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Finland formally announced Sunday that it intends to apply for membership into the Western NATO military alliance, ignoring Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that the move would “negatively affect” peaceful relations between the neighboring countries.

President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced the NATO membership bid at the presidential palace in Helsinki.

“This is a historic day,” Niinisto said. “A new era begins.”

Finland’s announcement that it is seeking entry into the 30-member U.S.-dominated military alliance formed in the aftermath of World War II had been expected in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine February 24 and continuing offensive.

Finland’s neighbor to the west, Sweden, is also expected to seek entry into the alliance, ending two centuries of military non-alignment.

The two Nordic countries’ NATO applications will likely move swiftly, with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying in recent days that they will be welcomed.

The Kremlin’s press service said that Putin, in a phone conversation with Niinisto on Saturday, warned the Finnish leader that its abandonment “of its traditional policy of military neutrality would be an error since there are no threats to Finland’s security.”

“Such a change in the country’s foreign policy could negatively affect Russian-Finnish relations, which had been built in the spirit of good neighborliness and partnership for many years, and were mutually beneficial,” the statement added.

Niinisto told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that his phone conversation with Putin was businesslike. “The surprise was that he took it so calmly,” Niinisto said of Finland’s move to join NATO.  

Finland’s 1,300-kilometer border with Russia would be the longest of any of the NATO countries.

“Finland and Sweden are already the closest partners of NATO,” NATO Deputy-Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said Sunday in Berlin, where NATO members are meeting to discuss their continued support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and the expansion of the Atlantic alliance.

Russia cut off electricity to Finland in apparent retaliation for its bid to join NATO. Finland gets 10% of its energy from Russia and the void is now being filled by Sweden.

Turkey initially expressed concerns about Finland and Sweden joining the security alliance, but Saturday said it isn’t closing the door on the possibility. Any NATO enlargement requires the unanimous consent of the existing members.

“I’m not that worried,” Niinisto said of Turkey’s stance.    

The United States has said it will support NATO applications by Finland and Sweden.

Earlier Sunday, top diplomats from the United States and Ukraine met Sunday in Berlin to talk about Russia’s invasion and the impact it has had not only on Ukraine, but also the rest of the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba of the support that Ukraine has from its allies and discussed this week’s G-7 and NATO foreign ministerial meetings.

Ukrainian forces began a counteroffensive Saturday near the Russian-controlled town of Izium in northeastern Ukraine, a regional governor said. Ukraine wants to push Russia from its staging area there and prevent it from encircling thousands of Ukrainian troops on the eastern front of the Donbas.

Russia turned its focus on the Donbas after it failed to capture Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, at the start of the war. But Ukraine has clawed back some territory there, including its second-largest city in the northeast, Kharkiv.

Ukraine “appears to have won the Battle of Kharkiv,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said. “Ukrainian forces prevented Russian troops from encircling, let alone seizing Kharkiv, and then expelled them from around the city, as they did to Russian forces attempting to seize Kyiv.”

Fighting was also fierce on the Siversky Donets River near the city of Severodonetsk. The governor of the eastern Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said Ukrainian forces repulsed Russian attempts to cross the river and encircle the city. However, Oleh Zhdanov, an independent Ukrainian military analyst, said Ukraine failed to stop Russia’s advance.

“There’s heavy fighting on the border with Donetsk region, from the side of Popasna,” Gaidai also said, reporting heavy losses of equipment and personnel by the Russians.

While Russian troops have taken some villages and towns in the Donbas, Ukraine’s forces have retaken others, with neither seeming to make much progress.

Meanwhile, a long convoy from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol arrived safely in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.

The 500- to 1000-vehicle-long convoy, according to a Reuters report, was “the largest single evacuation from the city since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.”

Expanding NATO

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart Saturday that it would be a “mistake” for Finland to join NATO, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

The two leaders spoke by phone Saturday in a call initiated by Finland.

“The conversation was direct and straightforward, and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important,” Niinisto was quoted as saying in a statement by his office.

A Kremlin statement released after the call said Putin told Niinisto that abandoning Finland’s policy of neutrality would have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations.

Niinisto and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Thursday that they want the country to join NATO “without delay” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a move that would be a major policy shift for the traditionally neutral country.

“Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security,” the Kremlin statement said.

Russia cut off electricity to Finland in apparent retaliation for its bid to join NATO. Finland gets 10% of its energy from Russia and the void is now being filled by Sweden.

Sweden, another traditionally neutral Scandinavian country, is also expected to ask to join NATO in the coming days.

Turkey initially expressed concerns about Finland and Sweden joining the security alliance, but Saturday said it isn’t closing the door on the possibility. Any NATO enlargement requires the unanimous consent of the existing members.

The United States has said it will support a NATO application by Finland or Sweden should they choose to apply.

U.S. senators visit

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell led a delegation of Republican senators on a visit to Ukraine Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the visit was a powerful signal of bipartisan American support for Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian presidential administration.

Zelenskyy urged the American lawmakers to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, according to The Kyiv Independent, an English-language newspaper in Ukraine, and to impose stronger sanctions on Russia.

Meanwhile, the Group of Seven industrialized nations meeting in Germany vowed to put more pressure on Russia with fresh sanctions and said it would never recognize the borders the Kremlin is attempting to redraw through force.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Talks to overcome Turkey’s misgivings about the expected NATO membership bids of Finland and Sweden were on a “good track,” Croatia said Sunday, as several members of the alliance eye swift accession for the Nordic states.

“I think the discussion is on the good track and today I hope we will have a final fruitful discussion and a good outcome to show solidarity and to speak with one voice,” said Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman as he arrived for talks with NATO counterparts in Berlin.

