Tensions were high in northern Kosovo Sunday, with Serbs blocking roads as shots and explosions rang out and the Serbian president warned that Serbian troops are ready to defend their “homeland” if peace doesn’t prevail. 

The roads in Serbia’s former province of Kosovo, which proclaimed independence in 2008, were blocked with heavy vehicles and trucks a day after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he would ask the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo to permit the deployment of 1,000 Serb troops in the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, saying they are being harassed there. 

The roadblocks, which Serbs say were erected to protest the recent arrest of a former Kosovo Serb police officer, came despite the postponement of the December 18 municipal election opposed by Kosovo Serbs. 

“Kosovo reduced tensions by postponing local elections,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Sunday. 

“Recent rhetoric from Serbia did the opposite. Suggesting sending Serbian forces to Kosovo is completely unacceptable. So are the latest attacks on EULEX,” she said. 

Vucic said Sunday after a meeting of Serbia’s top security body that he will do everything to preserve peace, but that the army is ready to protect the minority Serbs in Kosovo. 

“We have taken certain measures to protect our homeland,” Vucic told Serbia’s state RTS television. “I have issued orders and the National Security Council has accepted them. I am very proud of our soldiers and policemen. Before they receive orders … we will try for a million times to preserve peace,” he said. 

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Belgrade of trying to destabilize Kosovo. He said Serbia also is trying to bring an end to the EU-mediated dialogue on normalizing bilateral ties and take it to the United Nations Security Council, where Belgrade hopes to get support from Russia and China. 

Kurti called on Kosovo’s Serbs “to distance themselves from the criminal groups and Vucic’s regime that is funding them and looking for a war.” 

The European Union rule of law mission, known as EULEX, reported that a stun grenade was thrown at an EULEX reconnaissance patrol overnight. There were no injuries or damage. 

EULEX, which has some 134 Polish, Italian and Lithuanian police officers deployed in the north, called on “those responsible to refrain from more provocative actions” and said it urged the Kosovo institutions “to bring the perpetrators to justice.” 

European Union’s high representative, Josep Borrell, said the EU “will not tolerate attacks on EULEX or use of violent, criminal acts in the north.” 

“Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs,” he said on Twitter. “Calm must be restored … all actors must avoid escalation.” 

Unidentified masked men were seen on the Serb barricades that blocked main roads leading to the border with Serbia, as Kosovo authorities closed two border crossings to all traffic and pedestrians. 

An increased presence of Kosovar Albanian police in areas with a mixed population, as well as more international police and soldiers, were seen in the north Sunday. 

Serbia and Kosovo have intensified their war of words in recent days. 

Vucic said Saturday that he would formally request permission from the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo to deploy Serbian troops in northern Kosovo, while conceding that the request probably wouldn’t be granted. 

Serbian officials claim a U.N. resolution that formally ended the country’s bloody crackdown against majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 allows for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia to end the war and push its troops out of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. 

The NATO-led peacekeepers who have been deployed in Kosovo since the 1998-99 war would have to give a green light for Serb troops to go there. That’s highly unlikely because it would de-facto mean handing over security of Kosovo’s Serb-populated northern regions to Serbian forces — a move that could dramatically increase tensions in the Balkans. 

“We do not want a conflict. We want peace and progress, but we shall respond to aggression with all our powers,’ Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti posted on social media. 

Kurti told the European Union and the United States that they should “punish” Serbia for orchestrating the violence to “destabilize Kosovo.” 

Tension in the north has been high this week ahead of the polls initially planned for December 18. They have now been postponed to April 23 to defuse the situation. 

The election was due after ethnic Serb representatives resigned their posts in November to protest a decision by Kosovo’s government to ban Serbia-issued vehicle license plates. 

Tensions have simmered in Kosovo ever since it proclaimed independence from Serbia, despite attempts by EU and U.S. officials to defuse them. Serbia, supported by its allies Russia and China, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s statehood. 

Both Serbia and Kosovo want to join the EU, but Brussels has warned they must resolve their dispute and normalize relations to be eligible for membership in the bloc. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the NATO-led mission in Kosovo “remains vigilant.”                 
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Italy, which has vowed a tough line on immigration, took in more than 500 migrants Sunday as two charity rescue ships were allowed to dock at ports in the south of the country after several days at sea in bad weather.

The Geo Barents ship, operated by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity and which had 248 migrants aboard, arrived in Salerno in the southwestern region of Campania, MSF said.

On the other side of the country, the Humanity 1, another rescue vessel run by the charity SOS Humanity, docked in the port city of Bari after the Italian authorities agreed to grant it permission.

The journey had been very tough, and the ship had faced 3-meter high waves and strong winds, SOS Humanity said in a tweet, confirming its arrival with 261 migrants on board.

Tensions flared with neighbor France last month after the French took in a boat that had been turned away by Italy.

Italian interior ministry sources said the decision to allow the two ships to dock was based on the poor weather conditions and the risks faced by those on board, rather than representing a change of policy.

It accuses the charity ships of making it easier for economic migrants to reach Italy and playing into the hands of people traffickers.

The ministry was working on new regulations to protect Italy’s borders and halt the people smugglers, the sources said.

A 14-year-old boy, who was traveling alone, had been airlifted from the Geo Barents to Sicily after suffering acute abdominal pain, MSF said Friday.

On Wednesday, a baby was born on the same vessel and later flown with his mother and three siblings to Italy.
…

The body of a 23-year-old Zambian student who died while fighting for the Russian army in the war in Ukraine has been returned home.

The body of Lemekani Nyirenda, who was studying nuclear engineering in Russia before joining the military, arrived at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka on Sunday.

Although he had been a student, Lemekani was convicted of drug trafficking in April 2020 and sentenced to 9 years in prison.

He was later pardoned through a special amnesty on condition that he participate in the war and he was killed while fighting in Ukraine.

Zambia’s government has requested that Russian authorities give details of Lemekani’s demise, the foreign affairs minister, Stanley Kakubo, said.

“We were told that on August 23 he was conditionally pardoned and was allowed to participate in a special military operation in which he was killed in September,” said Kakubo in a statement. “We then demanded that officials provide details, not just of his recruitment.”

He said that DNA tests to confirm his identity have been conducted and Russian compensation will be given to his family.

Zambia will work to ensure that nothing like this happens again to a Zambian studying in Russia and that there are no other Zambians in Russian prisons, said Kakubo.

