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Britain will send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the English Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda under a controversial deal announced Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey.

“From today … anyone entering the United Kingdom illegally, as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1, may now be relocated to Rwanda,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England.

“Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead,” Johnson said.

He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record “one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognized for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.”

Johnson was elected partly on promises to curb illegal immigration but has instead seen record numbers making the risky channel crossing.

He also announced that Britain’s border agency would hand responsibility for patrolling the channel for migrant boats to the navy.

More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the channel from France in small boats in 2021.

Around 90% of those were male, and three-quarters were men between 18 and 39 years old.

‘Inhumane’

The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as “inhumane.”

The United Nations’ refugee agency voiced its strong opposition, with Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection saying, “People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.”

European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari did not directly comment on the British decision but stressed that it “raises fundamental questions about the access to asylum procedures and protection in line with the demands of international law.”

Ghana and Rwanda had previously been mentioned as possible locations for the U.K. to outsource the processing of migrants, but Ghana in January denied involvement.

Instead, Kigali on Thursday announced that it had signed a multimillion-dollar deal to do the job, during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

“Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum-seekers and migrants and offer them legal pathways to residence” in the East African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement.

The deal with Rwanda will be funded by the U.K. to the tune of up to $157 million, with migrants “integrated into communities across the country,” it said.

In Dover, where many migrants arrive after crossing the channel, some residents welcomed the announcement.

“They should be sent back, because it is not our responsibility,” said retiree Andy, 68.

“Our responsibility is to look after our own people, which we aren’t doing,” the heavily tattooed army veteran told AFP.

“I understand people escaping from repression, I do. But if they’re coming over here for one thing and that is money, to me, that is wrong.”

Backlash

Refugee Action’s Tim Naor Hilton accused the government of “offshoring its responsibilities onto Europe’s former colonies instead of doing our fair share to help some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.”

“This grubby cash-for-people plan would be a cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way to treat people fleeing persecution and war,” he said.

Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the plan would “complicate” the process for Syrians seeking refuge in the U.K.

“Syrian refugees are desperate to reach a place of safety,” Hardman told AFP.

“The U.K.’s agreement with Rwanda will only complicate this pursuit.

“They will arrive and expect to be treated according to the fundamental values the U.K. says it upholds, but will instead be transferred somewhere, miles away.”

Australia has a policy of sending asylum-seekers arriving by boat to detention camps on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, with Canberra vowing no asylum-seeker arriving by boat would ever be allowed to permanently settle in Australia.

Since 2015, the U.K. has “offered a place to over 185,000 men, women and children seeking refuge — more than any other similar resettlement schemes in Europe,” Johnson said.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in Europe in 2021, followed by France (96,510), while the U.K. received the fourth largest number of applicants (44,190).
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A jury convicted a British national Thursday for his role in an Islamic State group hostage-taking scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners captive a decade ago, resulting in the deaths of four Americans, three of whom were beheaded. 

The jury deliberated for four hours before finding El Shafee Elsheikh guilty on all counts. Elsheikh stood motionless and gave no visible reaction as the verdict was read. He now faces up to a life sentence in prison. 

In convicting Elsheikh, the jury concluded that he was one of the notorious “Beatles,” Islamic State captors nicknamed for their British accents and known for their cruelty — torturing and beating prisoners, forcing them to fight each other until they collapsed and even making them sing cruel song parodies.  

Surviving hostages testified that the Beatles delighted themselves rewriting “Hotel California” as “Hotel Osama” and making them sing the refrain “You will never leave.” 

The guilty finding came even though none of the surviving hostages could identify Elsheikh as one of their captors. Although the Beatles had distinctive accents, they always took great care to hide their faces behind masks and ordered hostages to avoid eye contact or risk a beating. 

Prosecutors suggested in opening statements that Elsheikh was the Beatle nicknamed “Ringo” but only had to prove that Elshiekh was one of the Beatles because testimony showed that all three were major players in the scheme. 

Elsheikh, who was captured by the Kurdish-led Syrian defense Forces in 2018, eventually confessed his role in the scheme to interrogators as well as media interviewers, acknowledging that he helped collect email addresses and provided proof of life to the hostages’ families as part of ransom negotiations. 

But testimony showed that he and the other Beatles were far more than paper pushers. The surviving hostages, all of whom were European — the American and British hostages were all killed — testified that they dreaded the Beatles’ appearance at the various prisons to which they constantly shuttled and relocated. 

Surviving witness Federico Motka recounted a time in the summer of 2013 when he and cellmate David Haines were put in a room with American hostage James Foley and British hostage John Cantlie for what they called a “Royal Rumble.” The losers were told they’d be waterboarded. Weak from hunger, two of the four passed out during the hourlong battle. 

The convictions on all eight counts in U.S. District Court in Alexandria revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.  

All but Mueller were executed in videotaped beheadings circulated online. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped multiple times by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before she was killed. 

They were among 26 hostages taken captive between 2012 and 2015, when the Islamic State group controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria. 

Defense lawyers acknowledged that Elsheikh joined the Islamic State group but said prosecutors failed to prove he was a Beatle. They cited a lack of clarity about which Beatle was which, and during the trial’s opening statement, they cited the confusion about whether there were three or four Beatles. 

Prosecutors said there were three — Elsheikh and his friends Alexenda Kotey and Mohammed Emwazi, who all knew each other in England before joining the Islamic State. 

Emwazi, who as known as “Jihadi John” and carried out the executions, was later killed in a drone strike. Kotey and Elsheikh were captured together in 2018 and brought to Virginia in 2020 to face trial after the U.S. promised not to seek the death penalty.  

