RIYADMEDIA

Russia’s Gazprom halted gas supplies Wednesday to Poland and Bulgaria, the latest step in the economic fight linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has demanded that European nations, many of which rely on Russia for large portions of energy supplies, pay for natural gas in Russia’s currency, the ruble.

Gazprom said Wednesday that Poland and Bulgaria had not done so and would therefore have their gas supplies suspended.

Polish and Bulgarian officials said the Gazprom move amounted to breach of contract.

A number of European Union members have moved to lessen or eliminate their dependence on Russian energy, including by seeking other sources and boosting their use of renewable energy.

“Gazprom’s announcement is another attempt by Russia to blackmail us with gas,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday. “We are prepared for this scenario. We are mapping out our coordinated EU response.”

Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday its forces carried out missile strikes overnight that destroyed 59 targets in Ukraine, including “hangars with a large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition” sent by the United States and European countries to aid Ukraine’s military.

The United States and its allies signaled Tuesday they are moving swiftly and powerfully to support Ukrainian forces and escalate pressure on Russia’s economy.

The United States at first “needed weeks” to move military equipment and munitions to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but it now often dispatches new armaments to the Ukrainians within three days.

Blinken said since he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv over the weekend, the two countries were “largely aligned in what they say they need and what we think we’re able to provide.”

Heavy weapons

Germany’s government said Tuesday it would send heavy weapons to Ukraine for the first time. Austin, meeting at a U.S. air base in Germany with officials from 40 countries, including NATO members, said Russian President Vladimir Putin “never imagined the whole world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely.”

“We’re seeing more support every day” to combat the Russian invasion, he said Tuesday. “We don’t have any time to waste. We’ve got to move at the speed of war.”

The White House said Germany’s decision signaled unprecedented unity in the face of Russian aggression.

“The announcement by Germany is in line with announcements we’ve seen by a number of European countries in providing assistance they have never before provided, which is part of the significance here,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “So, this is an unprecedented change to provide lethal aid to another country, and that’s the significance here from Germany. But I’d also note that Norway provided Mistral anti-aircraft missiles, that a number of countries have provided types of assistance that they have never done in the past, and that really speaks to the significant unity of NATO.”

The U.S. defense secretary also said allies supporting Ukraine would meet monthly to coordinate further aid. As he opened the talks, he said the aim was to “help Ukraine to win the fight against Russia’s unjust invasion and to help build up Ukraine for tomorrow’s challenges.”

Austin also rebuked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for suggesting that the war could evolve into a nuclear conflict between Russia and the West.

“We certainly will do everything in our power … to make sure it doesn’t spin out of control,” Austin said. “Nobody wants to see a nuclear war. Nobody can win it,” he said, adding that “it’s unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers” over a nuclear threat.

Austin’s appeal to allies for more help for Ukraine came a day after he said the U.S. objective in supporting Ukraine was to leave Russia with a “weakened” military. He described Russian casualties so far as “pretty substantial,” with some military analysts saying as many as 20,000 Russian troops have died.

Moscow accused the West of carrying out a proxy war against Russia by sending more munitions to Ukraine and warned of a “considerable” risk that the fighting could evolve into a nuclear conflict.

Diplomatic efforts

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Tuesday in Moscow with Putin and Lavrov in an attempt to broker a cease-fire agreement, even as Russia launched new attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine. Guterres then headed to Ukraine, stopping first in Poland to meet with that nation’s president in a city along the Ukrainian border used as a base for American troops and humanitarian efforts.

During the two-hour meeting with Guterres in the Russian capital, Putin agreed “in principle” to allow the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross to assist with the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal iron and steel plant in Mariupol, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesman.

The U.N. chief said that while Russia and the U.N. had “different interpretations of what’s happening in Ukraine,” there was still the possibility for a serious conversation about working to minimize suffering and “end the war as soon as possible.”

Guterres said he wanted to further address the wider impacts of the conflict on the world’s most vulnerable populations amid rising food and energy prices.

Lavrov welcomed Guterres and the U.N.’s desire for dialogue, while accusing Western governments of flouting principles of multilateralism and instead undertaking a unilateral approach to the world.

Russia’s “goals are primarily to protect the civilian population, and here we are ready to cooperate with our colleagues from the U.N. to alleviate the plight of the civilian population,” Lavrov said.

But Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have repeatedly blocked the attempted creation of humanitarian corridors to let civilians escape from the devastation of Mariupol.

Also on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said American diplomats have taken concrete steps to reestablish a U.S. diplomatic presence in Ukraine.

“I can confirm that the deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners,” he said. “Today, they met with interlocutors from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

National security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

The road toward Chernobyl is littered with Russian soldiers’ discarded ration boxes and occasional empty bullet shells in a subtle but harrowing warning of the invasion’s terrible risk for the infamous nuclear site. 

Tuesday marked the 36th anniversary of what is considered the worst ever nuclear disaster, and there was relief the hulking so-called sarcophagus covering the reactor’s radioactivity remains was back under Ukrainian control. 

Soldiers cradling their assault rifles watched over checkpoints, including one with an effigy dressed in Russian fatigues and a gas mask, that guard the way from Kyiv to the sprawling site near the border with Belarus. 

Yet concerns are far from dissipated for nuclear sites in Ukraine because Russia’s invasion of its neighbor is grinding on. 

Authorities said Tuesday that missiles had flown low over a nuclear power station in a close call in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.  

“They (Chernobyl staff) carried on their work, in spite (of) all of the difficulties. … They got the situation stable, so to speak, in this sense the worst was of course avoided,” U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told reporters upon his arrival at Chernobyl. 

“We don’t have peace yet, so we have to continue. The situation is not stable. We have to be on alert,” he added, noting the invasion was “very, very dangerous.” 

The plant, which fell into Russian hands on the day Moscow’s troops began their invasion in February, suffered a power and communications outage that stirred fears of a possible new calamity at the site. 

Those worries stretch back to the events of April 26, 1986, when Chernobyl’s number four reactor exploded, causing the world’s worst nuclear accident that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe. 

‘Ice Cream Chernobyl’ 

The reactor number four building is now encased in a massive double sarcophagus to limit radioactive contamination, and an area spanning 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) around the plant is considered the exclusion zone that is essentially uninhabited, nuclear authorities say. 

Rows of aging and abandoned-looking apartment buildings dot the road into the site and yet some have bright curtains and plants in the windows, while a kiosk labeled “Chernobyl Tour Info” greets people on their way to the plant. 

The bullet hole-shattered glass of the nuclear-yellow painted hut bears the signs of the war launched on February 24 that has prompted international condemnation of Russia and backing for Ukraine. 

In a sign from a more tourist-friendly time, “Ice Cream Chernobyl” is emblazoned on the side of a refrigerator at the kiosk, with a graphic of a vanilla cone and the radiation warning symbol side-by-side. 

