Category: Євросоюз

Russia outfoxed European Union sanctions by delivering gas turbines made by Germany’s Siemens to the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea. Now for the hard part, switching them on. No Russian company, according to Reuters data, has ever got a Siemens turbine working without the help of the manufacturer. In this case, Siemens said the turbines were shipped to Crimea behind its back and is refusing to be involved, leaving Moscow to work out how to start them up to fulfill President Vladimir Putin’s promise to give Crimea a stable power supply. Siemens has filed a lawsuit against its Russian customer …

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Thirty-five European children have died from measles in the past 12 months in what the World Health Organization calls an “unacceptable” tragedy. The deaths could have been prevented by a vaccine. A measles outbreak in Minnesota sent nearly two dozen people to the hospital. Still, some parents in developed countries continue to believe false reports that the measles vaccine causes autism. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports. …

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The U.S. State Department is urging Russia to reconsider their new ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Monday, the Russian Supreme Court rejected an appeal on an earlier ruling that labeled the group extremist, ordering the Christian denomination to disband immediately on Russian territory. The State Department called the court decision “the latest in a disturbing trend of persecution of religious minorities in Russia.”   It said, “Religious minorities should be able to enjoy freedom of religion and assembly without interference as guaranteed by the Russian Federation’s constitution.” The State Department urged Russian authorities to lift the ban on the Jehovah’s …

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Germany has called terrorism accusations against one of its citizens in Turkey absurd and demanded the “immediate release” of the activist. “The Turkish government needs to immediately and directly hear the German government’s outrage and incomprehension as well as its crystal-clear expectations in the case of Peter Steudtner, and this time without diplomatic niceties,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said.  After a meeting Wednesday with Turkey’s ambassador, Schaefer said he told the envoy “in no uncertain terms” the detention of Steudtner was “unacceptable” and said the German sentiment would be delivered to Ankara. Turkey earlier this month jailed six human-rights …

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A German newspaper publisher says it has filed an appeal to Turkey’s highest court against the incarceration for the past five months of a German-Turkish reporter. Deniz Yucel, who works for the daily Die Welt, was arrested Feb. 14 in Istanbul. Turkish authorities accuse him of disseminating terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred, as well as espionage and ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK –  allegations Yucel denies. He hasn’t been formally charged. Die Welt’s publisher, WeltN24 GmbH, said it filed a complaint Tuesday to the Constitutional Court in Ankara against Yucel’s continued imprisonment and violation of its …

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught Wednesday by a live microphone railing against the European Union’s “crazy” insistence on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a precondition for closer ties with the 28-state bloc, and trumpeting Israel as essential to its prosperity and survival. Netanyahu was meeting with leaders of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia at a regional summit, where a conversation with his Czech and Hungarian counterparts discussing Iran, Syria, the Islamic State, and EU-Israel relations was accidentally broadcast to journalists covering the conference. Netanyahu also made a rare public admission that Israel has struck Iranian arms …

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The pro-Russian rebel leader of a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine proposed on Tuesday replacing Ukraine with a new federal state, in comments that could further undermine a 2015 peace deal that is already faltering. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected the idea, describing Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), as part of “a puppet show,” with Russia pulling his strings in order to relay a message. France and Germany, which are involved in diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine crisis, also condemned the proposal. However, the Kremlin said it warranted analysis, though it declined to discuss …

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Poland’s parliament moved closer on Tuesday to giving itself the power to appoint Supreme Court judges, ignoring opposition assertions that the move would politicize the judiciary. Lawmakers from the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and their coalition partners passed the bill in its first reading and moved immediately to the second and final reading, amid frequent opposition cries of “Shame!” and “Cowards!” Opposition deputies vowed to extend the all-day debate as long as possible to delay the bill’s passage into law. Since winning an election in 2015, PiS has sought to increase the government’s influence over courts and …

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Turkey announced a new school curriculum Tuesday that excluded Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, feeding opposition fears President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is subverting the republic’s secular foundations. The chairman of a teachers’ union described the changes as a huge step in the wrong direction for Turkey’s schools and an attempt to avoid raising “generations who ask questions.” Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said the main elements of evolution already underpinned the science curriculum, but there would be no mention of Darwin’s landmark theory until university. “Because it is above the students’ level and not directly related, the theory of evolution is …

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Croatia’s defense minister, Damir Krsticevic, offered to resign on Tuesday after the president said the army was too late in helping firefighters tame a fierce forest fire. The blaze, which spread over 20 km near the Adriatic city of Split, threatened the city suburbs late on Monday. The fire was largely under control on Tuesday. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said on Tuesday during a visit to Austria that the army could have turned out faster to help the firefighters. “The size of the fire was such that every helping hand was needed,” she said. However, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic rejected the …