The day before, the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden had joined in talks with counterparts of the defense alliance, including Turkey, in an opportunity to directly discuss Ankara’s opposition to their bids.

Turkey has long accused Nordic countries, especially Sweden, which has a strong Turkish immigrant community, of harboring extremist Kurdish groups as well as supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher wanted over a failed 2016 coup.

At the same time, Ankara had signaled readiness to discuss the issues with the would-be NATO candidates.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn acknowledged that “Turkey is sometimes difficult,” but said “the signs don’t look bad” for overcoming their differences vis-a-vis the Nordic nations.

Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok was even more confident, saying he was “absolutely certain that we will find a solution that will meet concerns of the two countries that obviously want to join the alliance.”

For the NATO members, ensuring security of the would-be applicants during the so-called “grey period” — when the application has been filed and before accession is complete — was also key.

“They should not be any in-between phase, no grey phase where it is unclear what the status actually is. And therefore the German government is making all preparations for a very rapid ratification process,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has swung political and public opinion in Finland and neighboring Sweden in favor of NATO membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.

Underlining the tense situation, Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto had stressed on Saturday that it was critical for as many NATO members as possible to “announce clear support” for Finland’s security from when it files its application to its final accession.
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A large convoy of cars and vans carrying refugees from the ruins of Mariupol arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday after waiting days for Russian troops to allow them to leave.

Mariupol, now mostly Russian-controlled, has been flattened during the 80-day-old war. Ukraine has gradually been evacuating civilians from the devastated city for more than two months.

Refugees first had to get out of Mariupol and then somehow make their way to Berdyansk — some 80 kilometers further west along the coast — and other settlements before the 200-kilometer drive northwest to Zaporizhzhia.

Nikolai Pavlov, a 74-year-old retiree, said he had lived in a basement for a month after his apartment was destroyed. A relative using “secret detours” managed to get him out of Mariupol to Berdyansk.

“We barely made it, there were lots of elderly people among us … the trip was devastating. But it was worth it,” he said after the convoy arrived in the dark.

An aide to Mariupol’s mayor had earlier said the convoy numbered between 500 and 1,000 cars, representing the largest single evacuation from the city since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.

Iryna Petrenko, 63, said she had stayed initially to take care of her 92-year-old mother, who subsequently died.

“We buried her next to her house, because there was nowhere to bury anyone,” she said. For a time Russian authorities had not allowed large numbers of cars to leave, she said.

Only the port city’s vast Azovstal steel works is still in the hands of Ukrainian fighters after a prolonged battle.

“My parents’ house was hit by an aerial strike, all the windows got blown out,” said Yulia Panteleeva, 27, who along with other family members had been absent.

“I can’t stop imagining things that might happen to us if we stayed at home,” she said.

Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of what it portrays as anti-Russian nationalism. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

1:11 a.m.: The members of the Eurovision Song Contest-winning Kalush Orchestra are ready to return to Ukraine and fight against Russia, Al Jazeera reports.

“We have a temporary authorisation to be here and it ends in two days and exactly in two days we are going to be back in Ukraine,” frontman Oleh Psiuk said. “It’s hard to say what exactly I am going to do, because this is the first time I win the Eurovision Song Contest, but like every Ukrainian, we are ready to fight as much as we can and go on until the end.”

12:02 a.m.: CNN reports that the Indian Embassy will return to Kyiv on Thursday. It had relocated to Warsaw in March amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest in the early hours of Sunday in a clear show of support for the war-ravaged nation.

The six-man band that mixes traditional folk melodies and contemporary hip hop in a purposeful defense of Ukrainian culture was the sentimental and bookmakers’ favorite among the 25 bands and performers competing in the grand finale. The public vote from home was decisive in securing their victory.

The band’s front man, Oleg Psiuk, took advantage of the enormous global audience to make impassioned plea to free fighters still trapped beneath a sprawling steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol following the six-man band’s performance.

“I ask all of you, please help Ukraine, Mariupol. Help Azovstal, right now,” he said to the live crowd of about 7,500, many of whom gave a standing ovation, and global television audience of millions.

The plea to free the remaining Ukrainian fighters trapped beneath the Azovstal plant by Russians served as a somber reminder that the hugely popular and at times flamboyant Eurovision song contest was being played out against the backdrop of a war on Europe’s eastern flank.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave signs that he was watching from Kyiv and rooting for Ukrainian band.

“Indeed, this is not a war, but nevertheless, for us today, any victory is very important,” Zelenskyy said, according to a presidential statement. “So, let’s cheer for ours. Glory be to Ukraine!”

25 bands

Kalush Orchestra was among 25 bands performing in the Eurovision Song Contest final in front of a live audience in the industrial northern city of Turin, while millions more watched on television or via streaming around the world.

Fans from Spain, Britain and elsewhere entering the Italian venue from throughout Europe were rooting for their own country to win. Still, Ukrainian music fan Iryna Lasiy said she felt global support for her country in the war and “not only for the music.”

Russia was excluded this year after its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, a move that organizers said was meant to keep politics out of the contest that promotes diversity and friendship among nations.

The band’s song Stefania was written as a tribute to Psiuk’s mother but has transformed since the war into an anthem to the beleaguered nation, as lyrics take on new meaning. “I’ll always find my way home, even if all roads are destroyed,” Psiuk wrote.The six-member, all-male band received special permission to leave the country to represent Ukraine and Ukrainian culture at the music contest. One of the original members stayed to fight, and the others plan to return as soon as the contest is over.

‘World supports us’

Back in Ukraine, in the battered northeastern city of Kharkiv, Kalush Orchestra’s participation in the contest is seen as giving the nation another platform to garner international support.

