Category: Євросоюз

Russia’s communications regulator accused 10 local media outlets on Saturday of falsely depicting what Russia calls a special military operation in Ukraine and distributing false information about events there. Among those sent warning letters were Echo Moskvy, a popular radio station, and Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the government whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded a Nobel Peace prize last year. Roskomnadzor, the regulator, ordered the media to delete the offending information or face restricted access to their websites and media resources. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week, saying it needed to demilitarize its neighbor. …

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine could force as many as 4 million Ukrainians to flee their country, the United Nations said this week, spawning one of the worst refugee crises in Europe in more than 70 years. According to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, as of Saturday morning, more than 150,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, with an estimated 75,000 crossing into Poland. Grandi tweeted Saturday morning the number of internally displaced refugees within Ukraine “is also growing but the military situation makes it difficult to estimate numbers and provide aid.” Poland – along with Moldova, Romania, …

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French sea police seized a ship on Saturday that authorities suspect belongs to a Russian company targeted by European Union sanctions over the war in Ukraine, a government official told Reuters. The cargo vessel transporting cars, which was headed for St. Petersburg, is “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions,” said Captain Veronique Magnin of the French Maritime Prefecture. The ship was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT), Magnin said, adding ongoing checks were being carried out by customs officials and the ship’s crew …

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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine. The latest developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all times EST: 3:32 a.m.: Ukraine’s president tweets about joining the EU.   3:05 a.m.: Ukraine’s president says France is sending weapons to his country. 2:33 a.m.: Kazakhstan denies Russia’s request for troops, NBC News reports. 1:57 a.m.: “Kyiv requires special attention,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday. “We cannot lose the capital.” 1:33 a.m.: Syrian president praises Russian actions, Al Jazeera reports. 1 a.m.: Protests against Russia continue in Australia. 12:39 a.m.: The BBC reports that missiles are …

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Explosions and gunfire could be heard Saturday in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as Russian and Ukrainian forces battled for control of the city. Ukrainian officials are urging the country’s citizens to help defend Kyiv against the Russian forces.  An army base in the capital was attacked, but Ukraine’s military said that attack was repelled. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had predicted the attacks on Kyiv would become more intense Saturday. “Kyiv requires special attention,” he said Saturday. “We cannot lose the capital.” Russian forces advancing on Kyiv and other key cities as part of a plan to “decapitate” Ukraine’s government appear to …

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China’s failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is undermining its own long-standing defense of sovereignty and territorial integrity on the world stage, according to U.S. officials and experts. “It’s not in China’s interest to endorse a devastating conflict in Europe and defy the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity it claims to hold dear,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters Thursday. “We’re obviously clear-eyed about how China operates,” the official said, “but the fact is that Russia’s aggressive actions here carry risks for China along with everyone else.” The U.S. State Department also dismissed a new Russian offer …

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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.  UN chief appeals to Putin to cease war on Ukraine  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made multiple appeals to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to stop his military invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, Guterres said, “I repeat my appeal from last night to President Putin: Stop the military operation; bring the troops back to Russia.” The U.N. chief has been especially outspoken in recent days, raising Moscow’s ire.  Ukraine’s foreign minister appeals to UN …

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Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn Thursday televised address, social media users living in countries near Ukraine began setting up online networks to support refugees. By Friday evening, at least 100,000 people had signed up to various groups on Facebook and other platforms, offering their homes, money and carpools to Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, crossed into Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia as of Friday as Russian missiles pounded the capital of Kyiv and men of fighting age were told to remain. Malgorzata Krentowska was one …

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U.N. aid agencies are increasing humanitarian operations to help Ukrainians whose lives have been upended since Russia invaded the country. The Russian offensive has thrown the country into turmoil. Aid agencies are scrambling to assess the dangers and priority needs and to help millions of people in an environment of extreme insecurity. Preliminary figures of casualties are daunting. As of February 24, the U.N. human rights office says it has received reports of at least 127 civilian casualties, including 25 killed and 102 injured. Most of those casualties were reported in government-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine’s separatist regions of Donetsk …

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South Korean officials reiterated Friday that they willl implement U.S. and European sanctions on Russian exports but that Seoul will not impose its own. The sanctions were imposed this week in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “As a responsible member of the international community, the Korean government will support and join [its] efforts, including economic sanctions, to curb [Russia’s] armed invasion and resolve the situation peacefully,” the foreign affairs ministry said Friday in a Twitter post. That echoed remarks made a day earlier by President Moon Jae-in, who argued for a resolution through dialogue and negotiation, not war. Semiconductors, …

