Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles on Thursday told Parliament that the controversial AUKUS submarine deal with the U.S. and the U.K. enhances Australian sovereignty and does not increase dependence on the United States as claimed by critics. The pact was signed by Australia, the United States and Britain in September 2021 but has been condemned by China.

Marles said that receiving at least eight nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS pact will “dramatically enhance” Australia’s sovereignty, rather than erode it.

Marles argued that Australia needed British and American expertise to enhance its military capabilities.

China accused Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of fueling military confrontation when the AUKUS accord was signed in 2021.

The alliance has been criticized by former Australian Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Keating, who have said the deal would erode the country’s sovereignty.

Turnbull told local media last week that the government had to determine whether the submarines could be “operated, sustained and maintained by Australia without the support or supervision of the U.S. Navy.”

Jordon Steele-John, a Greens party senator, has also criticized the accord. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. On Thursday that it makes Australia increasingly dependent on the U.S. and Britain.

“Either of those two nations could decide they no longer wish to participate in such a project or pact, leaving our capacity literarily dead in the water,” he said. “The Australian community is very rightly concerned about the greater integration and inter-reliance that this will create.”

Specific details of the trilateral accord will be released soon. British politicians have reportedly suggested that the AUKUS project should be expanded to include India and Japan.

In response, China’s foreign ministry said it was “seriously concerned and opposed” to the military pact. Beijing has previously accused Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of fueling military confrontation when the AUKUS accord was signed in 2021.

Australia has been trying to rebuild its fractured relationship with China in recent months. Analysts say it is a delicate enterprise, given the tensions over trade and other geopolitical issues.

On Thursday, Australia said it would be removing hundreds of Chinese-made security cameras at official buildings across Australia.

Marles conceded there was a potential security problem that needed to be addressed. There is no evidence so far of any breaches of national security, but Marles said the devices would be taken down.

Britain and America have done the same thing because of concerns the equipment could contain spyware.
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Rescue crews in Turkey and Syria raced against time Wednesday and a lack of equipment to find survivors buried in the rubble of buildings toppled by powerful earthquakes that struck the region Monday and left about 12,000 people dead.

The rescue effort in Turkey involved 96,000 personnel, the country’s emergency management agency said Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the area near the quake’s epicenter close to the city of Gaziantep and the Turkey-Syria border.

He faced the mounting frustration of survivors looking for their loved ones or for aid from the government by acknowledging problems with the emergency response to Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake.

“It is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster,” Erdogan said. “We will not leave any of our citizens uncared for.” He pointed to the winter weather and how the earthquake had destroyed the runway at Hatay’s airport as things that disrupted the response.

In Hatay, Erdal Kahilogullari, whose wife and two children were under the rubble of a collapsed building, shared his frustration with VOA’s Turkish Service. More than 3,300 people died in Hatay province.

“OK, everyone is a human being. But aren’t 80 provinces enough? How can 80 provinces not help 10 provinces? Being 10 hours late is OK, but being late for two days to help? We don’t even have water,” he said, referring to the provinces of Turkey.

Rescuers were still finding people alive but were unable to reach them without the needed equipment and expertise, even as they could hear cries for help.

“I hear voices saying, ‘Daddy, save me,’” Kahilogullari said. “How could I not struggle here? I am desperate. I cannot do anything. I’m just waiting here. Walk there, come back here.”

Search sites also have been the scene of some celebrations as people are found alive and taken away for medical care. But uncovering the rubble has also meant frequent increases in the number of casualties.

Officials in Turkey said at least 8,574 people were killed and more than 38,000 others were injured.

In Syria, where there have been similar complaints of slow response, at least 2,530 have died, according to figures from the Damascus government and rescue groups.

The earthquake is now the world’s deadliest seismic event since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people in Japan.

Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning and a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces directly affected by the quake.

Search teams and emergency aid from throughout the world poured into Turkey and Syria as rescue workers dug through the rubble in a desperate search for survivors. Some voices that had been crying out for help fell silent.

“We could hear their voices, they were calling for help,” said Ali Silo, whose two relatives could not be saved in the Turkish town of Nurdagi.

More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey, Vice President Fuat Oktay said, and about 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels. They huddled in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers, while others spent the night outside wrapped in blankets gathering around fires.

The earthquake struck a region enveloped on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. On the Syrian side, the swath affected is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the conflict.

‘A crisis on top of a crisis’

The U.N. resident coordinator for Syria said Wednesday that 10.9 million people have been affected across the country by the earthquake. Before the quake, there were already 15.3 million in need of humanitarian assistance in the country, due to more than a decade of civil war.

“So, it’s a crisis on top of a crisis,” El-Mostafa Benlamlih told reporters at the United Nations in New York during a video briefing from Damascus.

He said in Aleppo alone, they estimate a third of homes have been damaged or destroyed, displacing around 100,000 people.

Humanitarians are coping with a shortage of fuel for their operations, as well as freezing temperatures and damaged roads and infrastructure.

The World Food Program has prepositioned food stocks in the area, which Benlamlih said are enough to feed 100,000 people for one week. The World Health Organization has two planes with medical supplies coming from its hub in Dubai to Damascus. But more supplies need to come in urgently.

The World Food Program appealed Wednesday for $46 million to provide food assistance to a half-million people in Turkey and Syria for the next three to four months.

Additionally, the main road the United Nations uses to get aid from Gaziantep in Turkey to the transshipment point into northwest Syria was damaged in the quake and closed.

“So we couldn’t send any relief items; we were looking for alternative routes,” Muhannad Hadi, U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, told reporters from Amman, Jordan. He said they had word Wednesday that the road is opening, and they could start delivering some supplies as early as Thursday.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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The United States’ two-way trade with other nations spiked in 2022, new federal data show, including trade with China despite increasing friction between the world’s two largest economies.

Even while posting record-high exports to 73 countries in 2022, the U.S. still ran a trade deficit of $1.19 trillion, up $101 billion from 2021, the U.S. Commerce Department said this week. The deficit reflected the fact that the U.S. also recorded record-high imports from 90 countries.

