…

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday returned to Ukraine to face court on treason charges he believes are politically motivated. 

At the Kyiv airport, where he arrived on a flight from Warsaw on Monday morning, Poroshenko was greeted by several thousand cheering supporters. Some carried banners reading “We need democracy,” and “Stop repressions.” 

From the airport, Poroshenko is expected to head straight to court, which will rule on whether to remand him in custody pending investigation and trial. 

A prosecutor has alleged that Poroshenko, owner of the Roshen confectionery empire and one of Ukraine’s richest businessmen, was involved in the sale of large amounts of coal that helped finance Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014-15. 

Poroshenko’s assets have been frozen as part of its investigation into the allegations of high treason. The former leader of Ukraine faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. 

Poroshenko insists that he is innocent. He accuses his successor, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of seeking to discredit him politically to distract from Ukraine’s widespread problems, including economic woes and rising deaths from COVID-19. 

The charges are the latest in a string of accusations leveled against Poroshenko since he was defeated by Zelenskyy in 2019. The allegations have generated concerns of undemocratic score-settling in Ukraine and also alarmed Ukraine’s allies. They come as Russia has built up troops along the Ukraine border and the United States has voiced concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be planning an invasion of Ukraine. 

Poroshenko was defeated by voters following a corruption scandal and a mixed record on reforms, but he emerged with strong patriotic credentials for his work in rebuilding the Ukrainian army as it fought Russian-backed insurgent fighters in the east. 

Zelenskyy says he is waging a fight against oligarchs that is aimed at reducing their influence in Ukraine’s political and economic life. 

Poroshenko has been outside of Ukraine for weeks, meeting with leaders in Brussels, Berlin and other European capitals. 

His supporters view charges against him as politically motivated. “It is a revenge of the authorities and an attempt by Zelenskyy to eliminate his biggest rival in Ukraine’s politics,” Anton Ivashchenko, 42, told The Associated Press at the airport. “Persecution of Poroshenko sows animosity and discord among those who push for … Ukraine’s closer ties with the West.” 
…

The North Macedonia’s parliament late Sunday elected Social Democrat technocrat Dimitar Kovacevski as prime minister after more than two months of political turmoil in the country.

Kovacevski, a former deputy finance minister, succeeds Zoran Zaev, who stepped down last month following his party’s heavy defeat in municipal elections.

The new coalition Cabinet, led by Kovacevski’s Social Democrats (SDSM), was backed by 62 MPs of those present in the 120-seat parliament. Forty-six lawmakers voted against.

Presenting his agenda to the parliament on Saturday, Kovacevski had said a key goal of his government would be “higher and sustainable economic growth.”

He also promised to address the country’s energy crisis and to try to bring it closer to the European Union.

Kovacevski, 47, assumed leadership of the SDSM helm last month.

He takes over as prime minister after the previous government, also SDSM-led, survived a no-confidence vote in November after weeks of negotiations with smaller parties.

Ever since however, the opposition has accused the government of lacking legitimacy and has called for early elections. Kovacevski insists the elections will be held as scheduled in 2024.

As deputy finance minister Kovacevski, who holds a PhD in economics, kept a low profile.

Political analysts have questioned whether he will be able to negotiate the challenges the nation faces.

At home, they say, he will have to face the complex relations within the ruling coalition and the corruption crippling the country’s economy.

His biggest foreign policy challenge is thought to be getting progress on EU membership talks, which are stalled because of the opposition of Bulgaria.

In 2019, the country added the geographical qualifier “North” to its official name to distinguish it from the Greek province of Macedonia.

The change enabled North Macedonia to join NATO and was a precondition for paving the way for its possible EU membership.

But Bulgaria stands in the country’s path to EU membership because of a dispute over historical issues and the origin of the Macedonian language.
…

Greek artist Alekos Fassianos, whose work drew on his country’s mythology and folklore, died Sunday at the age of 86, his daughter Viktoria told AFP.

Described by some admirers as a modern-day Matisse and by others as the Greek Picasso, his works, which included paintings, lithographs, ceramics and tapestries, have been shown around the world.

While he resisted comparison with Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, he admired both artists, but insisted he had drawn on many different influences.

Fassianos, who had been bedridden at his home in the suburbs of Athens for several months, died in his sleep, Viktoria Fassianou said. 

Ill health had forced the artist to put down his paintbrushes in 2019.

“All the work of Fassianos, the colors that filled his canvases, the multidimensional forms that dominated his paintings, exude Greece,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said in a statement.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid tribute to Fassianos as a painter who “always balanced between realism and abstraction.”

Fassianos, he added, “leaves us a precious heritage.”

The artist split his time between Greece and France, where he studied lithography at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris.

The website devoted to his work says his style was forged in the 1960s and that his main themes have always been man, nature and the environment. 

From Paris to Munich, Tokyo to Sao Paolo, Fassianos’s works were shown around the world. Examples of his work can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and in the Pinacotheque in Athens.

“Greekness has always been his inspiration, from mythology to contemporary Greece,” the artist’s wife, Mariza Fassianou, told AFP during a visit to his home last year. “He has always believed that an artist should create with what they know.”

Her husband would work on the floor or even scratch the corner of a table, she said. “He destroyed what he didn’t like.”

An Athens museum devoted to his work will open in autumn 2022 and display some of the works that currently adorn his home.

His friend, architect Kyriakos Krokos, entirely redesigned the central Athens museum that will showcase his work, collaborating with Fassianos himself.

France has bestowed upon him some of its top awards, including the Legion of Honor (Arts and Letters) and he is also an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts.
…

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he is returning to Ukraine to fight treason charges — even though he views them as politically motivated — because he believes that fighting them is part of his defense of national unity.

Poroshenko spoke Sunday at a news conference in Warsaw hours before he is to fly Monday from the Polish capital to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he is to face the allegations in court.

A prosecutor has alleged that Poroshenko, one of Ukraine’s richest businessmen, was involved in the sale of large amounts of coal that helped finance Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014-15. He is owner of the Roshen confectionery empire. The Kyiv court has already frozen Poroshenko’s assets as part of its investigation into the allegations of high treason.