Planned to stay 

The Russian troops that could easily have rolled past the stand on their way south toward Kyiv had planned to stay in Chernobyl, Ukrainian officials said. 

The soldiers dug trenches and set up camps, but in areas like the so-called “Red Forest,” named for the color its trees turned after being hit by a heavy dose of radiation in Chernobyl’s 1986 meltdown.

“Areas with high radiation levels remain here still, but the contamination was moved around due to the actions of Russian occupiers who were using heavy military vehicles,” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky told journalists visiting Chernobyl. 

It’s a site that has drawn significant international interest because of the scale of the disaster. The original Soviet-era sarcophagus deteriorated over the years so a new one was built over it and was completed in 2019. 

But for some in the area, risk is just a fact of life. 

“If they (the Russians) wanted to blow it up, they could blow it up when they ran away,” noted Valeriy Slutsky, 75, who said he was present for the power station’s 1986 disaster. 

“Maybe I’m used to it (radiation),” he added with a shrug.
…

He is not low key or known for listening, key attributes of his former German counterpart, Angela Merkel.  

But with his reelection Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron has arguably cemented another role, some say: succeeding Merkel as the European Union’s de-facto leader, with his call for a stronger, closer EU resonating, especially with the war in Ukraine.  

“Merkel was more of a crisis manager but with no vision,” said Sebastien Maillard, director of the Paris-based Jacques Delors Institute think tank. “Macron has a clear vision of what kind of European integration he wants.” 

Not surprisingly, most European leaders cheered Macron’s win against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who called for drastically overhauling and downgrading the 27-member bloc.  

“In this turbulent period, we need a solid Europe and a France totally committed to a more sovereign and more strategic European Union,” tweeted European Council President Charles Michel.  

Macron’s second and final five-year term as French president may help push those goals forward. How far will depend not only on getting other EU leaders on board, but also on what happens in France, starting with the outcome of June parliamentary elections.  

Additionally, the next two months, when France wraps up the rotating EU presidency, will offer an immediate test.  

Three areas are particularly key, analyst Maillard said: pushing through EU energy sanctions against Moscow — a sticking point for Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas, and possibly for Poland, after Russia’s announcement it would halt gas supplies; moving forward on Macron’s call for a closer and stronger European defense; and deciding on EU membership bids, starting with Ukraine. 

Next month, Macron is expected to present his vision of Europe’s future at a conference in Strasbourg, France. It’s not the first to be laid out by the 44-year-old leader, whose reelection celebrations were accompanied by the EU anthem, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” 

Pro-Europe winds  

Macron may benefit from the tailwinds of multiple recent challenges, from euroskeptic U.S. President Donald Trump to the COVID-19 crisis and now Russia’s war in Ukraine, which helped to reshape European citizens’ sentiments about Brussels.  

“We wouldn’t be vaccinated without Europe, our economy wouldn’t have recovered without European support and our sanctions against Russia would be senseless if they weren’t on this (EU-wide) scale,” Maillard said.  

Even in French elections, dominated by domestic concerns, the EU helped determine some voting choices. Macron himself called the runoff against Le Pen a “referendum” on Europe. 

“I’m very frightened about what would happen to France, in Europe and in the world, if we had Marine Le Pen as president,” said Paris-area senior Benedicte Tardivo, who cast her ballot for Macron.  

Public opinion also appears to have softened Le Pen’s once staunchly anti-Europe platform.  

“Now, Marine Le Pen is not advocating to leave the EU, because she saw the French are actually attached to it,” said expert Mathilde Ciulla, of the European Council on Foreign Relations policy institute. “So, she talks about changing it from within, which I think is a kind of victory for Macron.”  

Such wins aren’t happening everywhere.  

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, who embraces an “illiberal democracy” and flouts EU rule-of-law principles, recently won a fourth term in office. But he appears increasingly alone.  

Besides Le Pen, another euroskeptic ally, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, lost her election bid this past week. Another EU dissident, Poland, has earned marks for taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees and, unlike Hungary, is hostile to Moscow.  

“Orban is weakened,” said analyst Maillard. “He’s been reelected in his own country. But he’s isolated among the 27 other member states. While Macron, right now, is the most prominent leader within the European Council” of EU heads of state.  

Team player?  

Macron’s bigger challenge, some say, may not be leadership, but rather becoming a better team player, adopting the kind of consensus-building skills that Merkel excelled at. Not just for Europe, but also for France, where critics say he fails to listen and accept other viewpoints. 

“Macron has the faults of his virtues,” wrote historian Timothy Garden Ash in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper. “I have never seen a human being with more drive, ambition, energy and self-belief. But he can often seem arrogant, Jupiterian, neo-Napoleonic – and therefore rubs a great many of his compatriots and fellow Europeans the wrong way.” 

Analyst Ciulla suggests another approach. 

“I think it would be a mistake for him to position himself as the leader of Europe,” she said. “France is not the best at building coalitions, but France should try to build coalitions.”  

Rather than going it alone, she and others say, Macron should make key state visits early in his second term — to Moscow and to Kyiv — with other European leaders.  

While Macron has carried on the traditional French-German partnership considered an EU linchpin — first with Merkel and now her successor Olaf Scholz — he went solo in February to see President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, hoping to secure a peace commitment days before the Ukraine war.  

Last year, he surprised some by announcing that France’s Barkhane military operation in the Sahel would end and be folded into a broader EU one, called Takuba.  

“It was an effort to Europeanize France’s presence in the Sahel,” Ciulla said, “but it’s not very nice, not very collaborative, not to let your allies know.”    

But Macron’s long-held vision of “strategic autonomy” — strengthening the EU’s economic, technological and military independence — is gaining ground among one-time skeptics. This is especially true since the war in Ukraine began, with Germany, in particular, spectacularly boosting its military spending.  

“The way Germany changed its policy, the way sanctions [against Russia] were decided very quickly, it’s all about strategic autonomy at the end,” Ciulla said. “It’s about sovereignty and the capacity to act, and very quickly react.”  

June legislative elections in France may determine just how much leeway Macron has to continue pushing his European agenda. Both far-right Le Pen and far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, another EU critic, hope to score significantly.  

More importantly, perhaps, will be how Macron fares in pushing through unpopular reforms, including boosting the retirement age from 62 to 65.  

“If he gets another yellow vest movement, that would be damaging” for Macron’s EU credentials, said Maillard of Jacques Delors, referring to massive popular protests that marked the president’s first term in office. “If you’re not able to manage your own backyard, obviously your leadership is decreased.” 

Macron is betting on another outcome.  

“This is his last term, and he wants to leave something to history,” Maillard added. “I think it will probably be on his European contribution.”
…

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday that the Biden administration supports legislation that calls for some of the proceeds being seized from Russian oligarchs to go “directly to Ukraine.”  