Kotey pleaded guilty last year in a plea bargain that calls for a life sentence but leaves open the possibility that he could serve out his sentence in Britain after 15 years in the U.S. 
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Calls are mounting for Russia to face a legal reckoning for atrocities its forces are allegedly committing in Ukraine. Many activists are looking toward the Hague-based International Criminal Court, which last month opened a Ukraine war crimes investigation. But experts warn delivering justice will be slow, difficult and, in some cases, impossible.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan visited the Ukrainian town of Bucha Wednesday, as workers dug up bodies in black plastic bags from the earth. Russian soldiers are blamed for horrific rights violations there, including raping and executing Bucha residents.

Khan called Ukraine a “crime scene.”

“Every individual, particularly civilians, they have certain rights,” he said. “We must speak for them and we must insist that we get to the truth of what’s taken place, and judges will decide if there is responsibility.”

International outrage is growing over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. On Wednesday, the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe accused Moscow of committing war crimes in some places — like deliberately attacking a maternity hospital and theater in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

It also found Ukraine committed lesser violations. The OSCE’s investigation ended in early March, so does not cover more recent cases like Bucha.

U.S. President Joe Biden has called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a war criminal, and Russian actions in Ukraine a “genocide” — although others dispute that description.

The U.S. is not part of the ICC, and the Trump administration sanctioned some court members for probing alleged war crimes by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Now, Washington is reportedly looking at how it can help the court on Ukraine.

So far, dozens of countries have referred the Ukraine war to the ICC. France sent experts to help Kyiv investigate possible war crimes. The European Union is increasing funding and other support to the Hague-based court for probing Ukraine atrocities.

Experts say prosecuting suspects and delivering justice won’t be easy. Neither Ukraine nor Russia are members of the ICC. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Russia could hamper the U.N. court’s ability to hold it to account.

Still, Ukraine recognizes the ICC’s jurisdiction for crimes committed on its territory since 2014.

“I think there’s absolutely the possibility that war crimes will be prosecuted by the ICC. The … question will be who will be prosecuted by who,” said Carsten Stahn, a professor of international criminal law and global justice at Leiden University in the Netherlands and Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Like some other experts, Stahn believes the ICC doesn’t have to shoulder the whole legal burden. Some alleged Ukraine war crimes cases could be handled by courts in countries like Germany, which have universal jurisdiction.

Another option, analysts say, is creating a special tribunal for Ukraine, like the ones created to judge the Rwandan genocide and the 1990s conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

But while Russia’s lower ranking military officers may one day be held accountable for their alleged actions, experts say that’s unlikely to happen for top leadership — like President Vladimir Putin, barring a change in government.

“We’ve seen from the practice of the tribunals, the Yugoslavia tribunal, that as a regime is in power, it is very difficult to proceed with crimes, ongoing investigations,” Stahn said. “Because you will simply not be able to get hold of the perpetrators.”

Still, analysts say the ICC can help broader efforts to deliver justice and will create one more headache for the Kremlin.
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Russia is facing economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine from dozens of countries. Here is a look at the efficacy of similar punitive measures applied to various countries in the past.
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After Russia invaded Ukraine, a Ukrainian NGO organized a shelter for displaced mothers in the western city of Lviv where a local businessman offered for his office space to be used for that purpose. Women with children stay there for a few days before continuing their journey to Spain. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych. Video editor – Mary Cieslak.
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The European Union has closed a loophole that allowed EU governments to export weapons worth tens of millions of euros to Russia last year alone despite an embargo which took effect in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.

EU countries last year sold to Russia weapons and ammunition worth 39 million euros ($42.3 million), according to the latest data made available by the EU Commission — up more than 50% from 2020, when sales were worth 25 million euros, a volume in line with previous years.

The EU had banned the export of arms to Moscow in July 2014 in reaction to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but a clause in the sanctions permitted sales under contracts signed before August 2014.

Countries with large defense industries, such as France and Germany, were among the largest exporters.

The loophole has come under fire from some EU governments since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, which the Kremlin calls “a special military operation.”

In a bid to weaken the Kremlin’s war efforts in Ukraine, the EU has imposed five rounds of sweeping sanctions banning exports to Russia of a large variety of technology that could be used by the defense industry.

But EU governments failed to immediately agree to scrap the exemption on arms sales until last week, when the loophole was closed as part of the fifth package of EU sanctions, EU diplomats and officials told Reuters.

A legal text published on April 8 in the EU official journal deletes that exemption.

The EU Commission did not mention the closure of the loophole in its public communication about the fifth package of sanctions.

A spokesperson for the Lithuanian diplomatic mission to the EU said the exemption had been eliminated, but EU countries will be able to continue moving Russia-made weapons to Russia for repairs before they are returned to the EU.

The EU Commission, which is responsible for preparing sanctions, did not propose the amendment on closing the loophole as it was not clear whether it had the unanimous political backing of the 27 EU states, diplomats said.

But at a meeting last week, envoys agreed to amend the text after fresh criticism from some governments, including Poland and Lithuania, diplomats who attended the meeting said.
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Russia said Thursday the flagship of its Black Sea fleet had been seriously damaged and that all the crew evacuated following what Russia said was an explosion and what Ukrainian officials said was a missile strike.

The Russian defense ministry blamed a fire that detonated ammunition on board the guide-missile Moskva. It said the fire had been contained and the ship remained afloat.  The ministry added that the ship’s main weapons were not damaged and that efforts were being made to take the ship back to port.   

The governor of Odesa said two cruise missiles struck the ship.

The White House on Wednesday reinforced U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise statement Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be committing genocide in Ukraine.

Biden also announced that Washington is sending another $800 million in weapons, ammunition and other assistance to Ukraine.

“The president was speaking to what we all see, what he feels is clear as day in terms of the atrocities happening on the ground,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of the genocide remark.

“As he also noted yesterday, of course there will be a legal process that plays out in the courtroom, but he was speaking to what he sees, has seen on the ground, what we’ve all seen in terms of the atrocities on the ground.”

