Greek police have rescued a group of 92 illegal migrants who were discovered naked, and some with injuries, close to its northern border with Turkey, police said Saturday.

The migrants, all men, were discovered close to the Evros river that marks the border between Greece and Turkey on Friday, Greek police said in a statement.

An investigation by Greek police and officials from the EU border agency Frontex, found evidence that the migrants crossed the river into Greek territory in rubber dinghies from Turkey, police said.

“Border policemen…discovered 92 illegal migrants without clothes, some of whom had injuries on their bodies,” the statement said. It was not clear how and why the men had lost their clothes.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said in a tweet that Turkey’s treatment of the migrants was a “shame for civilization.” He said Athens expected Ankara to investigate the incident.

Turkish authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Greece was on the front line of a European migration crisis in 2015 and 2016, when around a million refugees fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrived in the country, mainly via Turkey.

The number of arrivals has fallen since then. But Greek authorities said they had recently seen an increase in attempted arrivals through the Turkish land border and the Greek islands.

Greece has urged Turkey to respect a 2016 deal with the European Union in which Ankara agreed to contain the flow of migrants to Europe in exchange for billions of euros in aid.

Turkey says it has ramped up measures to prevent people smuggling. 
…

Britain’s new Treasury chief Saturday acknowledged mistakes made by his predecessor and suggested that he may reverse much of Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss’ tax-cutting plans in order to bring stability to the country after weeks of economic and political turbulence. 

Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in Friday to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as Treasury chief and restore order in Truss’ administration, warned of “difficult decisions” to come. He said taxes could rise and public spending budgets would likely be squeezed further in the coming months. 

Truss on Friday fired Kwarteng and ditched her pledge to scrap a planned increase in corporation tax as she sought to hang on to her job — after just six weeks in office. 

Truss, a free-market libertarian, had previously insisted that her tax-cutting plans were what Britain needs to boost economic growth. But a “mini-budget” that she and Kwarteng unveiled three weeks ago, which promised 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in tax cuts without explaining how the government would pay for them, sent the markets and the British pound tumbling and left her credibility in tatters. 

The policies, which included cutting income tax for those on the highest incomes, were also widely criticized for being tone-deaf in the face of Britain’s cost-of-living crisis. 

Hunt said Truss recognizes her mistakes and he is going to put them right. Hunt is expected to meet with Treasury officials later and with Truss on Sunday. 

“It was wrong to cut the top rate of tax for the very highest earners at a time where we’re going to have to be asking for sacrifices from everyone to get through a very difficult period,” Hunt told the BBC Saturday. 

“And it was wrong to fly blind and to announce those plans without reassuring people with the discipline of the Office for Budget Responsibility that we actually can afford to pay for them,” he added. “We have to show the world we have a plan that adds up financially.” 

Hunt also indicated that taxes could rise and warned “it’s going to be difficult,” though he declined to give details about how he plans to balance the books ahead of a full fiscal statement expected Oct. 31. 

“Spending will not rise by as much as people would like and all government departments are going to have to find more efficiencies than they were planning to. And some taxes will not be cut as quickly as people want,” he said. 

Hunt, who twice ran in the Conservative Party’s leadership contests, is an experienced lawmaker who previously served in top government posts including as foreign secretary. 

His comments Saturday suggested he may dismantle many of the economic pledges that Truss campaigned for and tried to implement during her first weeks in office. 

Truss’ U-turn on her pledge to stop a planned rise in corporation tax came after an earlier climbdown on her plans to cut the top rate of income tax for the highest earners. 

Her position remains fragile. She has faced heavy pressure from across the political spectrum, including reports that senior members of her Conservative Party were plotting to force her from office. 

On Friday she avoided repeated questions about why she should remain in office when she and Kwarteng were equally responsible for the government’s economic plan and the fallout it triggered. 

“I am absolutely determined to see through what I have promised,” she said. 

Asked Saturday how long Truss would remain as leader, Hunt said, “what the country wants now is stability” and she would be judged by what she delivers until the next general election in 2024. 

“She has been prime minister for less than five weeks and I would just say this – I think that she will be judged at an election,” he said. 
…

Egypt’s energy minister says gas supplies in the Mediterranean region are probably sufficient to meet Europe’s need if investments are made to exploit gas fields in the area.   

Egyptian TV reported Saturday that Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades thanked Egypt for its efforts to jointly coordinate the exploitation of regional undersea natural gas resources by putting together the East Mediterranean Gas Forum last June.  

Arab media also reported Saturday that Egypt’s energy minister, Tarek el Molla, who attended the one-day conference bringing together several nations in Cyprus Friday, said that gas supplies in the East Med region will be what he called “a life-saver for Europe at a time of crisis,” and “could eventually meet Europe’s gas needs if the proper investments are made.”  

Egypt has been critical in the past of European and international finance institutions for being unwilling or unenthusiastic about making investments in regional oil fields to share the burden of bringing gas production in several undersea fields online, which is frequently very costly.

Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA that the current international crisis resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could eventually subside and “if Russian gas was again pumped to Europe, it would make some East Med gas fields less profitable to exploit.”  

Sadek pointed out that a number of East Mediterranean gas fields are fraught with problems linked to regional rivalries and conflicts between Egypt and Turkey — over fields near Libya and Greece — and Turkey over fields in Cypriot territorial waters, and in fields between Greece and Turkey.  

“The Mediterranean is full of gas …enough to export, but the trouble is the struggle, especially the problem with Libya is problematic and it will take time, [and] the Cana field in Lebanon was not ready,” he said. “Turkey wants a piece of the pie and they tried to harass Greece (in a variety of ways).”  

Sadek noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, when the latter visited Moscow recently, that he should “extend the TurkStream natural gas pipeline going from Russia to Turkey into Eastern Europe.” Sadek added that such a move “angered a number of countries and that it would take several years to do, in any case.”  

U.S.-based energy analyst Paul Sullivan concurs with Sadek, pointing out that “there is a lot of gas in the eastern Mediterranean region [but] it takes a long time to develop gas fields and transport infrastructure to get the gas to market.” He stressed that “over time the East Mediterranean gas fields could bring much more gas to Europe and other places.”

“Investing in these fields,” he added, “includes financial and even political and physical risks,” as well.
…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Saturday called for reforms of the European Union to make it fit for the admission of new countries as well as more military autonomy of the 27-country bloc.

Speaking at the Congress of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin, Scholz advocated for gradually abolishing the principle of unanimity for decisions in foreign policy, but also in other areas such as tax policy.

“I know that we still have a lot of convincing to do there,” the chancellor said. “But I also say clearly: if a geopolitical Europe is our aspiration, then majority decisions are a gain and not a loss of sovereignty.”

Currently, many EU decisions can only be made if all countries vote unanimously.