Zambians have expressed sadness that a young student was pressed into the Russian military to fight their war in Ukraine.

“The pain of losing a loved one in unclear circumstances is unbearable. How can Russia start recruiting our citizens studying on scholarship to fight their war? It’s definitely not right and our government should ensure they protect the lives of our citizens in Russia,” said Catherine Mwenya, a Lusaka resident.

Another Zambian urged the government to condemn Russia for the death.

“This death requires government to strongly censure Russia and tell them to stop sacrificing our young people studying there to fight this unwanted war with Ukraine. I just hope they do that and draw a clear line for what can be tolerated or not,” Kendricks Phiri said.

Family spokesperson Ian Banda said the body will be taken to the mortuary at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka where the doctors will conduct forensic pathology on the body starting Monday. 

Banda said the burial program will only be announced after the pathology results have been established.

 
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A man opened fire Sunday during a condominium board meeting in a coffee shop in northern Rome, killing three people and injuring others, authorities and witnesses said.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri called an emergency security meeting for Monday after what he called “the grave episode of violence that has struck our city.” In a tweet, he confirmed three people were killed in the shooting in the working class neighborhood of Fidene.

“The shooting occured in an enclosed outdoor seating area of the bar, called “Il Posto Giusto,” or “The Right Place.”

La Repubblica daily quoted witness Luciana Ciorba, vice president of the condo board, as saying the man entered the bar shouting “I’ll kill you all,” and then opened fire. Participants managed to disarm him until Carabinieri police arrived.

Speaking in a video interview, Ciorba said the man was known to board members and had been previously reported to authorities for making threats against local residents.
…

Officials in Washington are continuing to react after the United States and Russia last week finalized a prisoner swap exchanging WNBA standout Brittney Griner for convicted Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout. Griner spent nearly 300 days behind bars for cannabis possession while Bout served more than 14 years for funneling weapons to some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Germany plans to tighten its gun laws in the wake of a suspected plot by a far-right group to violently overthrow the government and install a minor royal as national leader, its interior minister said in an interview published on Sunday.

German police last week arrested 25 people suspected of involvement in the plot, which has shocked many in one of Europe’s most stable democracies. Many of the suspects were members of the far-right “Reichsbuerger” (Citizens of the Reich) movement that denies the existence of the modern German state, according to prosecutors.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper, warned that the Reichsbuerger represented a rising threat to Germany given it had expanded by 2,000 to 23,000 people in the past year.

“These are not harmless crazy people but suspected terrorists who are now sitting in pre-trial detention,” Faeser was quoted as saying.

Prosecutors have said the suspects included individuals with weapons and knowledge of how to use them. They had attempted to recruit current and former army members and had stockpiled weapons.

“We need all authorities to exert maximum pressure” to remove their weapons, Faeser was quoted as saying, which was why the government would “shortly further tighten gun laws.”.

Prior to the raids, authorities had already confiscated weapons from more than 1,000 Reichsbuerger members. However, at least another 500 are still believed to hold gun licenses in a country where private possession of firearms is rare.
…

Britain’s government Sunday rallied to the defense of the beleaguered royal family after a new racism row and explosive Netflix documentary.

Following recent trips overseas, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he would catch up first on Netflix hit “Stranger Things” in preference to the tell-all program of Prince Harry and wife Meghan.

But he stressed there was no stronger supporter of a multicultural Britain than King Charles III, Harry’s father.

“And I think the royal family’s attitude to this country reflects the modern country that we see,” Cleverly told Sky News.

“That’s my personal experience. But I also think that that is something that the whole world sees when they look at us.”

However, a UK charity at the center of the latest royal racism controversy says it has suspended work supporting black survivors of domestic abuse, after a torrent of toxic hate.

Sistah Space founder Ngozi Fulani, who is British, was asked repeatedly at a Buckingham Palace reception on November 29 where she was “really” from.

Since revealing the exchange with Susan Hussey, 83, a godmother to Harry’s brother Prince William, Fulani has been targeted by what she called “horrific” racist insults online.

In a statement late Friday, she said that as a result, Sistah Space had been “forced to temporarily cease” many of its operations to protect clients and staff.

Lady Hussey resigned from her role as a palace courtier after the row, and Prince William’s spokesman condemned the interrogation of Fulani as “unacceptable.”

But it revived attacks on the royal family in the days before Harry and Meghan aired new accusations of racial bias in their Netflix docuseries last week.
…

France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera wore a sweater with rainbow-colored sleeves to France’s quarter-final game in Qatar on Saturday in an apparent message of support for gay rights.

Oudea-Castera, a former professional tennis player, watched the game from the VIP enclosure as France beat England 2-1 to book a place in the semifinals.

The rights of the LGBTQ+ community and the use of the rainbow symbol have been a recurrent point of discussion at the World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

Before the tournament, Paris and several other French cities said they would not show matches from Qatar on big public screens amid calls for a boycott of the competition.

President Emmanuel Macron, who argued that “we must not politicize sport,” is set to travel to Qatar on Wednesday to watch France play Morocco in the semifinal.

He had promised to support the reigning world champions in person if they made it to the semifinal.

“I will come back with the president on Wednesday,” Oudea-Castera told Franceinfo radio. “We’re working the details out.

“He (Macron) made this commitment, and he will honor it with pleasure.”
…

Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Sunday the impact of European sanctions on Russian crude oil and price cap measures “did not bring clear results yet” and its implementation was still unclear.

The Group of 7 price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into effect Monday as the West tries to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in the Ukraine.

Russia has said it would not abide by the measure even if it must cut its production.

“What is happening now in terms of sanctions and price caps imposed and all of it really did not bring clear results, including measures implemented on Dec. 5, we see a state of uncertainty in implementation,” Prince Abdulaziz told a forum held following the country’s 2023 budget announcements in Riyadh.

Prince Abdulaziz said Russia’s reaction and what actions it would take in response to these tools was another aspect that needed to be taken into consideration when looking at the state of play in global markets.

“These tools were created for political purposes and it is not clear yet whether they can achieve these political purposes,” he said, referring to the price cap.

Other factors affecting the market going into 2023 include China’s COVID-19 policies. The impact on China’s economy from easing Covid restrictions still “needs time,” he said.

Central banks’ actions to tame inflation were also still a factor.

“Central banks are still preoccupied with managing inflation, no matter the cost of these measures and their possible negative impact on global economic growth.”