She added, “Regardless of what you call it, what our objective now is — as evidenced by the enormous package of military assistance we put out today — is to continue to help and assist the Ukrainians in this war, one where we see atrocities happening every single day.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected Biden’s description, saying, “We consider this kind of effort to distort the situation unacceptable. This is hardly acceptable from a president of the United States, a country that has committed well-known crimes in recent times.”

Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the new shipment in an hourlong phone conversation on Wednesday. He later said in a statement, “The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. The United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself.”

New weapons, renewed Russian push

The Pentagon said the new tranche of weaponry includes 500 Javelin missiles, 300 Switchblade drones, 300 armored vehicles, 11 helicopters, chemical, biological and nuclear protective gear and 30,000 sets of body armor and helmets.

The U.S. is also providing an unknown quantity of anti-personnel mines, which are configured to be only manually detonated.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said U.S. defense officials want to deliver this equipment while Russia is regrouping its forces, including helicopters and artillery systems, in Belarus.

“They’re not fully up to readiness for this renewed push for they want to put in the Donbas,” he said. “We recognize that, and we’re taking advantage of every day, every hour to get this stuff there as fast as we can. … We have a good sense of Russian efforts to resupply and reinforce.”

Biden’s agreement to send more weapons to Ukraine, along with additional helicopters, came after a video appeal from Zelenskyy.

“Freedom must be armed better than tyranny,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Without additional weapons, this will turn into an endless bloodbath that will spread misery, suffering and destruction.”

Biden said the Western supply of arms to Ukraine “has been critical in sustaining its fight against the Russian invasion. It has helped ensure that Putin failed in his initial war aims to conquer and control Ukraine. We cannot rest now.”

Also Wednesday, the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — all NATO countries bordering Russia — visited Kyiv to show support for Ukraine a day after Putin vowed to continue Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine until its “full completion.”

The leaders of the four countries, all worried that Russia could attack them if Ukraine were to fall, traveled by train to the Ukrainian capital to meet with Zelenskyy.

While failing to capture Kyiv and much of Ukraine, Russian forces have bombarded numerous cities, killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians and destroyed housing and hospitals.

United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths recently went to Moscow and Kyiv to seek a cease-fire. But U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Wednesday it does not look like that is possible right now.

However, Guterres said there are “a number of proposals that were made, and we are waiting for an answer from the Russian Federation in relation to those proposals — including different mechanisms for local cease-fires, for corridors, for humanitarian assistance, evacuations and different other aspects that can minimize the dramatic impact on civilians that we are witnessing.”

Guterres said the U.N. also proposed the creation of a mechanism involving Russia, Ukraine, the U.N. and potentially other humanitarian entities, to help guarantee the evacuation of civilians from areas where fighting is going on and to guarantee humanitarian access.

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

The Biden administration appears set to include discussions of international economic repercussions of the Russian invasion and potentially Ukraine’s reconstruction as part of the November G-20 summit agenda, an idea that is likely to create further rift in the economic forum.

“It is not uncommon for events that are impacting the global community as Ukraine is, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to play a central role at international forums,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA during a briefing Wednesday. “And their economic recovery and rebuilding and reconstruction is going to be something that the global community is going to be involved in and address.”

In March, President Joe Biden said he wanted Russia removed from the Group of 20 largest economies or to have Ukraine be invited as an observer in the upcoming G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“The inclusion of Ukraine does not mean it’s only about the battle on the ground. We’re going to need to rebuild Ukraine,” Psaki added, noting that Ukraine has applied for membership in the European Union, which is part of G-20.

Responding to criticism that Western demands to exclude Moscow disrupt the summit’s agenda and create division in the group, Psaki said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown himself to be a “pariah in the world” and has “no place at international forums.”

Following its 2014 annexation of Crimea, Moscow was kicked out from the Group of Eight (G-8), now known as the Group of Seven (G-7). However, the G-20 is a much wider grouping with many more competing interests.

G-20 boycott

Biden has not said he would boycott the G-20 summit should Putin attend but insists the forum cannot be “business as usual.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison have also raised concerns about Putin’s participation.

This puts Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as this year’s G-20 chair, in a tough position. He must prepare to host leaders of the 20 largest economies at a time when the world is technically still under a pandemic and attempt consensus on the world’s most pressing economic problems while navigating new geopolitical rivalries triggered by Putin’s war.

Middle-power members, including India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and others, have their own agenda centered around post-pandemic recovery that do not align with the West’s focus of isolating Putin and helping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“That’s all going to have to be renegotiated,” William Pomeranz, acting director of the Wilson Center Kennan Institute, told VOA. “Most of their members do not feel obliged to rebuild Ukraine.”

Gregory Poling, who researches U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA’s Indonesian Service that while it is understandable that non-Western G-20 members are reluctant to have condemnation of Russia override the agenda, there is simply no possibility for Biden and other Western leaders to sit across Putin at the summit’s table.

Ultimately for Jakarta, it may boil down to whether they are willing to trade Putin’s attendance for several Western leaders’ absence, Poling said. And while Indonesian diplomats would have preferred quiet negotiations rather than public announcements from Western leaders, the tension was going to surface at some point.

“Indonesia was never going to disinvite Vladimir Putin without significant pressure and that pressure would have had to have been delivered publicly, sooner or later,” Poling said.

Jakarta’s dilemma

As a middle power struggling to recover from the pandemic, Indonesia is focused on using its G-20 presidency to create a conducive environment for emerging economies to excel and safeguard the forum from geopolitical rivalries that could further market uncertainties, Dinna Prapto Raharja, founder of the Jakarta-based think tank Synergy Policies, told VOA.