Scholz also supports more military autonomy of the EU. He called for coordinated procurement of weapons and equipment, the establishment of an EU rapid reaction force by 2025, and for an EU headquarters for European armed forces.

“In Europe, we need better interplay between our defense efforts,” he said. “In the future, Europe will need a coordinated increase in capabilities … we must confidently and jointly advance European defense.”
…

Two women have been charged with criminal damage after climate change protesters threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery, British police said Saturday.

A video posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group, which has been holding protests for the last two weeks in the British capital, showed two of its activists on Friday throwing tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five versions on display in museums and galleries around the world.

The gallery said the incident had caused minor damage to the frame, but the painting was unharmed. It later went back on display.

Police said two women, aged 21 and 20, would appear later at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with “criminal damage to the frame of van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting”.

Another activist will also appear in court, accused of damaging the sign outside the New Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London.

Police said in total 28 people had been arrested during protests on Friday.
…

Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons “to be used in the war in Ukraine”, its foreign ministry said Saturday.

Kyiv and many of its Western allies have accused Moscow of using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. The topic is expected to be discussed by European Union foreign ministers in a meeting in Luxemburg on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian “emphasized that the Islamic republic of Iran has not and will not provide any weapon to be used in the war in Ukraine,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We believe that the arming of each side of the crisis will prolong the war,” the Iranian foreign minister said in a call with his Portuguese counterpart Joao Gomes Cravinho.

“We have not considered and do not consider war to be the right path either in Ukraine or in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.”

In a separate phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday, Amir-Abdollahian reiterated Iran’s official stance of neutrality over the war that started nearly eight months ago.

“We have defense cooperation with Russia, but our policy regarding the war in Ukraine is not sending weapons to the conflicting parties, stopping the war and ending the displacement of people,” he said.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Iranian drones were used in Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian cities.

Last month, Kyiv decided to significantly reduce its diplomatic relations with Tehran over alleged arms deliveries to Russia.

Iran said the decision was “driven by baseless information provided by foreign media propaganda”.

In September, the United States slapped sanctions on a company it accused of helping deliver Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.
…

Beside an abandoned Russian military camp in eastern Ukraine, the body of a man lay decomposing in the grass — a civilian who had fallen victim to a tripwire land mine set by retreating Russian forces.

Nearby, a group of Ukrainian deminers with the country’s territorial defense forces worked to clear the area of dozens of other deadly mines and unexploded ordnance — a push to restore a semblance of safety to the cities, towns and countryside in a region that spent months under Russian occupation.

The deminers, part of the 113th Kharkiv Defense Brigade of Ukraine’s territorial defense forces, walked deep into fallow agricultural lands on Thursday along a muddy road between fields of dead sunflowers overgrown with high weeds.

Two soldiers, each with a metal detector in hand, slowly advanced up the road, scanning the ground and waiting for the devices to give a signal. When one detector emitted a high tone, a soldier knelt to inspect the mud and grass, probing it with a metal rod to see what might be buried just below the surface.

The detector’s hit could indicate a spent shell casing, a piece of rusting iron or a discarded aluminum can. Or it could be an active land mine.

Oleksii Dokuchaev, the commander of the demining brigade based in the eastern Kharkiv region, said that hundreds of mines have already been discharged in the area around the village of Hrakove where they were working, but that the danger of mines across Ukraine will persist for years to come.

“One year of war equals 10 years of demining,” Dokuchaev said. “Even now we are still finding munitions from World War II, and in this war they’re being planted left and right.”

Russian forces hastily fled the Kharkiv region in early September after a rapid counteroffensive by Ukraine’s military retook hundreds of square miles of territory following months of Russian occupation.

While many settlements in the region have finally achieved some measure of safety after fierce battles reduced many of them to rubble, Russian land mines remain an ever-present threat in both urban and rural environments.

Small red signs bearing a white skull and crossbones line many of the roads in the Kharkiv region, warning of the danger of mines just off the pavement. Yet sometimes, desperation drives local residents into the minefields.

The local man whose body lay near the abandoned Russian camp was likely searching for food left behind by the invading soldiers, Dokuchaev said, an additional danger posed by the hunger experienced by many in Ukraine’s devastated regions.

The use of the kind of tripwire land mines which killed him is prohibited under the 1997 Ottawa Treaty — of which Russia is not a signatory — which regulates the use of anti-personnel land mines, he said.

“There are rules of war. The Ottawa Convention says that it’s forbidden to place mines or any other munitions with tripwires. But Russians ignore it,” he said.

The deminers had cleared the road of anti-personnel mines the previous day, allowing them to search for anti-tank mines hidden beneath the ground that could destroy any vehicles driving over them.

They hoped to bring vehicles deep enough into the area to retrieve an abandoned Russian armored personnel carrier, the engine of which they planned to salvage. A vehicle would also need to be brought in by local police to retrieve the body.

The deminers reached the abandoned camp, set in a grove of trees and strewn with the remains of the months the Russian soldiers had spent there: rotting food rations in wooden ammunition boxes, strings of high-caliber bullets, a stack of yellowing Russian newspapers and trenches filled with refuse.

After a thorough scan of the area, the servicemen recovered two Soviet-made TM-62 anti-tank mines and six pneumatically armed fuses and placed them in a depression on the edge of the camp, taped into a bundle along with 400 grams of TNT.

Dokuchaev placed an electric detonator into the explosive charge and connected it to a long length of wire before taking cover with his men at a distance of more than 100 meters.

When the charge was detonated — something the servicemen laughingly called “bada-boom” — the immense blast ripped through the air, causing a cascade of autumn leaves to fall from the surrounding trees and emitting a tall plume of gray smoke.

After the mines had been destroyed, Dokuchaev — a former photographer who enlisted with the territorial defense forces after the outbreak of war — said the work his brigade is doing is essential to keep civilians safe as they pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Despite the dangers, he said, he enjoys his work.

“I don’t know what I’ll do after our victory,” Dokuchaev said. “Life is boring without explosions.” 
…

In the days since Dane Partridge was fatally wounded while serving as a volunteer soldier in Ukraine, his sister has found moments of comfort in surprising places: first, a misplaced baseball cap discovered in her laundry room, then in a photo of a battered pickup truck with only one tire intact.

The 34-year-old Idaho man died Tuesday from injuries suffered during a Russian attack in Luhansk.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed the recent death of a U.S. citizen in Donbas without naming them, The Washington Post reported.

A former U.S. Army infantryman, Partridge felt “spiritually called” to volunteer with the Ukranian military as they defend the country from invading Russian forces, his sister Jenny Corry said. He flew to Poland on a one-way ticket in April, his rucksack packed with body armor, a helmet and other tactical gear.

“Made it to the embassy, getting on a bus for the border,” Partridge wrote on his Facebook page on April 27. “From this point on I will not likely be giving locations or actions for opsec reasons. I will let you all know I’m alive.”