Poroshenko insists that he is innocent. He accuses his successor, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, of seeking to discredit him politically to distract from Ukraine’s widespread problems, including economic woes and rising deaths from COVID-19.

“I will return to Ukraine to fight for Ukraine,” Poroshenko said, adding that he considers fighting the “politically motivated” charges to be part of his patriotic fight for the nation.

Despite the seriousness of the charges, Poroshenko seemed upbeat Sunday. When asked by a reporter if he expects to be arrested upon his return home, he answered, “Definitely not.”

The charges are the latest in a string of accusations leveled against Poroshenko since he was defeated by Zelenskiy in 2019. The allegations have generated concerns of undemocratic score-settling in Ukraine and alarmed Ukraine’s allies. They come as Russia has built up troops along the Ukraine border and the United States has voiced concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be planning an invasion of Ukraine.

Poroshenko said he sees charges he faces as harmful for the country at such a time. He said Ukraine’s leadership is responsible for national unity, and what “Russia is really looking for is disintegration and conflict inside the country.” 

“I think this is a very irresponsible action of the current leadership to disintegrate the country and ruin the unity,” he said. 

Poroshenko was defeated by voters following a corruption scandal and a mixed record on reforms, but he emerged with strong credentials a patriot for his work in rebuilding the Ukrainian army as it fought Russia-backed insurgent fighters in the east.

For his part, Zelenskiy says he is waging a fight against oligarchs that is aimed at reducing their influence in Ukraine’s political and economic life.

Poroshenko has been outside of Ukraine for weeks, meeting with leaders in Brussels, Berlin and other European capitals.
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France’s parliament gave final approval on Sunday to the government’s latest measures to tackle COVID-19, including a vaccine pass contested by anti-vaccine protesters.

Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament voted 215-58, paving the way for the measure to enter force in the coming days.

The new law, which had a rough ride through parliament with opposition parties finding some of its provisions too tough, will require people to have a certificate of vaccination to enter public places like restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long-distance trains.

Currently, unvaccinated people can enter such places with the results of a recent negative COVID-19 test. Nearly 78% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry on Saturday.

President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to seek a second term in an April election, told Le Parisien paper this month that he wanted to irritate unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting the COVID vaccine.

Thousands of anti-vaccine protesters demonstrated in Paris and some other cities on Saturday against the law, but their numbers were down sharply from the week before, just after Macron’s remarks.

France is in the grips of its fifth COVID-19 wave with daily new cases regularly hitting record levels over 300,000. Nonetheless the number of serious cases putting people in ICU wards is much lower than the first wave in March-April 2020.
…

Ukraine Sunday blamed Russia for the defacement of government websites, contending it was part of Moscow’s “hybrid war” against the former Soviet republic.

With Russia already massing 100,000 military troops along Ukraine’s eastern flank, Ukrainian officials said, “All evidence indicates that Russia is behind the cyberattack.”

“Moscow continues to wage a hybrid war and is actively building up its forces in the information and cyberspaces,” the ministry statement said, after Microsoft said dozens of computer systems at various Ukrainian government agencies had been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware.

Russia has repeatedly denied Ukrainian accusations of hacking.

The cyberattack comes amid the threat of a Russian invasion, eight years after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.  

Diplomatic talks to resolve the tense standoff appear to be at a stalemate after several meetings in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna last week did not result in any resolution.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” show that the United States remains ready for further diplomatic talks with Russia over its troop deployment but will respond with significant economic sanctions against Moscow if President Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine.

Microsoft said Saturday that it first detected the malware on Thursday, coinciding with the attack that simultaneously took about 70 Ukrainian government websites offline temporarily. 

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

A Roman villa housing the only mural by Caravaggio and at the center of a legal battle between a former Playboy model and the sons of her late husband, an Italian prince, will go up for auction Tuesday.

The sprawling property, valued at 471 million euros (almost $540 million), is a Baroque jewel with gorgeous gardens and a valuable art collection that also includes frescoes by Guercino.

Art lovers are demanding the Italian state step in to buy the spectacular property, arguing that artistic treasures should be protected and available for public viewing.

But the government might not have enough to pay for it — the auction is only open to those who can put up 10% of the starting price of 353 million euros — and rumored buyers include Bill Gates and the Sultan of Brunei.

The auction was ordered by a Rome court following a dispute among the heirs of Prince Nicolo Ludovisi Boncompagni, the head of the family who died in 2018.

The dispute is between the prince’s third and final wife, Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, a 72-year-old American former real estate broker and actor who once posed for Playboy, and the children from his first marriage.

Auction of the century

The residence of the noble Ludovisi Boncompagni family for hundreds of years, the 2,800-square-meter Casino dell’Aurora is located in central Rome between the Via Veneto and the Spanish Steps.

Its sale is being held behind closed doors and has been dubbed by Italian media as the “auction of the century” in its breathless reporting on the legal wrangling around it and who could buy it.

There are those who believe the cultural gem should be preserved for the nation.

Almost 35,000 people have called on the Italian government to exercise “its pre-emptive right” to buy the building and the Caravaggio, which alone is valued at 350 million euros, according to a petition on change.org.

“Sign this petition to prevent another piece of Italy, such a beautiful one, from being sold off,” it said.

However, the estimated price of the villa represents a quarter of the annual budget of the culture ministry.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini wrote this month to Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the finance minister to raise the issue of the sale, according to reports.

Under Italian law, the government can only exercise its pre-emptive rights after the sale to a private individual, and then within 60 days of the sale’s competition — and for the same price.

‘Beautiful, important building’

The oil mural by Caravaggio — real name Michelangelo Merisi — dates to 1597 and is located on the ceiling in a corridor on the first floor of the palace.

It depicts Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune with the world at the center, marked by signs of the zodiac.

“It’s certainly one of his earliest (works) and is very interesting because the subject is a mythological subject, and Caravaggio painted almost only sacred works,” art historian Claudio Strinati told AFP.

The palace was originally an outbuilding in the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi, of which nothing remains today. Its name comes from a Guercino fresco depicting the goddess Aurora, or Dawn, on her chariot.

“It is a very beautiful, very important building, with some very beautiful paintings,” said Strinati, a former museum curator in Rome.

