RIYADMEDIA

Pope Francis on Sunday called for an “open and sincere” dialogue to resolve a stand-off between the Church and government in Nicaragua, following the arrest of a bishop who is a leading critic of President Daniel Ortega.

Speaking to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly blessing, Francis made his first comments on the crisis in the Central American country, where in recent months authorities have detained priests while others have gone into exile.

Francis, who did not specifically mention the arrest of the Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa in the north of the country, said he was following the situation in Nicaragua “with worry and pain” and asked for prayers for the country. 

“I would like to express my conviction and my wish that, through an open and sincere dialogue, the foundations for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can be found,” Francis said.

Alvarez was whisked away during a pre-dawn raid in Matagalpa on Friday and put under house arrest in the capital, Managua.

Alvarez, a critic of Ortega’s government and one of the Nicaraguan Church’s most influential figures, had been confined for two weeks in a Church house in Matagalpa along with five priests, one seminarian and a cameraman for a religious television channel.
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Ukraine is set this week to mark six months since the Russian invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Saturday, “I remember what various ‘advisers’ told me and advised me then. … I know that many of them are now ashamed of the words that were said then. … Ukrainians have proven that our people are invincible, our defenders are invincible.”

Zelenskyy said, “We still need to fight, we still need to do a lot, we still need to persevere and endure, unfortunately, a lot of pain. … But Ukrainians can feel proud of themselves, their country, and their heroes.

“We should be aware,” he added, “that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel. Such is our enemy. But in any other week during these six months, Russia did the same thing all the time – disgusting and cruel.”

Russian air defenses shot down a drone in Crimea on Saturday, Russian authorities said. It was the second such incident at the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet in three weeks.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to Crimea’s governor, also said without elaborating that “attacks by small drones” triggered air defenses in western Crimea.

Russia considers Crimea to be Russian territory, but Ukrainian officials have never accepted its 2014 annexation.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor of Sevastopol, said the drone that was shot down fell on the roof of the Russian fleet’s headquarters but did not cause casualties or major damage.

Razvozhaev posted a new statement on Telegram on Saturday night asking residents to stop filming and disseminating pictures of the region’s anti-aircraft system and how it was working, Reuters reported.

The incident underlines the vulnerability of Russian forces in Crimea.

Earlier this month, explosions at a Russian air base destroyed nine Russian warplanes and earlier this week a Russian ammunition depot in Crimea was hit by a blast. A drone attack on the Black Sea headquarters July 31 injured five people and forced the cancelation of observances of Russia’s Navy Day, The Associated Press said.

Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Zelenskyy referred obliquely to them Saturday in his nightly video address, Reuters reported, saying there was anticipation there for next week’s anniversary of Ukrainian independence from Soviet rule.

“You can literally feel Crimea in the air this year, that the occupation there is only temporary, and that Ukraine is coming back,” he said.

Christopher Miller, a professor of international history at Tufts University, told The New York Times, that Ukraine may try to disrupt Russian logistics and supply lines, and also put the war back on the Russian domestic political agenda.

Heightened nuclear fears

For weeks shelling around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

On Saturday, the town of Voznesensk, which is about 30 kilometers from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, the second-largest in Ukraine, was hit by a Russian missile Reuters reported, quoting Vitaliy Kim, the Mykolaiv regional governor.

Kim said on Telegram that the missile injured at least nine people and damaged houses and an apartment block in Voznesensk. State-run Energoatom, which manages all four Ukrainian nuclear energy generators, called the attack on Voznesensk “another act of Russian nuclear terrorism,” Reuters reported.

“It is possible that this missile was aimed specifically at the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, which the Russian military tried to seize back at the beginning of March,” Energoatom said in a statement.

Reuters was unable immediately to verify the situation in Voznesensk. There were no reports of any damage to the Pivdennoukrainsk plant. Russia did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

Ukraine has asked the United Nations and other international organizations to force Russia to leave the Zaporizhzhia plant, which it has occupied since March.

Enerhodar, a town near the Zaporizhzhia plant, has recently seen repeated shelling, with Moscow and Kyiv trading blame for the attacks, according to Reuters.

Talks have been underway for more than a week to arrange for a visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In a phone call Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia would allow international inspectors to enter the Zaporizhzhia plant.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi “welcomed recent statements indicating that both Ukraine and Russia supported the IAEA’s aim to send a mission” to the plant.

Sober warning from Britain

Conservative British Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons Defense Select Committee, cautioned that any nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could draw NATO into the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“Let’s make it clear now: any deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of NATO’s Article 5,” he said Friday on Twitter.

Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one or more NATO allies in Europe or North America is to be considered an attack against them all and compels each to take any action it deems necessary to assist the attacked member state.

There is growing concern in Europe that shelling around Zaporizhzhia could result in a catastrophe worse than the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The daughter of an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin was killed Saturday when the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving exploded in Russia.

Darya Dugin, a journalist, was killed in the blast Saturday near Moscow.

Darya’s father is Russian political commentator Alexander Dugin, often referred to a “Putin’s brain.”

Media reports say the elder Dugin, an ultra-nationalist, may have been the intended target.

Both father and daughter were supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Shortly before his two-day trip to Canada, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz received support for his interest in Canadian liquid natural gas to help replace Russian gas imports from an unexpected ally: Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz.

Kyiv has been at loggerheads with Berlin over its gas imports policy: firstly, over its deal with Moscow to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and more recently over its deal with Canada to get a repaired turbine for the Nord Stream 1 delivered back to Germany.

But the prospect of LNG deliveries to Europe from Canada, one of the world’s top gas producers, is something that not only Naftogaz supports, it’s something it has also been quietly working on itself.

Naftogaz earlier this year signed a little-reported memorandum of understanding with Canadian energy developer Symbio Infrastructure to purchase LNG from Canada.

Meanwhile, Canada and Germany have been discussing building LNG terminals on the Canadian Atlantic coast.

Naftogaz’s CEO Yuriy Vitrenko told Reuters in an emailed statement that Canadian gas had many advantages.

“Canadian suppliers do not have dominance in the German market, do not abuse it, as Gazprom, who is artificially decreasing supplies, ‘cornering the market’, and ripping off its customers,” he said.

Still, the challenges to these proposals are considerable, German and Canadian officials point out.