The OPEC+ alliance decision to cut production by 2 million barrels per day on Oct. 5 was proven to be the correct one when recent developments are taken into consideration, he said.

The alliance, which groups together members of The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, last met on Dec. 4 and decided to keep output unchanged amid a weakening economy and uncertainty over how the Russian price cap would affect the market.

Prince Abdulaziz said the alliance would continue to focus on market stability in the year ahead.

He also said he insisted that every OPEC+ alliance member take part in decision-making.

“Group action requires agreement and therefore I continue to insist that every OPEC+ member, whether a big or small producer…be a part of decision-making,” Prince Abdulaziz told the forum.

“Consensus has positive implications on the market.”
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A vice president of the European Union’s parliament was suspended from her duties on Saturday after being caught up in an investigation into influence peddling at the EU assembly allegedly involving officials from Qatar.

Eva Kaili, a 44-year-old Greek former TV news anchor, was suspended by her party in Greece and the EU assembly’s Socialists and Democrats group Friday after Belgian police staged 16 raids across Brussels as part of a probe into corruption and money laundering at the parliament.

Four people were detained for questioning, and investigators recovered around $633,500 in cash and seized computer equipment and mobile telephones. Prosecutors did not identify the four, but at least one was an EU lawmaker and one was a former member.

Authorities have not identified the country suspected of offering cash or gifts to officials at the parliament in exchange for political favors, but several members have linked the investigation to Qatar.

Parliament President Roberta Metsola “has decided to suspend with immediate effect all powers, duties and tasks that were delegated to Eva Kaili in her capacity as vice president of the European Parliament,” Metsola’s spokesperson said late Saturday.

The decision was taken “in the light of the ongoing judicial investigations by Belgian authorities,” he said, without providing further details.

The EU assembly is set to hold its last plenary session of the year in Strasbourg, France, beginning Monday.

The co-president of the Greens group, Philippe Lamberts, called for a parliamentary inquiry and for the issue to be put to debate this week, echoing calls from some other political groups.

The Greens “strongly condemn corruption and bribery, cash and precious gifts cannot draw the political lines in this house,” Lamberts said in a statement. He added that his group “will vote against visa facilitation for Qatar in this week’s plenary vote.”

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, proposed in April that citizens from Qatar be granted short visa-free stays in the 27-nation bloc provided they have a biometric passport. The legislation has been working its way through the assembly.

Kaili’s party in Greece, the Socialist Pasok-Movement for Change, publicly distanced itself from remarks she made in the EU parliament last month praising Qatar, which is currently hosting soccer’s gala event, the World Cup.

She said the World Cup is “proof, actually, of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historical transformation of a country with reforms that inspired the Arab world.” Kaili also repeated what she said is an International Labour Organization view that “Qatar is a front-runner in labor rights.”

After Friday’s raids, Belgian prosecutors said federal judicial police suspect that an undisclosed country in the Gulf region has been trying “to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament.”

It said this was allegedly done “by paying large sums of money or offering large gifts to third parties with a significant political and/or strategic position within the European Parliament.”

In Italy on Saturday, Article One, a small center-left party, suspended former EU lawmaker Pier-Antonio Panzeri following reports he was caught up in the scandal.

In a statement posted on the party’s Facebook page, Article One said it was “disturbed” by the reports but expressed full confidence in Belgian investigators. It added that it “hopes that Panzeri can show he is not involved in something that is completely incompatible with his history and political commitment.”

Panzeri, who was in the Lombardy branch of Article One, was also once a member of the same political group in the EU parliament as Kaili, the Socialists and Democrats. The head of the group, Iratxe Garcia Perez, tweeted Saturday that “Eva Kaili should be replaced as EP vice-president in order to protect the institution’s respectability and citizens’ trust.”

The International Trade Union Confederation declined to comment Friday when asked by The Associated Press about reports that its general secretary, Luca Visentini, was also caught up in the affair. A message on the organization’s website on Saturday said that “ITUC has no further comment on this issue at present, pending further information.”
…

Batool Haidari used to be a prominent professor of sexology at a Kabul university before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. She taught mixed classes of male and female students and helped patients struggling with gender identity issues.

Her husband owned a carpet factory, and together they did their best to provide a good education for their 18-year-old son and two daughters, ages 13 and 8.

That comfortable life came to an abrupt halt on Aug. 15, 2021, when the former insurgents who adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam swept back into power following a costly two-decade U.S.-led campaign to remake the country.

Haidari, 37, was among the many women who fled the Taliban, fearing a return to the practices of their previous rule in the late 1990s, including largely barring girls and women from education and work. She reached Rome at the end of 2021, after a daring escape through Pakistan aided by Italian volunteers who arranged for her and her family to be hosted in the Italian capital’s suburbs.

She is among thousands of Afghan women seeking to maintain an active social role in the countries that have taken them in. Haidari and her husband are studying Italian while being financially supported by various associations. She keeps in touch with feminist organizations back home and tries to maintain contact with some of her patients via the internet.

“Being alive is already a form of resistance,” she said, adding that she wants her children to contribute to the future of Afghanistan, where she is sure her family will return one day.

“When my son passed the exam to access the faculty of medicine at a university in Rome, for me it was good news,” she said, during a commute to her Italian classes in central Rome. “Because if I came to a European country, it was mainly for the future of my children.”

After they overran Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban initially promised to respect the rights of women and minorities. Instead, they gradually imposed a ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade, kept women away from most fields of employment, and forced them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

Haidari tried to stay in Kabul with her family after the Taliban took over. She became an outspoken activist of the Afghanistan Women’s Political Participation Network to fight for women’s education, work and political involvement.

But the risks soon became too high. Haidari was not only an educated female activist, but also a member of the Hazara ethnic group.

The Hazara minority has been a frequent target of violence since the Taliban takeover. Most are Shiite Muslims, despised and targeted by Sunni militants like the Islamic State group, and discriminated against by many in the Sunni majority country.

Haidari received death threats for her research on sensitive issues in Afghan society, and in December 2021 decided to leave. She crossed to Pakistan with her family, and an Italian journalist, Maria Grazia Mazzola, helped her get on a plane from Pakistan to Italy.

“We heard that Taliban were shooting and searching houses very close to their hiding place,” Mazzola said. “We were frantically in touch with the Italian embassy in Pakistan, with confidential contacts in Afghanistan, and we decided together that they had to change their hiding place every three days.”