“That’s not the current circumstance,” Garland told the Senate Appropriations Committee as lawmakers questioned him about the property and assets the Justice Department is seizing from close wealthy associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin after his February 24 invasion of Ukraine.  

The Justice Department, headed by Garland, launched a new unit, called KleptoCapture, to help enforce sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs, targeting their yachts, jets, real estate and other assets. 

The expressed U.S. hope was that the Putin allies might pressure him to end his war against Ukraine. Some key Russian figures have voiced opposition to the invasion, but the Russian attacks continue, now concentrated in eastern Ukraine after Moscow failed to topple Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or seize the capital of Kyiv. 

The Justice Department said earlier this month that its first seizure was a $90 million, 77-meter luxury yacht that Spanish law enforcement took control of at Washington’s request.  

Garland condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine during his testimony, saying that the “horrible atrocities” that are being seen in videos and photos from the country “are the kinds of things anybody growing up in the 20th century never expected to see in the 21st again.” 

 
…

Turkey faces growing domestic and international backlash over the conviction of Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was imprisoned for life without parole on Monday on charges of seeking to overthrow the government. The case, widely condemned as politically motivated, could strain ties with Turkey’s Western allies.

Seven co-defendants were sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey representative of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, criticized the sentencing.

“There is nothing in this trial that bears any semblance to evidence. It’s a trial built on wild assertions. And it’s really a warning not just to human rights defenders and to civil society, but to the whole society that criticism and oppositional statements and activities will be targeted,” she said. “It’s a warning to everyone that this government will come after you if it wants to.”

Many of Turkey’s Western allies also condemned the conviction. In a statement, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price called for Kavala’s release, saying the verdict was “deeply troubling” and “unjust.”

France and Germany also criticized the decision, calling for Kavala’s immediate release.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag responded, saying the countries had no right to criticize Turkey’s judiciary. The 64-year-old Kavala, a Paris-born Turkish businessman, is one of Turkey’s most important philanthropists, supporting civil society, backing projects including seeking to heal ethnic divides in Turkish society, and advocating human rights.

Kavala’s prosecution has become a symbol of what critics say is Turkey’s authoritarian slide under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule, an accusation the president strongly rejects.

In 2019, Kavala’s prosecution was ruled politically motivated by the European Court of Human Rights, which called for his immediate release. Meanwhile, the Council of Europe has opened a rare disciplinary case against Turkey over Kavala’s prosecution. But with Erdogan playing a pivotal role in seeking to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Sezin Oney, a columnist for the Politikyol news portal, said pragmatism may prevent any serious consequences for Turkey.

“Well, at this time, the Ukraine invasion and the war in Ukraine is such a serious issue, that I don’t think any Western government, neither the U.S. nor the EU countries, can be able to take really viable action against Turkey, such as sanctions or something else. This is a period when the government feels strong vis-a-vis the West,” Oney said.

Underscoring Turkey’s role in peace efforts Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Erdogan in Ankara to discuss Ukraine. Analysts suggest Erdogan, who strongly backed his judiciary in the Kavala case, is likely calculating that the diplomatic fallout will be confined to angry rhetoric but, with Kavala and his co-defendants expected to appeal their convictions, the controversy is likely to continue.
…

Russian state news agencies say a gunman opened fire in a kindergarten in the nation’s western Ulyanovsk region, killing two students and a teacher before killing himself.

The Tass news agency, citing a regional law enforcement official, said the attack occurred in the village of Veshkayma. They said the gunman burst in during “quiet time,” when the children were sleeping. From his Telegram account, regional State Duma deputy Sergei Morozov said the two children were 5 and 6 years old.

The regional Ministry of Health said another kindergarten employee was wounded in the hand and was being treated. The law enforcement officials suggest a domestic conflict may have been the motive for the shooting. They said the identity of the attacker has been difficult to establish.

Rosgvardia, Russia’s national guard, said the shooter was not the owner of the weapon and the rightful owner of the gun had obtained it legally.

Tass reported regional that Governor Aleksey Russkikh is flying to the site of the shooting and has ordered regional officials to provide emergency assistance to the families of the victims.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

A Turkish court sentenced Osman Kavala, a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist, to life in prison without parole Monday after convicting him of trying to overthrow the government by financing protests.

Kavala, 64, has been in jail for the past 4½ years on charges that he helped finance and organize protests that began as small demonstrations in Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013 and morphed into mass anti-government protests.

Human rights groups say the case is politically motivated. Ten Western countries, including the United States, France and Germany, called for Kavala’s release in October on the fourth anniversary of his arrest.

The European Court of Human Rights has also demanded that Kavala be released, saying that his rights were violated. Turkey’s failure to comply with that order has led to proceedings that could see Turkey expelled from the Council of Europe.

The court in Istanbul on Monday also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years each for aiding an attempt to overthrow of Turkey’s government. It acquitted Kavala on charges relating to a 2016 alleged coup attempt that the Turkish government blames on the network of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Kavala denies he was involved in any anti-government activity related to the protests in 2013. In defense statements Friday, Kavala said he only took food and face masks to peaceful protesters.

“The fact that I spent 4½ years of my life in prison is an irreparable loss for me. My only consolation is the possibility that my experience will contribute to a better understanding of the grave problems of the judiciary,” Kavala told the court by videoconference from Silivri Prison.

Supporters of Kavala and the other defendants sentenced Monday packed the courtroom in anticipation of the verdict and yelled out in protest after the sentences were announced.

Rights group Amnesty International called the conviction a “devastating blow.”

“Today, we have witnessed a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions. This verdict deals a devastating blow not only to Osman Kavala, his co-defendants and their families, but to everyone who believes in justice and human rights activism in Turkey and beyond,” Nils Muiznieks, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said in a statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Kavala of working with U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who the Turkish leader alleges has financed insurrections in many countries.

Kavala told the court Friday via video link that ties between Soros and him are “fictional.”

He said the protests in Gezi Park were “unplanned and unexpected.”

“An attempt is being made to criminalize the Gezi Park events and to discredit the will of hundreds of thousands of citizens who participated in the events,” he said.

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

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is headed to Moscow for a meeting Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to try to get him to agree to a pause or end to his two-month assault on Ukraine.

Guterres’ spokesperson said the U.N. chief is later going to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, because Guterres feels there is a “concrete opportunity” for progress.

En route to Moscow, Guterres met Monday in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has attempted, but failed so far, to mediate an end to the fighting between Turkey’s two maritime neighbors.

“You can see that even the willingness of the parties to meet with him, to discuss things with him, is an opening,” Guterres spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters. “We will see what we can do, whether we can get a concrete improvement in the humanitarian situation. Whether we can get the fighting to stop for any period of time.”

Guterres has made repeated calls for a humanitarian cease-fire or a brief pause in fighting but has been unsuccessful.