The costs of transporting gas from Alberta in the Canadian west to the East Coast would be high. New pipelines would be needed, and the global shift away from fossil fuels means the terminal’s lifetime would be too short to be profitable unless converted into a hydrogen terminal when gas demand declines.

German officials acknowledged this week that Canadian LNG deliveries were, at best, a medium-term prospect and played up instead a deal on hydrogen that Scholz is set to sign with Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau.

Sensitive political topic

German government officials are keen not to cause ally Trudeau more headaches after a backlash to his decision to allow a turbine for the Nord Stream gas pipeline to be delivered back to Germany after repairs in Canada.

Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck will also meet with Quebec Premier Francois Legault — from a different political camp than Trudeau — because of considerable resistance there to the construction of an LNG terminal and the necessary infrastructure.

Michael Link, transatlantic coordinator for the German government, said it would make much more sense to import LNG from Canada than from autocratic governments, noting it was important Scholz was visiting the provinces in the federal country.

“Canada is reliable, democratic and disposes of the highest environmental and social standards,” he said in an interview.

Yet, at the end of the day, even Canadian LNG deliveries to Asia from the West coast would help, he said.

“The gas exported there goes onto the world market, it increases the supply and puts downward pressure on prices,” Link told Reuters.
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The first surprise, for the Finnish conscripts and officers taking part in a NATO-hosted military exercise in the Arctic this spring: the sudden roar of a U.S. Marine helicopter assault force, touching down in a field right next to the Finns’ well-hidden command post.

The second surprise: Spilling out of their field headquarters, the Finnish Signal Corps communications workers and others inside routed the U.S. Marines — the Finns’ designated adversary in the NATO exercise and members of America’s professional and premier expeditionary force — in the mock firefight that followed.

Finnish camouflage for the Arctic snow, scrub and scree likely had kept the Americans from even realizing the command post was there when they landed, Finnish commander Lt. Col. Mikko Kuoka suspected.

“For those who years from now will doubt it,” Kuoka wrote in an infantry-focused blog of an episode he later confirmed for The Associated Press, “That actually happened.”

As the exercise made clear, NATO’s addition of Finland and Sweden — what President Joe Biden calls “our allies of the high north” — would bring military and territorial advantages to the Western defense alliance. That’s especially so as the rapid melting of the Arctic from climate change awakens strategic rivalries at the top of the world.

Sophisticated partners

In contrast to the NATO expansion of former Soviet states that needed big boosts in the decades after the Cold War, the alliance would be bringing in two sophisticated militaries and, in Finland’s case, a country with a remarkable tradition of national defense. Both Finland and Sweden are in a region on one of Europe’s front lines and meeting places with Russia.

Finland, defending against Soviet Russia’s invasion on the eve of World War II, relied on fighters on snowshoes and skis, expert snow and forest camouflage, and reindeers transporting weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, along with his pointed reminder about the Kremlin’s nuclear arsenal and his repeated invocation of broad territorial claims stemming from the days of the Russian Empire, have galvanized current NATO nations into strengthening their collective defenses and bringing on board new members.

Finland — until 1917 a grand duchy in that empire — and Sweden abandoned longtime national policies of military nonalignment. They applied to come under NATO’s nuclear and conventional umbrella and join 30 other member states in a powerful mutual defense pact, stipulating that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Putin justified his invasion of West-looking Ukraine as pushing back against NATO and the West as, he said, they encroached ever closer on Russia. A NATO that includes Finland and Sweden would come as an ultimate rebuke for Putin’s war, empowering the defensive alliance in a strategically important region, surrounding Russia in the Baltic Sea and Arctic Ocean, and crowding NATO up against Russia’s western border for more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles).

“I spent four years, my term, trying to persuade Sweden and Finland to join NATO,” former NATO secretary-general Lord George Robertson said this summer. “Vladimir Putin managed it in four weeks.”

Biden has been part of bipartisan U.S. and international cheerleading for the two countries’ candidacies. Reservations expressed by Turkey and Hungary keep NATO approval from being a lock.

Russia in recent years has been “rearming up in the north, with advanced nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles and multiple bases,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this month. “Russia’s threats, and Russia’s military build-up, mean that NATO is strengthening its presence in the north.’

Finland and Sweden would bring a lot to that mix. But they’re not without flaws.

Both countries downsized their militaries, cut defense funding and closed bases after the collapse of the Soviet Union lulled Cold War-era fears. As of just five years ago, Sweden’s entire national defense force could fit into one of Stockholm’s soccer stadiums, a critic noted.

But as Putin grew more confrontational, Sweden reinstated conscription and otherwise moved to rebuild its military. Sweden has a capable navy and a high-tech air force. Like Finland, Sweden has a valued homegrown defense industry; Sweden is one of the smallest countries in the world to build its own fighter jets.

Finnish Winter War

Finland’s defense force, meanwhile, is the stuff of legend.

In 1939 and 1940, Finland’s tiny, miserably equipped forces, fighting alone in what became known as the Winter War, made the nation one of few to survive a full-on assault by the Soviet Union with independence intact. Over the course of an exceptionally, deathly cold winter, Finnish fighters, sometimes cloaked in white bedsheets for camouflage and typically moving unseen on foot, snowshoes and skis, lost some territory to Russia but forced out the invaders.

Finns were responsible for up to 200,000 fatalities among invading forces versus an estimated 25,000 Finns lost, said Iskander Rehman, a fellow at Johns Hopkins’ Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs.

It helped fuel a Finnish national credo of “sisu,” or grit. Finnish Winter War veterans were recruited for the U.S. Army’s winter warfare training, Rehman noted.

Finland’s constitution makes rallying to the national defense an obligation of every citizen. Finland says it can muster a 280,000-strong fighting force, built on near-universal male conscription and a large, well-trained reserve, equipped with modern artillery, warplanes and tanks, much of it U.S.

The U.S. and NATO are likely to increase their presence around the Baltic and Arctic with the accession of the two Scandinavian countries.

“Just looking at the map, if you add in Finland and Sweden, you essentially turn the entire Baltic Sea into a NATO lake,” with just two smaller bits of Russia lining it, said Zachary Selden, a former director of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s defense and security committee who is now a national security expert at the University of Florida.

Likewise, Russia will become the only non-NATO member among countries with claims to Arctic territory, and the only non-NATO member of the Atlantic Council, an eight-member international forum created for Arctic issues.