“The whole country is rising, everyone in the world supports us. This is extremely nice,” said Julia Vashenko, a 29-year-old teacher.

“I believe that wherever there is Ukraine now and there is an opportunity to talk about the war, we need to talk,” said Alexandra Konovalova, a 23-year-old makeup artist in Kharkiv. “Any competitions are important now, because of them more people learn about what is happening now.”

The winner is chosen in equal parts by panels of music experts in each competing nation and votes by the viewing public — leaving room for an upset. Britain’s Sam Ryder and Sweden’s Cornelia Jakobs are each given a 10% shot while the Italian duo of Mahmood & Blanco have a 6% chance of winning.

The winner takes home a glass microphone trophy and a potential career boost.

The event was hosted by Italy after local rock band Maneskin won last year in Rotterdam. The victory shot the Rome-based band to international fame, opening for the Rolling Stones and appearing on Saturday Night Live and numerous magazine covers in their typically genderless costume code.

Twenty bands were chosen in two semifinals this week and were competing along with the Big Five of Italy, Britain, France, Germany and Spain, which have permanent berths because of their financial support of the contest. 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart that it would be a “mistake” for Finland to join NATO, according to statement from the Kremlin.

The two leaders spoke by phone on Saturday as U.S. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell led a delegation of Republican senators on a visit to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the visit was a powerful signal of bipartisan American support for Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian presidential administration.

Meanwhile, Russian troops began withdrawing from the heavily contested northeastern city of Kharkiv after weeks of shelling. The Ukrainian military said Russian troops are pulling back from Ukraine’s second-largest city and are focusing on protecting supply routes, while launching attacks in the eastern Donetsk region to “deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications.”

Ukraine “appears to have won the Battle of Kharkiv,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said.

Phone call

The call between Finland President Sauli Niinisto and Putin about the Scandanavian country’s desire to join NATO was initiated by Finland, according to a statement released by Niinisto’s office.

“The conversation was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important,” Niinisto was quoted as saying in a statement by his office.

A Kremlin statement released after the call said Putin told Niinisto that abandoning Finland’s policy of neutrality would have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations.

Niinisto and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Thursday that they want the country to join NATO “without delay,” a move that would be a major policy shift for the traditionally neutral country in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security,” the Kremlin statement said.

Sweden, another traditionally neutral Scandinavian country, is also expected to ask to join NATO in the coming days.

The possible expansion of NATO will be a focus of talks Saturday, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Berlin for an informal NATO foreign ministerial meeting.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his country does not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO, citing their support of what Turkey considers terrorist organizations, such as Kurdish militant groups.

“We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul. Any NATO enlargement requires the unanimous consent of the existing members.

US stance

U.S. officials said they were working to “clarify Turkey’s position,” while reiterating that the “United States would support a NATO application by Finland and/or Sweden should they choose to apply.”

“We strongly support NATO’s Open Door policy,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried told reporters Friday. “I think that it’s important to remember that a fundamental principle the U.S. is defending in terms of its support for Ukraine is the right of every sovereign country to decide its own future foreign and security policy arrangement.”

Both Sweden’s and Finland’s foreign ministers will be participating in the North Atlantic Council informal dinner Saturday in Berlin. From Germany, Blinken heads to France on Sunday, where he will attend the second ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, known as the TTC.

U.S. President Joe Biden talked with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finland’s Niinistö on Friday.

“President Biden underscored his support for NATO’s Open Door policy and for the right of Finland and Sweden to decide their own future, foreign policy, and security arrangement,” the White House said in a readout of the call, adding the leaders “reiterated their shared commitment to continued coordination in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people affected by the war.”

Impact of NATO expansion

The German Marshall Fund’s Michael Kimmage told VOA that Finland’s joining NATO would shake up the security order in Europe, both for NATO and for Russia.

“It’s a very, very long border, and of course it brings NATO very close to — or will bring NATO if it all goes through — very close to St. Petersburg. And at the same time, it will give NATO a lot more territory right on the Russian border to defend. So those are big steps. Those are big changes,” Kimmage said.

Russia has warned against NATO expansion and said Finland’s and Sweden’s joining would bring “serious military and political consequences.”

“The expansion of NATO and the approach of the alliance to our borders does not make the world and our continent more stable and secure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoygu, for the first time since Feb. 18.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement that Austin “urged an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.”

US aid to Ukraine

Austin also spoke Friday with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s “evolving battlefield needs.”

“Secretary Austin highlighted the President’s May 6 announcement of $150 million in Presidential Drawdown Authority to provide Ukraine’s Armed Forces with artillery, counter-artillery radars, and electronic jamming equipment,” Kirby said in a statement.

“Minister Reznikov shared his assessment of the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine.”

War crimes trial

In Ukraine, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was brought before a Kyiv court Friday, in the first war crimes proceeding since the war began.

Ukrainian prosecutors say Vadim Shishimarin fired several shots from a car in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on Feb. 28, just days after the conflict began, killing an unarmed 62-year-old man who was pushing a bike on the side of the road.

Ukraine’s government says it is investigating more than 10,000 war crimes involving Russian forces, with cases of torture and mutilation having often been revealed after Russian forces left a Ukrainian city, as in the case of Bucha.

Russia has denied committing war crimes in Ukraine, and the Kremlin on Friday said it had no knowledge of the trial.

Putin-Scholz call

In Moscow, Russian President Vladmir Putin on Friday spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the stalled Ukrainian-Russian peace talks.

In a tweet, the German leader said he had called during the 75-minute conversation for an immediate cease-fire, countered the Russian claim “that Nazis are in power” as false and also reminded Putin “about Russia’s responsibility for the global food situation.”