Haq said he didn’t want to “oversell the possibility” that either of these could happen, cautioning that diplomacy is neither quick nor a magic wand. But he said Guterres is willing to take a chance to try to improve the situation.

“Because ultimately, if we can move ahead, even in small way, it will mean a tremendous amount to tens, even hundreds of thousands of people,” Haq said.

But Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador said Monday that a humanitarian cease-fire is unnecessary.

“We don’t think that a cease-fire is a good option right now, because the only advantage it will give — it will give possibility for Ukrainian forces to regroup and to stage more provocations like Bucha,” Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told reporters, referring to the Ukrainian town where Russian soldiers are accused of committing atrocities.
…

A Gambian man went on trial in Germany Monday, accused of belonging to a death squad that assassinated opponents of former dictator Yahya Jammeh, including an AFP journalist.

The suspect, identified by media as Bai Lowe, is accused of crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder, including the 2004 killing of AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara.

Lowe, 46, wore a black hooded coat and hid his face behind a green folder as he arrived in court in the northern town of Celle.

The trial is “the first to prosecute human rights violations committed in Gambia during the Jammeh era on the basis of universal jurisdiction”, according to Human Rights Watch.

Universal jurisdiction allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, regardless of where they were committed.

Outside the courtroom, activists held a placard demanding that Jammeh “and his accomplices be brought to justice”.

Lowe is accused of being involved in two murders and one attempted murder while working as a driver for the hit squad known as the Junglers between December 2003 and December 2006.

“This unit was used by the then-president of Gambia to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things” with the aim of “intimidating the Gambian population and suppressing the opposition”, according to federal prosecutors.

Hydara, 58, was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of the Gambian capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.

Lowe is accused of helping to stop Hydara’s car and driving one of the killers in his own vehicle.

Controversial column

Hydara was an editor and co-founder of the independent daily The Point and a correspondent for AFP for over 30 years.

The father-of-four also worked as a Gambia correspondent for the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and was considered a doyen among journalists in the tiny West African state.

In his newspaper The Point, he had a widely read column, “Good morning, Mr President”, in which he expressed his views on Gambian politics.

According to investigations by RSF, Hydara was being spied on by Gambian intelligence services just before his death.

Hydara was a tenacious and “really stubborn” journalist, according to his son Baba Hydara, 45.

“This is a day we have been waiting for for 18 years,” Baba Hydara told AFP outside the court.

“It’s an important day for justice but it is just the beginning of a long journey,” he said, expressing a hope that Jammeh will also “be judged”.

Prosecutors also accuse Lowe of driving members of the Junglers to a location in Banjul in 2003 to assassinate lawyer Ousman Sillah, who survived the attack with serious injuries. 

‘Important day for justice’

In a third incident in 2006, Lowe is accused of driving members of the unit to a site near Banjul airport where they shot and killed Dawda Nyassi, a suspected opponent of the president.  

The court heard that he arrived in Europe via Senegal in December 2012, seeking asylum as a political refugee who feared for his life under president Jammeh.

The evidence against him includes a telephone interview he gave in 2013 to a US-based Gambian radio station, in which he described his participation in the attacks, according to police.

Jammeh ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years but fled the country in January 2017 after losing a presidential election to relative unknown Adama Barrow. 

He refused to acknowledge the results but was forced out by a popular uprising and fled to Equatorial Guinea.

Lowe is the third alleged accomplice of Jammeh to be detained abroad. 

The other suspects are Gambia’s former interior minister, Ousman Sonko, under investigation in Switzerland since 2017, and another former Jungler, Michael Sang Correa, indicted in June 2020 in the United States.

Patrick Kroker, a lawyer for Baba Hydara, told AFP outside the court that the opening of the trial was “an important day for justice”. 

“We hope it will be a signal to… Switzerland and the United States, but also Gambia”, he said.
…

Moscow said Monday it had arrested members of a “neo-Nazi terrorist” group in Russia who allegedly planned to assassinate pro-Kremlin TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov on orders from Ukraine.

“The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation detained a group of members of the neo-Nazi terrorist organization National Socialism/White Power, which is banned in Russia,” Russia’s FSB security agency said in a statement carried by news agencies, adding that those arrested are Russian citizens.

The FSB claimed the group was planning the “murder” of Russian TV and radio journalist Solovyov “on the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine”.

It added that the group “confessed to preparing the murder of Solovyov, after which they planned to flee abroad”.

According to the FSB, “fake” Ukrainian passports, arms, drugs and an improvised explosive device were found during a search of the detainees’ homes.

Speaking at a meeting of Russian prosecutors, President Vladimir Putin suggested Washington was involved in planning the “murder of a famous Russian TV journalist”, without naming him.

“They have resorted to terror! To preparing the murders of our journalists. We know by name the curators of Western secret services, primarily, of course, from the CIA, who work with the security agencies of Ukraine,” Putin said in televised remarks.

“Apparently they give such advice (to kill journalists). So much for their attitude towards the rights of journalists… (and) human rights in general,” Putin added.

A staunch supporter of Putin and Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, Solovyov is under EU sanctions for spreading state “propaganda”.
…

American diplomats will start returning to Ukraine this week, first to the western city of Lviv and then eventually to the capital, Kyiv.

The United States is also providing further foreign military financing to Ukraine to help the country obtain more advanced weapons and air defense systems to fend off Russian attacks, according to senior U.S. officials.

U.S. President Joe Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic, to be U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

“This would be to underscore our commitments (to Ukraine). We will seek to have our diplomats returned to our embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible,” a senior State Department official said.

Several European Union and NATO member countries are sending their diplomats back to Kyiv, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia. The U.K. government announced Friday that it would shortly reopen the British Embassy in Kyiv.

The return of foreign diplomats is seen as a sign of some semblance of safety in Ukraine after almost two months of Russia’s shelling and bombing.

“We intend to obligate more than $713 million in foreign military financing,” the State official said. “This includes funding for Ukraine and 15 other allies and partner nations in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Balkans. … And it will provide support for capabilities Ukraine needs, especially for the fight in the Donbas.”

With the new assistance in foreign military financing, the U.S. would have committed about $3.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, and more than $4.3 billion since the start of the Biden administration.

Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Kyiv.

Blinken and Austin’s visit to Ukraine is the highest-level visit by an American delegation since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine on February 24.

It also came ahead of Tuesday’s consultations between the U.S. and dozens of allies at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where Austin will discuss Ukraine’s long-term defense needs.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov will attend Tuesday’s meetings.

On Tuesday’s agenda: an update on battlefield conditions, Ukraine’s resistance amid Russia’s attacks, upcoming security assistance to Ukraine, and Ukraine’s willingness and ability to move away from Russian-made systems.

“This isn’t about (Ukraine’s appeal to) NATO membership. It’s about helping them with their long-term defense needs going forward with a potential migration away from Soviet systems,” a senior defense official said.