“His [Widodo’s] desire is mainly to make sure that (the) G-20 will be the forum that can sustain its mandate, which is the economic mandate,” Prapto Raharja said. “The scarcity of goods, the consequences of untenable rise of energy prices, the inability of emerging economies to get out from the COVID-19 crisis – this needs to be the agenda.”

Including Ukraine as an observer, as Biden has suggested, will complicate matters as Kyiv’s main interest is to secure assistance against Russian aggression and has nothing to do with G-20 goals, she said. However, Jakarta must prepare a contingent mechanism to allow views on Ukraine to be aired without disrupting the summit’s focus.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian public views Russia’s invasion of Ukraine partly through the lens of anti-West attitudes and skepticism of U.S. foreign policies. These sentiments have been magnified by pro-Putin propaganda pushed on social media.

“Our research shows 95% of TikTok users and 73% of Instagram users in Indonesia supports Russia after Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs assistance from NATO and the West,” Dudy Rudianto, founder of Jakarta-based data analysis firm Evello, told VOA’s Indonesian Service. This suggests Widodo may pay a political price should his government be seen as caving into Western demands to kick Putin out of the summit.

So far, Jakarta has neither revoked Putin’s invitation nor agreed to include Ukraine in the G-20 agenda. Earlier this month, a spokesman said the government is still considering different members’ points of views and will continue to focus on the three pillars of its G-20 presidency: global health architecture, sustainable energy transition and digital transformation.

As an informal grouping established in 1999 following a global economic crisis, the G-20 has no mechanism to expel a member, said Matthew Goodman, who holds the Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS.

“It doesn’t have a formal set of rules or even a really clear rationale for who’s in the group and who isn’t,” Goodman told VOA. “In practice, it would require all the other 19 countries to say, we don’t want that 20th country in the group.”

This is unlikely considering China’s position that Moscow is an important member of the forum, as well as other members’ reluctance to condemn Russia, including India, Brazil, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

A National Security Council spokesperson told VOA that the U.S. will continue discussions with G-20 partners, including Indonesia.

“We will continue to explore participation as Putin’s war continues and we get closer to the G-20 Leaders’ Summit that is still over seven months away,” the spokesperson said.

Fractured support

While there has been solid backing from Europe and the G-7 for Biden’s efforts to hold Russia accountable, support beyond that has been more fractured.

Most notable is G-20 and Quad member, India. New Delhi, reliant on Moscow for military hardware, has abstained from various U.N. votes relating to the conflict.

India’s ambivalence on the Ukraine war is emblematic of Russia’s considerable influence around the world. Washington needs to be mindful of these geopolitical realities, analysts said.

“It’s not going to be as simple as showing the videos of the terrible actions in Ukraine and then the rest of the world will say – yes, Russia is committing war crimes and so forth and that we need to isolate it,” Pomeranz, of the Wilson Center, said.

The Biden administration must also take into account how the war in Ukraine could trigger nonaligned instincts.

“There is a danger if you have a zero-sum competition between these two blocs,” Stewart Patrick, director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA. He noted that many countries loathe their Cold War experience of being treated as pawns in global rivalries.

Perceptions about selectivity of U.S. foreign policy is also a factor, Patrick said. It is problematic for Washington to rally global support against Moscow in light of its own invasion on Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Trump administration’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

“I don’t have any updates on that front,” Psaki told VOA last month when asked if the Biden administration has plans to revoke the recognition.
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As Ukraine braces for a massive Russian assault on its eastern Donbas region, Dutch officials are preparing for a much friendlier invasion by thousands of visitors to its once-a-decade floriculture exhibition known as Floriade.

Held this year in Almere, about 30 kilometers from Amsterdam, the 62-year-old event seeks to show horticulturalists from around the world not only the best way to grow tomatoes, but state-of-the-art solar roof tiles and vertical façade gardens, Andre Haspels, Netherlands’ ambassador to the United States, told VOA.

The theme of the expo this year is literally what goes into the construction of sustainable cities, Haspels said, adding that Floriade will provide the chance to study the special construction material known as cementless concrete the Dutch have developed and now use for roads and bridges.

MH17 memories

And while the tulip also blooms in times of war, the conflict unfolding in Ukraine rings a special bell for the Dutch men and women who experienced the sudden and tragic loss of loved ones in 2014 when Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by what investigators say was a Russian-made missile as the jet flew over eastern Ukraine, which was controlled by pro-Russian forces.

The flight was on its way from Amsterdam to Malaysia. All 298 people onboard were killed.

“The death of 298 civilians, including 196 Dutch, cannot and should not remain without consequences,” Deputy Prime Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in a recent statement. “The current events in Ukraine underscore the vital importance of this.”

Russia has categorically denied any involvement in the incident known as MH17.

‘Go, no-go’

Outside the Dutch ambassador’s residence in Washington, the Ukrainian flag is posted in the front near the Dutch national flag. Inside, Haspels recently hosted “Tulip Days,” an annual spring event that was used this year to promote Dutch-American friendship, Floriade and to express support for Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine is not the only concern that has given pause to organizers of the flower show, which opens Thursday and runs for six months. They have had to deal with the two-plus-year-old COVID-19 pandemic, which is only now easing its grip in Europe.

“They had moments when they had to decide, ‘Go or no-go,’ Haspels told VOA during the Tulip Days event, which had been on hold since 2019 because of the pandemic. “In the end, they decided to carry on with the festival, partly because the event would mostly be outdoors.”

 

The Netherlands, like the United States and most European countries, has lifted many of the stringent COVID-19 measures, including mandatory masks, “except on public transportation and airports,” said Haspels, who has tested positive twice, despite having been vaccinated and boosted.

Impact, lessons of war

As the COVID-19 threat weakens, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced Western European nations to face new challenges to their security and economies.

“First of all, we have taken sanctions against Russia. That means that our oil prices and our gas prices go up. Our food prices go up. So, there’s inflation,” he said.