G-7 meeting

The call came as G-7 ministers meeting in Germany pledged unity and more weapons and aid to Ukraine.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced an additional $520 million worth of military support to Ukraine for heavy weaponry, while expressing hope that member states would agree to a Russian oil embargo.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also announced new sanctions against members of Putin’s inner circle, including his former wife and cousins.

VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Group of Seven foreign ministers vowed on Saturday to reinforce Russia’s economic and political isolation, continue supplying weapons to Ukraine and tackle what Germany’s foreign minister described as a “wheat war” being waged by Moscow.

After meeting at a 400-year-old castle estate in the Baltic Sea resort of Weissenhaus, senior diplomats from Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union also pledged to continue their military and defense assistance for “as long as necessary.”

They would also tackle what they called Russian misinformation aimed at blaming the West for food supply issues around the world due to economic sanctions on Moscow and urged China to not assist Moscow or justify Russia’s war, according to a joint statement.

“Have we done enough to mitigate the consequences of this war? It is not our war. It’s a war by the president of Russia, but we have global responsibility,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters at a closing news conference.

Key to putting more pressure on Russia is to ban or phase out buying Russian oil with EU member states expected next week to reach an agreement on the issue even if it remains at this stage opposed by Hungary.

“We will expedite our efforts to reduce and end reliance on Russian energy supplies and as quickly as possible, building on G-7 commitments to phase out or ban imports of Russian coal and oil,” the statement said.

The ministers said they would add further sanctions on Russian elites, including economic actors, central government institutions and the military, which enable President Vladimir Putin “to lead his war of choice.”

The meeting in northern Germany, which the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Moldova attended, also spotlighted food security concerns and fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over into its smaller neighbor Moldova.

“People will be dying in Africa and the Middle East and we are faced with an urgent question: how can people be fed around the world? People are asking themselves what will happen if we don’t have the grain we need that we used to get from Russia and Ukraine,” Baerbock said.

She added that the G-7 would work on finding logistical solutions to get vital commodities out of Ukraine storage before the next harvests.

Attention now turns to Berlin as ministers meet later on Saturday with Sweden and Finland gearing up to apply for membership of the transatlantic alliance, drawing threats of retaliation from Moscow and objections from NATO member Turkey.

“It is important that we have a consensus,” Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters when asked about Turkey possibly blocking their accession.

Putin calls the invasion a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an unprovoked war.

“More of the same,” EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters. “The one thing that is missing is pushing for a diplomatic engagement to get a ceasefire. It is missing because Vladimir Putin has been saying to everybody that he doesn’t want to stop the war.”
…

“No one today can predict how long this war will last,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Friday about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“But we are doing everything we can to liberate our land quickly. This is our priority – to work every day to make the war shorter,” he said.

Zelenskyy said the length of the war “depends, unfortunately, not only on our people, who are already doing the maximum.”

He said, “It also depends on our partners – on European countries, on the countries of the whole free world.”

The possible expansion of NATO, in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine, will be a focus of talks Saturday, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Berlin for an informal NATO foreign ministerial meeting.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin have expressed their approval for joining the alliance, a move that would complete a major policy shift for the Scandinavian countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his country does not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO, citing their support of what Turkey considers terrorist organizations, such as Kurdish militant groups.

“We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul. Any NATO enlargement requires the unanimous consent of the existing members.

US stance

U.S. officials said they were working to “clarify Turkey’s position,” while reiterating that the “United States would support a NATO application by Finland and/or Sweden should they choose to apply.”

“We strongly support NATO’s Open Door policy,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried told reporters Friday. “I think that it’s important to remember that a fundamental principle the U.S. is defending in terms of its support for Ukraine is the right of every sovereign country to decide its own future foreign and security policy arrangement.”

Both Sweden’s and Finland’s foreign ministers will be participating in the North Atlantic Council informal dinner Saturday in Berlin. From Germany, Blinken heads to France on Sunday, where he will attend the second ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, known as the TTC.

U.S. President Joe Biden talked with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finland’s Niinistö on Friday.

“President Biden underscored his support for NATO’s Open Door policy and for the right of Finland and Sweden to decide their own future, foreign policy, and security arrangement,” the White House said in a readout of the call, adding the leaders “reiterated their shared commitment to continued coordination in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people affected by the war.”

Impact of NATO expansion

The German Marshall Fund’s Michael Kimmage told VOA that Finland’s joining NATO would shake up the security order in Europe, both for NATO and for Russia.

“It’s a very, very long border, and of course it brings NATO very close to — or will bring NATO if it all goes through — very close to St. Petersburg. And at the same time, it will give NATO a lot more territory right on the Russian border to defend. So those are big steps. Those are big changes,” Kimmage said.

Russia has warned against NATO expansion and said Finland’s and Sweden’s joining would bring “serious military and political consequences.”

“The expansion of NATO and the approach of the alliance to our borders does not make the world and our continent more stable and secure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoygu, for the first time since Feb. 18.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement that Austin “urged an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.”

US aid to Ukraine

Austin also spoke Friday with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s “evolving battlefield needs.”

“Secretary Austin highlighted the President’s May 6 announcement of $150 million in Presidential Drawdown Authority to provide Ukraine’s Armed Forces with artillery, counter-artillery radars, and electronic jamming equipment,” Kirby said in a statement.

“Minister Reznikov shared his assessment of the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine.”

War crimes trial

In Ukraine, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was brought before a Kyiv court Friday, in the first war crimes proceeding since the war began.

Ukrainian prosecutors say Vadim Shishimarin fired several shots from a car in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on Feb. 28, just days after the conflict began, killing an unarmed 62-year-old man who was pushing a bike on the side of the road.