The Italian government evacuated more than 5,000 Afghans on military planes right after the Taliban takeover. Later, a network of Italian feminists, Catholic and Evangelical churches and volunteers like Mazzola kept organizing humanitarian corridors and set up hospitality in Italy throughout the following year.

Mazzola, who works for Italian public RAI TV and is an expert on Islamic fundamentalism, created a network of associations to host 70 Afghans, mostly Hazara women activists and their families.

Now that the refugees are in Italy and gradually getting asylum, Mazzola said, the priority is to secure for them official recognition of their university degrees or other qualifications that will help them find dignified employment.

“A woman like Batool (Haidari) cannot work as a cleaner in a school. It would be a waste for our society, too. She is a psychologist and deserves to continue working as such,” Mazzola said.

Haidari agreed. While she said she misses the streets and alleys of Kabul, and the easy life she used to have, “most of all I miss the fact that in Afghanistan, I was a much more useful person.”

 
…

Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa in the early hours of Saturday, leaving the city and the surrounding area without power, local officials said.

“Due to the scale of the damage, all users in Odesa except critical infrastructure have been disconnected from electricity,” Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov wrote on Facebook.

Odesa regional Governor Maksym Marchenko said two drones were shot down over the Black Sea before they could fly into their targets.

The drones that did make it through left “no electricity in almost all the districts and communities of our region,” Marchenko wrote on Telegram.

Between Friday and Saturday, the Ukrainian military General Staff reported about 20 airstrikes and more than 60 rocket attacks across Ukraine.

General Staff spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said more than 20 populated places came under fire in the Bakhmut district, scene of the most active fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation “remains very difficult” in several front-line cities in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.

“Bakhmut, Soledar, Maryinka, Kreminna. For a long time, there is no living place left on the land of these areas that have not been damaged by shells and fire,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Friday, naming cities hardest hit.

If Russian forces capture Bakhmut, they could cut Ukraine’s supply lines and open a route to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk, according to The Associated Press. Russia has battered Bakhmut with rockets for more than half of the year, and shifted troops there for a ground assault after Ukraine drove them from Luhansk in July.

Moscow has “actually destroyed Bakhmut, another Donbas city that the Russian army turned into burnt ruins,” Zelenskyy added in his Friday night address.

Attacks on infrastructure

Since October, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine’s power grid. Kyiv acknowledged Friday that every thermal and hydroelectric power plant in the country had been damaged.

Zelenskyy said the attacks are war crimes targeting civilian life, while Moscow claims they are militarily legitimate.

The chief of the National Police of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, said Saturday, that 47,000 Russian war crimes have been recorded in Ukraine since the start of the February 24 invasion. The number includes the torture, rape, and murder of civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to conquer parts of Ukraine and shows no restraint in his brutality, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at an event in Potsdam near Berlin, Saturday. But, he added, it is still important to keep a channel of communications open in case an opportunity arises to end the war.

“We are of completely different opinions. Nonetheless I will keep speaking with him because I want to experience the moment where it is possible to get out of this situation. And that’s not possible without speaking with one another,” he said, according to Reuters.

“We have seen the brutality the Russian president is capable of. In Chechnya where he basically eradicated the whole country. Or in Syria. There is no restraint there, it’s as simple as that,” Scholz said.

Scholz also defended his government’s aim to raise defense spending to NATO’s goal of 2% of gross domestic output. He said NATO countries needed to be strong enough that nobody would dare to attack them.

Russia-Iran military partnership

Iran has become one of Russia’s top military backers since the invasion of Ukraine, according to the British Defense Ministry intelligence update posted on Twitter Saturday.

Iran’s support of Russia is likely to grow, the ministry said, because “Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles. In return Russia is highly likely offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their relationship.”

“Russia has highly likely expended a large proportion of its stock of its own SS-26 Islander short range ballistic missiles, which carry a 500kg warhead up to 500km,” the ministry said. “If Russia succeeds in bringing a large number of Iranian ballistic missiles into service, it will likely use them to continue and expand its campaign of strikes against Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure.”

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that he was was deeply concerned about the “deepening and burgeoning defense partnership” between Iran and Russia, and that the United States would be using its tools to disrupt that relationship.

U.S. aid to Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden authorized a new round of $275 million in military aid for Ukraine, offering new capabilities to defeat drones and boost air defenses, according to a memo released Friday by the White House.

The package also includes rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers made by Lockheed Martin, 80,000 155 mm artillery rounds, Humvee military vehicles and about 150 generators, according to the memo.

This is the 27th use of presidential drawdown authority for Ukraine, which allows the United States to transfer defense articles and services from stocks quickly without congressional approval in response to an emergency.

In total, the United States has committed $20 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed approximately $22.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, and more than $19.3 billion since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February.

VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Viktor Bout, the arms dealer freed in a prisoner swap for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, said he wished her good luck on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi where they were exchanged.

Bout, who spent 14 years in U.S. jail for arms trafficking, money laundering and conspiring to kill Americans, was swapped Thursday for the basketball star, jailed this year for bringing cannabis vape oil when arriving to play for a Russian team.

Russia’s FSB security service released images of the two being led past each other on the tarmac at the airport in Abu Dhabi during the swap, although the video cuts away as they pass and there was no footage showing them interacting.

“I wished her luck, she even sort of reached out her hand to me,” Bout said Saturday in an interview with Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT.

“Again, it’s our tradition. You should wish everyone good fortune and happiness,” he said, adding that he believed Griner “was positively inclined” toward him.

Speaking to Maria Butina, who herself spent 14 months in U.S. prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent and is now a lawmaker and RT presenter, Bout praised President Vladimir Putin, whose portrait he said he had hung on his cell wall.

Asked about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, Bout said he wished that Moscow had been able to launch it sooner.

“If I had the chance and the required skills, I’d join up as a volunteer,” he said.

Griner has not yet spoken publicly. Her wife, Cherelle Griner, said Thursday their family was now “whole,” and the couple would work to help secure the release of other Americans held abroad, including former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, jailed in Russia on spying charges he denies.
…

Russia and China are “modernizing and expanding” their nuclear weapons arsenals, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned Friday, amid increasing tensions with Moscow over Ukraine and with Beijing over Taiwan.

Speaking at the headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command, the military command in charge of America’s nuclear weapons arsenal, Austin said the United States is “on the verge of a new phase” where two major nuclear powers are “strategic competitors.”

The U.S. defense secretary criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he referred to as “deeply irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling” since invading Ukraine in February.