Selden predicts a greater NATO presence in the Baltics as a result, perhaps with a new NATO regional command, along with U.S. military rotations, although likely not any permanent base.

Russia sees its military presence in the Arctic as vital to its European strategy, including ballistic missile submarines that give it second-strike capability in any conflict with NATO, analysts say.

The Arctic is warming much faster under climate change than the Earth as a whole, opening up competition for Arctic resources and access as Arctic ice vanishes.

Russia has been building its fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, aiming to escort expected future commercial shipping traffic through the melting Arctic, “as a way to create this toll road for transit,’ said Sherri Goodman, a former U.S. first deputy undersecretary of defense, now at the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and at the Center for Climate & Security.

Goodman points to future threats NATO will need to be able to deal with as the melting Arctic opens up, such as the kind of shadowy, unofficial forces Russia has used in Crimea and in Africa and elsewhere, and the increased risk of a hard-to-handle Russian nuclear maritime accident.

NATO strategy increasingly will incorporate the strategic advantage Finland and Sweden would bring to such scenarios, analysts said.
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Sixteen people were killed in southeast Turkey on Saturday when a bus crashed into emergency workers and journalists who were working at an earlier accident on a highway near the city of Gaziantep, local authorities said.

Regional governor Davut Gul said the dead included three firefighters, four emergency health workers and two drone operators from a Turkish news agency.

“At around 10:45 this morning, a passenger bus crashed here,” Gul said, speaking from the scene of the accident on the road east of Gaziantep.

“While the fire brigade, medical teams and other colleagues were responding to the accident, another bus crashed 200 meters behind. The second bus slid to this site and hit the first responders and the wounded people on the ground.”

Vice President Fuat Oktay said the emergency workers and journalists had “lost their lives in the line of duty.”
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Conservative British member of parliament Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons Defense Select Committee, cautioned that any nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could draw NATO into the war between Russia and Ukraine.
 

“Let’s make it clear now: any deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of NATO’s Article 5,” he said Friday on Twitter.  

Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one or more NATO allies in Europe or North America is to be considered an attack against them all and compels each to take any action it deems necessary to assist the attacked member state.  

Let’s make it clear now:

ANY deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of NATO’s Article 5.@thetimes pic.twitter.com/FFv6KR1xdq

— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) August 19, 2022]]

During a phone call Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Vladimir Putin said Russia will allow international inspectors to enter the Russian–occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear site in Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear facility. 

Hours later, while giving a speech commemorating the 78th anniversary of the allied landing in Nazi-occupied southern France, Macron accused the Russian leader of launching a “brutal attack” on Ukraine in an imperialist, revanchist violation of international law.  

He warned French citizens that the resulting energy and economic crisis confronting Europe is not over, calling it “the price of our freedom and our values.”

“Since Vladimir Putin launched his brutal attack on Ukraine, war has returned to European soil, a few hours away from us,” Macron said, adding that Putin is seeking to impose his “imperialist will” on Europe, conjuring “phantoms of the spirit of revenge” in a “flagrant violation of the integrity of states.”

There is growing concern in Europe that shelling around Zaporizhzhia could result in a catastrophe worse than the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi “welcomed recent statements indicating that both Ukraine and Russia supported the IAEA’s aim to send a mission” to the plant.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Friday, “Ukrainian diplomats, our partners, representatives of the U.N. and the IAEA are working out the specific details of the mission to be sent to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. …  I am grateful to everyone who joined this work and initiative.”

Zelenskyy also cautioned in his address, “If Russian blackmail with radiation continues, this summer may go down in the history of various European countries as one of the most tragic of all time. Because not a single instruction at any nuclear power plant in the world envisages a procedure in case a terrorist state turns a nuclear power plant into a target.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed that independent inspectors can travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the French presidency said Friday, as fears grow over fighting near the site. 

According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered” his demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear site. 

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, “welcomed recent statements indicating that both Ukraine and Russia supported the IAEA’s aim to send a mission” to the plant. 

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Moscow’s forces occupying Zaporizhzhia not to disconnect the facility from the grid and potentially cut supplies of electricity to millions of Ukrainians. 

A flare-up in fighting around the Russian-controlled nuclear power station — with both sides blaming each other for attacks — has raised the specter of a disaster worse than in Chernobyl. 

The Kremlin said that Putin and Macron agreed that the IAEA should carry out inspections “as soon as possible” to “assess the real situation on the ground.” 

Putin also “stressed that the systematic shelling by the Ukrainian military of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale catastrophe,” the Kremlin added. 

‘Most tragic’ summer

The warning came a day after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Guterres, meeting in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, sounded the alarm over the fighting, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the United Nations to secure the site. 

“This summer may go down in the history of various European countries as one of the most tragic of all time,” Zelenskyy said in his Friday evening address. 

“No instruction at any nuclear power plant in the world provides a procedure in case a terrorist state turns a nuclear power plant into a target.” 

During his visit to the southern port of Odesa on Friday, the U.N. secretary-general said that “obviously, the electricity from Zaporizhzhia is Ukrainian electricity. This principle must be fully respected.” 

“Naturally, its energy must be used by the Ukrainian people,” he told AFP in separate comments.  

On Thursday, Moscow said Kyiv was preparing a “provocation” at the site that would see Russia “accused of creating a man-made disaster at the plant.”  

Kyiv, however, insisted that Moscow was planning the provocation, and said Russia’s occupying forces had ordered most staff to stay home Friday. 

The United States on Friday announced a new $775 million arms package, including more precision-guided missiles for HIMARS systems that enable Ukraine to strike Russian targets far behind the front lines.
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A rights group has asked Switzerland to investigate an alleged attack on a Swiss photojournalist by Russian troops in Ukraine earlier this year, prosecutors confirmed Friday.

Ukrainian NGO Truth Hounds has asked Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to probe an attack on Swiss freelance journalist Guillaume Briquet in southern Ukraine in March as a possible war crime, according to the Swiss-based Civitas Maxima group that helped it file the complaint.

The OAG confirmed to AFP that it had received the complaint, which it said would “now be examined according to usual procedure.”

“This is the first criminal complaint received in this context,” it said, stressing that receiving a complaint did not automatically mean it would launch an investigation.