Partridge joined a military unit that included several volunteers from other countries, Corry said, the men mostly relying on interpreters to communicate. Partridge and his fellow soldiers were in Severodonetsk, a city in the Luhansk region, when he was hit in the head with shrapnel during an attack by Russian fighting vehicles, Corry said.

The unit had no stretchers and was still under attack, Corry said, but Partridge’s fellow soldiers carried him out on a blanket and loaded him and other injured colleagues into a pickup truck to rush them to safety.

“I have a picture of the truck,” Corry said in a phone interview Friday. The photo shows a drab-painted pickup with shredded rubber hanging off the wheel hubs. All but one of the tires were destroyed in the rush to safety.

“As a family, we really like that picture of the vehicle — it speaks to the bravery of how they tried to save their men, and the way they pushed that vehicle to its last leg just to get to the hospital,” she said. “It speaks volumes.”

Partridge leaves behind five young children. Corry deflected questions about the children and some other parts of Partridge’s life, saying the family had jointly agreed to focus on his military service out of respect to those “who are still living and still affected by his personal life.”

Military service had been a large part of Partridge’s life. He was the youngest of five kids, and his father was a member of the U.S. Air Force. As a child, Partridge liked to dress up in his dad’s oversized camouflage uniform and play “army guy” in the dirt, Corry said.

By the time he had graduated from high school, Partridge had grown into a gregarious man with a booming voice and a joking personality, she said.

“When he showed up, you knew he was there. He had a bigger personality,” she said. “If somebody was sad, he was going to make sure he cheered them up. He liked to spend quality time with people.”

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2006 and served in Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2007-09 before leaving the military in 2012.

He didn’t talk a lot about his experiences in Iraq, but she knew some of it weighed heavily on him throughout his life.

Still, it was the battlefield where Partridge thrived. Corry believed the adrenaline, the sense of purpose and the heightened feeling of service were what drew him in.

“It was almost as if he could tell he had a greater purpose to fulfill,” she said. “Sometimes it was harder for him to mesh in the civilian world.”

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Partridge felt a need to help the Ukrainians.

Partridge was in a coma and on life support for eight days before he died. Family members had a chance to say goodbye, long distance, before he passed, she said.

The family is raising money to bring Partridge’s remains home to be buried in Blackfoot, Idaho. They also hope to raise money to replace the truck his unit used to bring Partridge to the hospital, and to purchase other vital supplies for his unit, she said.

At least four other U.S. citizens have been killed while fighting in Ukraine, based on reports from their families and the U.S. State Department. The Ukrainian government has recruited people with military experience to join the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine. 
…

The United States will send $725 million in military assistance to Ukraine, the White House said Friday, the latest U.S. security package to help Kyiv and the first since Russia’s widespread missile attacks on Ukraine’s civilian population.

U.S. officials said the aid package does not include significant new capabilities or counterair defenses. Instead, it focuses on resupplying Ukraine with ammunition and weapons that Kyiv has been successfully using in its counteroffensive against Russia.

“The capabilities we are delivering are carefully calibrated to make the most difference on the battlefield for Ukraine,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Friday.

Russian forces continued to bombard Ukrainian cities Friday, launching at least four missile strikes on Kharkiv, the second-largest city, as Ukraine fought back by firing artillery inside Russia and hitting an ammunition depot.

Multiple explosions were reported Friday at the facility in the Belgorod region of Russia. The regional governor announced the attack on the social media site Telegram. Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the attack.

The fighting in Ukraine comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin defended recent moves to escalate the war by deploying more troops in the country.

Putin said Friday there was no need for massive new strikes on Ukraine and that Russia was not looking to destroy the country. At the same time, the Russian leader maintained he had “no regrets” about the war in Ukraine and the recent mobilization of 222,000 Russians reservists to fight in the conflict.

At a news conference Friday in Astana, Kazakhstan, Putin said Russia should be finished calling up reservists in two weeks. The Russian Defense Ministry set a goal last month of mobilizing 300,000 reservists, sparking opposition in Russia and leading to tens of thousands of men leaving the country.

Putin said 33,000 of the new recruits have joined military units, and 16,000 are deployed for combat.

Russian media reported at least seven deaths among the recently drafted recruits. The casualties come as Russia’s Defense Ministry faces criticism from prominent pro-war Russian military analysts for deploying untrained recruits into combat.

Despite the rising death toll, Putin told reporters his actions to launch what he calls a military offensive in Ukraine was “timely and right.”

Hours before Putin spoke, Russian missiles and drones targeted more Ukrainian cities and towns for a fourth consecutive day. At least five people in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv were killed, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Friday that Russia was in an “atmosphere of hopelessness.”

“Yes, they still have people to throw on the battlefield, they have weapons, missiles and ‘shaheds’ [Iranian drones], which they use against Ukraine.”

But despite its resources, “Russia is already in the atmosphere of its defeat, already in the atmosphere of hopelessness for itself,” Zelenskyy said, and Moscow has no chance to win because “Ukraine is moving forward.”

On the battlefield, Ukraine’s military said it had recaptured more than 600 settlements from Russian forces over the past month, according to the country’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories.

About 500 settlements have been liberated in the northeast Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces last month advanced deep behind Russian lines, and 75 localities were recaptured in the highly strategic Kherson region, the ministry said late Thursday.

The ministry said 43 settlements were liberated in the Donetsk region and seven in the Luhansk region.

“The area of liberated Ukrainian territories has increased significantly,” the ministry said in a statement on its website. The report could not be independently verified.

Russian-backed authorities in Ukraine’s occupied southern region of Kherson urged residents on Friday to evacuate to Russia. Vladimir Saldo, the region’s Russian-appointed leader, has asked Russia for evacuation assistance. The move is an indication that Ukraine’s forces are advancing closer to the illegally annexed region.

In other developments, the United States warned it can impose sanctions on people, countries and companies that provide ammunition to Russia or support its military-industrial complex, as Washington seeks to increase pressure on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, at a gathering of officials from 32 countries to discuss sanctions on Russia, said the department is issuing guidance to make clear that Washington is willing and able to impose such a crackdown.

Information from RFE/RL, Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.
…

At a bookshop in Kyiv, 33-year-old Yulia Sydorenko was dumping an entire collection of old books — some gifts from childhood friends — that have recently lost their appeal.

Why? They were written in Russian.

“Since February 24, Russian books have no place in my house,” Sydorenko said, referring to the day Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

“I got them for my 20th birthday with inscriptions from my friends. I took pictures of them,” she said of the books she once treasured.

Showing a collection of children’s books, she said she was convinced her children “will never read Russian tales now.”

Sydorenko is among a steady stream of people hauling piles of books, sometimes by the suitcase or carload, to the Siayvo bookshop.

Inspired by customers who wanted to clear out unwanted sections of their home libraries, the bookstore decided to recycle Russian-language books, giving the paper a new lease of life and helping the army.