“It would certainly be a positive thing if it became public property, it could become the home of a museum or particularly important cultural activities.”

The auction is due to start Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) and will last 24 hours.

 
…

Microsoft said late Saturday that dozens of computer systems at an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies have been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware, a disclosure suggesting an attention-grabbing defacement attack on official websites was a diversion. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.

The attack comes as the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine looms and diplomatic talks to resolve the tense stand-off appear stalled.

Microsoft said in a short blog post that amounted to the clanging of an industry alarm that it first detected the malware on Thursday. That would coincide with the attack that simultaneously took some 70 government websites temporarily offline.

The disclosure followed a Reuters report earlier in the day quoting a top Ukrainian security official as saying the defacement was indeed cover for a malicious attack.

Separately, a top private sector cybersecurity executive in Kyiv told The Associated Press how the attack succeeded: The intruders penetrated the government networks through a shared software supplier in a so-called supply-chain attack in the fashion of the 2000 SolarWinds Russian cyberespionage campaign targeting the U.S. government.

Microsoft said in a different, technical post that the affected systems “span multiple government, non-profit, and information technology organizations.” It said it did not know how many more organizations in Ukraine or elsewhere might be affected but said it expected to learn of more infections.

“The malware is disguised as ransomware but, if activated by the attacker, would render the infected computer system inoperable,” Microsoft said. In short, it lacks a ransom recovery mechanism.

Microsoft said the malware “executes when an associated device is powered down,” a typical initial reaction to a ransomware attack.

Microsoft said it was not yet able to assess the intent of the destructive activity or associate the attack with any known threat actors. The Ukrainian security official, Serhiy Demedyuk, was quoted by Reuters as saying the attackers used malware similar to that used by Russian intelligence. He is deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

A preliminary investigation led Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, to blame the web defacement on “hacker groups linked to Russia’s intelligence services.” Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in cyberattacks against Ukraine.

Tensions with Russia have been running high in recent weeks after Moscow amassed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border. Experts say they expect any invasion would have a cyber component, which is integral to modern “hybrid” warfare.

Demedyuk told Reuters in written comments that the defacement “was just a cover for more destructive actions that were taking place behind the scenes and the consequences of which we will feel in the near future.” The story did not elaborate and Demedyuk could not immediately be reached for comment.

Oleh Derevianko, a leading private sector expert and founder of the ISSP cybersecurity firm, told the AP he did not know how serious the damage was. He said also unknown is what else the attackers might have achieved after breaking into KitSoft, the developer exploited to sow the malware.

In 2017, Russia targeted Ukraine with one of the most damaging cyberattacks on record with the NotPetya virus, causing more than $10 billion in damage globally. That virus, also disguised as ransomware, was a so-called “wiper” that erased entire networks.

Ukraine has suffered the unfortunate fate of being the world’s proving ground for cyberconflict. Russia state-backed hackers nearly thwarted its 2014 national elections and briefly crippling parts of its power grid during the winters of 2015 and 2016.

In Friday’s mass web defacement, a message left by the attackers claimed they had destroyed data and placed it online, which Ukrainian authorities said had not happened.

The message told Ukrainians to “be afraid and expect the worst.”

Ukrainian cybersecurity professionals have been fortifying the defenses of critical infrastructure since 2017, with more than $40 million in U.S. assistance. They are particularly concerned about Russian attacks on the power grid, rail network and central bank.

 
…

Kyiv believes a hacker group linked to Belarusian intelligence carried out a cyberattack that hit Ukrainian government websites this week and used malware similar to that used by a group tied to Russian intelligence, a senior Ukrainian security official said.

Serhiy Demedyuk, deputy secretary of the national security and defense council, told Reuters that Ukraine blamed Friday’s attack – which defaced government websites with threatening messages – on a group known as UNC1151, and that it was cover for more destructive actions behind the scenes.

His comments offer the first detailed analysis by Kyiv on the suspected culprits behind the cyberattack on dozens of websites. Officials on Friday said Russia was probably involved but gave no details. Belarus is a close ally of Russia.

The cyberattack splashed websites with a warning to “be afraid and expect the worst” at a time when Russia has massed troops near Ukraine’s borders, and Kyiv and Washington fear Moscow is planning a new military assault on Ukraine.

Russia has dismissed such fears as “unfounded.”

The office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Demedyuk’s remarks.

Russia’s foreign ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his remarks. It has previously denied involvement in cyberattacks, including against Ukraine.

“The defacement of the sites was just a cover for more destructive actions that were taking place behind the scenes and the consequences of which we will feel in the near future,” Demedyuk said in written comments.

In a reference to UNC1151, he said: “This is a cyber-espionage group affiliated with the special services of the Republic of Belarus.”

‘Track Record’

Demedyuk, who used to be the head of Ukraine’s cyber police, said the group had a track record of targeting Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine and had spread narratives decrying the NATO alliance’s presence in Europe.

“The malicious software used to encrypt some government servers is very similar in its characteristics to that used by the ATP-29 group,” he said, referring to a group suspected of involvement in hacking the Democratic National Committee before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“The group specializes in cyber espionage, which is associated with the Russian special services [Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation] and which, for its attacks, resorts to recruiting or undercover work of its insiders in the right company,” Demedyuk said.

The messages left on the Ukrainian websites Friday were in three languages: Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. They referred to Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, where mass killings were carried out in Nazi German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The episode remains a point of contention between Poland and Ukraine.

Demedyuk suggested the hackers had used Google Translate for the Polish translation.

“It is obvious that they did not succeed in misleading anyone with this primitive method, but still this is evidence that the attackers ‘played’ on the Polish-Ukrainian relations [which are only getting stronger every day],” he said. 
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Kosovo’s parliament on Saturday passed a resolution banning ethnic Serbs from voting on Kosovan soil in Serbia’s national referendum on constitutional amendments.

Serbia will hold a referendum on Sunday on amendments to the constitution that would change how judges and prosecutors are elected, a move the government says is aimed at securing an independent judiciary, a condition for EU membership.

Kosovo’s independence backers—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and the EU mission—urged Prime Minister Albin Kurti to allow Serbs in Kosovo to vote in the referendum.