“Secondly, there’s a large number of refugees coming from Ukraine to Europe. First to the neighboring countries, mainly Poland, but also to other countries, including my country. I think we have about 12,000 refugees from Ukraine now in the Netherlands.”

While Ukraine’s bids for membership in the European Union and NATO are being pondered, what is known as an Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU is proving to be critical when it comes to helping fleeing Ukrainians to resettle, Haspels said.

Among the privileges granted under the agreement, Ukrainian people can enter the EU to live, work and find housing.

“The children can go to school in the Netherlands or any other European country” without applying for asylum. “That’s what we’re focusing on at the moment,” Haspels explained.

“This is going to be a decisive moment for Europe for a long, long time for a number of reasons,” the Dutch ambassador told VOA. “You’ve seen as a consequence that many European countries increased their defense expenditure — the Netherlands did, under the new government. But also our neighbor, Germany, has increased their defense expenditure to 100 billion euros, which is huge if you look at German’s history, as well. So, they will become a stronger player within NATO and in European defense.”

The war is also forcing European countries, including the Netherlands, to rethink their reliance on Russian energy sources, seeking out alternate fossil fuel sources and speeding up the shift to renewables.

“Norway is a producer of oil and gas. Even in my own country, in the Netherlands, we still have gas availability, but we decided not to use it because of environmental risks. But now, we understand that in this emergency situation, we might need to explore this gas reserve in the Netherlands, as well,” he said. “So, our energy relationship will change. I think we will have a much faster transition to a green economy. So, also solar, wind, hydrogen will get a huge incentive.”

Haspels noted that the war in Ukraine has taught allies and their adversaries another valuable lesson.

“What we have learned is that alliances are very important. The alliance within Europe and the unanimity that we have, which I think is a great achievement, but also the alliance between Europe and the U.S.,” he said.

Asked how the Washington diplomatic scene has changed because of the war and reduced fears about COVID-19, Haspels said most of the EU missions in the U.S. capital have started to organize bigger in-person events.

“Diplomacy is a contact sport,” he joked.

But the Dutch ambassador has not been in contact with his Russian counterpart.

“At this stage, I do not see what added value that would have,” he said, explaining that relations between his country and Russia were already tense due to MH17.

Although Ukraine is not an EU member, Kyiv’s top diplomatic representative was invited in February to attend a formal EU meeting of ambassadors, where “she briefed us on the situation in Ukraine” and expressed appreciation for the measures the EU had taken, Haspels said.
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The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, was badly damaged when ammunition on board blew up, Interfax news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying Thursday. 

Interfax said the crew had been evacuated. It blamed the blast on a fire and said the cause was being investigated. 

A Ukrainian official earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two missiles but did not give any evidence. 

The 12,500 metric ton ship has a crew of around 500. Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship “Vulkan” cruise missiles, which have a range of at least 700 km. 

“As the result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated. The ship was seriously damaged,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The crew was completely evacuated.” 

Interfax did not give more details. 

Maksym Marchenko, governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, earlier said in an online post that two anti-ship missiles had hit the cruiser, but he did not provide evidence. 

Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow has not commented on what happened to the ship. 
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday called on China to use its influence with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, warning that a failure to act by Beijing would affect its economic relations with countries that have opposed the Russian invasion. 

 

“The world’s attitudes towards China and its willingness to embrace further economic integration may well be affected by China’s reaction to our call for resolute action on Russia,” Yellen said in remarks delivered at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council.

“China cannot expect the global community to respect its appeals to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the future if it does not respect these principles now, when it counts,” Yellen said. “China has recently affirmed a special relationship with Russia. I fervently hope that China will make something positive of this relationship and help to end this war.” 

 

Chinese reaction

The Chinese government’s reaction to Yellen’s speech was not immediately available, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, in a regular press briefing prior to Yellen’s remarks, commented on the situation in Ukraine.  

 

Calling the United States “the culprit of the Ukraine crisis,” Zhao criticized the sanctions levied against Russia, saying that “instead of solving any problems, sanctions have only put a dent in the languishing world economy.” 

 

“Countries all over the world already have enough on their plate, as they need to respond to COVID-19 and try to recover the economy,” Zhao said. “Against such a backdrop, sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions will not only create new irreversible loss but may also bring shocks to the current world economic system, wiping out the outcome of international economic cooperation for decades and ultimately forcing the world’s people to pay a hefty price.” 

 

Zhao said that China continues to support “dialogue and negotiation” aimed at a “political settlement” to the conflict.

‘Shortsighted’ countries

While China was the only country that Yellen addressed by name, she noted that many countries have refused to take a position on the Ukraine conflict. 

 

“Let me now say a few words to those countries who are currently sitting on the fence, perhaps seeing an opportunity to gain by preserving their relationship with Russia and backfilling the void left by others,” Yellen said. “Such motivations are shortsighted. The future of our international order, both for peaceful security and economic prosperity, is at stake. And this is an order that benefits us all.” 

 

She said that the broad coalition of countries participating in the sanctions against Russia “will not be indifferent to actions that undermine the sanctions we have put in place.” 

 

Food summit planned

Yellen acknowledged that the war in Ukraine had greatly exacerbated existing shortages of food and other essentials in some parts of the world. 

 

“With over 275 million people facing acute food insecurity, I am deeply concerned about the impact of Russia’s war on food prices and supply, particularly on poor populations who spend a larger share of their income on food,” she said.  

 

Yellen said that next week she would convene a summit of leaders in the field — on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — in Washington.  

 

In a question-and-answer session after her speech, she said, “This will be an urgent concern for us next week to try to think about how we can stave off starvation around the world. It’s really of grave concern.” 