Ukraine’s government says it is investigating more than 10,000 war crimes involving Russian forces, with cases of torture and mutilation having often been revealed after Russian forces left a Ukrainian city, as in the case of Bucha.

Russia has denied committing war crimes in Ukraine, and the Kremlin on Friday said it had no knowledge of the trial.

Putin-Scholz call

In Moscow, Russian President Vladmir Putin on Friday spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the stalled Ukrainian-Russian peace talks.

In a tweet, the German leader said he had called during the 75-minute conversation for an immediate cease-fire, countered the Russian claim “that Nazis are in power” as false and also reminded Putin “about Russia’s responsibility for the global food situation.”

G-7 meeting

The call came as G-7 ministers meeting in Germany pledged unity and more weapons and aid to Ukraine.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced an additional $520 million worth of military support to Ukraine for heavy weaponry, while expressing hope that member states would agree to a Russian oil embargo.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also announced new sanctions against members of Putin’s inner circle, including his former wife and cousins.

VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The leader of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia announced Friday that a referendum on joining Russia would be held in July.

Russia has exercised effective control over the region since fighting a brief war with Georgia in 2008. Russia and a handful of other countries recognize South Ossetia as an independent state, but most of the world still considers it to be part of Georgia.

“We did it!” South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov wrote on Telegram Friday, announcing that he had signed a decree setting the referendum for July 17.

“In legalese, we fulfilled yet another important legal requirement,” he said. “And in normal language, we took a life-changing step — we are going home, we are going to Russia.”

About a month into Russia’s war with Ukraine, Bibilov said South Ossetia would take the legal steps necessary to join Russia.

The referendum roughly follows the pattern of Crimea. After Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a referendum was held on joining Russia and 97% were said to have voted in favor. The referendum was held while Crimea was under the control of Russian troops and the result was not recognized by most countries. Russia then annexed Crimea.
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Despite US President Joe Biden’s urging that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations take a firmer stance on the Ukraine war, the U.S.-ASEAN Summit ended Friday without a condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a sign of geopolitical complexities in the region as the administration seeks to broaden the coalition against Moscow beyond Europe. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

1:05 a.m.: Al Jazeera reports that India, the world’s second biggest exporter of wheat, has banned all exports of that crop, effective immediately. The New York Times reports that the decision is an attempt to protect India’s food security and that of its neighbors. Meanwhile, wheat prices are rising worldwide because of the conflict in Ukraine.

12:02 a.m.: The New York Times reports that Ukraine’s general prosecutor has 41 Russian suspects for war crimes. The prosecutor’s office is investigating more than 11,000 suspected war crimes.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Germany and France on Saturday for NATO and trade meetings, as Finland says it wants to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has warned it will respond to what it calls a hostile move. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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The possible expansion of NATO will be a focus of talks Saturday, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Berlin for an informal NATO foreign ministerial meeting.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin have expressed their approval for joining the alliance, a move that would complete a major policy shift for the Scandinavian countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his country does not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO, citing their support of what Turkey considers terrorist organizations, such as Kurdish militant groups.

“We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul. Any NATO enlargement requires the unanimous consent of the existing members.

US stance

U.S. officials said they were working to “clarify Turkey’s position,” while reiterating that the “United States would support a NATO application by Finland and/or Sweden should they choose to apply.”

“We strongly support NATO’s Open Door policy,” U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried told reporters Friday. “I think that it’s important to remember that a fundamental principle the U.S. is defending in terms of its support for Ukraine is the right of every sovereign country to decide its own future foreign and security policy arrangement.”

Both Sweden’s and Finland’s foreign ministers will participate in the North Atlantic Council informal dinner Saturday in Berlin. From Germany, Blinken heads to France on Sunday, where he will attend the second ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, known as the TTC.

U.S. President Joe Biden talked with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finland’s Niinisto on Friday.

“President Biden underscored his support for NATO’s Open Door policy and for the right of Finland and Sweden to decide their own future, foreign policy, and security arrangement,” the White House said in a readout of the call, adding the leaders “reiterated their shared commitment to continued coordination in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people affected by the war.”

Impact of NATO expansion

The German Marshall Fund’s Michael Kimmage told VOA that Finland’s joining NATO would shake up the security order in Europe, both for NATO and for Russia.

“It’s a very, very long border, and of course it brings NATO very close to — or will bring NATO if it all goes through — very close to St. Petersburg. And at the same time, it will give NATO a lot more territory right on the Russian border to defend. So those are big steps. Those are big changes,” Kimmage said.

Russia has warned against NATO expansion and said Finland’s and Sweden’s joining would bring “serious military and political consequences.”

“The expansion of NATO and the approach of the alliance to our borders does not make the world and our continent more stable and secure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu for the first time since February 18.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement that Austin “urged an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.”

US aid to Ukraine

Austin also spoke Friday with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s “evolving battlefield needs.”

“Secretary Austin highlighted the President’s May 6 announcement of $150 million in Presidential Drawdown Authority to provide Ukraine’s Armed Forces with artillery, counter-artillery radars, and electronic jamming equipment,” Kirby said in a statement. “Minister Reznikov shared his assessment of the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine.”

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul blocked a vote on a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, slowing U.S. efforts to quickly deliver more help to Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion.

“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy,” Paul said.

A unanimous Senate vote would have expedited the delivery of aid to Ukraine. Paul’s move, however, has delayed the vote for another week, when the Senate is expected to pass the bill.

War crimes trial

In Ukraine, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was brought before a Kyiv court Friday, in the first war crimes proceeding since the war began.