“One of the things we expect to talk about in Ramstein on Tuesday is additional contributions by allies and partners on the systems, weapons and ammunition that the Ukrainians need the most,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said in a briefing in Poland on Sunday.

Kirby said the U.S. has accelerated major security assistance package deliveries to Ukraine in the past 10 days, and some of them are already arriving. The U.S. is not seeing any indication that those shipments are being interdicted by Russian forces.

Sunday, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces launched a new airstrike on the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces have been holed up and defiantly refusing Russian demands to surrender.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a tight blockade of the facility that Russian forces have struggled to take over from perhaps thousands of Ukraine fighters and civilians who have remained in control of the plant with its labyrinth of tunnels and passageways.

In a lengthy Saturday night news conference in a Kyiv subway station, Zelenskyy said he was looking for the Americans to produce results, both in terms of arms and security guarantees.

“You can’t come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons,” he said.

In each of the past two weeks, President Biden has approved $800 million in shipments of more arms for Ukraine, along with $500 million in economic assistance.

With congressional approval for military assistance for Ukraine nearly exhausted, Biden said he would seek approval for more aid, part of the West’s arming of Ukraine in its fight against Russia that falls short of sending troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly pleaded for more heavy weapons, including long-range air defense systems, as well as warplanes.

Zelenskyy’s meeting with Austin and Blinken was set to take place as Ukrainians and Russians observed Orthodox Easter. Zelenskyy is Jewish, but speaking from Kyiv’s ancient St. Sophia Cathedral, he cited Ukrainians’ wishes for the holiday.

“The great holiday today gives us great hope and unwavering faith that light will overcome darkness, good will overcome evil, life will overcome death, and, therefore, Ukraine will surely win!” he said.

But the Russian bombardment remains a constant threat for Ukraine. The Russian military reported that it hit 423 Ukrainian targets overnight, mostly in the eastern Donbas industrial region, and destroyed 26 Ukrainian military sites, including an explosives factory and several artillery depots.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Sunday that it is “deeply alarmed by the situation in Mariupol, where the population is in dire need of assistance.” The ICRC said, “Immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access is urgently required to allow for the voluntary safe passage of thousands of civilians and hundreds of wounded out of the city, including from the Azovstal plant area.”

After the Blinken-Austin visit, Zelenskyy is set to meet Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.N. chief is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara Monday and Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.

British officials said Saturday that Russian troops haven’t gained significant new ground despite announcing a renewed offensive along the eastern front, while Ukraine declared a nationwide curfew ahead of Orthodox Easter on Sunday.

Ukraine said Russian forces obstructed attempts to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol.

“The evacuation was thwarted,” Mariupol city official Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram, adding that about 200 people gathered at the government-appointed evacuation meeting point, but that Russian forces “dispersed” them.

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

An opposition liberal party convincingly won Sunday’s parliamentary election in Slovenia, according to early official results, in a major defeat for populist Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who was accused of pushing the small European Union country to the right while in office.

The Freedom Movement won nearly 34% of the votes, compared with around 24% for the governing conservative Slovenian Democratic Party, state election authorities said after counting over 97% of the ballots.

Trailing behind the top two contenders were the New Slovenia party with 7%, followed by the Social Democrats with more than 6% and the Left party with 4%.

The results mean that the Freedom Movement, a newcomer in the election, appears set to form the next government in a coalition with smaller leftist groups. The party leader addressed supporters via a video message from his home because he has COVID-19.

“Tonight people dance,” Robert Golob told the cheering crowd at the party headquarters. “Tomorrow is a new day and serious work lies ahead.”

Jansa, an ally of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, congratulated the “relative winner” of the election in a speech.

“The results are as they are,” Jansa said, praising his government’s work. “Many challenges lie ahead for the new government, whatever it may look like, but the foundations are solid.”

A veteran politician, Jansa became prime minister a little over two years ago after the previous liberal premier resigned. An admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Jansa had pushed the country toward right-wing populism since taking over at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reflecting strong interest in Sunday’s election, turnout was higher than usual — around 67% of Slovenia’s 1.7 million voters cast their ballot, compared with 52% in the previous election in 2018.

Golob, a U.S.-educated former business executive, came out as a frontrunner shortly after entering the political scene. The Freedom Movement party has advocated a green energy transition and sustainable development over Jansa’s nation-centered narrative.

Liberals had described Sunday’s election as a referendum on Slovenia’s future. They argued that Jansa, if reelected, would push the traditionally moderate nation further away from “core” EU democratic values and toward other populist regimes.

Opinion polls ahead of the vote had predicted that the leading parties would be locked in a tight race.

Jansa’s SDS won the most votes in an election four years ago but couldn’t initially find partners for a coalition government. He took over after lawmakers from centrist and left-leaning groups switched sides following the resignation in 2020 of liberal Prime Minister Marjan Sarec.

Jansa, in power, faced accusations of sliding toward authoritarian rule in the Orban style, drawing EU scrutiny amid reports that he pressured opponents and public media, and installed loyalists in key positions for control over state institutions.

The Freedom House democracy watchdog recently said that “while political rights and civil liberties are generally respected (in Slovenia), the current right-wing government has continued attempts to undermine the rule of law and democratic institutions, including the media and judiciary.
…

The world’s largest security body on Sunday called for the “immediate release” of four of its Ukrainian members detained in pro-Russian separatist territories in the country’s east.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) evacuated many of its staff from the country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. 

Many had been in the east to observe a cease-fire after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and several Ukrainian members have stayed on.

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, whose country currently chairs the OSCE, said the detention of four members “for engaging in administrative activities that fall within their official functions as OSCE staff” was “unacceptable.”

“We call for their immediate release,” he said. “They have been held without charge for a period of time now and the OSCE and their families have not been sufficiently informed of the situation.”

Earlier Sunday, the OSCE said on Twitter it was “extremely concerned” that several members had been “deprived of their liberty,” in line with Russian media reports they had been arrested.

It added that it was “using all available channels to facilitate their release.”

The security services of the Lugansk separatists said this month they had arrested two members of the OSCE mission, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. 

TASS said one of them had “confessed” to passing “confidential military information to representatives of foreign special services” and that a high treason investigation had been opened against him.

The Donetsk separatist prosecutor’s office confirmed he had opened espionage probes against several OSCE employees suspected of having collected and transmitted “information constituting state secrets” to the Ukrainian secret services.

The prosecutor’s office said this included videos, revealing the position of separatist military units. 

On Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, also called for the members of the body’s Ukraine Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to be released. 

“Russia’s lies claiming Ukrainian OSCE_SMM staff spied for the Ukrainian government are reprehensible,” he said on Twitter. 

The OSCE international observation mission in Ukraine was not renewed at the end of March, after Moscow blocked the proposal.