Briquet was injured in the head and arms when his car, which had Geneva plates and PRESS written on both sides, was ambushed by Russian troops near Mykolaiv on March 6, according to Civitas Maxima.

Attackers possibly identified

Truth Hounds legal director Dmytro Koval told the RTS broadcaster that the group, which has been documenting war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, had been able to identify the Russian unit that probably opened fire on Briquet’s car.

Civitas Maxima, which provides legal representation for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, suggested the journalist had been intentionally targeted.

“Mr. Briquet believes that the reason the press is being targeted is to intimidate journalists not to report on the conflict,” it said in a statement.

Since launching its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Russian military has frequently been accused of deliberately targeting journalists who clearly identify as media workers.

At least a dozen journalists have been killed in the past six months of conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Koval highlighted that Ukraine was struggling to investigate towering numbers of alleged war crimes and needed help from other countries.

“No country is capable of dealing with such a large number of war crimes that are currently suspected in Ukraine,” he said in the statement. “It is extremely important to involve in the investigations those states that have a jurisdictional connection with such crimes or can prompt the principle of universal jurisdiction over them.”

Swiss prosecutors have formed a task force to collect evidence of suspected war crimes committed in Ukraine from refugees arriving in Switzerland.

The OAG stressed that it could itself prosecute perpetrators of international crimes only if they were in Switzerland.

But the office also said it was securing any evidence it received of such crimes to pass on to the International Criminal Court in The Hague or to ensure criminal proceedings could be opened quickly if the suspected perpetrators entered Swiss territory.
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Russia will halt natural gas supplies to Europe for three days at the end of the month via its main pipeline into the region, state energy giant Gazprom said Friday, piling pressure on the region as it seeks to refuel ahead of winter. 

The unscheduled maintenance order on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany, deepens an energy standoff between Moscow and Brussels, which has already helped send inflation surging in the region and raised the risk of rationing and recession. 

Gazprom said the three-day shutdown was necessary because the pipeline’s only remaining gas compressor requires maintenance. The move will bring further disruption, particularly for Germany, which depends largely on deliveries from Moscow to power its industry. 

“We are monitoring the situation closely with the Federal Network Agency,” a spokesperson for Germany’s economy ministry said. 

The shutdown, to run from August 31 to September 2, follows a 10-day scheduled annual maintenance that took place in July, and it raised fears over whether Russia would resume supplies, which have been reduced since mid-June. 

Germany already has had to give Uniper – its largest importer of Russian gas and the highest-profile corporate victim of Europe’s energy crisis so far – a $15.1 billion (15 billion-euro) bailout after Russia drastically cut flows, forcing it to buy gas elsewhere at much higher prices. 

The broader Germany economic impact was highlighted in producer price data on Friday. July saw the highest ever increases, both year-on-year and month-on-month, as energy costs skyrocket. 

The Nord Stream pipeline had already been running at just a fifth of its capacity, stoking fears that Russia could stop flows completely heading into the winter heating season and make it more difficult to fill up storage facilities. 

Before Gazprom announced the shutdown, gas prices in Europe remained close to five-month highs, while U.S. gas prices reversed course and were up 1.2% after the news.  

German dependence

Germany has made targeted efforts to fill up its storage facilities to prepare for winter with levels standing at 78.19% as of August 17, slightly more than the 75.89% for the European Union as a whole. 

After maintenance is complete, and “in the absence of technical malfunctions,” flows of 33 million cubic meters (mcm) a day — in line with current volumes — will resume, Gazprom said. 

This would still be just 20% of Nord Stream’s full capacity of 167 mcm daily. 

Gazprom said maintenance work at the remaining Trent 60 gas compressor station would be carried out together with Siemens Energy. The Russian group has previously blamed faulty or delayed equipment for lower flows. Germany says this is a pretext to hurt its economy. 

Siemens, which is in charge of maintaining the Nord Stream 1 turbines, declined to comment. 

One of the Nord Stream 1 turbines is currently stuck in Germany after undergoing maintenance in Canada. Germany has said it could be transported any day, but Moscow keeps saying that sanctions imposed by Canada, the European Union and Britain prevented the equipment from being shipped back to Russia. 

Earlier, senior German politicians from governing parties rejected suggestions that gas shortages could be alleviated by allowing the suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline to go into service, something the Kremlin has suggested as a solution. 

“I strongly suggest we spare ourselves the humiliation of always asking [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for something that we’re not going to get,” said Kevin Kuehnert, the number two official in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats. 

“The dependence on him has to end for once and all,” he added in an interview with website t-online.
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The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is hosting an exhibition of African fashion that organizers say is the largest of its kind. The landmark exhibit — named simply “Africa Fashion” — promises to set a new standard on how the subject is portrayed in museums and art galleries. For VOA, Pasi Myohanen reports from London. Camera: Humberto Nascimento
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The Ukrainian military’s push to “hollow out” invading Russian forces and retake territory will soon get a boost in the form of a new $775 million security aid package from the United States.

The Pentagon on Friday confirmed it was readying the package — the 19th from the U.S. in the past year — complete with more ammunition for Ukraine’s 16 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, anti-armor systems and rounds, anti-radar missiles and mine-clearing capabilities.

“These are capabilities that are enhancing the Ukrainians’ mobility as they look at this very challenging environment in southern Ukraine in particular,” a senior defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity, under ground rules established by the Pentagon.

“This continues our tradition of providing the Ukrainians what they need when they need it,” the official said, adding, “This isn’t the end.”

The heart of the latest package includes more precision ammunition for Ukraine’s HIMARS, known as Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), which have a range of up to about 70 kilometers.

U.S. officials have repeatedly described Ukraine’s ability to integrate and deploy the systems as a game changer, allowing the Ukrainian military to strike Russian command-and-control sites and supply depots well behind the front lines.

“We have been seeing Ukraine employing HIMARS masterfully,” the senior defense official told reporters. “This long-range-fire capability has changed, really changed, the dynamic on the battlefield.”

The package also includes 16 105 mm Howitzers, 36,000 105 mm Howitzer rounds, 15 ScanEagle drones to aid Ukrainian forces with reconnaissance and targeting, and High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) to be used by Ukrainian fighter jets to “seek and destroy Russian radars.”