Ukrainian prosecutors say Vadim Shishimarin fired several shots from a car in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on February 28, just days after the conflict began, killing an unarmed 62-year-old man who was pushing a bike on the side of the road.

Ukraine’s government says it is investigating more than 10,000 war crimes involving Russian forces, with cases of torture and mutilation having often been revealed after Russian forces left a Ukrainian city, as in the case of Bucha.

Russia has denied committing war crimes in Ukraine, and the Kremlin on Friday said it had no knowledge of the trial.

Putin-Scholz call

In Moscow, Russian President Vladmir Putin on Friday spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the stalled Ukrainian-Russian peace talks.

In a tweet, the German leader said he had called during the 75-minute conversation for an immediate cease-fire, countered the Russian claim “that Nazis are in power” as false and also reminded Putin “about Russia’s responsibility for the global food situation.”

G-7 meeting

The call came as G-7 ministers meeting in Germany pledged unity and more weapons and aid to Ukraine.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced an additional $520 million worth of military support to Ukraine for heavy weaponry, while expressing hope that member states would agree to a Russian oil embargo.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also announced new sanctions against members of Putin’s inner circle, including his former wife and cousins.

VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Veto-wielding NATO member Turkey is voicing opposition to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan telling reporters Friday he does not positively view the countries’ membership bid. Analysts warn the Turkish leader’s stance will likely rekindle questions over Ankara’s allegiances given its close ties with Moscow.

“At the moment, we are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t hold positive views,” Erdogan said. “Because in the past, previous Turkish governments made a mistake about Greece’s membership, and you know Greece’s current attitude against Turkey.”

Turkey and neighboring Greece are bitter rivals with numerous disputes, including ongoing tensions over disputed territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. But Erdogan’s stance has more to do with his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute.

“Turkey has very good relations with Russia, and Russia supplies defense systems,” he said. “Russia is, for now and for the future, one of the biggest energy suppliers to Turkey. The good relations between Erdogan and Putin are also the reason why Tayyip Erdogan plays this card. The second, Tayyip Erdogan tries to increase the leverage of Turkish bargaining process through this.”

Turkey remains at loggerheads with NATO over its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system which saw the United States hit Ankara with military sanctions claiming the purchase compromised NATO defense systems.

International relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University warned Ankara risks a backlash from its NATO partners over its opposition to Sweden’s and Finland’s membership.

“I am sure this is how it will be interpreted, and there will be those who say let’s expel Turkey from NATO, although to the best of my knowledge there is no expulsion mechanism in NATO,” Ozel said.

But relations between Turkey and its allied partners, in particular Washington, had improved with Ankara’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey has recently used goodwill over its stance on Ukraine to improve ties with its Western allies.

Some analysts suggest Erdogan could be looking for concessions from Sweden and Finland. Erdogan criticized the two countries Friday for being sympathetic to Kurdish groups accused by Ankara of carrying out terrorist attacks in Turkey. Helsinki and Stockholm are strongly critical of Turkey’s human rights record and both countries have given political asylum to many opponents of the Turkish government.

Analyst Ozel said Erdogan could be looking for a deal but questions his approach.

“Turkey would like to use its power to veto as leverage in order to get those two countries to do as it would please it,” Ozel said. “How wise it is, is pretty debatable in my judgment; I don’t particular[ly] find it very advisable. Because if Turkey is on a charm offensive and it’s trying to rebuild bridges that it burnt with almost everyone, you can actually make your case, but you don’t have to do it so publicly.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said patience was needed to overcome Erdogan’s opposition. NATO foreign ministers, including from Turkey, are to meet in Berlin this weekend.
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The EU’s foreign policy chief said on Friday that he believed there had been enough progress during consultations between his envoy and Iranian officials in Tehran this week to relaunch nuclear negotiations after two months of deadlock. 

Talks to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have been on hold since March, chiefly over Tehran’s insistence that Washington remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the U.S. list of designated terrorist organizations. 

Speaking as talks coordinator Enrique Mora arrived back in Europe, Josep Borrell said Iran’s response had been “positive enough” after Mora had delivered a message that things could not continue as they were. 

“These things cannot be resolved overnight,” Borrell told reporters at a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in northern Germany. “Let’s say the negotiations were blocked and they have been de-blocked,” with the prospect of “reaching a final agreement.” 

The broad outline of the deal that aims to revive the accord which restrains Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions was essentially agreed in March. 

However, it has since been thrown into disarray after last-minute Russian demands and the dispute over the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list. 

Western officials are largely losing hope that it can be resurrected, sources familiar with the matter have said, forcing them to weigh how to limit Iran’s atomic program even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has divided the big powers. 

“It has gone better than expected — the negotiations were stalled, and now they have been reopened,” Borrell said. 

A senior EU official sounded a more cautious tone. 

“We still have difficult obstacles on the way for an agreement,” he told reporters, adding that at least Iran and the U.S. remained engaged. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Mora’s trip had been “an opportunity to focus on initiatives to resolve the remaining issues.” 

“A good and reliable agreement is within reach if the United States makes a political decision and adheres to its commitments,” he said. 

A French diplomatic source said on Thursday he saw little chance of the United States agreeing to remove Iran’s elite security force from its list of foreign terrorist organizations any time soon. 

Mora has been in Tehran this week in what has been described as the last chance to salvage the 2015 accord, which then U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are also parties to the accord. 

Detained at airport

In a bizarre incident, Mora and his team were held at Frankfurt airport for several hours on return from the Iranian capital on Friday. 

“We were kept separated. Refusal to give any explanation for what seems a violation of the Vienna Convention,” he said on Twitter. 

A German Interior Ministry spokesperson said German police would make a statement on the incident, telling reporters: “There can be many reasons that have to do with the flight, the travel route, and not necessarily with the person.” 