“Nuclear powers have a profound responsibility to avoid provocative behavior, and to lower the risk of proliferation and to prevent escalation and nuclear war,” he said.

Putin said Thursday “the threat of nuclear war is growing.”

He also suggested that if Russia rules out the first use of nuclear weapons it will leave itself vulnerable to a nuclear attack.

“Regarding the fact that under no circumstances will Russia strike first, if it does not strike first under any circumstances, then it will not strike second either, because the possibilities [to do so in case of] a nuclear strike on our territory are very limited,” he said.

Responding to Putin’s remark, a Strategic Command representative said, “The stakes are way too high not to take that seriously.” 

“They would not take first strike off the table,” added the representative, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world, followed by the U.S., which has an estimated 3,800 warheads in active status.

New START treaty talks between the U.S. and Russia aimed at reducing nuclear arsenals have been stalled since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Last month, a Pentagon report warned that China now has more than 400 nuclear warheads, approximately doubling its nuclear arsenal in just two years.

The pace of China’s nuclear expansion may enable Beijing to field a stockpile of about 1,500 warheads by 2035, according to the Pentagon’s annual “China Military Power” report to Congress.

On Monday, the top Republicans on the Senate and House Armed Services Committees sent a letter to outgoing U.S. Strategic Command chief Adm. Charles “Chas” Richard urging the military to declassify a determination it recently sent to Congress pursuant to a clause in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. 

The clause requires the military to notify Congress if China either deploys more intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), deploys more ICBM launchers, or has more nuclear warheads equipped on its ICBMs than the United States, according to Defense News.

Another Strategic Command representative told reporters a response to the request by Sen. Inhofe was “in development” and could be sent as soon as today.

“My understanding is it will be an unclassified response,” the representative added.

Austin’s comments Friday came during a change of command ceremony where Richard passed leadership of U.S. Strategic Command to Air Force Gen. Anthony “Tony” Cotton.

Richard’s 41-year career of military service included becoming the youngest commanding officer of a nuclear-powered submarine.

Cotton has commanded at the squadron group and wing levels and was most recently the head of Air Force Global Strike Command and Air Force Strategic-Air at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. 
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After more than four years of detention in the Sahel, the 63-year-old German humanitarian Jörg Lange has been released, the NGO for which he worked, Help, announced on Saturday.

“We are very relieved and grateful that our colleague Jörg Lange, after more than four and a half years, can return to his family,” Help’s managing director, Bianca Kaltschmitt, wrote in a statement.

According to the weekly Der Spiegel, relying on “security sources,” Lange “is doing well, given the circumstances.” He would have been repatriated to Germany on board an army plane, adds Der Spiegel.

Asked by AFP, the German government declined to comment.

It is thanks to the Moroccan intelligence services and their contacts with jihadist groups in the Sahel, according to Der Spiegel, that this release could take place.

The NGO “heartily thanks all those who have contributed to this release or who have supported it, in particular the crisis unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the criminal police, as well as the authorities and friends in Mali, Niger and in neighboring countries.”

Lange was kidnapped on April 11, 2018, in western Niger by armed men on motorcycles near Ayorou, in a border region of Mali plagued by recurrent jihadist attacks. His Nigerian driver was released shortly afterwards.

According to the German press, Lange was sold after his kidnapping to the jihadist group “Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (EIGS). 

These kidnappers had demanded a seven-figure ransom and sent several videos of the humanitarian, in which he called on the German government not to drag out the negotiations.

According to Der Spiegel, Berlin had considered having him released by an elite unit of the Bundeswehr, the KSK special forces, but had given up on it because of the risks of such an operation.

At least four Western hostages are still being held in the Sahel, according to a count covering only the cases made public by their entourage or their government: Frenchman Olivier Dubois, kidnapped on May 5, 2021, American Jeffery Woodke (October 14, 2016), Australian Arthur Kenneth Elliott (January 15, 2016) and Romanian Iulian Ghergut (April 4, 2015).

Another German, Father Hans-Joachim Lohre, who has not been heard from since late November, is widely believed to have been abducted, although no claims have been reported.

This Catholic priest was to celebrate Mass in a district of Bamako but had disappeared in the evening, a probable kidnapping of an exceptional nature in the Malian capital.

Jihadist violence in the Sahel began in 2012 in Mali, killing thousands and displacing millions. They have spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger and now threaten the states of the Gulf of Guinea.

This serious security crisis leads to violence of all kinds, of which kidnappings are one aspect, whether of foreigners or locals. The motivations, ideological or villainous, range from the demand for ransom to the act of reprisals through the will to bargain.

France completed in August the withdrawal of its troops who had been operating in Mali for almost 10 years. But Paris, which still deploys some 3,000 soldiers in the Sahel, has given itself six months to finalize its new strategy in Africa.
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Amid rampant inflation and an economic crisis in Turkey, and with an election scheduled in 2023, political rhetoric is turning against Syrian refugees in the country. Many are considering returning to their homeland, which is still ravaged by civil war.

Turkey is hosting around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, by far the largest number of any country.

Among them is 38-year-old Muhammed Sheikh, who fled the city of Aleppo with his wife and two children in 2016. They settled in Istanbul and have since had two more children. The inflation crisis means life is getting tougher. He says his monthly wage of 12,000 Turkish lira, around $645, barely covers the bills.

“Our landlord treats us well but in January he will raise the rent to 9,000 Turkish Liras (US$490) and it will be very difficult for us,” Sheikh told VOA. “I will go to Syria if I have to go, but there is no work there and the living conditions are very difficult there. I will try to go to another country if I can.”

Inflation in Turkey hit 85% in October. Sheikh says the economic crisis has also turned some Turkish people against the refugees.

“My Turkish colleagues at work say, ‘Why did you come here? Because of you, rents went up, food prices went up, and making a living became difficult.’ Many Syrians are facing such things here,” Sheikh said.

The United Nations says more than 153,000 refugees returned to Syria from Turkey between January and October 31 of this year. The Turkish government claims the number is closer to half a million.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a tough re-election in June next year, amid Turkey’s economic crisis. Last May, Erdogan pledged to send back one million refugees and create “buffer zones” in northern Syria where they could be returned safely.

Osman Atalay of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish non-governmental organization, says the political rhetoric against refugees is escalating.