 

A fine line on trade

Like other Biden administration officials in recent weeks, Yellen in her remarks walked a fine line, calling for the U.S. to pivot away from its reliance on China for key imports but not calling for a systematic “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies. 

 

“We cannot allow countries to use their market position in key raw materials, technologies or products to have the power to disrupt our economy or exercise unwanted geopolitical leverage,” Yellen said. “Let’s build on and deepen economic integration and the efficiencies it brings on terms that work better for American workers. And let’s do it with the countries we know we can count on.” 

 

Yellen said that the U.S. ought to encourage the development of key industries in U.S.-friendly countries, using the term “friend-shoring” to describe the transition. She also encouraged the development of new trade agreements between groups of willing World Trade Organization members — she described such agreements as “plurilateral.”

 

Avoiding a ‘bipolar’ system

During the question-and-answer session, Yellen was asked if the U.S. stance on sanctions and other issues might result in a “new kind of bipolarity in the world” in which “the U.S. and its allies are in one camp, and maybe China and others are in another camp.” 

 

“I really hope that we don’t end up with a bipolar system,” Yellen said. “And I think we need to work very hard and to work with China to try to avert such an outcome.” 

 

Yellen also addressed the apparent desire among some countries, including China, to reduce the importance of the U.S. dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency because it allows the U.S. and its allies to significantly disrupt other nations’ economies. 

 

Regarding the sanctions on Russia, she said, “You see the power of partnership between the United States and our allies, and the importance of the dollar and the euro, as currencies in which transactions take place.” 

 

However, Yellen said, she doesn’t believe it is likely that the dollar’s status will be challenged in the foreseeable future. 

 

“I think it will be a long time, if ever, before the dollar is replaced as a key reserve currency in the global economy,” she said.
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The man who stabbed and killed a British member of parliament last fall has been sentenced to life in prison.

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, who was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group, attacked Conservative Party member David Amess, 69, at a church event last October, killing him. Ali said the attack was revenge for Amess’ support of airstrikes in Syria.

During the trial, prosecutors called Ali a “committed, fanatical, radicalized Islamist terrorist.” Ali reportedly told detectives he’d been planning to kill a parliamentarian for years.

The jury took just 18 minutes to reach the conviction.

“It’s clear that the man who begins a life sentence today is a cold, calculated and dangerous individual,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes said in a statement outside court following the sentencing.

Amess’ family gave a brief statement after the sentencing.

“Our amazing husband and father has been taken from us in an appalling and violent manner. Nothing will ever compensate for that,” they said. “We will struggle through each day for the rest of our lives. Our last thought before sleep will be of David. We will forever shed tears for the man we have lost. We shall never get over this tragedy.”

Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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Moldova’s population is strongly divided over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The tiny former Soviet republic, which has a majority Russian-speaking population in some regions, is highly receptive to Russian influence, from Kremlin television propaganda to church altars. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina Produced by: Marcus Harton
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Volunteers are working alongside humanitarian organizations to help refugees inside and outside of Ukraine. VOA’s Celia Mendoza has more from Przemysl, Poland.
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Swiss prosecutors will not file any charges after concluding a decade-long investigation into alleged money laundering and organized crime linked to late former President Hosni Mubarak’s circles in Egypt, and will release some 400 million Swiss francs ($430 million) frozen in Swiss banks.

The office of the Swiss attorney general said Wednesday that information received as part of cooperation with Egyptian authorities wasn’t sufficient to back up the claims that emerged in the wake of Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 that felled Mubarak’s three-decade rule.

A Swiss investigation into claims that banks in Switzerland were used to squirrel away ill-gotten funds had originally targeted 14 people, including Mubarak’s two sons, as well as dozens of other individuals and entities that had assets totaling some 600 million francs frozen.

More than 210 million francs were already released in an earlier phase of the case, which also could not substantiate the allegations, and Wednesday’s announcement means about 400 million more will be “released and returned to their beneficial owners,” the attorney-general’s office said.

The final part of the Swiss investigation centered on five people, it said, without identifying them.

Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, hailed the decision as a full exoneration.

According to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the family’s representatives at Portland, a London-based communications firm, Gamal Mubarak said the decision “validates the position we have held all along” following more than a decade of “intrusive investigations, sanctions and mutual legal assistance proceedings.”

 

“The decision marks an important step in our efforts to assert our rights and prove our innocence from the flagrantly false allegations leveled against us over the past 11 years,” he said.

Swiss prosecutors say they didn’t receive a response to a request for information from “commissions” created in Egypt to analyze financial transfers connected to people under investigation in Egypt — notably the Mubarak family, the office said. Mubarak died in 2020, aged 91.

“As a result, in the absence of evidence relating to potential offenses committed in particular in Egypt, it is not possible to show that the funds located in Switzerland could be of illegal origin,” it said. “The suspicion of money laundering cannot therefore be substantiated based on the information available.”

Swiss banks, reputed for their discretion, have been a favored repository over the years for many wealthy foreigners — including Western industrial tycoons, Russian oligarchs, and autocrats and other leaders and their families and cronies in places as diverse as Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Swiss authorities have touted a recent crackdown against money laundering through Swiss banks, but advocacy groups and watchdogs say the effort has not succeeded in completely ending such activities.
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BEIJING — China’s overall trade with Russia rose over 12% in March from a year earlier, slowing from February but still outpacing the growth in China’s total imports and exports, as Beijing slammed Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. 

Shipments to and from Russia increased 12.76% in March to $11.67 billion, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday, slowing from 25.7% growth in February, when Russia launched its invasion.

Still, the growth in March was faster than the 7.75% increase in China’s trade with all countries and regions to $504.79 billion that month.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in a move that Moscow described as a “special military operation” designed to demilitarize and “denazify” its southern neighbor.

Beijing has refused to call Russia’s action an invasion and has repeatedly criticized what it says are illegal Western sanctions to punish Moscow.