“In two months, we collected 25 tons of books. Their recycling brought in 100,000 hryvnias (2,700 euros),” Iryna Sazonova, the shop’s owner, told AFP.

Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the Donbas war in 2014, Ukraine embarked on dismantling Soviet-era monuments and changing place names.

But since February, Ukrainians are contemplating the presence of Russian in private and public spaces, even though 19% of Ukrainians say their native language is Russian.

Nuances are essential

The Bulgakov Museum, where famed Kyiv-born Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov lived for 13 years, has come under pressure, with the National Writers’ Union of Ukraine moving to close it down.

Bulgakov is accused of being an imperialist and anti-Ukrainian, notably in his novel The White Guard, which is at the heart of the museum’s main exhibition.

“War is black and white, but in art, nuances are essential,” the museum’s director, Lyudmila Gubianuri, told AFP.

“There are many nuances with Bulgakov’s works, but people tend to ignore them,” she said.

Gubianuri accepts that the museum must adapt to reflect the challenges of the situation.

“Our team is working on a new concept which will be established in dialogue with the public,” she said.

People passing the museum are divided.

For Anton Glazkov, a 27-year-old teacher, closing the museum would be wrong because “war and works of art are not always linked.”

But Dmytro Cheliuk, 45, who runs a nearby clothes store, said “the time has come for us to de-Russify ourselves and remove the Russian empire from our streets.”

Oleg Slabospitsky, an activist, takes a hands-on approach to removing Russian from public spaces.

Several times a week since Ukraine’s 2014 revolution, the 33-year-old dons a high-visibility vest and hauls a stepladder around the city taking down overly Russian street signs like “Moscow Street.”

Language of the enemy

“These kinds of initiatives must come from the people themselves,” he told AFP before setting out with a friend to unbolt three plaques on Moscow Street.

In Kyiv, famous for its long avenues, the team sometimes spend whole days “de-Russifying” city streets.

Kyiv City Hall recently voted to rename 142 streets which contained references to Russia. Another 345 streets await the same fate.

The street formerly known as “Moscow” now honors the Ostrozky Princes, a dynasty of 16th century Ukrainian politicians.

At Shevchenko University — damaged by a recent salvo of Russian missiles — management took down a plaque last August that honored Bulgakov, who studied there a hundred years ago.

Oleksandr Bondarenko, who heads a Slavic studies department, said the measure is “understandable” as the plaque could offend passersby who had lost loved ones in the war.

Ukraine’s school curricula no longer feature Russian language courses, nor works of Russian writers. Instead, a new course on the war with Russia has been added.

The history of the USSR is also now presented through the prism of imperialism.

Bondarenko’s faculty did not enroll new Russian students this year because the literature and language programs are currently being adapted.

“Courses on information warfare meanwhile are now at the heart of the curriculum,” said Bondarenko.

“In a hybrid war, like this, you have to learn the language of the enemy to know him well. Sworn translators will be in high demand at war crimes trials.”
…

An explosion Friday inside a coal mine in northern Turkey killed at least 22 people, Turkey’s health minister announced, while rescuers were trying to bring dozens of others trapped inside the mine to the surface. 

The explosion occurred at 6:45 p.m. at the state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra, in the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin. 

Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said a preliminary assessment indicated the explosion was likely caused by firedamp — a reference to flammable gases found in coal mines. 

There were 110 people in the mine at the time of the explosion, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who traveled to Amasra to coordinate the rescue operation, told reporters. Most of the workers were able to evacuate following the blast, but 49 were trapped in a higher-risk area of the facility, the minister said. 

Soylu would not provide a number for those still trapped, saying some among the 49 had been lifted to safety. 

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter that 22 people were killed in the blast. He did not say how many people were taken out of the mine with injuries but said eight were in serious condition. 

Several rescue teams were dispatched to the area, including from neighboring provinces, Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced he was canceling a planned visit to the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and would travel to Amasra instead to coordinate the rescue operation. 

The private DHA news agency quoted one worker as telling Bartin Governor Nurtac Arslan that he came out of the mine by his own means. He described feeling a “pressure” but said he could not see anything because of the dust and dirt. 

People rushed to the mine for news of trapped friends or colleagues, DHA reported. 

In Turkey’s worst mine disaster, 301 people died in 2014 in a fire inside a coal mine in the town of Soma, in western Turkey.
…

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.

UNGA declares Russian ‘annexation’ of Ukrainian territories invalid

In its strongest show of support for Ukraine since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, the U.N. General Assembly voted 143-5 on a resolution condemning and rejecting Russia’s move to annex Ukrainian territory. The only countries supporting Russia in Wednesday’s vote were Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says the resolution means in the eyes of the world “Ukraine remains Ukraine.”

UN General Assembly Rejects Russia’s ‘Referendums,’ ‘Annexation’ in Ukraine

Separately, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says missile attacks by Russia’s armed forces against civilian targets and infrastructure across several cities this week in Ukraine could amount to war crimes.

UN: Russian Missile Attacks on Ukraine’s Civilian Targets Could Amount to War Crimes

The International Atomic Energy Agency director general conducted shuttle diplomacy this week between Kyiv and Moscow in a bid to urgently establish a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Russian-occupied facility has been repeatedly shelled during the conflict, raising fears of a nuclear incident or accident.

Haiti seeks international armed force to help curb gang violence

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the international community this week to respond to a request from Haiti’s government and urgently consider sending an international specialized armed force to the Caribbean island nation to address spiraling insecurity due to widespread gang violence. The request comes as humanitarian conditions further deteriorate. The Security Council has moved up to Monday a meeting to discuss the situation and the secretary-general’s recommendations.

UN Chief Backs Haitian Call for International Armed Force

The situation is exacerbating Haiti’s food insecurity. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) report published Friday says an unprecedented 4.7 million Haitians — nearly half the population — are experiencing emergency levels of acute food insecurity, including 19,000 people in Phase 5 Catastrophic hunger. More from IPC here.

Possible vaccine trials for latest Ebola outbreak

Uganda and the World Health Organization are planning to try out two vaccines for the Ebola Sudan virus to try to curb the spread of the rare strain. The virus has so far killed 19 people and infected at least 54 people in five districts in Uganda. After meetings in Kampala on Wednesday, the WHO’s director general described the new outbreak as troubling. Both vaccines are in clinical trials, pending regulatory and ethics approvals from the Ugandan government. They are expected to arrive in the country next week.

Uganda, WHO to Try Two Vaccines for Rare Ebola Virus Strain

In brief

— U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned Monday that his agency urgently needs at least $700 million from donors between now and the end of this year or “severe cuts with negative and sometimes dramatic consequences” will have to be made affecting refugees and host communities. The UNHCR says the number of people forcibly displaced has grown to a record high of 100 million.