“In the last year especially, the political parties began to criticize Syrian refugees very severely and said that if they form a government, they will send Syrians back,” Atalay told VOA. “The big majority of Syrians are working, even with a little salary, they are working to stay here and to make a living. But there are some Syrians who are returning to Syria because of the pressure and physical and verbal attacks on them.”

He questioned the government’s pledge to send back one million refugees. “If there is no security and peace in Syria, how can people go? How can Syrians return?” Atalay said.

Tough choices

Fifty-year-old Husein Kablawi came to Istanbul from Syria in 2019 with his wife and five children. He found a temporary job installing wooden floors. When the job was complete, the manager refused to pay him and told the police that Kablawi was an unregistered refugee. He was forced to move to the central city of Konya.

“Living in Konya was very difficult, there was discrimination against us,” Kablawi said. “The neighborhood I lived in was not safe for me and my children and there was no work there. We had two very bad experiences, and no one helped us. We had to escape and left everything there. We just had the clothes we were wearing — and left for Istanbul.”

Earlier this year the Turkish government suspended refugee registrations in 16 provinces, including Istanbul.

“Because we are not registered, we cannot rent an apartment, and I cannot find a proper job,” Kablawi said. “Because I am not registered here, my documents are not accepted — they are only accepted in Konya. So, my children cannot go to school, and we are facing lots of problems.”

Kablawi and his family live in a one-bedroom, unheated apartment. The five children fear going out on the street. If the police find out they are not registered, they worry they could be sent back to Syria.

Like millions of Syrians, they face tough choices: to stay in Turkey where life is getting tougher and society increasingly hostile; to return home to a country still ravaged by war; or to try to reach Europe, a journey with multiple dangers and a future unknown.

Memet Aksakal contributed to this report from Istanbul.
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U.S. professional basketball star Brittney Griner has arrived in the southwestern U.S. state of Texas after a high-stakes prisoner swap that saw notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout returned to Moscow.

Griner was flown to San Antonio and reunited with her family.

She was then taken to Brooke Army Medical Center for a medical checkup. A spokesperson for Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston said that is standard protocol.

“The U.S. government is focused on ensuring that Brittney Griner and her family’s well-being are prioritized and that all assistance available be offered in an appropriate manner,” Robert Whetstone said.

Griner would be given “all the access she needs to health care workers just to make sure that she is OK,” John Kirby, National Security Council spokesperson, told NBC on Friday, adding that Griner was in “very good spirits when she got off the plane and appeared to be obviously in good health.”

The actual exchange took place in the United Arab Emirates, where Griner and Bout crossed paths on the runway, heading to their flights home.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who had long pressed the Russian government to free Griner, officially announced her release Thursday.

“She represents the best of America,” Biden said at the White House, noting that Griner would be back in the United States within 24 hours.

“I spoke with Brittney Griner,” Biden said. “After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.”

Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, thanked Biden and an array of U.S. officials for their efforts in freeing her spouse after nine months of imprisonment. Cherelle Griner said that she and Brittney Griner would continue their support for the release of Paul Whelan, an American held in Russia who was not included in Thursday’s deal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference, “This was not a choice of which American to bring home. The choice was one or none. I wish we could have brought Paul Whelan on the same plane as Brittney.”

Griner, 32, was detained at a Moscow airport in February when she arrived in Russia with vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The Women’s National Basketball Association star had gone to Russia to play for a Russian team during her off-season in the U.S., but instead was convicted on the drug charge after a brief trial, sentenced to nine years of imprisonment, and recently sent to a Russian penal colony.

Even as the U.S. has led the Western coalition of countries supplying munitions to Ukraine in its 10-month fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, the two countries held behind-the-scenes talks about the release of the two prisoners.

In the end, Whelan, a 52-year-old Michigan corporate security executive imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government has said are baseless, was left out of the deal.

“Sadly, and for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s,” Biden said. “And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”

Biden told Whelan’s family, “We will keep negotiating in good faith. I guarantee it.”

Bout, 55, had served 15 years of a 26-year prison sentence in the U.S. and was once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.” The Kremlin had long sought his release.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press.
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Lionel Messi and his teammates hung around on the field for 20 minutes, taking turns dancing and jumping up and down in front of their celebrating, scarf-waving fans.

Argentina was going to savor reaching the World Cup semifinals. Messi’s quest to win soccer’s ultimate prize is still alive.

Argentina beat the Netherlands 4-3 in a penalty shootout Friday, with Messi converting his attempt and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez making two saves.

After Lautaro Martinez scored the clinching penalty, Messi — with his arms outstretched — sprinted to jump into the arms of his goalkeeper.

“We had to suffer,” Messi said. “But we got through.”

The match finished 2-2 and was only taken to extra time after the Netherlands equalized in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time with the second of substitute Wout Weghorst’s two goals.

Before that, Messi had set up the opening goal by Nahuel Molina in the 35th before converting a penalty to make it 2-0.

Argentina will play Croatia in the semifinals on Tuesday after the 2018 runner-up defeated Brazil earlier Friday.

It is only the second time Argentina has reached the last four since 1990. In 2014, Messi was part of the team that lost to Germany in the final.

He looks in the mood to get there again in a tournament that he is turning into his own personal highlight reel.

He delivered a mesmerizing piece of skill and vision to set up Molina’s goal, twisting free and bursting forward from central midfield before delivering a no-look reverse pass for the defender to poke in a finish.

His penalty was his fourth goal of the tournament, taking him to 10 overall in the World Cup — tied with Gabriel Batistuta for the most for Argentina. Messi now has 94 goals in total in his 169 international games.

The game featured 17 yellow cards — a record for a World Cup game — including one for Messi, who had blood coming from his upper lip at one stage of an extra time that was dominated by Argentina.

Enzo Fernandez hit the post near the end of extra time. Martinez’s saves were from attempts by Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis, after which he pulled his shorts high and danced a jig.

The loss ended Louis van Gaal’s third stint in charge of the Netherlands, and Messi shared a moment with the 71-year-old coach at the end.
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U.S. President Joe Biden authorized a fresh round of $275 million in military aid for Ukraine, offering new capabilities to defeat drones and boost air defenses, according to a memo released Friday by the White House.

The package also includes rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers made by Lockheed Martin, 80,000 155mm artillery rounds, Humvee military vehicles and about 150 generators, according to the memo.

This is the 27th use of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) for Ukraine, which allows the United States to transfer defense articles and services from stocks quickly without congressional approval in response to an emergency.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House Friday the equipment was “on its way.”