But in an extraordinary session on Saturday afternoon, 76 out of 120 deputies voted in favor of a declaration banning Serbia from opening polling centers in Kosovo.

Kurti told parliament that establishing polling stations in majority Serb areas of Kosovo would be against the constitution, and that ethnic Serbs could vote by mail or in Belgrade’s government liaison office in Pristina.

“Kosovo is an independent and sovereign state and should be treated as such,” Kurti said.

Serbia, which still considers Kosovo part of its territory, has been organizing elections for its ethnic kin since the Kosovo War ended in 1999.

Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence but has pledged to normalize relations with its former breakaway province before joining the EU.

The head of Serbian Office for Cooperation with Kosovo said the ban was aimed at “annulling political and civic rights of Serbs [in Kosovo].”

“Kurti and his extremists should not think that in the future they will succeed in banning Serbs in Kosovo from voting, notably in April 3 elections,” Petar Petkovic said in a statement.

Serbia is holding presidential and parliamentary elections on April 3. Early on Saturday, Kosovo police confiscated two trucks of the Serbian election commission transporting ballot papers as they crossed the border at Merdare to head towards Serb-majority areas.

“We call on the Kosovo government to allow Serbs in Kosovo to exercise their right to vote in elections and electoral processes in accordance with this established practice,” Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, United States and the EU said in their joint statement Friday.
…

A Moscow court on Saturday remanded in custody three more suspected members of the ransomware crime group REvil for illegal trafficking of funds, a day after Russia claimed it had dismantled the group at the request of the United States.

The court identified the three men as Mikhail Golovachuk, Ruslan Khansvyarov and Dmitry Korotayev.  

In a rare apparent demonstration of U.S.-Russian collaboration at a time of high tensions between the two over Ukraine, Russian authorities detained and charged the REVil group’s members this week.

A police and FSB domestic intelligence operation searched 25 addresses, detaining 14 people, the FSB said Friday, listing assets it had seized, including $600,000 of computer equipment and 20 luxury cars.

The United States welcomed the arrests.

The United States said in November it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of anyone holding a key position in the REvil group.

A source familiar with the case told Interfax the group’s members with Russian citizenship would not be handed over to the United States.
…

The U.N. human rights office condemns the rise of hate speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, warning it could incite violence between Serbian and Muslim ethnic groups that fought a devastating war following the breakup of Yugoslavia. 

Religious holiday celebrations in the autonomous Serb Republic of Srpska last weekend unleashed a torrent of nationalistic rhetoric and hate speech targeting certain communities.

U.N. human rights officials say individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia glorified atrocity crimes and convicted war criminals, including Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.   

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell calls the incidents an affront to survivors, including those who returned to their homes after the conflict.

“The failure to prevent and sanction such acts, which fuel a climate of extreme anxiety, fear, and insecurity in some communities, is a major obstacle to trust-building and reconciliation,” said Throssell. “As we have repeatedly highlighted, the rise in hate speech, the denial of genocide and other atrocity crimes and the glorification of war criminals in the Western Balkans highlight the failure to comprehensively address the past.”   

About 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995.  More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered in July 1995 in the Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide.  The killings were perpetrated under the command of Ratko Mladic, who led the Army of Republika Srpska.

Elections are due to take place in Serbia in April and later in October in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Throssell warns failure to prevent and sanction inflammatory hate speech will exacerbate the already extremely tense political environment.

“We stress once again the need for the authorities in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina to abide by their international human rights obligations to ensure the rights to truth, justice, and reparation,” said Throssell. “They should also adopt measures to prevent recurrence and to promote further reconciliation efforts.  We call on them to condemn and refrain from any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred.”   

She says all perpetrators and instigators of such acts must be held accountable.   

The U.N. human rights office is calling on political and religious leaders to speak out against intolerance and discriminatory instances of hate speech.

 
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Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kyiv next week to reaffirm support for Ukrainian sovereignty and reinforce efforts to deter “aggressive actions” by Russia, Ottawa said Saturday.

Moscow has stationed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and the United States said on Friday it feared Russia was preparing a pretext to invade if diplomacy failed to meet its objectives.

Canada, with a sizeable and politically influential population of Ukrainian ethnic descent, has taken a hard line with Moscow since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“The amassing of Russian troops and equipment in and around Ukraine jeopardizes security in the entire region. These aggressive actions must be deterred,” Joly said in a statement.

“Canada will work with its international partners to uphold the rules-based international order.”

Joly will meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal and travel to the west of the country to speak to a 200-strong Canadian training mission that has been there since 2015.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday and “emphasized that any military incursion into Ukraine would have serious consequences, including coordinated sanctions,” Trudeau’s office said.

Canada has imposed punitive measures on more than 440 individuals and entities over the annexation of Crimea.

Joly, who starts a weeklong trip to Europe on Sunday, will visit Brussels to see NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

She will also go to Paris for talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, the statement said. 

 
…

With Russian troops massing and the specter of war looming over the trenches of eastern Ukraine, soldiers in the dugouts have found solace in the unlikely companionship of stray cats and dogs. 

In a muddy and freezing trench near the town of Avdiivka, 21-year-old Ukrainian soldier Mykyta was petting a dog adopted by the troops as he explained how she had become a valued asset on the frontline. 

“She immediately barks or growls if the enemy is planning an attack. It’s safer and calmer with her — no wonder they say that a dog is man’s best friend,” he told AFP, declining to give his last name over security concerns. 

More than two million Ukrainians were displaced from their homes and many pets were abandoned after fighting broke out in 2014 between pro-Moscow separatists and Kyiv’s army. 

The conflict, which has claimed 13,000 lives, has simmered in recent years with only sporadic reports of escalations and military deaths in eastern Ukraine. 

But that has changed recently with Kyiv’s Western allies accusing Russia of building up tens of thousands of troops around Ukraine’s borders in preparation for a possible invasion. 

Those tensions are at the center of intensive negotiations this week between the United States, NATO and Russia in Geneva and Brussels, with both sides accusing the other of ratcheting up tensions. 

“The animals aren’t to blame — the war is,” said 49-year-old soldier Volodymyr, who also declined to give his last name citing security concerns. 