Authorities in Ukraine’s separatist regions have given OSCE staff until the end of April to cease all activities. 

The Vienna-based OSCE has 57 member states on three continents — including Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
…

April 24 marks two months of war in Ukraine, and Easter for Orthodox Christians, the vast majority of the country’s population. Services this year in battle-worn areas were often sparse amid growing numbers of deaths, injuries and families fleeing their homes. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Irpin in Ukraine with Yan Boechat in Kharkiv.
…

President Joe Biden on Sunday commemorated the 107th anniversary of the start of the “Armenian genocide,” issuing a statement in memory of the 1.5 million Armenians “who were deported, massacred or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination.”

The statement did not reference the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which Biden has called a genocide. Yet Biden used the anniversary to lay down a set of principles for foreign policy as the United States and its allies arm Ukrainians and impose sanctions on Russia.

“We renew our pledge to remain vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms,” the president said. “We recommit ourselves to speaking out and stopping atrocities that leave lasting scars on the world.”

In 1915, Ottoman officials arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, now Istanbul. The Biden statement notes that this event on April 24 marked the beginning of the genocide.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, Biden used the term “genocide” for the first time during last year’s anniversary. Past White Houses had avoided that word for decades out of a concern that Turkey — a NATO member — could be offended.

Turkish officials were angered by Biden’s declaration a year ago, with the foreign ministry issuing a statement that said, “We reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement of the President of the US regarding the events of 1915 made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups.”
…

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, called overnight for the opening of humanitarian corridors in Ukraine where he said, “an indescribable human tragedy is unfolding.”

Bartholomew, who has previously called for an end to war in Ukraine, said that he hoped this year’s Easter would be “the impetus to open humanitarian corridors, safe passages to truly safe areas for the thousands of people surrounded in Mariupol.”

“The same applies to all other regions of Ukraine, where an indescribable human tragedy is unfolding… We call once again for an immediate end to the fratricidal war, which, like any war, undermines human dignity,” Bartholomew said after an Easter service in Istanbul, where he is based.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose backing for Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has dismayed many fellow Christians, said on Saturday he hoped it would end quickly but again did not condemn it.

In 2019, Bartholomew, the spiritual head of some 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, granted autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, making it independent, in a historic split strongly opposed by Russia.
…

France began voting in a presidential runoff election Sunday in a race between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right politician Marine Le Pen.

Macron is in pole position to win reelection for a second five-year term in the country’s presidential runoff, yet his lead over Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who could decide to stay home.

A Macron victory in this vote — which could have far-reaching repercussions for Europe’s future direction and Western efforts to stop the war in Ukraine — would make him the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.

All opinion polls in recent days converge toward a win for the 44-year-old pro-European centrist — yet the margin over his 53-year-old nationalist rival varies broadly, from 6 to 15 percentage points, depending on the poll. Polls also forecast a possibly record-high number of people who will either cast a blank vote or not vote at all.

Both candidates are trying to court the 7.7 million votes of a leftist candidate defeated in the first vote. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday and close at 7 p.m. in most places, apart from big cities who have chosen to keep stations open until 8 p.m.

For many who voted for left-wing candidates in the first round April 10, this runoff vote presents a unpalatable choice between a nationalist in Le Pen, and a president who some feel has veered to the right during his first term. The outcome could depend on how left-wing voters make up their minds: between backing Macron or abstaining and leaving him to fend for himself against Le Pen.
…

Rescue workers in southern Poland have reached four of the 10 miners who went missing early Saturday after a powerful underground tremor and methane gas discharge hit, mining authorities said. It was the second coal mine accident this week in Poland.

The condition of the four was not immediately released and officials said there was no verbal contact with any of the missing miners. The rescue team could not immediately bring the four to the surface and more teams will be sent to the area, said Edward Paździorko, deputy head of the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa company (JSW) that operates the Borynia-Zofiowka mine.

The accident occurred at 3:40 a.m. Saturday some 900 meters underground, forcing dozens of workers to flee the mine and leaving authorities unable to contact 10 miners. It was the second colliery accident in just four days in the coal mining region around the town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj, near the Czech border.

Repeated methane blasts since Wednesday at the nearby Pniowek mine have killed five miners, left seven miners and rescue workers missing and injured dozens of others. The search for those missing at Pniowek was suspended Friday after new explosions late Thursday injured 10 rescue workers, some seriously.

Both mines are operated by JSW.

The company said 52 workers were in the area of the tremor Saturday at the Borynia-Zofiowka mine and 42 of them were able to leave the shaft on their own without injury. A rescue operation involving 12 teams was launched for the missing miners, but authorities said they had to work carefully due to the high levels of methane still in the mine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that this was “devastating news again” from the mining region and said his prayers are with the missing and their relatives.

He said the accidents will be thoroughly investigated and procedures and equipment at the mines will be examined.

Poland relies on its own coal and coal imports for almost 70% of its energy needs, drawing criticism from the European Union and environmental groups who are concerned about CO2 emissions and meeting climate change goals. Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region.

The Polish government has been scaling down the use of coal and recently announced it would end coal imports from Russia by May, part of Poland’s drive to reduce its dependence on Russian energy in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. 
…

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying Saturday by local media. 

The announcement marks one of the strongest responses to date by Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with Moscow despite being a member of the NATO defense alliance, to Russia’s two-month military assault on Ukraine. 

“We closed the airspace to Russia’s military planes — and even civilian ones — flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying. 

Cavusoglu said he conveyed the decision to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.   

“One or two days later, they said: Putin has issued an order, we will not fly anymore,” Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Turkish reporters aboard his plane to Uruguay.   

Cavusoglu added that the ban would stay in place for three months. 

There was no immediate response to Turkey’s announcement from Russia, which together with Iran has been a crucial supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war-torn country’s civil war. 

Turkey has backed Syrian rebels during the conflict. 

Ankara’s relations with Moscow briefly imploded after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015. 

But they had been improving until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Turkey views as an important trade partner and a diplomatic ally. 

Turkey has been trying to mediate an end to the conflict, hosting meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul, and another between Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya. 

Ankara is now trying to arrange an Istanbul summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although Cavusoglu conceded that the prospects of such talks at this point remain dim.  

“If they want a deal, it’s inevitable,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. “It might not happen for a long time, but it can happen suddenly.” 
…

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Saturday it was working to secure the release of a number of Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) members who had been detained in eastern Ukraine.

“The OSCE is extremely concerned that a number of SMM national mission members have been deprived of their liberty in Donetsk and Luhansk. The OSCE is using all available channels to facilitate the release of its staff,” its media office said in response to a query, giving no more details.

In an address to the 157-member body on Friday, Britain’s deputy ambassador to the Vienna-based OSCE had criticized Russia for refusing to extend the SMM’s mission in Ukraine beyond March.