U.S. imports from China reached $537 billion in 2022 compared with $505 billion the previous year. The U.S. sold a record-high $154 billion in exports to the Chinese market, up slightly from $151 billion the previous year. The net trade deficit with China for 2022 was $383 billion.

The data, released Tuesday, came out just hours before U.S. President Joe Biden delivered the State of the Union address in which he promised to boost domestic manufacturing, to use only U.S.-made materials for a spate of infrastructure projects, and to remain focused on “winning the competition” against China.

However, what “winning” looks like may be difficult to determine.

Politics versus reality

Relations between the U.S. and China worsened during the past week, after Biden ordered the U.S. military to shoot down what intelligence officials said was a Chinese espionage balloon that had floated across the U.S. Prior to the shoot-down, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a scheduled trip to Beijing.

The balloon incident followed months of rising tensions and calls from many U.S. officials for a “decoupling” of the Chinese and U.S. economies and “reshoring” of key manufacturing to the U.S. But while the Biden administration may be able to use preferential purchasing treatment to shut Chinese construction materials and other goods out of U.S. infrastructure projects, experts said there is little evidence of broader separation between the U.S. and Chinese economies.

“Regardless of the political rhetoric, which is tending towards a kind of rigid and suspicious environment between China and the United States, the practical moves on the ground from a business and commerce perspective show that there is a deep and sustained connection between the Chinese and U.S. economies,” Claire Reade, a senior counsel with the law firm Arnold & Porter and former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs, told VOA.

Mark Kennedy, director of the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition, agreed, saying, “There has not been a broad-based decoupling … and many economists are seeing that there really hasn’t been a significant onshoring or reshoring. There are still strong ties, and to break those ties with China would be both difficult and costly.”

Trade as ‘ballast’

Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, told VOA it’s a good sign that trade between the U.S. and China has been persistently strong despite the imposition of tariffs by both sides and the Biden administration’s recent move to block the sale of cutting-edge microprocessors to China.

“Trade has acted as an important ballast in the relationship between Washington and Beijing in the past, and I think it’s still the case,” he said via email. “Competition is surely defining the contours of the relationship at the moment, and we hope that the relationship doesn’t sour any further as a result.”

“I think, to that point, this new data can be a silver lining,” said Allen. “Even though the United States and China are competing with one another, this last year of data and the growth in U.S. exports to China really shows that we can simultaneously maintain a trading relationship that benefits Americans.”

A delicate balance

Reade said the Biden administration, in its effort to privilege American manufacturers over Chinese firms, will face a difficult challenge. Insulating American companies from non-U.S. rivals could make them less able to compete internationally or could lead to tit-for-tat protectionism against U.S. firms.

At the same time, she said, there is strong evidence that many large Chinese firms, including those that manufacture the kinds of goods used in major infrastructure projects, receive favorable treatment from the Chinese government that insulates them from market pressures, unfairly advantaging them over competitors.

“To the extent the competition is not fair competition, it is also legitimate to not allow destructive price undercutting that decimates legitimate industries,” she said.

US economic strength

Looking beyond the U.S.-China relationship, experts said that much of the explanation for the rising trade deficit has to do with the relative strength of the U.S. economy compared with those of many of its trading partners. A strong dollar makes foreign goods and services more affordable for Americans, while making U.S.-made goods and services more expensive overseas.

“The big takeaway is that when you’re running a high-pressure economy, which the U.S. is, you’re going to import a lot of stuff,” Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA. “And that’s exactly what has happened. You’ve got the unemployment rate down to 3.4% and two job vacancies for every worker unemployed … that really speaks to just high-pressure demand.”

Although China was the largest source of imports to the U.S. in 2022, Canada and Mexico were the United States’ largest two-way trading partners. The countries share lengthy land borders with the U.S. and participate in a three-way free trade agreement. Total U.S.-Canada trade was $794 billion in 2022, and U.S.-Mexico trade was $779 billion.

After Canada, Mexico and China, Japan was the next largest of the United States’ trading partners, with $229 billion in goods trading hands last year.

The U.S. did $903 billion in two-way trade with the nations of the European Union in 2022, with the largest share, $220 billion, between the U.S. and Germany.

Other large two-way trading partners in 2022 were South Korea at $187 billion; the United Kingdom at $141 billion; Vietnam at $139 billion; Taiwan at $136 billion; and India at $133 billion.
…

The U.S. military is planning to set up a training center in Europe to teach NATO allies how to field High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, a top U.S. general told VOA, amid increased demand for the systems in Eastern Europe following the weapon’s successes in Ukraine.

“We’re still in the preliminary stages here, but it would be an area that we would maybe pull in several countries to one location,” V Corps commander Lieutenant General John Kolasheski, who is responsible for U.S. Army operations along NATO’s eastern flank, told VOA in an exclusive interview late Tuesday.

The news came as the State Department on Tuesday approved the potential sale of 18 HIMARS launchers to Poland, along with hundreds of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and dozens of Army Tactical Missile Systems. The Polish government requested the sale, worth an estimated $10 billion.

The proposed HIMARS program would be available to NATO countries that are approved for foreign military sales of the long-range artillery systems, which include nations such as Estonia, Poland and Romania on NATO’s eastern side.

“They [NATO] see the brutality of what has taken place in Ukraine, and there is a sense of urgency, there’s a sense of purpose, and all 30 nations are united to come together to this effective defense of NATO terrain,” Kolasheski said.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told VOA earlier this week that “one of the biggest lessons learned” from the war in Ukraine is that “long fire is extremely important.” HIMARS have been credited with shifting the momentum of the war.

Estonia has purchased six HIMARS units that are expected to be delivered in the 2024-25 time frame. An American HIMARS platoon is providing extra defensive capabilities in the Baltics, and Pevkur said the platoon also is allowing Estonian forces to begin training on the rocket systems “today” so they will be ready to use them “from day one.”