An AFP journalist said around 15 cats and several dogs had taken up residence together with the soldiers in Volodymyr’s section of the trenches. 

“They were abandoned. They had to fend for themselves. We have to feed them,” Volodymyr said, pouring leftover soup for the cats. 

‘Talisman’ puppy 

After spending months on the frontline with their adopted strays, some soldiers have ended up taking their new comrades home, away from the fighting. 

In the basement of a bombed-damaged house where he sleeps while at the front, 29-year-old soldier Dmytro, meanwhile, is full of praise for his black hunting cat, Chernukha. 

“When winter came, field mice were running around the dugouts,” Dmytro said. 

“She caught them all,” within two months, the young soldier with a shaved head told AFP proudly. 

But it wasn’t the first time a pet had intervened during the war, he said. 

Dmytro told AFP that in 2014 he befriended a one-month-old puppy near the then-flashpoint town of Slavyansk. He said the dog soon became a “mini-talisman” among his fellow soldiers. 

Minutes before one bout of shelling began, he remembered, the dog hid. “We very quickly took the same measure as the dog,” Dmytro said with a smile on his face. 

We “grabbed bulletproof vests, helmets” and “ran.” 

With tensions higher now over fears Russia could invade, soldiers say the animals have been a particular boon, helping them relax and bringing respite to their daily routine. 

“You come back to the post, lie down on the bed, and here comes Chernukha,” Dmytro said. 

The cat “lies on your stomach and looks at you as if she wants to be petted.”

“It’s a sedative,” he said. 
…

The mayor’s office in Lisbon has been fined $1.4 million for sharing the personal data of protest organizers with embassies of countries targeted by the protests, Portugal’s data protection commission said on Friday.

The mayor’s office came under fire in June 2021 when Ksenia Ashrafullina, a Russian-Portuguese organizer of a protest rally in Lisbon, said she had received an email showing the city hall had shared data on her and fellow organizers with the Russian Embassy.

After an internal investigation, it was revealed that data on organizers of 180 protests has been shared with embassies since 2012, 52 of which occurred after the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation — which bans such data sharing — came into force in 2018.

The city hall, then led by Socialist mayor Fernando Medina, shared data of protesters in front of the Cuban, Angolan, Venezuelan, Israeli embassies with the targeted institutions.

The decision by the data protection commission (CNPD), published on its website, said that between 2018 and 2021 there were a total of 225 data breaches committed by the mayor’s office related to sharing protesters’ personal information with embassies and other entities.

In a statement, the mayor’s office, now headed by Social Democrat Carlos Moedas, said the decision was a “heavy legacy the previous leadership … left to the people of Lisbon,” adding the fine now posed a challenge for the budget.

“We will evaluate this fine in detail and how best to protect the interests of citizens and the institution,” it said.

Medina did not immediately respond to a request for comment Ashrafullina, who organized the rally in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, told Reuters she was satisfied with the CNPD’s decision: “We have been waiting for it, and it finally came.”

But Ashrafullina is still scared about the consequences of the data-sharing.

“I’m worried about what would happen if I ever needed to go back to Russia,” she said. 

 
…

Denmark’s former defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said on Friday he has been charged with violating a section of the penal code which includes treason for leaking state secrets.

Frederiksen, who served as defense minister from 2016-19, was charged with the rarely used section 109 of the code, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison, although it was not clear exactly what he was accused of.

Section 109 covers any “person who discloses or imparts any information on secret negotiations, deliberations or resolutions of the state or its rights in relation to foreign states.”

A statement published by Frederiksen on Friday did not specify what the charges against him referred to or whether the charges related to his time as a minister.

“I have spoken out as a member of parliament on a political issue, and I have nothing further to add at present. But I could never dream of doing anything that could harm Denmark or Denmark’s interests,” Frederiksen said in a statement.

It was not clear which comments Frederiksen referred to in his statement.

The state prosecutors office and the Ministry of Defense declined to comment on Frederiksen’s statement.

The news come after the head of Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit last month was detained, charged under the same section of the law over his suspected involvement in a case of “highly classified” information leaks. Lars Findsen has denied wrongdoing, describing the accusation as “completely insane.” 

 
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Taiwan has pledged $1 billion to Lithuania in its latest move to counter China’s pressure on the small Baltic nation — the first European Union member to allow Taipei to use its name on a de facto embassy.

Taiwan’s promise made Tuesday will help fund joint projects in half a dozen sectors and comes after a January 5 agreement to invest $200 million in Lithuanian industry. 

The combined $1.2 billion investment aims to counter China’s increasing pressure on Vilnius since November 18, when Lithuanian authorities allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in its capital under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei.” 

That gesture upset China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory. In the past two months, China has recalled its ambassador from Vilnius while ordering Lithuania’s ambassador to leave Beijing, and it has implemented an embargo against Lithuania, boycotting all of its exports as well as any EU products that use Lithuanian-made components.  

In a press conference Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the $1.2 billion investment “the Taiwan authorities’ attempts to expand space for Taiwan independence activities with dollar diplomacy.” 

China sees Taiwan eventually returning to its control, even though many Taiwanese perceive themselves as a self-governing nation. 

“None of us thought the trade volume between Lithuania and China was that large, so we figured China wouldn’t use economic sanctions against them,” Chang Fu-chang, an associate professor with the Graduate Institute of European Studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA Mandarin. “But we were wrong.” 

Bor Yunchang, an economics professor at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, is pessimistic about Taiwan’s investments. He told VOA Mandarin: “Any investment made for political gains will be on thin ice. It just can’t be as effective in connecting the two countries as capital flows among private sectors.”

China’s revenge   

In most European countries and the United States, Taiwan uses Taipei, the name of its capital, for its foreign offices that are embassies in all but their official designation. Lithuania’s move came as many governments are exploring expanded ties with Taiwan, a high-tech industry powerhouse, even as Beijing’s increasingly assertive foreign and military policy in the region has caused uneasiness worldwide. 

Taiwan’s presence in Vilnius is its first new representative office in Europe since the Taipei Representative Office opened in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2003.  When the office opened, China’s Foreign Ministry accused Lithuania of “undermining Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity” and told Vilnius to “correct the mistakes immediately.” 