Iran’s official IRNA news agency alleged, without evidence, that Israel was behind the incident. 

“What has happened in Frankfurt has to do with opposition to the progress in the nuclear talks. … The Zionist lobby has influence in the German security apparatus,” it said. 
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The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner said Friday her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month.

Griner’s lawyer Alexander Boikov told The Associated Press he believed the relatively short extension of the detention indicated the case would come to trial soon.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained at the Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The Biden administration says Griner, 31, is being wrongfully detained. The WNBA and U.S. officials have worked toward her release, without visible progress.
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A worker hurt in an explosion at a chemical factory in Slovenia has died from his injuries, bringing the total number of people killed in the accident to six, local media reported on Friday.

The blast occurred Thursday when a cistern exploded at a resin factory belonging to chemicals company Melamin in the municipality of Kocevje, some 60 kilometers south of Ljubljana.

“Unfortunately our fears have been confirmed,” Melamin general manager Srecko Stefanic told reporters.

The strength of the explosion “did not leave them any chance of survival,” he said.

Initially, five people were reported to have been killed and six others injured, including two who were hospitalized with serious burns.

One of the two has since died in hospital and the other is still in critical condition, public radio reported. AFP was not able to confirm the information.

The tragedy was “caused by a human error,” Stefanic said, declining to give more information until the investigation has been completed.

Local authorities initially asked residents staying within a radius of 500 meters around the plant not to leave their homes and to close their windows as a precaution in case of toxic fumes.

The precautionary measure was lifted later Thursday after officials confirmed there had been no negative impact on the environment.

Photos showed columns of black smoke billowing from the factory, which supplies resins for paper, construction, wood, rubber and the lacquer industry.

Nearly 200 people work at the factory of the company, founded in 1954, according to its website.
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A Frenchman murdered in the desert, a Dutch priest killed in a Nazi concentration camp and an Indian lay convert are among 10 new saints being created by Pope Francis on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of people from around the world are expected in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican for the canonization mass, presided over by the 85-year-old pontiff.

Under the rules of the Catholic Church, all 10 have already been beatified, or named “blessed,” but had to then be attributed a miracle to take the final step to sainthood.

Most founded religious orders, but the new saints include Charles de Foucauld, a French soldier and explorer.

He became a Catholic priest and lived among Trappist monks in Syria, in Palestine, and finally among the Tuaregs in the Algerian desert.

He was murdered by bandits on Dec. 1, 1916, but his works outlasted him and he became one of France’s most celebrated men of faith.

Vatican theologians attributed to de Foucauld the cure of a cancer sufferer in 1984, and he was beatified by pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

His second miracle was declared after a young French carpenter survived a 15-meter fall in 2016.

Among the crowd Sunday will be members of the Algerian Catholic church, for whom de Foucauld “is extremely important,” noted the archbishop of Algiers, Jean-Paul Vesco.

“It was here that his life became incandescent,” Vesco told AFP before heading to Rome.

Lethal injection

Another taking the step to sainthood is Dutch Carmelite priest, theologian and journalist Titus Brandsma, who took a stand against the Nazis during World War II.

He spoke out against them before Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and afterward, encouraging Catholic Dutch newspapers to resist the occupiers’ propaganda.

Brandsma was arrested in January 1942 and ended up in the Dachau concentration camp, where he died on July 26 f that year, after being injected with carbolic acid.

He was beatified in 1985 after being declared a martyr and was subsequently found to have enacted a miracle in healing a Carmelite priest.

Ahead of the mass Sunday, a group of journalists signed an open letter to Pope Francis urging him to make Brandsma an official patron saint for journalists.

He “shared the deeper mission that should drive journalism in modern times: a search for truth and veracity, the promotion of peace and dialogue between people,” they said.

Indian convert

Devasahayam Pillai, known as Lazarus, will be the first Indian layman to become a saint, according to the Vatican.

A Hindu from what is now the southern state of Tamil Nadu, he converted to Catholicism in 1745 while working at the royal palace, where he met a captured Dutch commander who taught him about Christianity.

But his faith, and his preaching of equality of all peoples — a revolutionary view at the time — caused a stir and when he refused to renounce his new religion, he was arrested, according to the Vatican.

After almost three years of imprisonment and torture, during which he began to be visited by pilgrims, he was shot dead in a forest on the orders of the king on Jan. 14, 1752.

He was declared a martyr and beatified in 2012, before being later attributed the miracle of resuscitating a fetus in the 20th week of pregnancy. 
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

1 a.m.: The World Bank says that money transfers to Ukraine, the largest recipient in Europe and Central Asia, are expected to rise by more than 20% this year. That’s because refugees and others are sending money to people still in the country.

12:02 a.m.: Al Jazeera, citing the U.S. think tank the Institute for the Study of War, reports that Russia likely controls the Ukrainian city of Rubizhne and probably the town of Voevodivka as well.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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An obscure mountain in the remote far west of Spain could prove to be a game changer in the race to end the West’s dependence on China for a mineral that is key to the world’s future mobility.

Valdeflores, just outside Caceres, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants in Extremadura, a region well off the tourist track, has been designated as the possible site for a lithium mine.

If the plan is approved, it is estimated the site will provide enough of the mineral used in rechargeable batteries to power 400,000 Tesla Model 3 cars every year.

Most important, there will be a processing plant next to the mine to turn the raw mineral into battery-grade lithium – the first in Europe.

Battery-grade lithium is one the minerals that will drive the next generation of electric cars as global economies seek to move away from conventional fuel-powered engines.