Several weeks before the attack on Ukraine, China and Russia declared a “no-limits” strategic partnership. Last year, total trade between China and Russia jumped 35.8% to a record $146.9 billion. 

As sanctions against Russia mount, China could offset some of its neighbor’s pain by buying more. But analysts say they have yet to see any major indication China is violating Western sanctions on Russia.

China’s economic and trade cooperation with other countries including Russia and Ukraine remains normal, customs spokesman Li Kuiwen said at a news conference. 

In the first quarter, China’s trade with Russia jumped 30.45% from a year earlier, within the range of gains seen in previous quarterly increases. 

Russia is a major source of oil, gas, coal and agricultural commodities for China. 

Russia’s economy is on course to contract by more than 10% in 2022, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday, hit by soaring inflation and capital flight.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday revised down its forecast for global trade growth this year because of the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.

 

($1 = 6.3646 Chinese yuan) 
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Space is being increasingly militarized, says the ‘Challenges in Security in Space Report – 2022’
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With the European Union pledging to end its dependence on Russian gas, Turkey is positioning itself as a key bridge to alternative energy supplies from other nations. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
Produced by: Rob Raffaele
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A prominent Russian opposition activist was arrested Monday near his home in Moscow and sentenced to 15 days in jail for allegedly disobeying a police order. 

The arrest comes just hours after Vladimir Kara-Murza gave an interview to CNN in which he called the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin “murderous” and predicted the war in Ukraine would lead to Putin’s downfall. 

“I have absolutely no doubt that the Putin regime will end over this war in Ukraine,” he told CNN, adding that it “doesn’t mean it’s going to happen tomorrow. The two main questions are time and price. And by price, I do not mean monetary — I mean the price of human blood and human lives, and it has already been horrendous. But the Putin regime will end over this, and there will be a democratic Russia after Putin.” 

In 2015 and again in 2017, Kara-Murza claimed he had been poisoned by Putin’s government. He said the poisonings were a result of his effort to get the United States and Europe to sanction Putin and other Russian officials. 

The first case reportedly left him with kidney failure. 

“Twice in the last seven years, Russian authorities have tried to kill (Kara-Murza) for seeking personal sanctions against thieves and murderers and now they want to throw him in jail for calling their vile and bloody war a war. I demand his immediate release!” Kara-Murza’s wife, Yevgeniya, tweeted. 

On Twitter Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was troubled by the arrest. 

“We are monitoring this situation closely and urge his immediate release,” he added.  

 

Kara-Murza’s lawyer said he will appeal the sentence. 

In March, Russia passed strict laws making use of the words “war” or “invasion” to describe Russia’s action in Ukraine prosecutable. 

 
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Humiliated in the polls, the country’s center-left and right contemplate their future 
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Britain’s prime minister and finance minister will have to pay fines for attending parties and violating the country’s pandemic lockdown rules, the government said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have been under investigation for 12 parties at both No. 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, some of which were attended by the ministers and their staff.

“The prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer have today received notification that the metropolitan police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices,” a government spokesperson said.

Police said some 50 people would face fines or other penalties over the parties.

The political opposition in Britain has called for Johnson’s resignation over the scandal.

Johnson apologized over one incident saying he thought it was a work event.

The parties were held during 2020 and 2021, according to news reports.

One event, captured in a photo published by the BBC, shows Johnson and others gathered at the No. 10 Downing Street garden drinking wine in May 2020 when other citizens were not allowed to leave their homes without a reason, and outdoor gatherings were limited to two for exercise.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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The WTO warned Tuesday that Russia’s war in Ukraine had darkened the prospects for world trade as it sounded the alarm against the global economy dividing into rival blocs over the conflict.

The World Trade Organization said the war would damage world trade growth this year and drag down global gross domestic product (GDP) growth as well.

“This is not the time to turn inward,” WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a press conference at the global trade body’s headquarters in Geneva.

 

“In a crisis, more trade is needed to ensure stable, equitable access to necessities. Restricting trade will threaten the well-being of families and businesses and make more fraught the task of building a durable economic recovery from COVID-19.”

The former Nigerian foreign and finance minister said countries and international organizations must work together to facilitate trade amid sharp inflation pressures on essential supplies and growing difficulties for supply chains.

“History teaches us that dividing the world economy into rival blocs and turning our backs on the poorest countries leads neither to prosperity nor to peace,” said Okonjo-Iweala.

The WTO said world GDP, at market exchange rates, is expected to increase by 2.8% in 2022 — down 1.3% percentage points from the previous forecast of 4.1% — after rising 5.7% in 2021.

Growth should rise to 3.2% in 2023 — close to the average rate of three percent between 2010 and 2019.

The WTO now expects merchandise trade volume growth of 3% in 2022 — down from its previous forecast of 4.7% — and then 3.4% in 2023.

‘Immense human suffering’

“The war in Ukraine has created immense human suffering, but it has also damaged the global economy at a critical juncture. Its impact will be felt around the world, particularly in low-income countries, where food accounts for a large fraction of household spending,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

“Smaller supplies and higher prices for food mean that the world’s poor could be forced to do without. This must not be allowed to happen.”

The WTO said Western sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals were likely to have a strong effect on commercial services trade.

In 2019, the European Union accounted for more than 42% of Russia’s services imports and 31.1% of its services exports.

“Prior to the pandemic, travel/tourism and air transport services were the largest traded services by Russia, accounting for 46% of its exports and 36% of its imports,” said the WTO.

“These services, already hit hard by the pandemic, may be heavily affected by economic sanctions.”

The WTO said the war in Ukraine was not the only factor currently weighing on world trade.

It said lockdowns in China to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were once again disrupting seaborne trade at a time when supply chain pressures appeared to be easing.