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Hundreds of Australians of Ukrainian descent joined those with Russian heritage to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in downtown Sydney on Friday. It was an act of solidarity many thousands of kilometers away from the conflict in Ukraine. Protesters held signs urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the killing. The Australian government has joined the international condemnation of the Russian attack. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also condemned China for undermining Western sanctions against Russia. In early February, China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Putin agreed to boost trade ties. Australia insists the agreement was aimed at undermining the …

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International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan on Friday expressed his concern over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said his court may investigate possible war crimes in the country. “I have been closely following recent developments in and around Ukraine with increasing concern,” Khan said in a statement. “I remind all sides conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine that my office may exercise its jurisdiction and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine.” Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian …

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European Union leaders have announced what they called “massive” sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine during an emergency summit in Brussels that spilled into the early hours of Friday. The measures come amid reports of Russian troops moving ever closer to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. This is the European Union’s second set of sanctions against Moscow in less than a week, along with those imposed by the United States and other Western powers. EU leaders say they will hit Russia in five areas: the financial, energy and transport sectors, as well as through export controls and visa policy. Ursula von der …

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed again Thursday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease his invasion of Ukraine and withdraw his troops. “The decisions of the coming days will shape our world and directly affect the lives of millions upon millions of people,” Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters. The use of force by one country against another violates the bedrock principles of the United Nations that all states have agreed to in its Charter, he said. Guterres said the current military offensive is wrong. “It is against the (U.N.) Charter. It is unacceptable. But it is not irreversible,” …

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Security forces in Russia have broken up anti-war protests in several cities across the country. In Moscow, protesters chanted “no to war” after Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine early Thursday. …

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Russian police detained more than 1,300 anti-war protestors in 50 Russian cities Thursday, according to OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights group. Anti-war rallies broke out after a military operation targeting Ukraine was announced. The human rights organization said most of the detentions, 660, were in Moscow. The group said arrests were also made in Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and other cities. Russian President Vladimir Putin used a televised address to announce what he called a “special” military operation in eastern Ukraine, in response to what he termed Ukrainian threats. He warned other countries not to intervene, declaring they will …

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In the week after the Nazis began attacking Poland, the U.S. weekly newsmagazine Time declared in its September 11, 1939, edition, “World War II began last week at 5:20 a.m. (Polish time) Friday, September 1, when a German bombing plane dropped a projectile on Puck, a fishing village and air base in the armpit of the Hel Peninsula.” France and the United Kingdom, allies of Poland, had declared war on Germany on September 3. In the hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine — although no country has declared war on Russia — many are asking: …

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has so far been met with diplomatic silence in Africa, except for a comment made by Kenya’s ambassador to the UN earlier this week. Analysts say that while many Africans disagree with Russia’s use of force, the continent’s governments are aware of Russia’s power on the world stage. Ukraine’s ambassador to Kenya, Andrii Pravednyk, spoke to reporters in Nairobi and appealed to the international community to help his country against Russia’s invasion. “Today, the future of Europe and the future of the world is at stake. Today Ukraine calls on the international community to take the …

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Human Rights Watch warns Russian President Vladimir Putin’s battle plan for Ukraine will likely entail the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure to weaken Ukraine’s resolve to fight on.  Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, says he fears Russia’s military will replicate in Ukraine the war strategy it employed to help the Syrian regime reclaim the northern province of Idlib, the country’s last rebel-controlled enclave.   He says a detailed study of how Russia fought that war found repeated instances of Russian bombers deliberately targeting civilian institutions. He says hospitals, schools, markets, and civilian buildings were blatantly attacked.  …

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Stocks plunged and oil prices surged by more than $5 per barrel Thursday after President Vladimir Putin launched military action in Ukraine, prompting Washington and Europe to vow sanctions on Moscow that may roil the global economy. Market benchmarks in Europe and Asia fell by as much as 4% as traders tried to figure out how large Putin’s incursion would be and the scale of Western retaliation. Wall Street futures retreated by an unusually wide daily margin of 2.5%. Brent crude oil briefly jumped above $100 per barrel in London for the first time since 2014 on unease about possible …

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