Another component of the new aid package seeks to enhance Ukraine’s anti-armor capabilities with 1,000 tube-launched, optically tracked, wireless-guided missiles, known as TOW missiles, as well as 1,000 Javelin missiles and anti-armor rifle rounds.

The official said the U.S. would also deliver another 50 Humvees as well as mine-clearing equipment and systems, including 40 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs.

This latest U.S. aid package comes just under three weeks after the Pentagon announced a $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine and brings the total value of U.S. security aid to Ukraine to about $10.6 billion since January 2021.

Still, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on the United States and other Western countries to supply even more weapons systems, more quickly, including longer-range missile systems like the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System), which has a range of up to 300 kilometers.

“We are hopeful that a political decision will be made to give us ATACMS,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told VOA’s Ukrainian Service on Monday. “This would also allow us to preserve more lives of our soldiers — men and women — and inflict very successful damage.”

Reznikov also echoed previous Ukrainian requests for Western fighter planes and tanks.

“Today, the modern world can easily provide us with technology to assure our victory and compensate for the imbalance in manpower [between Russia and Ukraine],” he said.

The U.S. has so far refused to provide the longer-range weapon systems despite Ukraine’s pledge not to use U.S. systems to attack Russian territory, with officials saying that Ukraine’s military has been succeeding with the aid it is already getting.

“We actually are seeing the Ukrainians on a daily basis successfully weakening the Russian forces,” the senior U.S. defense official said Friday, calling the cost being imposed on Russia “significant.”

“You’re seeing this hollowing out of the Russian forces in Ukraine but with implications for their longer-term sustainability,” the official said.

Still, the official acknowledged the weakening of the Russian forces has not yet allowed Ukraine to regain land currently under Russian occupation.

“We haven’t seen a significant retake of territory,” the official said. 
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VOA Ukrainian Service’s Iuliia Iarmolenko sits down with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to discuss how the war in Ukraine has affected European energy security. Camera: Kostyantyn Golubchuk.
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Europe’s embrace of millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion showed that it’s possible to welcome large numbers of asylum-seekers, and the approach should be replicated to receive those fleeing other nations, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi described the European Union’s response as “exemplary,” noting that nearly 4 million Ukrainians, mainly women and children, have registered with the bloc’s temporary protection system since the start of the war nearly six months ago.

That stands in stark contrast to EU efforts in recent years to keep migrants from Africa and the Middle East from reaching Europe’s shores. Some European leaders have sought to differentiate between the plight of Ukrainians and that of other refugees — a distinction that Grandi condemned as “racist.”

“If that’s possible for such a large number of people, and since that has proven so effective, why not use some of these approaches also for other people that are coming to knock at Europe’s doors?” Grandi asked.

Though it was created decades ago, the EU’s emergency protection system was activated for the first time this year in response to the flight of more than 6 million Ukrainians over the course of just a few months — the largest exodus of refugees the continent has seen since World War II. It allows Ukrainians to move around the bloc, gives them the right to work, and helps them to access housing, education and health care.

It has been credited with helping Europe avoid setting up refugee camps to house Ukrainians — like the ones that have existed in Greece for years and where thousands of asylum-seekers arriving by boat have often languished.

In the wake of the 2015-16 refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people, mainly from Syria, arrived in Europe by land or sea, leaders erected fences within the EU to keep many from moving deeper into the continent. The bloc has also spent billions to keep people, including those fleeing persecution and conflict but also poverty, from reaching its shores, giving money to countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to stop migrants before they set out.

The number of irregular crossings into Europe fell from its peak in 2015 to under 200,000 in 2021, according to Europe’s border and coast guard agency, although it is on the rise again this year. While such crossings often attract significant attention, more than 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries, according to UNHCR.

“Heads of government in Europe spent hours, days negotiating where, who should take a hundred people floating on a boat in the Mediterranean,” Grandi said, referring to European leaders’ inability to agree on how to resettle those who have arrived in recent years in Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. “And then contrary to that, millions (of Ukrainians) embraced, accepted, allowed to have access to services in a very effective manner.”

Asked about the different responses, Grandi said he did not think the European governments’ policies themselves were racist.

But he added: “Declarations that I have heard from some politicians saying the Ukrainians are real refugees … and the others are not real refugees. That’s racist. Full stop.”

Grandi did not specify what statements he was referring to, but Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi was criticized by human rights organizations and opposition lawmakers when he used that phrase to refer to Ukrainians fleeing the war earlier this year.

Other European politicians have made similar statements — with some arguing that many people seeking asylum are looking for a better life, rather than fleeing wars, and thus may not qualify for that protection under international law. Some have also defended the differing treatment by saying they have a duty to help fellow Europeans but shouldn’t be responsible for taking in refugees from other continents.

Grandi acknowledged that the issue is complex and some of those heading to Europe are economic migrants. But he stressed effective systems exist to evaluate asylum claims.

Roughly half of Ukrainians who have left the country so far have returned — and many more may eventually do so, although Grandi said some have ended up fleeing a second time.

Still, with no end to the war in sight, the U.N. refugee agency has said the total number of Ukrainians who have left their homeland at some point could reach more than 8 million by December. There are also currently 6.6 million Ukrainians displaced within the country, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Some 2 million Ukrainians have ended up in Russia, whether they chose to or not. An AP investigation earlier this year revealed many were forced to head there and subjected to human rights abuses along the way. Grandi acknowledged his agency’s access in Russia was limited. Of the 1,500 accommodation sites for Ukrainians in the country, UNHCR teams had only been able to visit nine so far, he said.

While the war in Ukraine has attracted global attention and support for those displaced by it, Grandi pleaded with world leaders to remember the other 12 humanitarian crises for which his agency is struggling to raise funds. He especially noted the Horn of Africa, where a prolonged drought and protracted conflicts have not only forced millions from their homes but have also pushed countries ever closer to famine.

“The big problem that we have at the moment is that it tends to marginalize all other crises in which people suffer,” Grandi said.
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Some newly arrived Afghans in Germany are complaining they feel forgotten as Ukrainian refugees enter the country. VOA’s Helay Asad has the story, narrated by Roshan Noorzai.
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Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said his country’s goal in the current conflict with Russia is complete victory and the restoration of Ukraine’s borders as of 1991. He spoke this week with VOA Ukrainian Service’s Ruslan Petrychka about developments in the country since Russia’s invasion earlier this year.