“And now we have received alarming reports that Russia’s proxies in Donbas are threatening Mission staff, equipment and premises and that Russian forces have taken SMM staff members captive,” Deirdre Brown had said in her address, which was released by the British government.

The OSCE said in March it had evacuated nearly 500 international mission members from Ukraine.

The OSCE media office said on Saturday the SMM continued to assist remaining national staff in Ukraine in trying to relocate to safer areas.

“Contacts with national mission members continue on a daily basis, including in order to ascertain their whereabouts and assist them, to the extent possible, should they decide to re-locate,” it added.
…

The World Health Organization warns the health system in eastern Ukraine has all but collapsed, putting the lives of thousands of people trapped in Mariupol and other besieged areas at risk.   

U.N. health officials say it is critical they be granted immediate access to Mariupol and other areas hardest hit by fighting in eastern Ukraine. They say they have received reports that nearly all health facilities and hospitals in areas like the Luhansk region either are damaged or destroyed.  

The WHO is appealing for access to affected areas to assess health needs and to provide critical medical supplies to the sick and injured. Speaking from Lviv in western Ukraine, WHO spokesman Bhanu Bhatnagar said the WHO so far has not been able to enter Mariupol and does not know the health status of the besieged population.

Mariupol has been subjected to relentless bombing and shelling by Russian forces for the past two months. The city has been razed to the ground. Tens of thousands of people reportedly are living in underground bunkers, with limited food, water, and medical supplies.

Bhatnagar said the WHO is moving supplies it thinks are needed in Mariupol closer to the city. But he added it is essential that a safe passage is created quickly.

“We need a cessation of fighting for at least two days in order to move vital supplies in, but also assess the health needs,” he said. “We anticipate the worst. A health system that has collapsed completely and that brings with it all kinds of knock-on effects.  Of course, there are people with conflict-related injuries that need help.”  

Bhatnagar noted there also are people with chronic conditions and other health care needs that do not have access to vital medicine. He said the findings of a new WHO survey of 1,000 households across Ukraine show the devastating impact this war is having on access to health care.

“Two out of five households have at least one member with a chronic illness, like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease,” he said. “Of those, one in three is struggling to access healthcare for those chronic conditions.  Our survey also finds that the war is affecting people’s health-seeking behavior, with less than a third of households saying they sought out health services recently.”  

Bhatnagar added that 39% of people say the security situation inhibits them from seeking care for their illness, while 27% say no health care services are available in their area.

The WHO has confirmed 162 attacks on health care facilities and personnel, with at least 73 people known to have been killed.
…

France goes to the polls Sunday for the final round of voting in the presidential election, with Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party just a few points behind incumbent Emmanuel Macron. A Le Pen victory would have big implications for European security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Putin links

In a fiery televised debate Wednesday, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron sought to highlight links between Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Her National Rally party took several loans from Russia in 2014, including a $9.75 million loan from the Kremlin-linked First Czech Russian Bank.  

“For our country, this is bad news, because you depend on the Russian regime and you depend on Putin.,” Macron said. “You don’t speak to other leaders, you speak to your banker when you speak to Russia, that’s the problem… None of us went to seek financing from a Russian bank, and especially not from one that is close to power in Russia.”

Le Pen said it was well known that French banks had refused to lend her money, so she sought financial assistance in Russia. 

NATO changes

What would a Le Pen presidency mean for Europe’s security at a time of conflict? Her approach to Russia is in stark contrast to that of most Western leaders. Speaking at a press event earlier this month, she outlined her policy on the conflict in Ukraine.

“As soon as the Russian-Ukrainian war is over and has been settled by a peace treaty, I will call for the implementation of a strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia.” Le Pen said.

While she has condemned the invasion of Ukraine, the 53-year-old National Rally leader has been far less critical of Vladimir Putin himself. She has criticized the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine by NATO members and plans to weaken French links with the alliance. 

“Once elected president, I will leave NATO’s integrated command, but I won’t renounce the application of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective security.” Le Pen told reporters April 13.

Western unity

A Le Pen victory would severely weaken Western unity against Russia, says French political analyst Renaud Foucart of Lancaster University. 

“She has been among the first if not the only French candidate to recognize Crimea, the annexation of Crimea by Russia. So very, very clearly she will not be in favor of stronger sanctions. She has opposed them, and she has been very, very vocal about opposing sanctions on fossil fuels, on gas, on oil from Russia.,” Foucart told VOA.

However, in recent weeks Le Pen has risen in the polls, despite her past links with a Russian regime accused of war crimes in Ukraine. Gérard Araud, a former French ambassador to the United Nations and now a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council, says Le Pen has attempted to transform her image during the campaign.

“She has distanced herself somehow really from Putin. She has condemned the attack against Ukraine. Second point, you know in France — like in the U.S. — elections are decided not on foreign policy issues but on domestic policy issues. And like in the U.S., France is facing a wave of inflation.” 

Le Pen has focused her campaign on the rising cost of living and has characterized Macron as an aloof president more obsessed with Europe than France. Polls shows she has gained votes in poorer areas of France, and among younger generations who feel disillusioned by a lack of jobs and opportunities.

Frexit?

For years, Le Pen campaigned for France to leave the European Union. Now she says so-called “Frexit” is not her policy.

“The British got rid of the Brussels bureaucracy, which they could never bear, to move to an ambitious concept of global Britain,” she said April 13, in reference to Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the EU. 

“This is not our project. We want to reform the E.U. from the inside. The more we free ourselves from the Brussels straitjacket while remaining inside the EU, the more we will open ourselves up to the wider world. It seems to me that’s what the British understood well,” Le Pen said.

Former French Ambassador to the U.N. Gérard Araud says Le Pen’s reform agenda is so radical that it will inevitably fail.

“She is going to change it so dramatically, so radically, that actually either she won’t implement her program or she will leave the European Union.”

“If she is elected, basically it will be quite chaotic. The euro will go down, and there will be an emerging crisis between Paris and Berlin because she wants really to put an end to all Franco-German cooperation. And of course a crisis with Brussels, with lots of uncertainties down the road,” Araud told VOA.

Analyst Renaud Foucart agrees: “Most importantly, she’s not clear about who her allies (in the EU) would be. In order to reach that kind of agreement you would need to find other countries that are like-minded. But even within her own political family… she doesn’t seem to be able to find agreement.”

Global reaction

European leaders have largely avoided commenting on the elections. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, a NATO ally, said Thursday that ‘it would be a good thing for the world’ if Macron was re-elected.

Even if Macron does win a second term, France faces difficult problems in the years ahead, says Gérard Araud.