“This could lead to renewed shortages of manufacturing inputs and higher inflation,” it said.
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US, Britain say they are aware of unconfirmed reports of a chemical attack in Mariupol and are investigating 
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KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA — Monica Kariuki is about ready to give up on farming. What is driving her off her about 40,000 square feet (10 acres) of land outside Nairobi isn’t bad weather, pests or blight — the traditional agricultural curses — but fertilizer: It costs too much.

Despite thousands of miles separating her from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kariuki and her cabbage, corn and spinach farm are indirect victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The war has pushed up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer. 

Kariuki used to spend 20,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $175, to fertilize her entire farm. Now, she would need to spend five times as much. Continuing to work the land, she said, would yield nothing but losses.

“I cannot continue with the farming business. I am quitting farming to try something else,” she said. 

Higher fertilizer prices are making the world’s food supply more expensive and less abundant, as farmers skimp on nutrients for their crops and get lower yields. While the ripples will be felt by grocery shoppers in wealthy countries, the squeeze on food supplies will land hardest on families in poorer countries. It could hardly come at a worse time: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said last week that its world food-price index in March reached the highest level since it started in 1990. 

The fertilizer crunch threatens to further limit worldwide food supplies, already constrained by the disruption of crucial grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia. The loss of those affordable supplies of wheat, barley and other grains raises the prospect of food shortages and political instability in Middle Eastern, African and some Asian countries where millions rely on subsidized bread and cheap noodles. “Food prices will skyrocket because farmers will have to make profit, so what happens to consumers?” said Uche Anyanwu, an agricultural expert at the University of Nigeria.

The aid group Action Aid warns that families in the Horn of Africa are already being driven “to the brink of survival.” 

The U.N. says Russia is the world’s No. 1 exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and No. 2 in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Its ally Belarus, also contending with Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer. 

Many developing countries — including Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mexico and Guatemala — rely on Russia for at least a fifth of their imports. 

The conflict also has driven up the already-exorbitant price of natural gas, used to make nitrogen fertilizer. The result: European energy prices are so high that some fertilizer companies “have closed their businesses and stopped operating their plants,” said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute. 

For corn and cabbage farmer Jackson Koeth, 55, of Eldoret in western Kenya, the conflict in Ukraine was distant and puzzling until he had to decide whether to go ahead with the planting season. Fertilizer prices had doubled from last year. 

Koeth said he decided to keep planting but only on half the acreage of years past. Yet he doubts he can make a profit with fertilizer so costly. 

Greek farmer Dimitris Filis, who grows olives, oranges and lemons, said “you have to search to find” ammonia nitrate and that the cost of fertilizing a 10-hectare (25-acre) olive grove has doubled to 560 euros ($310). While selling his wares at an Athens farm market, he said most farmers plan to skip fertilizing their olive and orange groves this year. 

“Many people will not use fertilizers at all, and this as a result, lowers the quality of the production and the production itself, and slowly, slowly at one point, they won’t be able to farm their land because there will be no income,” Filis said. 

In China, the price of potash — potassium-rich salt used as fertilizer — is up 86% from a year earlier. Nitrogen fertilizer prices have climbed 39% and phosphorus fertilizer is up 10%. 

In the eastern Chinese city of Tai’an, the manager of a 35-family cooperative that raises wheat and corn said fertilizer prices have jumped 40% since the start of the year. 

“We can hardly make any money,” said the manager, who would give only his surname, Zhao. 

Terry Farms, which grows produce on about 90,000 000 square feet (2,100 acres) largely in Ventura, California, has seen prices of some fertilizer formulations double; others are up 20%. Shifting fertilizers is risky, Vice President William Terry said, because cheaper versions might not give “the crop what it needs as a food source.” 

As the growing season approaches in Maine, potato farmers are grappling with a 70% to 100% increase in fertilizer prices from last year, depending on the blend. 

“I think it’s going to be a pretty expensive crop, no matter what you’re putting in the ground, from fertilizer to fuel, labor, electrical and everything else,” said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board. 

In Prudentopolis, a town in Brazil’s Parana state, farmer Edimilson Rickli showed off a warehouse that would normally be packed with fertilizer bags but has only enough to last a few more weeks. He’s worried that, with the war in Ukraine showing no sign of letting up, he’ll have to go without fertilizer when he plants wheat, barley and oats next month. 

“The question is: Where Brazil is going to buy more fertilizer from?” he said. “We have to find other markets.” 

Other countries are hoping to help fill the gaps. Nigeria, for example, opened Africa’s largest fertilizer factory last month, and the $2.5 billion plant has already shipped fertilizer to the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico. 

India, meanwhile, is seeking more fertilizer imports from Israel, Oman, Canada and Saudi Arabia to make up for lost shipments from Russia and Belarus. 

“If the supply shortage gets worse, we will produce less,” said Kishor Rungta of the nonprofit Fertiliser Association of India. “That’s why we need to look for options to get more fertilizers in the country.” 

Agricultural firms are providing support for farmers, especially in Africa where poverty often limits access to vital farm inputs. In Kenya, Apollo Agriculture is helping farmers get fertilizer and access to finance. 

“Some farmers are skipping the planting season and others are going into some other ventures such as buying goats to cope,” said Benjamin Njenga, co-founder of the firm. “So, these support services go a long way for them.” 

Governments are helping, too. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it was issuing $250 million in grants to support U.S. fertilizer production. The Swiss government has released part of its nitrogen fertilizer reserves.

Still, there’s no easy answer to the double whammy of higher fertilizer prices and limited supplies. The next 12 to 18 months, food researcher LaBorde said, “will be difficult.” 

The market already was “super, super tight” before the war, said Kathy Mathers of the Fertilizer Institute trade group. 

“Unfortunately, in many cases, growers are just happy to get fertilizer at all,” she said. 
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