Poland’s Abrams Academy

Kolasheski said the proposed HIMARS academy would be “a similar construct” to the Abrams Tank Training Academy, which opened near Poznan, Poland, last year to familiarize Polish forces with the U.S.-made Abrams main battle tanks. Poland was the first European ally to acquire the Abrams, purchasing 250 M1A2 Abrams tanks last year and 116 M1A1 Abrams tanks in January.

Part of the Abrams program includes a type of apprenticeship, where Polish forces are attached to Army tank units to study how to service and fire the tanks, according to Kolasheski.

Since the Abrams academy opened last summer, a class of Polish tank operators and a class of maintainers have graduated from it.

Poland has fast become a military hub for U.S. forces in Eastern Europe and has been an outspoken advocate for sending Western tanks to Ukraine.

‘Existential threat’

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Saturday that Poland had begun training Ukrainian military forces on the German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

Asked whether the Abrams Tank Training Academy in Poland would be used to train Ukrainians, Kolasheski told VOA there was still “no decision on that right now.”

After President Joe Biden announced last month that the U.S. would provide Ukrainian forces with Abrams tanks, the Pentagon has since said it will first need to procure the tanks because there isn’t an excess available in U.S. stocks. The move will delay the tanks’ delivery.

Leopard 2 tanks and British-made Challenger 2 tanks, however, are expected to arrive on the Ukrainian battlefield as soon as Ukrainian training is complete.

“Tanks are much awaited … and I really hope that we are not too late for that,” Estonia’s Pevkur told VOA.

Asked whether it was realistic to expect Ukrainian forces to operate Leopard 2 or Challenger tanks within a few months, Kolasheski replied, “I think it is.”

“They’re very, very motivated. They’re very eager. I mean, this to them is an existential threat,” he said.

VOA asked the Pentagon for access to U.S. forces training Ukrainians in Germany and to the Abrams Tank Training Academy in Poland, but the request was denied. 
…

Nearly a year ago, tens of thousands of Ukrainians sought refuge in the United States as Russian troops invaded their country. Mike O’Sullivan spoke with two Ukrainian families in California about their lives one year later.
…

European Union leaders are to meet Thursday for a summit dominated by migration, the economy and, not surprisingly, Ukraine. Reports suggest Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — who arrived in London on Wednesday — may attend the Brussels summit in person. 

The EU’s two-day summit comes ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and days after top EU officials held a summit with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Besides Western Europe, Ukraine’s leader is known to have left his homeland only once since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; that trip was to Washington in December, where he met with United States President Joe Biden and addressed the U.S. Congress.

Zelenskyy wants several things from the Europeans, including to speed up Ukraine’s bid to join the EU, more weapons ahead of an expected Russian offensive, and more sanctions against Moscow.

Brussels is unlikely to fast-track Kyiv’s membership application. But in Kyiv last week, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen praised Zelenskyy’s commitment to join the bloc.

“I must say I am deeply impressed, and I want to commend you for the preciseness, the quality and the speed at which you deliver,” she said. “This is phenomenal.”

Europeans already have committed billions of dollars in defense and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Brussels is also expected to unveil a 10th sanctions package against Moscow later this month.

zeleMigration is also set to dominate the summit amid a sharp uptick in economic migrants and asylum seekers arriving in Europe this past year. That’s on top of the millions of Ukrainian war refugees.

Today, some EU member states are calling for tougher policies — and fences — against what they call “irregular” migration. Using EU funds for border fences is especially divisive.

“I think migration and asylum policy remains a very tricky issue within the EU — with the EU witnessing its biggest migration and asylum crisis since World War II,” said Pauline Veron, a policy advisor at the European Centre for Development Policy Management, a Netherlands-based think-tank.

Veron said that, even as many Europeans continue welcoming Ukrainian refugees, they are feeling rising angst about migration from Africa and elsewhere.
…

Twitter became inaccessible on major Turkish mobile providers on Wednesday as online criticism mounted of the government’s response to this week’s deadly earthquake.

AFP reporters were unable to access the social media network in Turkey. It was still accessible using VPN services that disguise a user’s location.

The netblocks.org social media monitor said Twitter was being restricted “on multiple internet providers in Turkey”.

“Turkey has an extensive history of social media restrictions during national emergencies and safety incidents,” the monitor added.

Turkish police have detained more than a dozen people since Monday’s earthquake over social media posts that criticized how President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has been dealing with the disaster.

Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor and its aftershocks killed at least 11,200 people in southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria.

Turkish social media have been filled with posts by people complaining about a lack of search and rescue efforts in their provinces.

The Twitter outage came as Erdogan toured two of the hardest-hit Turkish provinces.

Turkish officials released no immediate statements about the service disruption.

But they had issued repeated warnings about spreading misinformation in advance of a crucial May 14 election in which Erdogan will try to extend his two-decade rule.
…

…

Poland on Wednesday condemned as unfair the eight-year jail sentence handed to a Polish-Belarusian journalist who had reported critically on the Belarusian regime.

“An inhumane verdict of the Belarusian regime. It is yet another act of persecuting Polish people in Belarus,” Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a tweet.

Andrzej Poczobut, 49 was sentenced in the western city of Grodno, on the Polish border, where he was based.

He was found guilty of taking part in “actions harming national security” and “inciting hatred.”

“We will do everything to help the Polish journalist,” Morawiecki added.

“We condemn the unfair verdict delivered by a court of an authoritarian country,” a Polish foreign ministry spokesman tweeted, adding Poland will continue to “stand behind” Poczobut.

Poczobut is a correspondent for Poland’s top daily Gazeta Wyborcza and an active member of Belarus’s Polish diaspora.

“A bandit ruling in Belarus sentenced my friend Andrzej Poczobut for eight years in prison. He wants to destroy all free people, but he will never break Andrzej,” Gazeta Wybrocza deputy editor-in-chief Roman Imielski said.
…

Rescue crews in Turkey and Syria raced against time and the cold Wednesday to find survivors buried in the rubble of buildings toppled by powerful earthquakes that struck the region Monday and left more than 9,400 people dead.         