VOA: What goal do you set for Ukraine in the war with Russia?

Reznikov: The all-Ukrainian plan is the complete de-occupation of the territories occupied by the Russian Federation and return to the internationally recognized borders as of 1991. Not 2014, ’15. Not February 24, 2022. The ultimate goal is the victory of Ukraine and its restoration within its borders as of 1991. This is the main plan.

The “cool-down” of the military situation is possible. I do not see a possibility of “freezing” — what people tend to call a conflict — because it is not a conflict. It is a war. This is an open war between two regular armies, and one army invaded the territory of its neighbor without any legitimate explanation or right to do so. Therefore, this war is for survival. We will be defending ourselves to survive.

VOA: Per your assessment, how many combat-ready troops have Russian forces assembled near Ukraine’s borders or in the occupied territories?

Reznikov: I may be wrong, but according to the latest military reports, there seems to be about 115 so-called battalion-tactical groups, of which 105 are actively deployed, and 10 are on rotation for replenishment or rest. In sum, there are up to 135,000 people.

VOA: What new military equipment do you expect to receive from the United States and other Western countries?

Reznikov: We are certainly expecting support and assistance from our partners. We are hopeful that a political decision will be made to give us [an] ATACMS [Army Tactical Missile System] that would allow us to hit targets up to 300 km away. This would also allow us to preserve more lives of our soldiers — men and women — and inflict very successful damage. We are hopeful to finally receive Western planes that would allow us to dominate the sky due to their better radars, range, maneuverability and speed. And of course, receiving tanks would also give us an advantage. Today, the modern world can easily provide us with technology to assure our victory and compensate for the imbalance in manpower [between Russia and Ukraine].

VOA: Are you satisfied with the latest $1 billion assistance package to Ukraine from the U.S.?

Reznikov: I am very pleased, because it contains many 155 mm ammunition for the artillery systems that we have received before. It also contains quite a significant number of missiles for HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System]. Also, missiles that allow our military to destroy and blind Russian radars. It helps us weaken their air defense system and therefore act more decisively. Hence, we are very satisfied with the assistance package. This is a tremendous help. And I will repeat once again that I hope that a political decision regarding the ATACMS missiles will soon be made. The HIMARS have changed our battlefield strategies significantly, therefore the ATACMS will be a great addition to benefit Ukraine and the civilized world.

VOA: Has Ukraine lost in battle any of the HIMARS systems delivered to Ukraine by the U.S. so far?

Reznikov: I can confirm with absolute responsibility that not a single HIMARS was lost. Therefore, when you read Russian mass media or social networks about “a soldier Ivanov with a Kalashnikov breaking into a truck where he destroyed 12 HIMARS” — all you can do is laugh, shake your head and say, “Well, this is simply their system of propaganda.” It’s total nonsense.

VOA: Do you have any agreements with the U.S. for not hitting Russian military objects in Crimea with the weapons systems provided?

Reznikov: We have an agreement with the United States that we will not be using the weapons provided to us by our partners, the United States, to target the territory of the Russian Federation. However, if we are talking about de-occupying the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine where our enemies are located, then accordingly, we have no such restrictions.

VOA: What measures has Ukraine put in place to monitor and provide control for the use of U.S, weapons systems delivered to Ukraine?

Reznikov: We have several levels of such interactions [to control the use of delivered weapons] because to me, it is fundamentally important to retain and even grow the level of trust. It is essential to maintain this support. And from my first appeals to [U.S. Defense Secretary] Mr. Lloyd Austin and other ministers at the Ramstein conference [on April 26], I said directly in my speech, “Please help us create a system of maximum transparent control of weapons so that you could have open access to this information. We open this information for you completely. Send your emissaries and controllers, even if you would like for them to go to the front line. Feel free to control it according to your own systems.”

And some countries did send their representatives to us immediately according to their security regulations. I will emphasize once again that we are totally interested in the transparency of those things, because if some people are saying that there is some smuggling involved, all that is are propagandistic narratives aimed at weakening this very support and lowering the level of trust.

VOA: What is your message to the world on the eve of Ukraine Independence Day on August 24?

Reznikov: I want to ask everyone — please believe in Ukraine. We continue to pay for our independence. We may have gained independence a little easier than other countries have, as we have not paid so much in blood. But now we are paying a lot, and we are washing our independence with blood. I want to add that today, the Independence Day of Ukraine is simultaneously the Independence Day of many European countries. Therefore, I ask you not to give in to the syndrome of fatigue. Stay with us, and we will win together. Ukraine will win. Everything will be Ukraine!
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on its northern Chernihiv region. Older residents have lost almost everything, including their homes and personal possessions. But volunteers are doing their best to help these people return to normal life. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage by Paviel Syhodolskiy.
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Military-ruled Myanmar plans to import Russian gasoline and fuel oil to ease supply concerns and rising prices, a junta spokesperson said, the latest developing country to do so amid a global energy crisis.

The Southeast Asian country has maintained friendly ties with Russia, even as both remain under a raft of sanctions from Western countries — Myanmar for a military coup that overthrew an elected government last year, and Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special military operation.”

Russia is seeking new customers for its energy in the region as its biggest export destination, Europe, will impose an embargo on Russian oil in phases later this year.

“We have received permission to import petrol from Russia,” military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said during a news conference Wednesday, adding that it was favored for its “quality and low cost.”

Fuel oil shipments are due to start arriving from September, according to media.

Zaw Min Tun said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing discussed oil and gas during a trip to Russia last month. Myanmar now imports its fuel through Singapore.

Myanmar would consider joint oil exploration in Myanmar with Russia and China, he said.

The military has set up a Russian Oil Purchasing Committee headed by a close ally of Min Aung Hlaing to oversee the buying, importing, and transport of fuel at reasonable prices based on Myanmar’s needs, according to a statement published in a state newspaper on Wednesday.

In addition to political turmoil and civil unrest, Myanmar has been hit hard by high fuel prices and power cuts, prompting its military leadership to turn to imports of fuel oil that can be used in power plants.

Petrol prices have surged about 350% since the coup in February last year to about $1  (2,300-2,700 kyat) per liter. 

In the past week, petrol stations have shut down in various parts of the country because of shortages, according to media reports.