To counter Russia’s surge in missile attacks against Ukraine, the United States has sent sophisticated anti-aircraft NASAMS systems to Ukraine that have been running for a few weeks.

Washington previously announced it was sending four Avenger short-range air defense systems that use Stinger missiles, made by Raytheon Technologies Corp RTX.N, and HAWK interceptor missiles.

U.S. allies have also been sending air defense systems.

In total, the United States has committed $20 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed approximately $22.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, and more than $19.3 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.

“To meet Ukraine’s evolving battlefield requirements, the United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities,” according to a Pentagon statement.

Russia’s weapons

Meanwhile, Russia is expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested he could use nuclear weapons to protect Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday.

“As the Kremlin continues its cruel and unprovoked war of choice against Ukraine, the whole world has seen Putin engage in deeply irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling,” Austin said. He made the comments at a ceremony for the incoming commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

According to a recent Pentagon policy document on nuclear arms, Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts. Together, Russia and the United States hold about 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads — enough to destroy the planet many times over.

Putin said Friday that Russia’s near-total loss of trust in the West would make an eventual settlement over Ukraine much harder to reach, although contacts between Russian and U.S. intelligence services were at least continuing.

At a news conference in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, Putin lamented the failure to implement the Minsk agreements – cease-fire and constitutional reform deals between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 by Russia, France and Germany, at the outset of the war in Ukraine.

“We thought we would still be able to agree within the framework of the Minsk peace agreements. What can you say? There is a question of trust,” Putin said. “And trust, of course, is almost at zero.”

Since suffering a series of military setbacks, Putin has increasingly pitched his invasion on Ukraine as a fight to defend Russia against an aggressive “collective West.”

Russia is working on obtaining more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles. It is also offering Tehran an unprecedented level of military and technical support in return, Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Friday.

Woodward also said that since August, Iran had transferred hundreds of drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to Russia that had used them to “kill civilians and illegally target civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine.

“Russia is now attempting to obtain more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles,” Woodward told reporters.

Russia-Iran

National Security Council spokesman Kirby said Washington was deeply concerned about the “deepening and burgeoning defense partnership” between Iran and Russia, and that the United States would be using its tools to disrupt that relationship.

He said the U.S. government also would be calling on partner countries to discuss and address the Russia-Iran partnership.

An escalation of war could engulf Europe and marshal NATO against Russia, warned NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong,” Stoltenberg said in remarks to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

“It is a terrible war in Ukraine. It is also a war that can become a full-fledged war that spreads into a major war between NATO and Russia,” he said. “We are working on that every day to avoid that.”

Speaking Friday via video link to defense and security chiefs of several ex-Soviet nations, Putin accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool against his country.

“For many years, the West shamelessly exploited and pumped out its resources, encouraged genocide and terror in the Donbas and effectively turned the country into a colony,” he said. “Now it’s cynically using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder, as a ram against Russia by continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, sending mercenaries and pushing it to a suicidal track,” he said.

Ukrainians say they are fighting for freedom against an unwanted invader and aggressor.

Heavy fighting continued Friday in eastern and southern Ukraine, mostly in regions that Russia illegally annexed in September. Ukraine’s presidential office said five civilians have been killed and another 13 have been wounded by Russian shelling in the last 24 hours.

Zaporizhzhia plant

Russia has placed several Grad rocket launchers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power utility.

Energoatom said the “most likely” scenario Russia is preparing for with the launchers at the power plant is “the shelling of the opposite bank of the Dnieper, in particular the Nikopol and Marhanets … using the ‘cover’ of power units and spent nuclear fuel storage.”

Energoatom said Russia has used Zaporizhzhia for “military purposes” since the “very beginning” of its invasion of Ukraine.

“And once again,” Energoatom said, “we call for the creation of a security zone inside and around the station for its complete demilitarization and de-occupation.”

VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from Reuters.
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On the eve of Human Rights Day, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Tuerk, launched a yearlong campaign to mark the adoption 75 years ago of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Tuerk said he hopes the campaign will renew people’s awareness and commitment to human rights and rekindle the vision that inspired the document.

He said human rights violations must be of concern to everyone. He noted that expressions of alarm and offers of aid must not be restricted to heartbreaking headline events, such as the war in Ukraine or the sanctioned killings of protesters by state security forces in Iran.

The high commissioner said the human suffering in what he calls forgotten crises must not go unreported. He cited the many killings and kidnappings by gangs in Haiti and acute hunger faced by millions there, as well as humanitarian catastrophes in Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mozambique and other nations. 

“These and many other crisis situations that have faded from the headlines, not only have severe consequences for the people that are directly affected, but are likely to have ripple effects across borders, and risk further destabilizing their regions,” Tuerk said. “One thing they and so many other crises have in common is disregard for human rights.”

Tuerk noted that disregard for human rights can trigger multiple and interlocking human rights violations, which include racial and other forms of discrimination, violent crackdowns on dissent, and the denial of an adequate standard of living. He said hate speech can exacerbate tensions and set back rights, such as gender equality. 

“The brunt of the impact of these crises is always borne by the most marginalized, the most excluded, among those in particular: women, children, migrants, indigenous peoples, internally displaced people, people with disabilities, older people, ethnic and racial minorities, and LGBTIQ-plus people,” he said.

Tuerk warned that the world is facing a crisis of trust, and the rise in social movements and protests across all regions is a sign that the institutions meant to serve people are breaking down.

Adherence to the principles set forth by the Universal Declaration can set societies back on the path toward a better future, one that is based on justice and equality for all, he said. 

 
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Belgium’s Supreme Court has prohibited the implementation of a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran.

Opponents of the exchange were concerned that the deal would facilitate a bomb-plot mastermind’s return to Iran.

Assadollah Assadi, who was an Iranian diplomat, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, convicted of supplying explosives to bomb a meeting in Paris of Iranian exiled opposition. 

In exchange for his release, Iran was set to release aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, detained in Iran since February.

The Belgian court has suspended the exchange treaty for at least three months until a final ruling.

The court had ruled that Assadi had masterminded the plot to attack the exiled Iranian opposition under the cover of a diplomat to Austria and therefore had no immunity in Belgium.

Iran wants Belgium to recognize Assadi’s diplomatic immunity.

Meanwhile, aid worker Vandecasteele says he is being treated inhumanely in his Iranian prison and has launched a hunger strike and his family members are concerned about his failing health.
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U.S. professional basketball star Brittney Griner has arrived in the southern U.S. state of Texas after a high-stakes prisoner swap that saw notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout returned to Moscow.