The rescue effort in Turkey involved 96,000 personnel, the country’s emergency management agency said Wednesday.     

Search sites have been the scenes of some celebrations as people are found alive and taken away for medical care. But uncovering the rubble has also meant frequent increases in the number of casualties. 

Officials in Turkey said at least 6,957 people were killed and more than 38,000 others were injured. In Syria, there were at least 2,470 deaths, according to figures from the Damascus government and rescue groups.  

The earthquake is now the world’s deadliest seismic event since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people in Japan. 

The epicenter of Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake was in Pazarcik, near the city of Gaziantep, close to the Turkey-Syria border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to travel to the area on Wednesday. 

Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning and a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces directly affected by the quake.     

Erdogan described the earthquake as “unique in the world,” and he thanked Qatar for offering 10,000 container homes for people left homeless.   

Search teams and emergency aid from throughout the world poured into Turkey and Syria as rescue workers dug through the rubble in a desperate search for survivors. Some voices that had been crying out for help fell silent.

“We could hear their voices, they were calling for help,” said Ali Silo, whose two relatives could not be saved in the Turkish town of Nurdagi.   

More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey alone, Vice President Fuat Oktay said, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels. They huddled in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers, while others spent the night outside wrapped in blankets gathering around fires.   

Awale Ahmed Darfa, a Somali student in Gaziantep at the epicenter, described his first sensation of the earthquake in an interview with VOA Somali.    

“The situation turned critical very quickly,” he said. “We heard screams, cries and people running. The buildings were shaking as if they were shaken by jinn [evil spirits]. Everyone ran to wherever they felt they would be safe.”              

“We are now outside since we left our homes around 4 a.m.,” he added. “There is a problem being outside — it is rainy, cold, windy, and we are not wearing protective clothing. Outside, everyone is wearing what they were wearing [while] asleep. Some people do not have shoes. They told us we could not go back to the buildings because of the fear [of aftershocks]. That is the disaster here.”          

The earthquake struck a region enveloped on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. On the Syrian side, the swath affected is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the conflict.        

The opposition-held regions in Syria are packed with about 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the fighting. Many of them live in buildings that are already damaged from past bombardments. 

The opposition emergency organization, the White Helmets, has experience pulling people from buildings collapsed by airstrikes. But with calls for help coming from more than 700 places, Mounir al-Mostafa, deputy head of the White Helmets, said they are overwhelmed. They can realistically help in 30 places.   

Residents in Turkey’s western city of Izmir organized a clothing donation campaign to help the victims.          

Emre Demirpolat told VOA’s Turkish Service, “We brought blankets and heaters. We need to be united. … In such bad times, we must support each other. While we can’t stay outside for 10 minutes in this cold, people there shudder to think about the loss of their homes and when they will get to go to a warm place.”           

In other parts of Turkey, residents struggled to find transportation to travel to the earthquake-stricken area to see their relatives and loved ones.             

Serdar Özdemir, an Ankara resident, told VOA’s Turkish service he was finally able to get a bus ticket to go to the city of Malatya, after not being able to find a car rental.             

“I can’t rent a car. There’s no way to go. I have been looking for a car here for hours.”               

Turkey is in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.    

In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed when a 7.4 magnitude earthquake — the worst to hit Turkey in decades — struck near Duzce, in the northwest of the country.                      

Last October, a magnitude 7.0 quake hit the Aegean Sea, killing 116 people and injuring more than 1,000. All but two of the victims were in Izmir. 

VOA’s Turkish and Somali services contributed to this report.             

Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

The Justice Department is putting associates of Russian oligarchs on notice.    

In the latest case of its kind, U.S. prosecutors have charged an associate of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg with sanctions violation and money laundering in connection with helping to maintain Vekselberg’s U.S. properties, according to a five-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday.    

Vladimir Voronchenko, a Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident who fled to Russia last May, is accused of facilitating more than $4 million in payments for the maintenance of four properties owned by Vekselberg.  

The properties — an apartment on New York’s Park Avenue, an estate in the seaside community of Southampton, New York, an apartment and a penthouse apartment on Fisher Island, Florida — are worth about $75 million, according to the indictment. Voronchenko is accused of unsuccessfully trying to sell the New York and Southampton properties in violation of sanctions imposed on Vekselberg in 2018.    

This is the third indictment of a Vekselberg associate in recent weeks. Last month, the Justice Department charged two businessmen — one British and one Russian — in separate indictments in connection with the operation of a $90 million, 255-foot luxury yacht owned by Vekselberg. The yacht had been seized by Spanish authorities at the request of the United States.  

The Justice Department’s Task Force Kleptocapture, created in March 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been leading the fight against corrupt Russian oligarchs. The task force has recently focused on targeting the oligarchs’ enablers.    

“Shell companies, straw men, and professional money launderers did not shield Voronchenko or the illicit transactions charged today from the investigative persistence of [Homeland Security investigations], FBI, and the attorneys of the Southern District of New York,” Andrew Adams, director of the task force, said in a statement.    

“Today’s indictment is yet another reminder of the priority that the Department of Justice places on uncovering the proceeds of kleptocracy and sanctions evasion and on prosecuting those who would take a paycheck in exchange for facilitating money laundering and sanctions evasion.”   

Voronchenko, 70, who lived in three of Vekselberg’s U.S. properties, held himself out as a successful businessman, art collector and art dealer, and as a close friend and business associate of Vekselberg, according to the indictment.  

He is charged with two counts related to sanctions violation, and two counts related to money laundering and one count of contempt of court for fleeing the United States seven days after being served with a subpoena to produce documents and appear before a grand jury, according to the Justice Department.  

Vekselberg, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at more than $5 billion, was first sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018 for operating in Russia’s energy sector and again last March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

He bought the four U.S. properties between 2008 and 2017, using a string of shell companies to mask his ownership from public view, according to court documents. 