Russia is also a major supplier of weapons to the Myanmar military.
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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to meet Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv with an agenda expected to include a global food crisis, threats to a nuclear power plant, and finding a political solution to the war launched by Russia. 

Efforts to ease the food crisis are ongoing, with ships carrying Ukrainian exports now able to depart under an agreement the U.N. and Turkey brokered in late July with Russia and Ukraine. 

Guterres is scheduled to travel Friday to visit a port in Odesa, then on Saturday to Istanbul to see the Joint Coordination Center that is monitoring the export system, including inspections of inbound and outbound ships demanded by Russia.  

The center said it expects inspections teams to conduct checks Thursday on four ships that departed Ukraine this week.    

Those include the Osprey S, which is carrying corn to Turkey, the Ramus and its cargo of wheat bound for Turkey, the Brave Commander carrying wheat to Djibouti, and the Bonita carrying corn to South Korea. 

Four other ships are set to be inspected on their way to Ukraine. Russia has sought to ensure that inbound vessels are not bringing weapons for Ukrainian forces. 

Three more ships departed Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Wednesday.  The coordination center said the Sara, carrying 8,000 metric tons of corn, and the Efe, carrying 7,250 metric tons of sunflower oil, left the Odesa port bound for Turkey.     

The Petrel S, loaded with 18,500 metric tons of sunflower meal, left the Chornomorsk port and was headed to Amsterdam, the coordination center said.  

Since exports began August 1, 24 vessels have left Ukraine.   

Crimea blasts 

A series of explosions during the past week in Russian-occupied Crimea are part of a new strategy being deployed by Ukrainian forces in the war, a Ukraine official said Wednesday.    

A week ago, an attack at a Russian air base in Crimea destroyed nine warplanes. On Tuesday, a series of explosions rocked an ammunitions storage facility at a Russian base.  

Russia called the latest attacks “sabotage.”  

Ukrainian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post that Ukraine special forces were responsible for the attacks in Crimea.  

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Post that the Ukrainian government’s official position is that it can neither confirm nor deny Ukrainian involvement in the Crimea attacks.   

However, Reznikov also told the Post that striking targets behind Russian lines is part of Ukraine’s current military strategy. He added that Ukraine lacks weapons with the range to reach targets in Crimea from Ukrainian-controlled territory.  

In 2014, Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have vowed to recapture Crimea and other territories now occupied by Russia after Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.  

In a speech following the August 9 attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war “began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – its liberation.”   

Elsewhere, Russian shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed seven people and injured 16, the Ukrainian Emergencies Service said Wednesday. 

Kharkiv has often been targeted, and Zelenskyy called Wednesday’s attack “a devious and cynical strike on civilians with no justification” in a Telegram post.  

Also on Wednesday, Ukraine held disaster response drills after repeated shelling of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its kind in Europe.   

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told Reuters his government was very concerned about the safety of the plant in Enerhodar in the southeast of the country.     

Both sides have accused the other of attacks near the facility in recent days and engaging in what they call “nuclear terrorism,” Reuters reported.       

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Estonia and Latvia say they are pulling out of a decade-old mechanism established by China to deepen its influence in Europe, following their Baltic neighbor Lithuania, which left the group last year.

Sixteen nations joined the China and Central and Eastern European Cooperation (China-CEEC) Forum when it was established in April 2012, with an inaugural summit held in Poland. The 16+1, as it was known, appeared to be gaining influence when Greece joined in 2019.

But Lithuania quit the group in 2021 over security concerns and frustrations with growing authoritarianism in Beijing, leading lawmakers from Lithuania told VOA earlier this year. The country also said it wanted to end the practice of dealing with major powers on a subregional group basis, preferring a united European Union approach.

Lithuania’s two Baltic neighbors announced last week that they, too, would no longer participate in the grouping’s activities. China’s close ties with Russia factored in their country’s decision, a statement issued by the Latvian foreign ministry said.

Both countries said they want to continue to work toward constructive and pragmatic relations with China but would like to do so within the framework of EU-China relations, and “in line with rules-based international order and values such as human rights.”

On sidelines since early 2021

The last summit held under the China-CEEC mechanism was in February 2021, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted top officials in a virtual meeting. “Since then, Estonia has not participated or kept track of the events,” Aari Lemmik, counselor for press and cultural affairs at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, told VOA.

Latvia, meanwhile, stated that in the current geopolitical setting, its continued participation in the 16+1 format is no longer in line with its strategic objectives.

“China-Russia relations are growing closer. China has repeatedly confirmed its strategic partnership with Russia even after the latter embarked upon wide-scale military aggression in Ukraine, for which China is putting the blame on the West,” read a statement provided to VOA by the Latvian Embassy in Washington.

“Since 16+1 is a format for international dialogue, and not an international organization, no formal withdrawal procedures are applicable. Latvia simply will no longer participate in the activities of this framework,” the statement said.

A Romanian-based expert who has been following China and Central and Eastern Europe described the 16+1 exercise as “an initiative that failed to turn into a ‘fan club’ of China partners.”

“For the time being, at least in the short and medium term, I think [China’s] expansion reached its limits,” said Horia Ciurtin, an expert at the New Strategy Center, a think tank headquartered in Bucharest, in written answers to questions from VOA. “It hit a ceiling and it will slowly ossify and withdraw. And this is not only the case of Central/Eastern Europe, but throughout the scattered map.”

Ciurtin thinks that the conflict in Ukraine and China’s ties with Russia have made it more difficult for China to market itself as a benign investor or trading partner. In addition, he sees the decisions made by Latvia and Estonia as a form of Baltic solidarity.

The war in Ukraine “presented a good opportunity for Latvia and Estonia to follow Lithuania’s path,” he said.

Lithuania punished

Lithuania has been the target of Chinese political and economic punitive measures since its decision last year to leave the China-CEEC forum and expand trade ties with democratic Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a renegade province. Beijing’s effort has been widely seen as designed to scare off other countries that may want to follow suit.

Following an online meeting between the Chinese and Estonian foreign ministers in January, Chinese state media hailed Estonia as an “example” of how European nations handle their relations with Beijing, “in sharp contrast to Lithuania.”

But following last week’s announcement, Beijing’s Global Times published an article casting Estonia’s and Latvia’s decisions as “shortsighted” and the result of bowing to U.S. pressure. The newspaper added that their role within the China-CEEC forum had been “marginal,” and that the forum would continue regardless.