“This development is really striking,” Timothy Heath, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, told VOA’s Russian Service, referring to the Vilnius office. “It is the first time a European country has expressed formal recognition of Taiwan in decades. It’s a pretty big development, and understandably China is very angry at this change.”    

Relations between the two countries were fraying before Taiwan’s newest office opened. In August, Beijing stopped approving new permits for Lithuanian food exports to China and halted direct freight train service to Lithuania. Then, in November, China began pressuring companies in the EU to stop using Lithuanian components.  

Mantas Adomenas, Lithuania’s vice minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters in December that China had “been sending messages to multinationals that if they use parts and supplies from Lithuania, they will no longer be allowed to sell to the Chinese market or get supplies there,”   

In a videoconference with Taiwan’s National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-Hsin on Tuesday, Aušrinė Armonaitė, Lithuania’s minister of the economy and innovation, said Vilnius was already seeing companies cancel contracts with Lithuanian providers because of pressure from Beijing. 

“I think China is very worried that Lithuania is setting a precedent and more countries in Europe could follow Lithuania’s example. I think this is the reason why China has reacted so harshly,” said Heath.    

Future unclear  

Chang of Taiwan’s Tamkang University said China’s targeting of multinational companies in EU member states outside Lithuania is particularly effective because the enterprises value the lucrative Chinese market. 

He said Lithuania’s biggest trading partners include two other Baltic countries — Estonia and Latvia — and Russia and the EU.

Chang added that while “Taiwan has stepped up its efforts in developing trade relations with Vilnius, Lithuania’s export structure is unlikely to change in the short term.”

There are also different opinions among Lithuania’s leaders over their nation’s trade policy with China. In early January, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said it had been a “mistake” to allow use of the Taiwan designation. 

Chang said external pressure and internal disputes are hampering efforts by the Lithuanian government to obtain public support for its policy on China and Taiwan. Within the government, diverging views of the president and the prime minister have triggered a confrontation between pro-China and anti-China factions, he added.  

“So the big question is how long can the Lithuanian government stand by Taiwan,” Chang told VOA Mandarin. “That $1.2 billion isn’t a big amount, so, long term, it’s hard to say where the economic relationship between the two countries will be.”  

Heath of the Rand Corporation said that many countries are taking a “wait and see” attitude on whether they might want to consider the path Lithuania has taken.   

“I think in the near term, the EU recognizes the importance of the trade relations with China. The larger countries — France, Germany, Italy — are not in a rush to destabilize their trade relationship with China,” he told VOA Mandarin.

Heath continued: “Nevertheless, I think countries in Europe and around the world are watching closely: What happens to Lithuania? Does it back off its relationship with Taiwan? Or does it maintain it? Whatever it decides, many countries in the world will be watching carefully and thinking about what that might mean for their own relationship with Taiwan.” 

VOA Russian Service reporter Vadim Allen contributed to this report originated by the VOA Mandarin Service.
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Russia has conducted a special operation against ransomware crime group REvil at the request of the United States and has detained and charged the group’s members, the FSB domestic intelligence service said Friday. 

The arrests were a rare apparent demonstration of collaboration between Russia and the United States, at a time of high tensions between the two over Ukraine. The announcement came even as Ukraine was responding to a massive cyberattack that shut down government websites, though there was no indication the incidents were related. 

A joint police and FSB operation searched 25 addresses, detaining 14 people, the FSB said, listing assets it had seized, including 426 million rubles, $600,000, 500,000 euros, computer equipment and 20 luxury cars. 

Russia informed the United States directly of the moves it had taken against the group, the FSB said on its website. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it could not immediately comment. 

“The investigative measures were based on a request from the … United States,” the FSB said. ” … The organized criminal association has ceased to exist and the information infrastructure used for criminal purposes was neutralized.” 

The REN TV channel aired footage of agents raiding homes and arresting people, pinning them to the floor, and seizing large piles of dollars and Russian rubles. 

The group members have been charged and could face up to seven years in prison. 

A source familiar with the case told Interfax the group’s members with Russian citizenship would not be handed over to the United States. 

The United States said in November that it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of anyone holding a key position in the REvil group. 

The United States has been hit by a string of high-profile hacks by ransom-seeking cybercriminals. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters in June that REvil was suspected of being the group behind a ransomware attack on the world’s biggest meatpacking company, JBS SA. 

Washington repeatedly has accused the Russian state in the past of malicious activity on the internet, which Moscow denies. 

Russia’s announcement came during a standoff between the United States and Russia. Moscow is demanding Western security guarantees, including that NATO will not expand further. It has also built up its troops near Ukraine.
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Turkey and Armenia on Friday said a first round of talks in more than 10 years was “positive and constructive,” raising the prospect that ties could be restored and borders reopened after decades of animosity. 

Turkey has had no diplomatic or commercial ties with its eastern neighbor since the 1990s. The talks in Moscow were the first attempt to restore links since a 2009 peace accord. That deal was never ratified and relations have remained tense. 

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries said Friday the talks were held in a “positive and constructive” atmosphere, adding both sides were committed to a full normalization without any pre-conditions. They said special envoys had “exchanged their preliminary views regarding the normalization process.” 

The neighbors are at odds over several issues, primarily the 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed in 1915.

Armenia says the 1915 killings constitute a genocide, a position supported by the United States and some others. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One but contests the figures and denies killings were systematic or constitute genocide. 

Tensions again flared during a 2020 war over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Turkey accused ethnic Armenian forces of occupying land belonging to Azerbaijan. Turkey has since called for a rapprochement, as it seeks greater influence in the region. 

In separate but similarly worded statements, the foreign ministries said a date and location for the next round of talks would be finalized later. 

Turkish diplomatic sources said the discussions between the delegations lasted for about 90 minutes. 

Russia’s TASS news agency cited Armenia’s foreign ministry as saying Thursday it expected the talks to lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of frontiers closed since 1993. 

Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, said in November opening borders and renovating railways to Turkey would have economic benefits for Armenia, as the routes could be used by traders from Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last year the two countries also would start charter flights between Istanbul and Armenia’s capital Yerevan under the rapprochement, but that Turkey would coordinate all steps with Azerbaijan. 