“Socially, there is something which is very unhealthy. Because Macron has been elected in 2017, and if he is re-elected in 2022, it will be the same – basically by the ‘haves’ against the ‘have-nots’. And so there is this deep rift in the French society,” Araud said.
…

France and Germany have armed Russia with nearly $300 million worth of military equipment that is “likely being used in Ukraine,” according to an exclusive report, based on European Commission data, in The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

The hardware was sent, the newspaper reports, despite a European Union-wide embargo on arms to Russia that was imposed following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Germany has defended the sales, saying the items were “dual-use” equipment and that Russia had said they were needed for civilian, not military use.

The newspaper said the equipment sent to Russia included “bombs, rockets, missiles and guns.”  French firms also sent “thermal imaging cameras for more than 1,000 Russian tanks as well as navigation systems for fighter jets and attack helicopters,” The Telegraph reported.

At least 10 EU member states have sent almost $380 million worth of military equipment to Russia, The Telegraph reported, with 78% of that total coming from French and German companies.

Other European countries that sold arms to Russia include Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Italy, according to The Telegraph.

Cristian Terhes, a Romanian member of the European parliament shared with The Telegraph the EU analysis of the probe into what countries have sold military goods to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday seized on remarks by a Russian general as evidence that Moscow would invade other countries if it succeeded in Ukraine. The general had said Russia aimed to capture all of southern and eastern Ukraine and link it to a breakaway province in neighboring Moldova.

“This only confirms what I have already said multiple times: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address Friday.

He said comments earlier Friday by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, show that Russia will not stop with Ukraine.

Russian state news agencies quoted Minnekayev as saying that Moscow wanted to seize Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region, provide a land corridor to link with the Crimean Peninsula, and capture the country’s entire south as far west as a Russian-occupied breakaway region of Moldova. That would mean carrying the offensive hundreds of miles past the current lines and to the border with Moldova.

Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador Friday to express “deep concern” over the general’s comments.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter declined to comment on the Russian general’s statement but said Washington firmly supported Moldova’s sovereignty.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the comments by the Russian general showed that Russia’s previous claims that it had no territorial ambitions were not true.

“They stopped hiding it,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter, adding that Russia has “acknowledged that the goal of the ‘second phase’ of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said Russia had no intention of permanently occupying Ukrainian cities. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move that was widely condemned by the international community.

Russian ship

Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged Friday for the first time that the crew of the missile cruiser Moskva suffered casualties when the ship sank last week.

It said one serviceman died and 27 were missing.

Ukraine and the United States said the ship was hit by Ukrainian cruise missiles, while Russia blamed the sinking on a fire.

Immediately following the incident, Russia said the entire crew of the ship had been rescued. Moscow said Friday that 396 crew members had been rescued.

Military meeting

The Pentagon said Friday that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold a meeting April 26 in Germany with defense officials and military leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss Ukraine’s defense needs.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that about 40 nations were invited to the meeting and responses were still arriving.

He said the talks, which include both NATO and non-NATO countries, will be held Tuesday at Ramstein Air Base.

Zelenskyy said Friday that allies were finally delivering the weapons that Ukraine had sought to defend itself.

Canada announced Friday it had provided heavy artillery to Ukraine, following a pledge by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Diplomatic efforts

In diplomatic activity Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington. The State Department said Blinken “reinforced our determination to help Ukraine successfully defend itself against Russia’s brutal and unjustified war of aggression.”

The U.N. announced Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. He’ll also hold meetings and have a working lunch with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Guterres will then travel on Thursday to Ukraine, where he will meet with Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The U.N. said he would also meet with staff of U.N. agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians.

The U.N. chief wrote to Putin and Zelenskyy earlier in the week requesting meetings to discuss the next steps toward peace in Ukraine.

Guterres also appealed this week for a four-day humanitarian pause to coincide with Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated in Ukraine and Russia. So far, those efforts have failed.

At a Friday press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said talks to end the fighting in Ukraine are at a standstill because Kyiv has not responded to Moscow’s latest set of proposals.

“Another proposal we passed on to Ukrainian negotiators about five days ago, which was drawn up with their comments taken into account; it remains without a response,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

However, Russia’s lead negotiator at the talks with Ukraine, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed that he had engaged in several lengthy conversations with the head of the Ukrainian delegation on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Alleged war crimes

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said Friday there was growing evidence that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine.

“Russian armed forces have indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes,” said Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The U.N. said it appeared that Ukraine had also used weapons with indiscriminate effects.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against a prominent opposition activist and remanded him in pre-trial detention Friday for allegedly spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces.

A court in Moscow ordered Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. held in detention until June 12.

Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov told reporters that the false information case against Kara-Murza cited a March 15 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives, in which he denounced the war in Ukraine, as the basis for the latest charges. The activist rejects the accusations.

Russian media reported that similar charges were being drawn up against outspoken tech executive Ilya Krasilshchik, the former publisher of Russia’s top independent news site, Meduza. The moves against the two Kremlin critics are part of a widening crackdown against individuals speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russia adopted a law criminalizing spreading false information about its military shortly after its troops rolled into Ukraine in late February. The offense is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Human rights advocates so far have counted 32 cases targeting critics of the invasion.

Kara-Murza is a journalist and a former associate of late Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015, and oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was jailed for years in Russia. Kara-Murza himself was hospitalized with poisoning symptoms twice, in 2015 and 2017.

Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers denounced the Russian government’s moves against Kara-Murza.

“I am deeply disturbed over news reports regarding the arrest and political persecution of Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza,” Bowers said in a statement. “Don’t forget about these freedom fighters, like Vladimir Kara-Murza. We must remember names!”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted: “Kara-Murza’s brave opposition to Putin has inspired us all. Arizona will always stand for freedom. And we will support those like Kara-Murza who take a stand against oppression.”

Krasilshchik, the tech executive who left Russia in early March, told Meduza that he had learnt about the case against him from news reports, which by Friday evening remained unconfirmed. Russian media have linked the charges to an Instagram post, featuring what Krasilshchik said was the photo of charred human remains in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

“You can’t recover after seeing the images from Bucha,” the photo caption read. “You feel that the army of this country of ours, it’s capable of anything … and so is the country. That we’re just an order away from mass executions.”

Also Friday, veteran Russian human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov said in an online statement that he was “temporarily” leaving the country.

Ponomaryov, a former State Duma lawmaker who had helped found Russia’s oldest human rights organization in the 1980s, has been a vocal opponent of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and initiated multiple public petitions against it.

In his statement Friday, he claimed to be “allowing himself to take a vacation” to “look after my health …, but also think through the difficult situation in which we all find ourselves, and plan further (campaigning) activities, which we cannot stop by any means.”

“I doubt my time away will be long,” he added.

In a separate move Friday, the Russian justice ministry added Kara-Murza and several other prominent Kremlin critics to the registry of “foreign agents.” The designation implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations that can discredit those on the list.

The new additions to the registry included Leonid Volkov, top ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and Alexei Venediktov, former editor-in-chief of Russia’s oldest critical radio station, Ekho Moskvy. The station was taken off the airwaves shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.  
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