— The secretary-general sent a letter to the finance ministers and heads of the central banks of the G20 on Wednesday ahead of the group’s November summit in Indonesia. He told them that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis are wreaking havoc on economies worldwide. In developing countries, the impact of these shocks is compounded by what he said is “an unfair global financial system that relies on short-term cost-benefit analyses and privileges the rich over the poor.” Guterres called on them to reinforce the U.N.-proposed Sustainable Development Goals stimulus and to increase public sector commitments toward development, humanitarian and climate mitigation and adaptation by 2% of global gross domestic product (GDP).

— The General Assembly elected 14 countries to the Human Rights Council on Tuesday. With nearly all the 193-member states voting, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam were voted onto the 47-member Geneva-based rights body. South Korea and Venezuela lost their re-election bids and Afghanistan failed to win a seat, receiving only 12 votes.

— The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that the electricity supply from clean energy sources must double within the next eight years to limit a global temperature increase. If not, WMO warns there is a risk that climate change, more extreme weather and water stress will undermine energy security and possibly jeopardize renewable energy supplies. Currently, the energy sector is the source of around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Good news

On Thursday, the secretary-general welcomed announcements by the governments of Lebanon and Israel that they have formally agreed to settle their maritime boundary dispute, as mediated by the United States. Guterres said “this encouraging development” can promote increased regional stability and enhanced prosperity for both nations. The deal between the two enemies, who have fought multiple wars, removes a hurdle to each country being able to exploit hydrocarbon fields along the border.

What we are watching next week

On Monday afternoon, the Security Council will meet to discuss the secretary-general’s recommendations for an international force as requested by the Haitian government. The council is also considering imposing new sanctions on armed gangs in Haiti that are terrorizing civilians and making the movement of people and important commodities, like fuel, dangerous and difficult.
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Elon Musk said Friday his rocket company SpaceX cannot indefinitely fund its Starlink internet service in Ukraine, which has helped the country’s civilians and military stay online during the war with Russia.

Musk’s comment on Twitter came after a media report that SpaceX had asked the Pentagon to pay for the donations of Starlink. The billionaire has been in online fights with Ukrainian officials over a peace plan he put forward that Ukraine says is too generous to Russia.

The billionaire who runs Tesla said that Starlink officials said they spend nearly $20 million a month for maintaining satellite services in Ukraine. Musk recently said that SpaceX had spent about $80 million to enable and support Starlink there.

“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely and send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable,” Musk wrote Friday on Twitter.

“We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder,” Musk wrote.

CNN reported on Thursday that SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon last month saying it could not continue to fund the Starlink service in Ukraine, and it may have to stop funding it unless the U.S. military gives the company tens of millions of dollars a month.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the Defense Department “continues to work with industry to explore solutions for Ukraine’s armed forces as they repel Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression.”

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk activated Starlink, satellite broadband service, in Ukraine in late February after internet services were disrupted because of Russia’s invasion. SpaceX has since given it thousands of terminals.

Starlink has been a key communications tool for Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russian forces.

On the official Ukrainian defense ministry twitter feed, a video shows Ukrainian soldiers singing the praises of the technology. “Thank God we have Starlink. It’s a lifesaver,” one soldier said according to a translation posted with the video.

Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said this week that Starlink services helped restore energy and communications infrastructure in critical areas after more than 100 Russian cruise missile attacks. Russia calls its intervention in Ukraine a “special military operation” and says it does not target civilians.

Musk drew widespread criticism from Ukrainians over his peace plan, in which he proposed that Ukraine permanently cede the Crimea region to Russia, that new referendums be held under U.N. auspices to determine the fate of Russian-controlled territory, and that Ukraine agree to neutrality.

Ukraine says it will never agree to cede land taken by force, and lawful referendums cannot be held in occupied territory where many people have been killed or driven out.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among those who criticized Musk’s proposal.

Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, also condemned the plan in tweet that told Musk in profane terms to go away.

Musk, responding to a post referring to the fate of the Starlink service and the ambassador’s remark, said: “We’re just following his recommendation.”

Republican U.S. Representative Adam Kingzinger cited Musk’s comments on Twitter, writing “if there was ever proof that @elonmusk is playing games this is it. I’m not sure someone like this can be trusted to any longer do business with our government.”

While extremely costly to deploy, satellite technology like Starlink can provide internet for people who live in rural or hard-to-serve areas where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach. The technology can also be a critical backstop when natural disasters disrupt communication.

SpaceX’s president, Gwynne Shotwell, previously told Reuters that France and Poland were helping fund shipments of Starlink terminals to Ukraine. The U.S. Agency for International Development said in April it had bought some of the terminals from SpaceX, and that the internet service was made possible by a “range of stakeholders” that included SpaceX’s donations.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling on both Russia and Ukraine to grant it unimpeded access to all prisoners of war being held by each side.

The ICRC has been working since late February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, to obtain access to all prisoners of war. The Swiss-based aid agency says its teams have been trying to check on their condition and treatment and keep their families informed about their loved ones.

However, the effort has been largely frustrated. ICRC head of media Ewan Watson said Red Cross teams only have been able to visit several hundred POWs on both sides.

“But there are thousands more who we have not been able to see, and we are concerned about their fate,” he said. “The third Geneva Convention obliges parties to an international armed conflict to grant the International Committee of the Red Cross immediate access to all POWs and the right to visit them wherever they are held.”

Watson noted all states have committed to respect the Geneva Conventions. He said they are legally obliged to grant the ICRC visiting rights to the POWs.

He said it is for the benefit of both sides of the conflict for ICRC staff to conduct visits on a regular basis. However, he added little headway has been made in weeks and months of trying.

He said working in a conflict zone is always risky, but these are risks the ICRC willingly takes every day. At the same time, he said practical arrangements and security guarantees must be worked out with the warring parties, so ICRC teams are able to move about in relative safety.

Still, Watson said the ICRC has been able to achieve a lot in alleviating concerns of many families, despite the many frustrations and continued lack of access to most of the POWs.

“We have been able to get 3,000 or more families news about their loved ones,” he said. “Now, every single person who receives that news is receiving a lifeline, an emotional connection to their family member who is in detention. So, that is vital work. However, it is not enough.”

Watson said the ICRC will keep repeating its message until it is understood by the warring parties. He said the ICRC needs unimpeded access to places of detention and will continue asking for it until it is available to each and every Russian and Ukrainian POW on a regular basis.
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The town of Secaucus in the eastern U.S. state of New Jersey is stepping up to help the people of Ukraine. For VOA, Iryna Solomko spoke with the town’s mayor, Michael Gonelli, about the effort. Anna Rice narrates her story.
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“In the last three days, pro-Russian forces have made tactical advances towards the center of the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast,” Britain’s defense ministry said in an intelligence update posted to Twitter on Friday about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Elements of 2nd Army Corps, the pro-Russia militia of the Luhansk region, likely advanced into the villages of Opytine and lvangrad to the south of the town,” the update said. “There have been few, if any, other settlements seized by regular Russian or separatist forces since early July.”