A New York lawyer retained by Voronchenko helped purchase the properties on behalf of Vekselberg and later managed their finances using his “interest on lawyer’s trust account,” or IOLTA, to receive payments from shell companies.    

The American Bar Association describes IOLTA as “a method of raising money for charitable purposes, primarily the provision of civil legal services to indigent persons.”  

Vekselberg’s purchase of the U.S. properties was hidden behind multiple corporate veils.  

Take his 2017 purchase of the Fisher Island penthouse. 

The $31.2 million purchase was made by Voxi Management Corp., a Bahamian company owned by Medallion Inc., a Panamanian-registered company. 

According to the indictment, Medallion was owned by another Panamanian company, identified as Company 1, which, in turn, was owned by a Panamanian foundation, identified as Foundation 1. 

“The first and exclusive beneficiary of Foundation 1 was a British Virgin Islands company (“Company 2”), of which Vekselberg was the sole owner,” the document says. 

As of the date of the indictment, Vekselberg remained the ultimate “beneficial owner” of Voxi and Medallion, which in turn owned the U.S. properties.   

The indictment includes a notice of U.S. intent to forfeit Vekselberg’s U.S. properties.  
…

A global ransomware outbreak has scrambled servers belonging to the U.S. state of Florida’s Supreme Court and several universities in the United States and Central Europe, according to a Reuters analysis of ransom notes posted online to stricken servers.

Those organizations are among more than 3,800 victims of a fast-spreading digital extortion campaign that locked up thousands of servers in Europe over the weekend, according to figures tallied by Ransomwhere, a crowdsourced platform that tracks digital extortion attempts and online ransom payments and whose figures are drawn from internet scans.

Ransomware is among the internet’s most potent scourges. Although this extortion campaign was not sophisticated, it drew warnings from national cyber watchdogs in part because of the speed of its spread.

Ransomwhere did not name individual victims, but Reuters was able to identify some by looking up internet protocol address data tied to the affected servers via widely used internet scanning tools such as Shodan.

The extent of the disruption to the affected organizations, if any, was not clear.

Florida Supreme Court spokesperson Paul Flemming told Reuters that the affected infrastructure had been used to administer other elements of the Florida state court system, and that it was segregated from the Supreme Court’s main network.

“Florida Supreme Court’s network and data are secure,” he said, adding that the rest of the state court system’s integrity also was not affected.

A dozen universities contacted by Reuters, including the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Rice University in Houston, and institutions of higher learning in Hungary and Slovakia, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Reuters also contacted the hackers via an account advertised on their ransom notes but only received a payment demand in return. They did not respond to additional questions.

Ransomwhere said the cybercriminals appear to have extorted only $88,000, a modest haul by the standard of multimillion-dollar ransoms regularly demanded by some hacking gangs.

One cybersecurity expert said the outbreak, thought to have exploited a 2-year-old vulnerability in VMWare software, was typical of automated attacks on servers and databases that have been carried out by hackers for years.

VMWare has urged customers to upgrade to the latest versions of its software.

“This is nothing unusual,” said Patrice Auffret, founder of French internet scanning company Onyphe. “The difference is the scale.”

Also uncommon is the highly visible nature of the outbreak, which began earlier this month. Because internet-facing servers were affected, researchers and tracking services like Ransomwhere or Onyphe could easily follow the criminals’ trail.

Digital safety officials in Italy said Monday that there was no evidence pointing to “aggression by a state or hostile state-like entity.”

Samuli Kononen, an information security specialist at the Finnish National Cyber Security Centre, said the attack was likely carried out by a criminal gang, although he added that it was not particularly sophisticated as many victims had managed to salvage their data without paying a ransom.

“More experienced ransomware groups usually don’t make that kind of mistake,” he said.
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In response to deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the United States has mobilized search and rescue teams to support relief efforts. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias spoke with humanitarian workers about the challenges and how people can help.
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The death toll from Monday’s massive earthquakes in Turkey and Northern Syria has passed 5,000 people, with rescue efforts continuing into another bitterly cold night. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Istanbul with Memet Aksakal in Diyarbakir, Turkey.

Camera: Memet Aksakal, Mahmut Bozarslan
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday vowed that Russia will continue helping Mali improve its military capabilities in a joint press conference aired live on state television.

Standing alongside his Malian counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, Russia top diplomat touted the August 2021 delivery of several fighter jets and helicopters, adding that more military support is assured.

“We have delivered very important aircraft,” he said, “and this has considerably increased the capacity of Malian armed forces to eradicate the terrorist threat.”

Russian support for the West African nation’s efforts to sustain a decade-long battle against al-Qaida and Islamic-State-linked militants has increased since France’s withdrawal from the country last year.

The French army intervened in Mali in 2013 after the north of the country was taken over by Islamist militants but withdrew last year on concerns about Mali’s military government working with Kremlin-backed Wagner Group mercenaries

The growing partnership between Moscow and Bamako has prompted Western concern. Mali has been under international scrutiny for cooperating with Russian Wagner mercenaries since last year, with the U.N. and several international human rights organizations calling for investigations of massacres committed by the mercenaries working with the Malian army.

Lavrov and Diop both referenced efforts by the United Nations to investigate human rights abuses in Mali. Both ministers described those efforts as “neocolonial,” with Diop claiming they are an effort to “destabilize” Mali.

Rights groups and journalists reported human rights abuse allegations committed by Russian mercenaries several times last year. Following one investigation, French broadcasts were banned from the country.

Last week U.N. experts called for an investigation into “international crimes” committed by the Wagner Group in Mali.

Following testimony at a U.N. Security Council meeting on January 27, Mali’s military government expelled the chief of the U.N. mission to Mali’s human rights division for “destabilizing and subversive” actions against the Malian government.

Violence has continued to spread south in recent years, with several attacks in recent months near Bamako attributed to Islamist militants. In July of last year, Mali’s main military base in Kati, 15 kilometers from Bamako, was attacked by Islamist militants.