The flights are set to begin in early February. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday Armenia needed to form good ties with Azerbaijan for the normalization effort to yield results. 

No easy breakthrough 

Despite strong backing for normalization from the United States, which hosts a large Armenian diaspora and angered Turkey last year by calling the 1915 killings a genocide, analysts have said the talks would be complicated. 

Emre Peker, a London-based director at Eurasia Group, said a cautious approach focusing on quick deliverables was expected on both sides due to the old sensitivities, adding that the role of Russia, which brokered the Nagorno-Karabakh cease-fire and is the dominant actor in the region, would be key. 

Cavusoglu also has said Russia contributed to the process of appointing the special envoys. 

“The bigger challenge will come from the question of historic reconciliation,” Peker said, adding that the fate of talks would depend on “Ankara’s recognition that it must right-size its ambitions.” 

 
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European Union officials have condemned Friday’s cyberattack on Ukraine that shut down government and emergency services websites and pledged to use EU resources to assist the nation.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry reported Friday the websites of the country’s cabinet — seven ministries, including the treasury, the national emergency service and the state services, where Ukrainians’ electronic passports and vaccination certificates are stored — were temporarily unavailable Friday as a result of the hack.

The websites contained a message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, saying Ukrainians’ personal data has been leaked into the public domain. The message said, in part, “Be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future.”

Ukraine’s State Service of Communication and Information Protection told the Associated Press there was no evidence personal data has been leaked.

In a statement, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg strongly condemned the attacks, saying the alliance’s cyber experts have been exchanging information with their Ukrainian counterparts on “the current malicious cyber activities.” He said NATO allied experts in the country also are supporting the Ukrainian authorities.

“In the coming days, NATO and Ukraine will sign an agreement on enhanced cyber cooperation, including Ukrainian access to NATO’s malware information sharing platform,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brest, France, EU Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell issued the “strongest condemnation” of the attack and said an emergency meeting of the EU political committee would be held to discuss how to react. He pledged to “mobilize all our resources to help Ukraine” increase its cyberattack-resistance capability.

When asked if he knew who was behind the attack, Borrell said they are still investigating, noting it is often difficult to trace cyberattacks, though he added “I don’t have any proof, but one can guess …”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Russia has a long history of such attacks. The incident also follows weeks of apparently failed diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions on the border with Russia and Ukraine where Moscow has amassed an estimated 100,000 troops and equipment, raising fears of an imminent invasion.

Russia insists the troops are there for its own protection, but is demanding NATO provide guarantees it will stop its eastward expansion, beginning with not allowing Ukraine to join the alliance, a move Moscow perceives as a threat. NATO has repeatedly rejected that request, saying Russia has no veto over NATO membership.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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To mask or not to mask is a question Italy settled early in the COVID-19 outbreak with a vigorous “yes.” Now the onetime epicenter of the pandemic in Europe hopes even stricter mask rules will help it beat the latest infection surge.

Other countries are taking similar action as the more transmissible — yet, apparently, less virulent — omicron variant spreads through the continent.

With Italy’s hospital ICUs rapidly filling with mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, the government announced on Christmas Eve that FFP2 masks — which offer users more protection than cloth or surgical masks — must be worn on public transport, including planes, trains, ferries and subways.

That’s even though all passengers in Italy, as of this week, must be vaccinated or recently recovered from COVID-19. FFP2s also must now be worn at theaters, cinemas and sports events, indoors or out, and can’t be removed even for their wearers to eat or drink.

Italy re-introduced an outdoor mask mandate. It had never lifted its indoor mandate — even when infections sharply dropped in the summer.

On a chilly morning in Rome this week, Lillo D’Amico, 84, sported a wool cap and white FFP2 as he bought a newspaper at his neighborhood newsstand.

“(Masks) cost little money, they cost you a small sacrifice,” he said. “When you do the math, it costs far less than hospitalization.”

When he sees someone from the unmasked minority walking by, he keeps a distance. “They see (masks) as an affront to their freedom,” D’Amico said, shrugging.

Spain reinstated its outdoor mask rule on Christmas Eve. After the 14-day contagion rate soared to 2,722 new infections per 100,000 people by the end of last week — from 40 per 100,000 in mid-October — Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was asked whether the outdoor mask mandate was helping.

“Of course, it is. It’s not me saying it. It’s science itself saying it because (it’s) a virus that is contracted when one exhales,” Sanchez said.

Portugal brought masks back at the end of November, after having largely dropped the requirement when it hit its goal of vaccinating 86% of the population.

Greece has also restored its outdoor mask mandate, while requiring an FFP2 or double surgical mask on public transport and in indoor public spaces.

This week the Dutch government’s outbreak management team recommended a mask mandate for people over 13 in busy public indoor areas such as restaurants, museums and theaters, and for spectators at indoor sports events. Those places are currently closed under a lockdown until at least Friday.

In France, the outdoor mask mandate was partially re-instated in December in many cities, including Paris. The age for children to start wearing masks in public places was lowered to 6 from 11.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced last week that people must wear FFP2 masks outdoors if they can’t keep at least 2 meters apart.

In Italy, with more than 2 million people currently positive for the virus in a nation of 60 million and workplace absences curtailing train and bus runs, the government also sees masks as a way to let society more fully function.

People with booster shots or recent second vaccine doses can now avoid quarantine after coming into contact with an infected person if they wear a FFP2 mask for 10 days.

The government has ordered shops to make FFP masks available for 85 U.S. cents. In the pandemic’s first year, FFP2s cost up to $11.50 — whenever they could be found.

Italians wear them in a palette of colors. The father of a baby baptized this week by Pope Francis in the Sistine Chapel wore one in burgundy, with matching tie and jacket pocket square. But the pontiff, who has practically shunned a mask in public, was maskless.

On Monday, Vatican City State mandated FFP2s in all indoor places. The tiny, walled independent state across the Tiber from the heart of Rome also stipulated that Vatican employees can go to work without quarantining after coming into contact with someone testing positive if, in addition to being fully vaccinated or having received a booster shot, they wear FFP2s.