“However,” the report said, “forces led by the private military company Wagner Group have achieved some localized gains in the Donbas: Wagner likely remains heavily involved in the Bakhmut fighting.”

“Russia likely views seizing Bakhmut as a preliminary to advancing on the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk urban area which is the most significant population center of Donetsk Oblast held by Ukraine,” the intelligence update said.

While Russia continues to pursue “offensive operations in central Donbas and is, very slowly, making progress,” the update said, the Russian campaign is “undermined by the Ukrainian pressure against its northern and southern flanks, and by severe shortages of munitions and manpower.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Thursday, “Russia is sending thousands of its mobilized men to the front. They have no significant military training, but their command does not need it at all. They expect that the mobilized Russians will be able to survive in the war for at least a few weeks, then they will die, and then new ones will be sent to the front. But during this time, such use by Russian generals of their people as ‘cannon fodder’ makes it possible to create additional pressure on our defenders.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would “create a special tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine and ensure the operation of a special compensation mechanism so that Russia will bear responsibility for this war at the cost of its assets.”

He said, “Terror must be responded with force at all levels: on the battlefield, with sanctions, and legally.”
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Thursday for the fourth time in as many months. The frequent meetings and close ties are fueling concerns among Turkey’s Western allies that Ankara is circumventing sanctions against Russia.

The latest encounter was in Astana on the sidelines of the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

Speaking to reporters after his meeting, Erdogan said he wants to build on the success of the United Nations-brokered deal that allows Ukrainian grain blockaded by Russian naval forces to enter world markets.

Erdogan said Turkey is determined to strengthen and continue the grain exports under the Istanbul agreement and the transfer of Russian grain and fertilizer to less developed countries via Turkey.

Ankara played a pivotal role in assisting the United Nations in brokering the grain deal between Ukraine and Russia, known as the Istanbul agreement. Putin on Thursday criticized the deal’s implementation, claiming countries in need are not benefiting from the agreement.

The deal comes up for renewal next month.

Galip Dalay of London’s Chatham House said the Ukrainian grain deal is seen as a vindication by Erdogan of his policy of maintaining close ties with Putin.

“The role Turkey can play is very much contingent upon having a working relationship with Russia,” he said. “The Ukrainian grain deal is one of them. Turkey can play a more humanitarian role down the road or a more diplomatic role. All of them require Turkey to have some sort of functional relationship with Moscow as well.”

Stressing the need to maintain close ties with Moscow, Ankara refuses to enforce western sanctions against Russia. The European Union, in a report this week, strongly criticized Ankara for not enforcing sanctions and warned that European companies could use Turkey to circumvent the restrictions.

Washington has also voiced concern. Such complaints are likely to grow with Putin on Thursday repeating a suggestion to use Turkey as a hub for distributing Russian gas that was originally intended for Europe.

Erdogan has not commented on the proposal.

Senior strategist Timothy Ash of Bluebay Asset Management said Putin is seeking to create divisions among his western adversaries and is finding a willing partner in Erdogan.

“For Putin, the relationship with Turkey is important (because) it’s about dividing Europe,” he said. “Turkey is a key NATO member. The more he can pull Erdogan and Turkey away from the West, that’s all the better. For Erdogan, he’s got elections due by June of next year, and he’s got a very difficult balance of payments issue. And he thinks by helping Russia getting around sanctions, he thinks Turkey can earn key balance of payment receipts, and that will help.”

Ankara denies it is sanction-busting. But observers say Erdogan is walking an increasingly fine line by looking to keep close ties with Russia, knowing at the same time that his dealings with Moscow could trigger retaliation from the U.S. and Europe in the form of secondary sanctions.
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Europe faces a higher-than-usual chance of a cold blast of weather before the end of the year, but the winter overall is likely to be warmer than average, the continent’s long-range weather forecaster said Thursday.

Temperatures this winter will be crucial for homeowners worried about the record cost of heating their homes, and for European policymakers seeking to avoid energy rationing because of reductions in Russian gas supplies.

“We see the winter as being warmer than usual,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service that produces seasonal forecasts for the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

“Nevertheless, there is a still a significant chance of a block situation, which can lead to cold temperatures and low wind over Europe,” he told AFP as the service issued a monthly update to its forecasts.

A so-called block or blocking pattern in the winter can bring stable, often wind-free weather accompanied by freezing temperatures.

“This was looking more likely in November, but there now looks like a pronounced probability of a cold outbreak in December,” Buontempo added.

The ECMWF produces weather modelling with data from a range of national weather services around Europe.

Its forecasts are based on indicators such as ocean and atmospheric temperatures, as well as wind speeds in the stratosphere, but do not have the accuracy of short-range reports.

The models provide the “best information possible, to give a hint, to guide our decisions,” Buontempo said.

The European winter was expected to be warmer than usual because of the La Nina global weather phenomenon, which is related to cooling surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

“We know that in a La Nina year, the latter part of the European winter tends to favor westerly winds, so warm and wet,” Buontempo said.

The agency will update its winter season forecast next month when it will have greater confidence because “all the drivers for the winter will be more active,” he said.

Independent energy experts expect Europe to be able to withstand Russia’s gas cuts this winter, providing temperatures stay in line with or above the long-term average.

Governments have almost filled their strategic gas reserves and consumers are being urged to reduce their consumption.

The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based energy consultancy, believes that temperatures about 10% below average over the winter would put strain on the European gas system.

It has also said a late cold spell, when gas stocks are expected to be low, could be the “Achilles heel of European gas supply security.” 
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A failed engine and high waves were to blame for the fatal shipwreck that killed at least 18 Europe-bound migrants off the coast of Greece last week, one survivor tells VOA.

Speaking to VOA Somali by phone, Mustafa Farah, a survivor from Somalia in his 20s, said about 50 migrants were traveling on an overloaded boat that departed Izmir, a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast, the evening of October 5, bound for Greece.

“As we traveled under cover of night, strong winds swept the Aegean Sea, and the tragedy started to appear when the engine of the boat … failed,” he said. “We floated for hours in the sea. The waves were too high. About three meters,” Farah said.

According to Farah’s account, late that same night, the flimsy rubber raft crashed on a rocky tip of Greek shores and disintegrated just a few hundred meters off the coast of Lesbos, on the easternmost rim of Greece.

“By late Wednesday, the same night we set out from Turkey, the vessel was swept into a rocky inlet and the tragedy happened,” Farah said.

The sinking sparked a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefights pulled the shipwreck victims to safety up steep cliffs.

Some survivors and the dead bodies of the Somali migrants were taken to Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos.

Farah said one boy and 17 women died in the accident. He said another 30 people, including 13 men and 17 women, survived.