Lavrov’s visit comes as Moscow seeks to shore up relations with its allies amid Western isolation because of its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian news agency RIA quoted Lavrov as saying that Moscow hoped to start delivering wheat, fertilizers and oil products to Mali soon.

Lavrov has visited a series of African countries recently as Moscow, hit by Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine, seeks to strengthen ties and strategic partnerships elsewhere.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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A Moscow court on Monday sentenced a popular cookbook author and blogger to nine years in prison after convicting her in absentia of spreading false information about the country’s military. The trial was part of the Kremlin’s sweeping, months-long crackdown on dissent. 

The charges against Veronika Belotserkovskaya, who lives abroad, were brought over her Instagram posts that the authorities alleged contained “deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to destroy cities and the civilian population of Ukraine, including children.” 

Belotserkovskaya, whose Instagram profile says she was born in Odessa, a city in southern Ukraine, responded to the news of the sentencing by writing that she is, “on one hand, perplexed, and on the other hand, of course, proud.” 

Russia’s Investigative Committee announced launching a case against Belotserkovskaya on March 16, 2022, several weeks after Moscow’s troops rolled into Ukraine. It was the first publicly-known case under a new law adopted earlier that month that penalized information seen as disparaging to the Russian military. 

The Russian authorities issued an arrest order for the blogger in absentia, put her on a wanted list and seized 153 million rubles (roughly $2.2 million) worth of her assets. 

She was also declared a “foreign agent,” a designation that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations aimed at discrediting the recipient. 

Belotserkovskaya has been handed the longest prison sentence under the new law and is the second prominent public figure to be sentenced in absentia. 

Last week, a Moscow court sentenced Alexander Nevzorov, a television journalist and former lawmaker, in absentia to eight years in prison on the same charges.  

Nevzorov was accused of posting “false information” on social media about the Russian shelling of a maternity hospital in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol. Moscow has fiercely denied its involvement. 

The journalist moved abroad after the start of the Ukrainian conflict. 

In December, prominent opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to 8½ years in prison under the same law. Earlier last year, Alexei Gorinov, a member of a Moscow municipal council Yashin used to chair, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his critical remarks about the hostilities in Ukraine. 

Another leading opposition figure, Vladimir Kara-Murza, is currently in custody facing the same charges. 
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As Russia’s targeted attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure continue, Ukraine is forced to rethink its energy future. While inventing ways to quickly restore and improve the resilience of its energy system, Ukraine is also looking for green energy solutions. Anna Chernikova has the story from Irpin, one of the hardest-hit areas of the Kyiv region. Camera: Eugene Shynkar.
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Ukrainian Defense Secretary Oleksii Reznikov tweeted Tuesday that reforms continue, “even during the war,” in comments that came amid a string of government resignations and firings and rumors that he would be replaced. 

“Thank you all for your support, as well as constructive criticism. We draw conclusions,” Reznikov said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not publicly remarked on comments from a member of parliament suggesting Reznikov would be transferred to another position. 

In his nightly address Monday, Zelenskyy said his government is “strengthening our management positions,” including appointing “managers with military experience” in border and frontline regions. 

Reznikov has said that while he was not planning to resign, any decision about his future would be made by the president.  

The shakeup of Zelenskyy’s government in late January included the resignation of Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov, who was in charge of logistical support for Ukraine’s forces. He cited allegations about a food procurement scandal that he denies. 

Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia could be preparing an offensive to show gains as the one-year anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine approaches.

Britain’s defense ministry said Tuesday Russia has likely been trying to restart offensive operations in Ukraine since early January, and that its goal “is almost certainly to capture the remaining Ukrainian-held parts of Donetsk Oblast.” 

Britain’s assessment said it is “unlikely that Russia can build up the forces needed to substantially affect the outcome of the war within the coming weeks.”    

UN chief warns of escalation    

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned nations that he fears the likelihood of further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict means the world is heading toward a “wider war.”   

“The prospects for peace keep diminishing. The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing,” he told diplomats in New York. “I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open.”   

As Ukraine awaits more weapons from the West to repel Russian forces, Switzerland is close to breaking with a centuries-long tradition as a neutral state, as pro-Ukrainian sentiments pervade public and political sectors, pressuring the government to end its ban on exports of Swiss weapons.    

Under Swiss neutrality, dating back to 1815 and enshrined by treaty in 1907, Switzerland will not send weapons directly or indirectly to combatants in a war.    

Lawmakers are divided on the issue.    

“We want to be neutral, but we are part of the Western world,” said Thierry Burkart, leader of the center-right FDP party, who has submitted a motion to the government to allow arms re-exports to countries with similar democratic values to Switzerland.     

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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Structural engineers, soldiers, paramedics and handlers with trained search dogs are heading to Turkey and Syria to help locate and rescue survivors of Monday’s earthquake. Here’s a glance at the assistance that’s being provided:

The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc's Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance.
The United States is coordinating immediate assistance to Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with six specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey.
Russian rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry were sent to Syria, where Russian military deployed in that country already has sent 10 units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.





War-ravaged Syria called for the United Nations and its members to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid. Both government-held territory and the last opposition-held enclave were damaged by the earthquake.
The Israeli army is sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to render lifesaving aid in Turkey. The two countries are mending ties after years of tensions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria. Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations.





Neighbor and historic rival Greece is sending Turkey a team of 21 rescuers, two rescue dogs and a special rescue vehicle, together with a structural engineer, five doctors and seismic planning experts in a military transport plane.
South Korea will dispatch a 60-person search and rescue team and send medical supplies to Turkey. The government also says it is providing an initial $5 million in humanitarian support, and the Gyeonggi provincial government plans to provide $1 million in humanitarian assistance.
Pakistan has sent one flight of relief supplies and another carrying a 50-member search and rescue team. The government says daily aid flights to Syria and Turkey will start Wednesday.