Growing demand for electric vehicles has spurred small-scale mining companies seeking lithium, cobalt and rare earths to develop mines and build refining capacity in Europe to reduce their reliance on China.

Picking up the pace

Efforts by the United States and Europe to build a secure and independent supply for the key minerals in electric vehicles, wind turbines and aircraft engines have sped up since the pandemic led to an economic slowdown and shortages.

As companies seek to reduce their carbon footprint, processing metals into goods that do not have to travel far is an environmental goal.

Currently, the majority of lithium mined in Argentina, Australia or Chile is sent to China to be processed into battery-grade lithium so it can be used in cars or for other products. Then it is sent back to the West to be used in car batteries, running up a sizable carbon footprint.

“There is a global race in Europe and the U.S. to change dependence on China for the processing of lithium, one of the key elements to make car batteries,” Caspar Rawles, of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a price reporting agency in mineral supplies, told VOA in an interview.

China currently controls 59% of processing plants and the United States 4%. According to Benchmark data, Europe has no major plants.

Extremadura New Energies, the company that hopes to start the Caceres mine and processing plant in a $633 million project, wants to change the reliance on China.

Opponents

The company, however, faces determined opposition from conservationists and city authorities in Caceres. A judge is expected to make a decision on the project later this year.

“More than having lithium, [the important thing] is to have the capacity to treat it so it can be used in a battery. We don’t have that at the moment in Europe,” Ramon Jimenez, the CEO of Extremadura New Energies, told VOA in a Zoom interview.

“We don’t want the lithium to travel to China to be processed and then coming back because we are creating a lot of CO2 that we are releasing to the atmosphere. This creates a big carbon footprint and is not good for the environment.”

China currently has 60%-70% of the lithium market. By 2030, Europe will reach 15% and the U.S. will have a 12% share, Jimenez estimated.

Jimenez said that after listening to conservationists’ fears about the impact of the project, the company had changed its plans.

He said the mine would be underground and be powered using green hydrogen so it would be more sustainable.

Alejandro Palomo, of Salvemos La Montana (meaning Save the Mountain), the conservation group opposed to the mine, said that despite the change of plans, the mine would harm the underground water supply from the mountain on which the city of Caceres depends.

“It will also affect the air quality because of the chemicals which the processing plant uses. The mining may affect the historical center of the city, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986,” he told VOA in a telephone interview.

He said “all the city” was against the plan for the mine, which would only bring 100 jobs, most of them in specialized fields.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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Colored marker stones placed on either side of a small river – blue and white for Finland, red and green for Russia – are all that separate the two countries in the windswept fields of the South Karelia region. The border stretches 1,340 kilometers from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic, much of it sparsely populated, frozen wilderness.

For decades, the two countries have enjoyed peaceful relations, founded on Finland’s post-World War II policy of neutrality and nonalignment. But this simple border could soon become be a frontier between East and West: a geopolitical fault line.

Finland’s government said Thursday that the country should immediately apply to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, upending a cornerstone of Finnish foreign policy in the space of a few weeks. Finnish lawmakers are set to vote on the issue in the coming days before an expected official application for NATO membership next week, in what is likely to be a joint bid with Sweden.

Finland’s admission into the alliance is likely to be a formality. It would create by far the longest land border between NATO and Russia.

Moscow has threatened what it calls a “military technical response” if Finland joins the alliance. There are fears the border could become a flashpoint.

“Could Russia then try to take a playbook of, say, Georgia, and try to create some kind of frozen conflict, invade a small part of Finland with the very few forces it has left? Certainly, it could try, but Finland has prepared for this militarily,” Charly Salonius-Pasternak of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs told VOA.

For now, there is no visible military presence on the Finnish side, and little to indicate the emergence of any new Cold War Iron Curtain.

Impact unknown

Finnish border guard Captain Jussi Pekkala oversees operations at the Vaalimaa crossing point. “We don’t know what will happen and how the situation will change between our countries. But at this time the situation is calm, and border traffic is flowing smoothly,” he told VOA on a recent visit to the frontier.

When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Pekkala said, there was a brief increase in crossings. “We had a lot of persons fleeing from Russia. Of course, Europeans, Americans. Actually, we had like 52 nationalities coming.”

Now cross-border traffic is running at just 10% of normal levels. Russia’s Sputnik coronavirus vaccine is not approved in the European Union, so most Russians have not been able to enter the bloc for the past two years.

Europe has not introduced travel restrictions on Russian visitors since the Ukraine invasion — but Finland’s bid to join NATO could choke off the remaining trickle of visitors as tensions increase.

The decline has hurt the regional economy. Frontier shopping malls selling luxury European brands to Russian consumers lie eerily empty.

Kimmo Jarva, the mayor of Lappeenranta, the biggest town in the region and a popular destination for visiting Russians, said the impact has been significant.

“We are used to cooperation with Russians. Here, for example, more than 3,000 Russian-speaking inhabitants are living here. Almost 2 million Russians were coming every year to this area. But now very few tourists are coming here. And we have estimated that we are losing 1 million euros ($1.04 million) every day because of this situation,” Jarva said.

Much of what happens at the border will depend on Russia and its reaction to Finland’s NATO membership bid. The chill of rapidly worsening relations between East and West is keenly felt on this frontier.

Mari-Leena Kuosa contributed to this report.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is disrupting crop exports and driving up global food prices. Both countries are major exporters of key staples like wheat and sunflower oil. In France, some farmers sense opportunity – particularly with sunflowers. Lisa Bryant reports from the French village of Labosse.
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Since the invasion of Ukraine began, the letter Z was used by Russia as a way to identify its military vehicles inside Ukraine. But the letter has now become a propaganda symbol inside Russia and Ukraine. VOA’s Russian service produced this report.
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