Hamza Mohamed Ismail, a Somali refugee in Mytilene who saw the migrant bodies, speaking to the VOA Somali service, gave slightly different totals, saying a 14-year-old Somali boy and 20 women were among the dead.

Ismail says the survivors he saw, most of them young women, were in a full state of shock and could not immediately talk about what happened.

The Associated Press reported that the coast guard on Greece’s eastern island of Lesbos said the bodies of 16 young African women, a man, and a boy were recovered after a dinghy carrying about 40 people sank.

Coast guard officials added that 25 people were rescued by late Thursday.

In a separate incident, another boat packed with migrants sank off the Greek coast the evening of October 5, killing several other migrants. Dozens of people from that boat remain missing.

The sinkings are the deadliest in recent years and the tragedies add to rising tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey over the safety of migrants at sea, with Athens accusing its neighbor of failing to stop smugglers active on its shoreline and even using migrants to apply political pressure on the European Union.

Turkey denies the allegations and has publicly accused Greece of carrying out reckless summary deportations, known as pushbacks.

Most migrants who reach Greece travel from nearby Turkey, but smugglers have changed routes — often taking greater risks — in recent months to avoid heavily patrolled waters around eastern Greek islands near the Turkish coastline.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of “turning the Aegean Sea into a graveyard.”
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Anti-government protests are continuing across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. She had been arrested by Iran’s morality police for ‘unsuitable attire’. Where might the protests lead – and how should the West respond? Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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A new report finds half of all countries globally lack early warning systems that could save lives by alerting communities of impending disasters, including typhoons, droughts, and heatwaves. The joint report by the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, or UNDRR, and the World Meteorological Organization is being released to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Extreme weather is increasing in frequency and intensity. The United Nations estimates up to 3.6 billion people live in areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change and related disasters. It says the number of recorded disasters has increased by a factor of five, driven in part by human-induced climate change and more extreme, unpredictable weather events.

The UNDRR predicts 560 disasters will take place annually by the year 2030. It warns the number of droughts will increase by 30 percent and the number of scorching heatwaves will triple by 2030.

Loretta Hieber Girardet is UNDRR’s chief of the risk knowledge, monitoring and capacity development branch. She says the best ways for communities to protect themselves and to adapt to climate change is to scale up early warning systems. Yet, she notes only half of the world has functioning systems in place.

“This means that one out of three people globally, primarily in small island developing states and least developed countries and six out of every 10 persons in Africa lack access to effective early warning systems,” Girardet said. “This is unacceptable.”

She says lack of early warning leads to loss of lives and livelihoods and unnecessary damage to assets. She says new data show disaster-related deaths are eight times higher in countries with limited early warning coverage than in those that have comprehensive systems in place.

“And yet we know that early warnings by only 24 hours can cut the ensuing damage by 30 percent…A climate-related hazard does not have to translate into a disaster,” Girardet said. “It becomes a disaster because communities are not prepared and because the vulnerabilities and exposures of that community has not been mitigated.”

Many early warning systems cover only one type of hazard, like floods or cyclones. However, given the many extreme, unpredictable climate-change-related events, the United Nations urges countries to invest in multi-hazard early warning systems. Such systems, it notes, can address several climate-induced disasters that may occur simultaneously.
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As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the other small ex-Soviet republics watch the advancing Ukrainian army with hope, but also with concern. The fear that Russia could one day fall on them is palpable and has led to the mobilization of civil society, such as – in Estonia – with volunteer groups like the Estonian Defense League. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in Tallinn
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The international community sent a clear message to Moscow on Wednesday, declaring the country’s so-called referendums and attempted annexation of parts of Ukraine illegal and invalid under international law.

In its strongest show of support for Ukraine since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, the U.N. General Assembly voted 143-5, adopting a resolution condemning and rejecting Russia’s move to annex Ukrainian territory. Thirty-five countries abstained, but those votes do not count toward the two-thirds majority needed for adoption.

Voting with Russia were Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua.

In a tweet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the states for their support in what he called a “historic UNGA resolution.”

Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters that the outcome of the vote “was amazing.”

“I think that the countries made the right choice — to defend the principles of the U.N. Charter and to follow the Charter,” he said.

Despite concerns that international support for Ukraine might be waning after nearly eight months of war that have exacerbated global food, energy and inflation crises, the General Assembly’s vote demonstrated that the international community is still largely united in its stance against Russia’s war.

Previous votes

Wednesday’s vote surpassed the support for a March 2 assembly resolution condemning Russia’s invasion and calling for it to end. That resolution drew the support of 141 members. Only five voted against, including Russia and its allies Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea.

By comparison, a similar resolution in 2014 that condemned and rejected Russia’s attempted annexation of the autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine received 100 votes supporting the resolution, 11 against and 58 abstentions.

Wednesday’s daylong meeting was the continuation of a special emergency session opened on Monday to discuss Russia’s so-called referendums and attempted annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the country’s south.

While the General Assembly’s vote is not legally binding, it carries the moral weight of the international community.

“And today’s vote has a practical effect. It means that in the eyes of the world and the United Nations, Ukraine’s borders remain the same,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters after the vote. “Kherson is Ukraine. Zaporizhzhia is Ukraine. Donetsk is Ukraine. Luhansk is Ukraine. And Ukraine remains Ukraine.”

Take a stance

During the debate, Russia’s ambassador painted the vote as politicized and provocative and warned it could hurt efforts at peace.

“By introducing this draft, Western states are pursuing their own geopolitical goals and are once again trying to use the members of the General Assembly as bit players,” Vassily Nebenzia said.

France’s envoy, Nicolas de Riviere, said the question the General Assembly was considering was one that concerned everyone: “Do we want to defend the principles of the United Nations Charter?”

The United States urged members to send Moscow a clear message.

“The only way to bring peace is to stop this aggression. To demand accountability. To stand together with conviction. To show what we will not tolerate,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Most nations reiterated their support for the U.N. Charter, Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.

“Some of the most passionate and important statements today were made by small countries far away from Ukraine expressing the concerns of every continent and every country in this General Assembly Hall about the fears of what Russia is doing,” EU Ambassador Olof Skoog said after the debate.

Support for Russia

The debate began on Monday, and it wasn’t until the 34th speaker took the floor on Wednesday that Moscow found a friendly voice in the assembly.

“We recognize that the referenda were conducted in accordance with the U.N. Charter and international law, which stipulate the principles of the equal rights and self-determination of people,” North Korean Ambassador Kim Song said.

Syria’s envoy also defended Russia, a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh said the West was taking a “hostile, provocative approach” to Russia with its vote in the assembly. He painted Moscow as the victim of fake news when all it is trying to do is protect “their own people” in parts of Ukraine.

But Canada’s envoy dismissed such claims.