Global Times also said that neither the U.S. nor the EU can be counted on to deliver the kind of economic help China delivers.

Asked to respond, a State Department spokesperson said the United States “will continue to closely support [Estonia’s and Latvia’s] efforts to make the Baltics a more resilient and prosperous region.

“Estonia and Latvia are valued NATO allies and key U.S. partners across a range of issues, including through our strong defense and economic ties, and on the promotion of democracy and human rights,” the spokesperson said.

“Beyond our commitment to the same values, our free, democratic countries produce prosperity that helps our economies thrive,” the spokesperson added.
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Russian police have searched the homes of several journalists contributing to programs of RFE/RL’s Russian Service and Idel.Realities, an online project that covers news and events in the Volga-Urals region.

On August 17, police in the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan region, Kazan, searched the home of sociologist Iskander Yasaveyev, who is a columnist for the Idel.Realities online project.

Yasaveyev’s lawyer, Rim Sabirov, said police took his client to the Investigative Committee for questioning. According to Sabirov, the law enforcement officers confiscated all the mobile phones belonging to Yasaveyev’s family members.

At this point it remains unclear why exactly Yasaveyev, who is known for his open stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was detained for questioning.

Meanwhile, pro-Kremlin website Tatar-Inform reported on August 17 that police searched the homes of seven other local journalists who work as freelancers or contribute to RFE/RL’s Russian and Tatar-Bashkir services, as well as to Idel.Realities.

Only one of the journalists targeted was identified: Marina Yudkevich, who is also a columnist for Idel.Realities.

According to Tatar-Inform, the searches were linked to the journalists’ articles covering Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin in March signed a law that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing “deliberately false information” about Russian military operations as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative about its war in Ukraine.

The law carries sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of “deliberately false information” about the Russian military that leads to “serious consequences” is 15 years in prison.

It also makes it illegal “to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia” or “for discrediting such use” with a penalty possible of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calls for sanctions against Russia.

Multiple websites of RFE/RL, the BBC and other independent media outlets have been blocked over what Russian regulators claim is erroneous reporting.

Separately, on August 17, a contributor in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg to RFE/RL’s Russian Service and several other independent media outlets, Yelena Shukayeva, was sentenced to 14 days in jail on charges of propaganda and public demonstration of extremist groups’ symbols.

Shutayeva’s lawyer, Roman Kachanov, said the charges against his client stemmed from her reposting materials prepared by jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s team.

Russia last year declared Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation “extremist” and banned the use of any symbols tied to the group as part of a widening crackdown on the opposition.
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NATO will increase its peacekeeping force in Kosovo if there is an escalation of tensions with neighboring Serbia, the alliance’s chief said on Wednesday on the eve of EU-facilitated talks between the estranged western Balkan neighbors.

“We have now a significant mission, a military presence in Kosovo close to 4,000 troops,” Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference after talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels, who stood alongside him.

“If needed, we will move forces, deploy them where needed and increase our presence. We have already increased the presence in the north. We are ready to do more.”

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo flared this month when Pristina said it would oblige Serbs living in the north, who are backed by Belgrade and do not recognize Kosovo institutions, to start using car license plates issued in Pristina.

The situation calmed after Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, under U.S. and European Union pressure, agreed to postpone the number plates rule until Sept. 1 and NATO peacekeepers oversaw the removal of roadblocks set up by Serbs.

However, Vucic told the news conference at NATO that talks with Kurti on Thursday, which will be facilitated by the EU, would be difficult because the two sides disagree on almost everything.

Kosovo won independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against repressive Belgrade rule.

Serbia legally still considers Kosovo an integral part of its territory. It denies whipping up tensions and conflict there, and accuses Pristina of trampling on the rights of minority Serbs. Ethnic Serbs account for 5% of Kosovo’s 1.8 million population, which is 90% ethnic Albanian.

Vucic said Serbia wanted to avoid any escalation of the situation, but it was important to understand that there is “a new generation of young men” who see Kosovo as Serbian territory and will no longer “put up with the terror.”
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Turkey and Israel said on Wednesday they will re-appoint respective ambassadors more than four years after they were called back, marking another milestone after months of steady improvement in relations.

The two regional powers had expelled ambassadors in 2018 over the killing of 60 Palestinians by Israeli forces during protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

But they have been working to mend long-strained ties with energy emerging as a key area for potential cooperation.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s office said on Wednesday the two countries decided to restore full diplomatic ties.

“It was decided to once again upgrade the level of the relations between the two countries to that of full diplomatic ties and to return ambassadors and consuls general,” Lapid’s office said in a statement following a conversation between the prime minister and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

“Upgrading relations will contribute to deepening ties between the two peoples, expanding economic, trade, and cultural ties, and strengthening regional stability,” it added.

Avisit to Turkey by Israeli President Isaac Herzog in March, followed by visits by both foreign ministers, helped warm relations after more than a decade of tensions.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the appointment of ambassadors was one of the steps in the normalization of ties.

“Such a positive step came from Israel as a result of these efforts, and as Turkey, we also decided to appoint an ambassador to Israel, to Tel Aviv,” Cavusoglu said at a news conference in Ankara, adding Turkey was selecting someone.

The move, which comes as Israel has sought to improve ties with regional powers, was agreed two years after the so-called Abraham Accords which saw relations normalized between Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

Turkey also launched a charm offensive in 2020 to repair ties with estranged rivals, making overtures to Egypt, the UAE, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Efforts with Cairo have so far yielded little progress, but officials have said normalization work with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are going well.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday rejected what he said were comments by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that diminished the Holocaust.

Abbas was asked during a visit to Berlin on Tuesday about the upcoming 50th anniversary of an attack by Palestinian militants against Israelis at the Munich Olympics.

Abbas spoke about incidents in which Israelis killed Palestinians since 1947, saying, “Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others, 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts.”

Scholz, who was with Abbas when he made the comments at a joint news conference, used a Twitter post Wednesday to say he was “disgusted” by the remarks.

“For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable. I condemn any attempt to deny the crimes of the Holocaust,” Scholz posted.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Abbas’ comments were “not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie.”

“Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including one and a half million Jewish children. History will never forgive him,” Lapid tweeted.

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