Francis did appear to be wearing a FFP2 when, startling shoppers in Rome on Tuesday evening, he emerged from a music store near the Pantheon before being driven back to the Vatican.

In Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson has focused on vaccination, masks have never been required outdoors.

This month, though, the government said secondary school students should wear face coverings in class. But Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that rule wouldn’t apply “for a day longer than necessary.”

When the British government lifted pandemic restrictions in July 2021, turning mask-wearing from a requirement to a suggestion, mask use fell markedly.

Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Bologna-based GIMBE foundation, which monitors health care in Italy, says Britain points to what can happen when measures like mask-wearing aren’t valued.

“The situation in the U.K, showed that use of vaccination alone wasn’t enough” to get ahead of the pandemic, even though Britain was one of the first countries to begin vaccination, he said in a video interview. 

 
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The Dutch king ruled out Thursday using, for now at least, the royal family’s Golden Carriage, one side of which bears a painting that critics say glorifies the Netherlands’ colonial past, including its role in the global slave trade.

The announcement was an acknowledgement of the heated debate about the carriage as the Netherlands reckons with the grim sides of its history as a 17th-century colonial superpower, including Dutch merchants making vast fortunes from slaves.

“The Golden Carriage will only be able to drive again when the Netherlands is ready and that is not the case now,” King Willem-Alexander said in a video message.

One side of the vehicle is decorated with a painting called “Tribute from the Colonies” that shows Black and Asian people, one of them kneeling, offering goods to a seated young white woman who symbolizes the Netherlands.

The carriage is currently on display in an Amsterdam museum following a lengthy restoration. In the past it has been used to carry Dutch monarchs through the streets of The Hague to the state opening of Parliament each September.

“There is no point in condemning and disqualifying what has happened through the lens of our time,” the king said. “Simply banning historical objects and symbols is certainly not a solution either. Instead, a concerted effort is needed that goes deeper and takes longer. An effort that unites us instead of divides us.”

Anti-racism activist and co-founder of The Black Archives in Amsterdam, Mitchell Esajas, called the king’s statement “a good sign,” but also the “bare minimum” the monarch could have said.

“He says the past should not be looked at from the perspective and values of the present … and I think that’s a fallacy because also in the historical context slavery can be seen as a crime against humanity and a violent system,” he said. “I think that argument is often used as an excuse to kind of polish away the violent history of it.”

The Netherlands, along with many other nations, has been revisiting its colonial history in a process spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement that swept the world after the death of George Floyd, a Black man in the United States.

Last year, the country’s national museum, the Rijksmuseum, staged a major exhibition that took an unflinching look at the country’s role in the slave trade, and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema apologized for the extensive involvement of the Dutch capital’s former governors in the trade.

Halsema said she wanted to “engrave the great injustice of colonial slavery into our city’s identity.” 

 
…

Western diplomats fear the spread of extremist groups and persistent economic and social problems in Western Africa and the Sahel are nearing a tipping point that could have disastrous consequences for the region and beyond. 

The officials from both Europe and the United States warned Thursday that international efforts have so far failed to counter factors that are driving young people to take up arms and called for increased cooperation with countries in the region. 

“The rise of violent extremism and the worsening of the humanitarian situation in the Sahel and the wider West African region is threatening the future of the entire African continent and of all of us,” European Union Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis told the virtual conference. “This is as high stakes as it gets.” 

U.S. officials described the situation as no less dire. 

“Despite a decade of robust international investments, the region continues to trend in the wrong direction,” said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Gonzales. 

“Armed groups continue to expand their presence as well as their capabilities and their violence,” Gonzales added. “We need to address the underlying drivers of insecurity more holistically in order to turn the tide.” 

The biggest concern has been Mali, where terrorists linked to groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida have continued to make inroads, and where the military government, which seized power in August 2020, postponed elections scheduled for this February until 2026. 

Earlier this week, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed a series of sanctions against Mali’s interim government for refusing to hold elections as initially agreed, including the suspension of all commercial and financial transactions, and putting financial assistance on hold. 

The EU on Thursday announced it would follow suit with its own sanctions against Mali’s interim government. 

“Despite all the warnings that we made to the Malian authorities, we see no sign of progress on the part of these authorities,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said following a meeting with the EU defense minister in the French city of Brest. 

“The risk that the situation in this country [Mali] continues to deteriorate is evident,” he said. “We will follow the situation closely.” 

Borell said that despite the imposition of sanctions, EU missions to Mali to train and advise Malian armed forces will continue. 

Mali’s ambassador to the United Nations decried the ECOWAS sanctions as “illegal, illegitimate and inhumane” but said the interim government remains open to additional talks with its neighbors.

Further complicating matters, European officials have raised concerns about Mali’s decision to bring in mercenaries from the Russia-based Wagner Group to bolster its security forces – a charge that Mali’s interim government has denied. 

The U.S. Defense Department, while declining to confirm the reports, described the prospect as worrying. 

“Given the Wagner Group’s record, any role for Russian-backed Wagner Group forces in Mali will likely exacerbate an already fragile and unstable situation,” spokesperson Cynthia King told VOA.

The U.S. suspended military training and cooperation with Mali following the August 2020 coup. 

Germany, which has about 1,000 troops in Mali, has said it would be taking another look at its mission. France, which had 3,000 troops in Mali, has slowly been reducing its military footprint, withdrawing from all but one of its military bases in the country. 

Despite the drawdown, French officials insist they remain committed to helping Mali defeat terrorist groups on its soil. 

“France will not abandon Mali or the other Sahel countries,” French Ambassador to the U.S. Philippe Etienne told Thursday’s virtual conference on the region. “At the request of African nations, France is continuing to combat these armed groups in the Sahel with very appreciated support from the United States.” 

“Young recruits who join these terrorist organizations are doing this not necessarily because they want to engage in jihad but also because they have no other prospects,” he said. “Stabilizing the Sahel in the long term will take time, and there’s a long way to go.” 

Emanuela Del Re, the EU special representative for the Sahel, said the goal, ultimately, is to “keep Mali engaged and not isolate it.” 

“We must keep the dialogue open and alive and hold the transitional authorities to their commitments,” she said.

VOA’s Margaret Besheer and Annie Risemberg contributed to this report.
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