“As Russia makes claims of Russophobia — sort of like the kid who kills his parents and then goes to the court and says, ‘Help me out, I’m an orphan,’ there is no Russophobia,” Ambassador Bob Rae said. “Its own soldiers, its own artillery, its own tanks, its own warplanes, its own missiles are flattening Russian-speaking cities and towns and abusing Russian-speaking populations in eastern Ukraine.”

Russia is part of the BRICS bloc, which includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Brazil voted for the resolution, while China, India and South Africa abstained.

“We have always believed that any action taken by the General Assembly should be conducive to the de-escalation of the situation, should be conducive to the early resumption of dialogue and should be conducive to the promotion of a political solution to this crisis,” China’s Deputy Ambassador Geng Shuang said.

South African envoy Mathu Joyini said the resolution should have focused on “concrete proposals to end the war.”

Notably absent from the debate was Iran, which has sold Moscow drones for its war effort. It did not cast a vote on the resolution.

Saudi Arabia, along with Russia last week, led oil-producing bloc OPEC+ to decide to cut oil production targets by 2 million barrels a day starting in November. The move will go into effect as winter temperatures set in across the Northern Hemisphere and will help drive up energy prices, helping to fund President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

But Saudi Arabia voted for the resolution, condemning Moscow, as did fellow OPEC member the United Arab Emirates, whose president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was in Moscow on Tuesday and met with Putin.
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Ekaterina Fomina lived her whole life in Moscow. And although the investigative journalist studied for a year abroad, leaving Russia was never her plan.

But when Moscow invaded Ukraine, the pressure on Fomina and her news outlet, iStories, ratcheted up.

IStories, which is registered outside Russia, was designated a foreign agent in 2021. But in March, she and her team learned that just a few days before the war, Russian authorities had also declared their media outlet an “undesirable organization.”

The media team’s reaction was unanimous. They needed to leave.

Fomina is one of hundreds to have fled increased repression on media as Russia tightly controls coverage of the war, including imposing hefty sentences for “false news” of the conflict.

Galina Arapova, a senior media lawyer and director at the nonprofit Mass Media Defence Centre, says at least 12 journalists are currently facing charges in Russia related to their war coverage.

Arapova, who also left Russia, believes Moscow’s aim with such legal actions “is not necessarily to jail everyone but certainly to intimidate.” And in many ways, the Russian authorities succeeded: entire editorial teams have left.

The European Fund for Journalism in Exile this year has assisted 21 media organizations and their teams — around 400 people in all — to settle in eight European countries.

Reporting on Russia from exile

But even from exile, journalists like Fomina continue to investigate.

Before joining iStories in 2020, Fomina worked for the renowned Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta, traveling to the provinces and poorer cities.

“I have always considered my strong side [is] that I can talk with ordinary Russians,” she said.

When she first left Russia, Fomina was uneasy about her media outlet being labeled a “foreign agent” and “undesirable.” But that soon changed.

“Bucha became the turning point for me,” she told VOA. “I understood that the enemies of the people, the criminals, extremists and some unwanted elements of society are not us.”

The United Nations has called for an independent inquiry into the atrocities carried out in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in March. Researchers from Human Rights Watch who visited the city a few days after Russian soldiers retreated found evidence of torture and extrajudicial killings.

Now, Fomina said, “I don’t care how the Russian Federation labels me, because I know that the Russian government and authorities are the real terrorists and enemies of the people, not us.”

Mikhail Rubin, deputy editor-in-chief of the investigative media outlet Proekt (The Project) holds a similar view.

Rubin weathered years of threats over Proekt’s coverage of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle before leaving in 2021.

His media outlet was declared undesirable, and Russia named Rubin a foreign agent.

The designation means Rubin must provide detailed financial reports and add a warning to all social media posts that says the content is produced by a foreign agent — requirements that Rubin finds humiliating.

But when Russia invaded Ukraine, he stopped complying.

“[The war] put things in perspective. It became clear that there was no way back. The evil became clear,” Rubin said. “At some point, I understood that nothing would change in my life. I do not care what criminal cases will be open against me in Russia.”

Still, Rubin concedes the authorities succeeded at some level, saying, “They wanted to force [me] out, and they did.”

Danger before the war began

Pressure on Rubin’s team, however, had been ramping up before the war.

Proekt made a name for itself with high-profile investigations of corruption, and high-ranking officials had warned Rubin that what he was doing was dangerous.

Then, Proekt looked into Putin’s illegitimate daughter.

“This was an interference in [Putin’s] private life, which is prohibited,” Rubin told VOA.

As Proekt continued to investigate high-level officials, it became clear that the journalists would no longer be able to work in Russia.

Police raided Rubin’s apartment in June 2021 and placed his passport in front of the journalist.

“This was the last thing they did. I think they gave me a hint,” Rubin said.

On July 15, 2021, authorities designated Proekt an undesirable organization.

“The next morning, I was already in the airplane,” Rubin said.

The team moved to Georgia.

Rubin is quick to praise the country that hosted him for a year, but he says even there, life was hard.

“For those who do not like Russians, you are Russian. For those who like Russians, you are a member of the opposition. But I am not an oppositional figure. I am a journalist. In the end, everyone is not happy with you,” Rubin said.

In late August, Rubin left for the United States after being accepted as a fellow at The George Washington University in Washington. He continues investigating stories from Russia, but says it is a challenge to stay connected with sources.

Russian organizations and individuals seen to cooperate with undesirable organizations may be subject to administrative and criminal charges. And what counts as cooperation is not clear.

The devil is in the details, Arapova said.

Arapova, who has twice been labeled a foreign agent, says the laws are purposely vague.

“The laws are being changed to be applicable to anyone whenever needed. In our country, laws are interpreted ambiguously. The scope of laws is wide, and the terms are obscure. This deprives us, lawyers, of the opportunity to help our clients,” Arapova told VOA.

Russians reaching out

Even with those difficulties, Rubin — who was once a Kremlin pool reporter — says at least outside of Russia, journalists can work.

Proekt has covered chaos in the military, the Kremlin’s control of most public opinion polls inside Russia and details of the medical teams who accompany Putin — all from exile.

Fomina has also not let exile stop her.

“The least we can do now for Ukraine, considering that the country of my citizenship began the war, is to investigate all crimes that our fellow citizens committed,” she said.

The results of that reporting, including assignments inside Ukraine to investigate atrocities, have been surprising. A Russian soldier confessed to a war crime in a phone interview with Fomina.

After she reported on events in the Ukraine village of Andriivka, other soldiers contacted iStories saying they wanted to speak out.

“No one ‘heard’ them in the country,” Fomina said.

People can be persecuted for speaking with media labeled undesirable, but Russians are reaching out to the team.

Fomina plans to keep reporting on Ukraine, telling VOA, “I did not doubt that I needed to go and look for all those who committed evil deeds, those who killed, raped [and] bit-by-bit put together the puzzle.”

This story originated in VOA’s Russian Service.
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