force any household to do it.” “The proposal to make you change your diet and harm British farmers by taxing meat or to create new taxes to discourage flying or going on holiday — I scrapped those too,” Sunak said at the press conference. The prime minister also said there would be …

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The new flare-up of hostilities in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is raising the possibility of geopolitical change in the region, as some in Armenian society say they feel betrayed by what they see as the inaction of Russian peacekeepers. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. …

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Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian authorities in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region reached a cease-fire agreement Wednesday, a day after Azerbaijan launched what it called an “anti-terrorist” operation. The agreement, brokered by Russian peacekeepers, calls for separatist forces to disarm and Armenian forces to withdraw from the area. Azerbaijani authorities and representatives from the ethnic Armenians in the region are also due to hold talks Thursday in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh about the future of the area. The U.N. Security Council is also due to hold an emergency meeting about the situation Thursday. Armenian authorities said the fighting, which had continued …

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At the U.N. General Assembly in New York, U.S. President Joe Biden sought to convince world leaders that his vision of American leadership and multilateral approach to foreign policy will help solve the world’s most pressing problems. He again denounced Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a violation of a core tenet of the U.N. Charter. VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report from New York. …

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Belarusian state media reported that 48 children from Ukraine arrived in Belarus on Tuesday from Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims it has annexed.  The group of children came from the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. They include children from towns that were captured by the Russian army in July 2022. Those regions were illegally annexed by Moscow in December last year, but Russia doesn’t have full control over them.  In photos published by the Belarus state news agency Belta, the children were pictured holding the red and green state flag of Belarus and reportedly thanked the Belarusian authorities, while …

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Azerbaijan took the offensive Tuesday against Armenian positions in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and opened fire, including in areas inhabited by civilians. Local officials reported that the military action killed or injured dozens of civilians in the enclave, which is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians but entirely surrounded by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan called the effort an “anti-terrorist operation.” Its defense ministry said action was taken in response to landmine explosions that killed four soldiers and two civilians in the region. Armenia called the action ethnic cleansing. France strongly condemned Azerbaijan for what it called unjustified military action and called on Azerbaijan, …

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A resounding thump breaks the silence as Jaulia Land drops a lump of grey-brown clay onto the slab roller before Ned Heywood cranks it through the machine once, twice, three times, creating a rectangle about an inch thick.  Laying a pattern on top of the slab, Heywood slices through the clay to create a disc the size of an extra-large pizza that will become one of the blue plaques that dot the walls of buildings throughout London, marking the places where scientists, artists, politicians and activists have made history. As English Heritage unveiled its 1,000th blue plaque on Tuesday, the …

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Britain has invited China to its global artificial intelligence summit in November, with foreign minister James Cleverly saying the risks of the technology could not be contained if one of its leading players was absent. “We cannot keep the UK public safe from the risks of AI if we exclude one of the leading nations in AI tech,” Cleverly said in a statement on Tuesday.   Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants Britain to become a global leader in AI regulation and the summit on Nov. 1-2 will bring together governments, tech companies and academics to discuss the risks posed by …

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A Moscow court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal by The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against a ruling that extended his pretrial detention by three months, according to Russian state media. Gershkovich has been in detention since his arrest in March on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The U.S. government has said the journalist is wrongfully detained.  The court decision marks the latest setback in the legal fight for the reporter, whose pretrial detention has been extended twice — the first being in May. That pre-trial detention was supposed to …

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Evidence suggests a deadly explosion at a busy market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka this month was caused by an errant missile fired by Ukraine, the The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Ukraine has said the Sept. 6 blast, which killed at least 16 people, was caused by a Russian missile. “Evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system,” the newspaper reported. It quoted …

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Azerbaijan said on Tuesday that six of its citizens had been killed by land mines in two separate incidents in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and blamed “illegal Armenian armed groups” for laying the deadly mines. Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, has an overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian population and broke from Baku’s control in the early 1990s after a war. Azerbaijan recaptured swathes of land in and around it in a 2020 war. Baku said four interior ministry staff had been killed when their truck was blown up by a mine near a tunnel construction site. Another mine had killed two …

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At the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva Monday, the legal team for jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich called on member states to prioritize his case. Speaking to the U.N.’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, the lawyers and advocacy group Article 19 said that Gershkovich’s “wrongful detention violates his human rights under international law.” The statement comes one day before a hearing scheduled in Moscow on Tuesday on Gershkovich’s appeal against the extension of his pretrial detention. The Wall Street Journal reporter’s original pretrial detention was scheduled to expire on May 29 but has since been extended until November …

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Italy’s government passed toughened asylum laws Monday as the country faces a surge in migrant arrivals on its southern shores. The new measures will allow for the extended detention of migrants awaiting asylum decisions, from the current three months to an initial six months — with the possibility of an extension up to 18 months. “That will be all the time needed not only to make the necessary assessments, but also to proceed with the repatriation of those who do not qualify for international protection,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said at the start of the meeting, according to Reuters. The …

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American Bohdan Olinares was born in Ukraine and moved to the U.S. with his parents at age two, but when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he immediately joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A former U.S. Marine, he spent six months in Ukraine and was almost killed in the Donetsk region. Anna Rice narrates his story. VOA footage and video editing by Bogdan Osyka. …

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With world leaders gathering in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is stepping up his efforts to save the Ukrainian grain deal and bring Russia back into the agreement. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

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Badly needed food and medicines were delivered to Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday along two roads simultaneously, a step that could ease mounting tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had sent trucks via the Lachin corridor leading from Armenia into the mountain enclave from the southwest, and the Aghdam road from Azerbaijani government-held territory to the northeast. “We are extremely relieved that many people reliant on humanitarian aid will finally receive much-needed support in the coming days,” said Ariane Bauer, ICRC’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia. “People …

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Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday released new video footage in which he smiled and recommended everyone practice sport, in an apparent move to quash speculation about his ill health. Speculation has swirled for months that the hugely influential 46-year-old head of Chechnya accused by rights groups of running a “totalitarian regime” might be ill.  On Sunday, two videos appeared on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel. Wearing a raincoat, he was seen in the first video strolling in an unidentified location. He smiled but his face appeared puffy. In the second video he was heard speaking Chechen and then saying in Russian, …

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Two cargo ships arrived at one of Ukraine’s ports over the weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from a wartime agreement designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports. Two Palau-flagged bulk carriers, Aroyat and Resilient Africa, docked Saturday at the seaport of Chornomorsk in the southern Odesa region, according to an online statement by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The vessels are the first civilian cargo ships to reach one of the Odesa ports since Russia exited the grain deal. Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in an …

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