Britain is sending 76 search-and-rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey. The U.K. also says it's in contact with the U.N. about getting support to victims in Syria.
India is sending 100 search and rescue personnel from its Natural Disaster Response Force to Turkey, as well as specially trained dog squads and equipment for relief efforts. Medical teams with trained doctors, paramedics and essential medicines are also ready, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Taiwan is sending 130 rescue squad members, five search dogs and 13 tons of equipment to Turkey. Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang said the first group left for Turkey late Monday and another was sent Tuesday. Taiwan earlier said it would donate $200,000 to Turkey.
Swiss rescue dog service REDOG is sending 22 rescuers with 14 dogs to Turkey. The government said it would also send 80 search and rescue specialists to the country, including army disaster experts.
The Czech Republic is sending Turkey a team of 68 rescuers, including firefighters, doctors, structural engineers and also experts with sniffer dogs.
Japan is sending a group of about 75 rescue workers to Turkey.
Lebanon's cash-strapped government is sending soldiers, Red Cross and Civil Defense first responders, and firefighters to Turkey to help with its rescue efforts.
Germany is readying deliveries of emergency generators, tents, blankets and water treatment equipment. It also has offered to send teams from the THW civil protection agency to Turkey. The group International Search and Rescue Germany was also preparing to fly dozens of doctors and rescue experts to Turkey late Monday.





Austria has offered to send 84 soldiers from a military disaster relief unit to Turkey.
Spain was preparing to send two Urban Search and Rescue teams to Turkey with 85 personnel, and a contingent of volunteer firefighters.
Poland is sending Turkey 76 firefighters and eight trained dogs, with equipment.
Romania is sending specialized personnel and material to Turkey on two military aircraft.





Croatia is sending 40 personnel and 10 dogs, rescue equipment and vans to Turkey.
Serbia is sending 21 rescuers and three liaison officers to Turkey.





Montenegro is sending at least 24 firefighters to Turkey.
Moldova's president says 55 rescue workers have been sent to Turkey.
France is dispatching rescue teams to Turkey.
Jordan is sending emergency aid to Syria and Turkey on the orders of King Abdullah II.
Mexico's foreign affairs secretary said the country will send equipment and rescue specialists to Turkey.





Egypt has pledged urgent humanitarian aid to Turkey.
Italy's Civil Protection Agency has offered assistance to Turkey. A firefighting team was preparing to leave from Pisa, and the Italian military says transport flights will carry equipment as well as health and other personnel.
New Zealand is providing $632,000 to the Turkish Red Crescent and $316,000 to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver items such as food, tents and blankets, as well as provide medical assistance and psychological support.
China's Red Cross Society is providing the Turkish Red Crescent and the Syrian Red Crescent with $200,000 each in humanitarian assistance.

…

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the annual Munich security conference this month, her office said Monday.   

Harris will use her February 16-18 stay in Germany and her attendance at the annual forum, as the war in Ukraine nears one year of combat, “to demonstrate Transatlantic unity and resolve,” said a communique from press secretary Kirsten Allen.   

The 59th edition of the security conference, which draws leaders from around the world, will be held February 17-19.    

Harris will give a speech at the conference itself and meet with foreign leaders.   

Her presence will also show U.S. leadership in the world and “our enduring commitment to support Ukraine,” the statement said. 
…

Countries around the world are rushing to send rescue workers, equipment and aid after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria early Monday. 

U.S. President Joe Biden said in statement that U.S. “teams are deploying quickly to begin to support Turkish search and rescue efforts and address the needs of those injured and displaced by the earthquake.” 

Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to offer condolences and said the United States will send “any and all” aid needed to help recovery, the White House said in a statement. 

John Kirby, the U.S. National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said the United States is deploying two 79-person urban search and rescue teams and that the Pentagon and the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, are coordinating with their Turkish counterparts on additional assistance. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, to “pick up the phone and let us know” what the United States can do to help, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price. 

The European Union said it mobilized rescue teams with crews from countries including Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania dispatched to the region. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance. 

“Our thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones and the brave first responders working to save lives,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said in a joint statement. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said their governments were ready to help those affected by the earthquake. 

Britain said it was sending a team of 76 search-and-rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs. 

“Greece is mobilizing its resources and will assist immediately,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said search and rescue teams, as well as medical aid, would be going to Turkey in response to a request from the Turkish government. 

Israel also said it had received a request for humanitarian aid for Syria through a diplomatic official and would send assistance. The two historical adversaries have no diplomatic relations. 

Russia also said it had rescue teams preparing to go to Turkey and Syria to help earthquake victims. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad and Turkey’s Erdogan to express his condolences over the death and destruction caused by the earthquake. 

The United Arab Emirates said it would set up a field hospital in Turkey and send search-and-rescue teams to Turkey and Syria. 

Iraq said it would send civil defense teams to Turkey and Syria with relief supplies, including food and fuel. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered his government’s support as well. 

“I am shocked to learn of deaths and injuries of hundreds of people as a result of the earthquake in Turkey,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “We send our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery. At this time, we stand by the friendly Turkish people and are ready to provide the necessary assistance.” 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “anguished” by the deaths in Turkey and Syria and said two teams comprising 100 personnel with specially trained dogs were ready to be flown to the affected areas. 

China’s president, Xi Jinping, sent his condolences to the leaders of Turkey and Syria while China’s foreign aid agency said it was in communication with both countries and “willing to provide emergency humanitarian aid in accordance with the needs of the affected population.” 

Japan, another country often plagued by earthquakes, said it is sending a group of about 75 rescue workers to Turkey. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg expressed “full solidarity” with alliance member Turkey and said, “NATO allies are mobilizing support now.” 

At the United Nations, the General Assembly observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his “deepest condolences” and said the United Nations “is fully committed to supporting the response,” according to U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. 

“Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance.  We count on the international community to help the thousands of families hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge,” Dujarric said. 

Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

U.K. authorities said Monday British businesses and consumers are likely to need a digital version of the pound, formally asking for public comment on the idea of introducing a central bank digital currency.

Britain, home to the world’s second-biggest financial center, is trailing former colonies such as Nigeria, the Bahamas and Jamaica in rolling out a digital currency. More than 80% of the world’s central banks are considering launching digital currencies or have already done so, according to the consultant PwC.

“While cash is here to stay, a digital pound issued and backed by the Bank of England could be a new way to pay that’s trusted, accessible and easy to use,” Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. “That’s why we want to investigate what is possible first, whilst always making sure we protect financial stability.”

The call for public input comes almost two years after the Treasury and Bank of England said they were considering introducing a digital currency.

While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested naming the initiative “Britcoin” when he was Treasury chief, the Bank of England has stressed that the potential currency shouldn’t be confused with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Backed by the central bank, the new currency would be “reliable and retain its value over time,” in contrast to cryptocurrencies that can fluctuate wildly and threaten the holdings of investors, the Bank of England says on its website.

That industry has been particularly unstable in recent months, escalating calls for greater regulation. Crypto crashes last year tanked assets, while crypto exchange FTX’s multibillion-dollar collapse and bankruptcy in November triggered fraud charges against founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

The proposed digital currency would be denominated in pounds, with 10 pounds of digital currency always equal to a 10-pound note, the bank said. Held in a digital wallet, the currency could be used to pay for goods and services electronically.

Supporters of central bank digital currencies say they make digital transactions easier and cheaper and expand access to the financial system because they can be used by people who don’t have bank accounts.

This is one of the reasons the Bahamas became the first country to introduce a digital currency in 2020. Nigeria and Jamaica have since followed suit, with China and more than 20 other countries running trial projects. The U.S. and European Union are considering introducing digital currencies.

But digital currencies also present risks, including cyberattacks, privacy concerns and the danger that they can be used by criminals.

Because money invested in central bank digital currencies is safer than a bank deposit, they also may draw savings away from commercial banks and weaken the financial system, critics argue.

A digital pound would have “risks but no obvious benefits,” former Bank of England Gov. Mervyn King, now a member of the House of Lords, said recently.

While such digital currencies may be useful in countries that don’t have effective banking systems, that’s not the case in Britain, he said.

“The government has said that it wants the U.K. to be at the forefront of innovation, crypto-assets and fintech, but we need to be selective and not driven by a misplaced enthusiasm for all things crypto,” King said.
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The Biden administration is working on making sanctions targeting Russia more effective by explicitly warning Russian trading partners that they run legal risks doing business with banned entities.

Brian Nelson, U.S. Undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, recently met with government officials and banking sector representatives in Turkey to discuss how U.S. sanctions on Russia affect Turkish businesses as part of a regional tour that also included the United Arab Emirates.

Trade experts told VOA that the U.S. is focusing on depriving Russia’s military of advanced equipment by threatening to enact secondary sanctions on businesses that still trade with Russia.

“In engaging with sanctioned Russian entities, Turkish businesses and banks could put themselves at risk of sanctions and a potential loss of access to G7 markets,” Nelson told the Bank Association of Turkey, in remarks that were also published online afterward.

‘Dual-use technology’

Pointing to the rise in Turkey’s exports to Russia last year, Nelson urged companies to take extra precautions, especially when it comes to dual-use technology transfers that could be used by the Russian military-industrial complex.

The dual-use term refers to items or know-how that could potentially be used for both civilian and military purposes, such as semiconductors.

The warning came a week after the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, targeted Russian private military company Wagner Group as well as other entities seen as supporting the Russian military complex.

Last week’s designation included Aviacon Zitotrans, a Russian cargo airline company, which, according to the Treasury, sought to use a Turkish company and Turkish diplomats to facilitate the sale of Russian defense equipment abroad.

Experts point out that Turkey doubled its exports to Russia in 2022.

According to Marshall Billingslea, former assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department, the exported materials include things such as semiconductors.

“Turkey has gone from virtually no exports of semiconductors to Russia in 2021 to now being the fourth-largest supplier,” he told VOA.

Focus on Russian trade partners

Brian O’Toole worked as a senior adviser to the director of OFAC during previous administrations and played a central role in designing the sanctions regime in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. He said Treasury appears to be clearly signaling that it is focused now on banned exports to Russia, in particular semiconductor exports. But he said Treasury likely has other interests in Turkey.

“Military is top priority and, two, is Russian oligarchs and elites using Turkey as a safe haven for assets when they’ve been sanctioned elsewhere. The third is the backfill component. Turkey shouldn’t be taking advantage of the West pulling out.”

NATO member Turkey, which has maintained good relations with Kyiv and Moscow, has opposed blanket Western sanctions on Russia, saying it must pursue its own policy in order to protect its interests.

Ankara, which previously condemned Russia’s invasion, saying it fully supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, has said in the past it would not allow international sanctions to be circumvented.

But U.S. Treasury official Nelson told Turkish bankers that Russian oligarchs have continued to buy property and yachts in Turkey. He urged enhancing due diligence beyond checking the U.S. sanctions list.

“The screening should also capture companies and proxies that sanctioned Russian and Belarusian actors use as fronts,” he warned.

Russian sanctions evasion

Studies of Russia’s economy this year indicate that while sanctions have driven up prices and made some high-tech equipment harder to find, importers have found new ways of getting banned equipment into the country through third countries.

An investigative report by the Wall Street Journal based on trade data shows more than a dozen Turkish companies exported plastics, rubber products, transport vehicles and generators last year and that those items were purchased by 10 Russian companies on the U.S. sanctions list.

The Turkish Embassy in Washington did not reply to a request for comment on the alleged sanctions violations before publishing.
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Some 120,000 ethnic Armenians in the mostly Azerbaijan-controlled region of Nagorno-Karabakh have been cut off from the rest of the world for over 50 days and are now facing a humanitarian crisis. Arus Hakobyan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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