Griner was flown to San Antonio and after reuniting with her family will have a medical checkup after her time in a Russian penal colony.

The actual exchange took place in the United Arab Emirates, where Griner and Bout crossed paths on the runway, heading to their flights home.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who had long pressed the Russian government to free Griner, officially announced her release Thursday.

“She represents the best of America,” Biden said at the White House, noting that Griner would be back in the United States within 24 hours.

“I spoke with Brittney Griner,” Biden said. “After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.”

Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, thanked Biden and an array of U.S. officials for their efforts in freeing her spouse after nine months of imprisonment. Cherelle Griner said that she and Brittney Griner would continue their support for the release of Paul Whelan, another American held in Russia who was not included in Thursday’s deal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference, “This was not a choice of which American to bring home. The choice was one or none. I wish we could have brought Paul Whelan on the same plane as Brittney …”

Griner, 32, was detained at a Moscow airport in February when she arrived in Russia with vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The Women’s National Basketball Association star had gone to Russia to play for a Russian team during her off-season in the U.S., but instead was convicted of the drug charge after a brief trial, sentenced to nine years of imprisonment, and recently sent to a Russian penal colony.

Even as the U.S. has led the Western coalition of countries supplying munitions to Ukraine in its 10-month fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, the two countries held behind-the-scenes talks about the release of the two prisoners.

Earlier this year, Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked about the would-be prisoner exchange, which at the time was their first known contact in more than five months, as Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine continued.

In an extraordinary move during otherwise secret negotiations, Blinken revealed publicly in July that the U.S. had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia for Griner and Whelan.

In the end, Whelan, a 52-year-old Michigan corporate security executive imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government has said are baseless, was left out of the deal.

“Sadly, and for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s,” Biden said. “And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”

Biden told Whelan’s family, “We will keep negotiating in good faith. I guarantee it.”

Bout, 55, had served 15 years of a 26-year prison sentence in the U.S. and was once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.” The Kremlin had long sought his release.

Bout is a former Soviet military translator turned international arms dealer. He was imprisoned for more than a decade after he was lured to Thailand in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation that spanned three continents.

“Viktor Bout, in my eyes, is one of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth,” Michael Braun, the former chief of operations for the drug agency, told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” show in 2010.

Griner’s arrest upon arrival in Moscow made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and societal issues into the case. American news outlets regularly televised her court appearances.

She said carrying the carrying the cannabis oil into the country was a mistake borne of hastily packing her luggage. During one court proceeding in Russia, a Griner lawyer said she had a note from a U.S. doctor saying Griner needed medical cannabis in order to treat pain, although Griner said she packed the cannabis in her luggage by mistake.

Before being sentenced on August 4, an emotional Griner apologized “for my mistake that I made.”

She told the judge, “I hope in your ruling it does not end my life.”

(Some material in this report came from Agence France-Press and The Associated Press.)
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Russia has placed several Grad rocket launchers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power utility.

The weapons were placed “near power unit No. 6, right next to the territory of the station’s dry storage of spent nuclear fuel, where they had previously built some ‘protective structures’ in a secret regime, violating all the conditions for the organization of nuclear and radiation safety,” the company said.

Energoatom said the “most likely” scenario Russia is preparing for with the launchers at the power plant is “the shelling of the opposite bank of the Dnieper, in particular the Nikopol and Marganets … using the ‘cover’ of power units and spent nuclear fuel storage.”

Energoatom said Russia has use Zaporizhzhia for “military purposes” since the “very beginning” of its invasion of Ukraine.

“And once again,” Energoatom said, “we call for the creation of a security zone inside and around the station for its complete demilitarization and deoccupation.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday in his daily address that he has signed decrees for honors that will be awarded posthumously to four police officers who lost their lives Wednesday to Russia mines in the Kherson region.

“Already returning after completing one of the tasks, when they removed weapons and ammunition from the cache of the occupiers, many of which were left in the Kherson region, the policemen stumbled upon a mine trap,” the president said.  “And this is the form of Russian terror that will have to be countered for years to come.”

Russian and Ukrainian forces traded attacks in the critical eastern and southern regions of Ukraine on Thursday as the two countries fought over territory that Moscow has tried to annex in its 10-month war.

Fighting raged along the entire line of demarcation in the Donetsk region, with a Ukrainian official saying the front-line town of Avdiivka was shelled by Russian tanks Thursday morning.

Ukraine’s governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said that Russia deployed more troops near the city of Lysychansk to try to capture the village of Bilohorivka and described an intensifying Russian air offensive.

“They are bringing in more and more reserves” around Bilohorivka, Haidai told Ukrainian television. “There are constant attacks.”

In the settlement of Bakhmut and other parts of the Donetsk region that neighbors Luhansk, an assault killed nine civilians, a Ukrainian official said. Ukrainian forces countered with barrages from rocket launchers.

In the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, a supply route into Crimea, Russian-installed authorities summoned men of fighting age to mobilize, Ukraine’s military general staff said in a statement.

Russia has launched dozens of attacks from multiple rocket launchers since Wednesday, the Ukrainian general staff said, along with 16 airstrikes and seven missile attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given conflicting statements on the goals of the war since his Feb. 24 invasion, but it is now clear that his aims include some expansion of Russia’s borders.

Putin said Wednesday that the war will be a “long process” but asserted that Russia had already become geographically bigger by annexing Ukrainian territory, a reference to internationally disputed claims he made in September that four Ukrainian provinces are now part of Russia.

“This is a significant result,” Putin said, although Russia does not control all of the Ukrainian land it claims. He described the Sea of Azov as its “internal sea,” now bounded by Russia and Russian-controlled territory in southern Ukraine, including Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

Zelenskyy says his troops will eventually drive Russia from all the captured territory, including Crimea.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.
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Britain, Italy and Japan are combining their resources to create a new generation of fighter jets.

“We are announcing the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) – an ambitious endeavor to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft by 2035,” the three nations said in a joint statement.

Other countries, including the United States, may also join the collaborative jet-building effort.

“We have begun important collaboration through a series of discussions on autonomous systems capabilities, which could complement Japan’s next fighter program among other platforms,” the United States and Japan said in a joint statement.

The announcement of the development of the fighter jet comes as Russia, China and North Korea have become increasingly aggressive.
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