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Congress passed the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act” in 2012 to punish Russian human rights abusers by banning them from entering the United States. The Magnitsky Act is back in the headlines after it was reportedly on the agenda of a recently revealed meeting last June at Trump Tower in New York involving President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., along with the elder Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. VOA diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine spoke with former U.S. ambassadors and veteran diplomats Laura Kennedy and John Herbst, now …

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Progress is not moving fast enough to meet an ambitious set of global goals to conquer poverty, inequality and other international woes by a 2030 deadline, slowed largely by growing war and violence, the United Nations said on Monday. Advances have been few and uneven in reducing conflict and promoting gender equality, sustainable energy, infrastructure and other key areas, the U.N. said in a report assessing the pace of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Approved in September 2015, the sweeping 15-year agenda approved by the 193 U.N. member states is a global “to-do” list to tackle such issues as …

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The Russian government is funding international radio and television outlets to provide what it calls alternative news and views. The state-funded radio Sputnik has recently opened an office in Washington, just a few blocks away from the White House, and began its broadcasts on July 1st. It follows the Russian English-language television RT, which has had a bureau in Washington for several years. Both outlets have already built audiences in Europe. Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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The United States is applauding the European Union for imposing sanctions Monday on 16 Syrian senior military officials and scientists involved in chemical weapons attacks on civilians. “The combined efforts of the United States and European Union … are part of a continuing effort in the international community to hold the Assad regime responsible for violating longstanding global norms against the use of chemical weapons,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. The 16 officials sanctioned Monday will be banned from traveling in the EU, and their European assets will be frozen. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Monday’s actions by …

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Italian firefighters fought more than 1,000 wildfires on Monday amid high temperatures and drought, including three near Rome’s beach neighborhood of Ostia, the fire brigade said. With half the average rainfall last month and temperatures higher than normal, occasionally touching 40 degrees Celsius in the south, fields and forests have turned into perfect kindling, the national agricultural association Coldiretti said. “The situation is very serious … Rome must not be left alone to face this environmental disaster,” the city’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, said during a tour of an area hit by fire. Raggi said fires in the capital could have …

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Danish troops will get training in how to deal with Russian misinformation before being sent to join a NATO military build-up in Estonia in January, Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said on Monday. “It is a whole new world. The Danish soldiers need to be extremely aware of that. Therefore I have arranged with the armed forces that the soldiers being sent out in January are informed and educated in how to protect themselves,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster DR. “It is easy to imagine they will become exposed to intimidation and fake rumors,” he said of the 200 Danish soldiers …

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EU foreign ministers approved on Monday measures to allow Ukraine to export more industrial and agricultural products free of tariffs to the bloc in recognition of reforms undertaken by Kyiv and the country’s fragile economy. By the end of September, Ukraine will be able to export greater tonnage of farm products, including grains, honey and processed tomatoes for three years. The EU will also remove for the same period import duties on fertilizers, dyes, footwear, copper, aluminum, televisions and sound recording equipment. The measures add to a free-trade agreement provisionally in place since January 2016 that has opened both markets …

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Ten Turkish human rights activists who were detained by police while attending a training workshop appeared before a court in Istanbul on Monday to face possible charges or be released from custody. The activists, including Amnesty International’s Turkey director Idil Eser, were detained earlier this month at a hotel on Buyukada island off Istanbul and questioned by anti-terrorism police. Amnesty, which has called for their immediate release, said the group was being investigated for membership in an armed terrorist organization. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made vague accusations against the 10, saying they were holding a meeting that had …

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The European Union and Britain have begun the first substantive round of negotiations on their separation, with both sides saying it is time to proceed quickly. Speaking to reporters Monday at the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, Britain’s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis said at the start of a four-day session on the divorce proceedings that “it is incredibly important we now make good progress.”   EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that “We will now delve into the heart of the matter. We need to examine and compare our respective positions in order to make …

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Thousands of people rallied in Warsaw and other cities Sunday to oppose the Polish government’s controversial new court reforms and future plans to change the Supreme Court, which opponents see as a threat to judicial independence. Chanting “we will defend democracy” and waving EU and Polish flags, around 4,500 protesters attended demonstrations in the Polish capital, according to police. Smaller rallies were held in other cities across the country. The new legislation passed last week has drawn criticism from the European Union, which also said it violates judicial independence. It gives lawmakers a dominant role in appointing judges, a move …

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