by tyler | Apr 26, 2023 | CNN, europe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Wednesday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Moscow’s most important diplomatic partner, in the first phone call between the two leaders since the start of Russia’s invasion.
“I had a long and meaningful phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations,” Zelensky said.
Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, described the phone call as “an important dialogue” in a Telegram post Wednesday.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV also reported the call, during which Xi confirmed that that an envoy would travel to Ukraine and other countries to help conduct “in-depth communication” with all parties for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
In a briefing on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said its envoy to Ukraine will be Li Hui, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs. Li is the former Chinese ambassador to Russia, who served in the post from 2009 to 2019.
The ministry did not provide further details as to when Li would make the trip and which other countries he would be visiting.
Beijing has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion or make any public call for Russia to withdraw its troops. Its officials have instead repeatedly said that the “legitimate” security concerns of all countries must be taken into account and accused NATO and the US of fueling the conflict.
Despite its claims of neutrality and calls for peace talks, Beijing has offered Moscow much-needed diplomatic and economic support throughout the invasion.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow had taken notice of China’s willingness to facilitate negotiations with Ukraine following the phone call between Xi and Zelensky.
“We note the readiness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish the negotiation process,” Zakharova said during a press conference on Wednesday.
However, she said she also noted that under current conditions negotiations are unlikely and blamed Kyiv for rejecting Moscow’s initiatives.
Wednesday’s phone call is the first time Xi has spoken to Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. In comparison, Xi has spoken to Russian leader Vladimir Putin five times since the invasion – including a face-to-face at the Kremlin when the Chinese leader visited Moscow last month and another in-person meeting at a regional summit in Central Asia last September.
Reports that discussions were underway between China and Ukraine to arrange a call for their leaders first surfaced in March, in the lead-up to Xi’s state visit to Russia.
The reported efforts were widely seen by analysts at the time as part of China’s attempt to portray itself as a potential peacemaker in the conflict, in which it has claimed neutrality.
But the call didn’t materialize for weeks after Xi and Putin met in Moscow and made a sweeping affirmation of their alignment across a host of issues – including their shared mistrust of the United States.
Following a trip to Beijing, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told reporters earlier this month Xi reiterated his willingness to speak with Zelensky “when conditions and time are right.”
Xi’s call with Zelensky comes days after China’s top diplomat in Paris sparked anger in Europe by questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, in comments that could undermine China’s efforts to be seen as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
The remarks by China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye, who said during a television interview last weekend that former Soviet countries don’t have “effective status in international law,” have caused diplomatic consternation, especially in the Baltic states, with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia summoning Chinese representatives to ask for clarification.
Officials including from Ukraine, Moldova, France and the European Union also all hit back with criticisms of Lu’s comments.
China later distanced itself from Lu’s comments saying he was expressing a personal opinion, not official policy.
CNN asked Chinese Foreign Ministry official Yu Jun if the timing of the Xi-Zelensky phone call had anything to do with the backlash. “China has issued an authoritative response to the remarks made by the Chinese ambassador to France,” he said. “And I have been very clear on China’s position (on the Ukraine crisis).”
The last publicly reported phone call between Xi and Zelensky was on January 4, 2022, weeks before the invasion, during which the two leaders exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic bilateral ties.
by tyler | Apr 26, 2023 | CNN, europe
Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny said he faces a new “terrorist case,” in what could mean decades more in prison for the outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In comments posted on Twitter, Navalny said that despite his jail term he was accused of committing “terrorist attacks” and that he had been told the case would be heard by a military court.
He said the new terror case is separate from an extremism case against him, on which there was a hearing at Moscow’s Basmanny district court on Wednesday.
His comments come as his daughter, Daria Navalnaya, told CNN that the Russian authorities were depriving her father of food.
Navalny is currently serving a nine-year jail term at a maximum-security prison east of Moscow after being convicted of large-scale fraud by a Russian court last year.
In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok, according to the German government, an act he and Western officials blame on the Kremlin. After recovering, he returned to Russia a few days later where he was soon detained.
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said on Twitter that he now faces “two big trials.”
“First on extremism – which carry a total of up to 30 years of imprisonment. Most likely, it [the trial] will start by the end of May. Then on terrorism charges – [which carry] up to 35 years of imprisonment,” Yarmysh said.
The director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Ivan Zhdanov, said that part of the terrorism case against Navalny involves comments Navalny’s chief of staff, Leonid Volkov, made on YouTube last year about Putin. After this, charges were brought against “all the founders” of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Zhdanov said.
Zhdanov also said that the investigator in the terrorism case was considering the killing of military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky as part of the charges.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee claimed earlier this month that an explosion that killed Tatarsky at a cafe in St. Petersburg on April 2 was planned by the special services of Ukraine with the participation of Navalny’s supporters. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation deny the claims.
Yarmysh added that a judge ruled he has ten days to “familiarize himself” with the documents detailing the extremism case against him.
Russian state news agency TASS said there were 196 volumes of documents related to this case. TASS said that the court would consider the issue again after 5 May.
Navalny’s daughter Daria meanwhile raised concerns that Navalny been losing weight dramatically while imprisoned, as a result of prison authorities allegedly limiting “the amount of food he can purchase” in his prison’s canteen.
“Now the situation has gotten so ridiculous that he buys the food which is, you know, oats – he buys the oats, the oats are brought to him, shown to him, and then are just destroyed. So, he can’t eat. And it’s, you know, something so basic is stripped away from a human being. It is outrageous,” Daria Navalnaya said, citing information from Navalny’s lawyers.
His spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote in a Twitter post on April 11 that Navalny lost eight kilograms over the course of 15 days in his isolated prison cell. Navalny’s team has also reported that he has been experiencing severe stomach issues in prison, and suggested that he may have been poisoned again.
Even while behind bars, his Instagram and Twitter accounts keep up his attacks on Russian President Vladimir Putin as he passes notes for his team to post online.
Navalnaya told CNN that she is advocating for her father because “I am trying to bring more attention because people don’t necessarily realize how important – how the Russian government is stripping everyone who’s a political prisoner in Russia right now of such basic needs as eating food.”
by tyler | Apr 26, 2023 | CNN, europe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Moscow’s most important diplomatic partner, in the first phone call between the two leaders since the start of Russia’s invasion.
“I had a long and meaningful phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations,” Zelensky said.
Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, described the phone call as “an important dialogue” in a Telegram post Wednesday.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV also reported the call, during which Xi confirmed that that an envoy would travel to Ukraine and other countries to help conduct “in-depth communication” with all parties for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
In a briefing on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said its envoy to Ukraine will be Li Hui, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs.
Li is the former Chinese ambassador to Russia, who served in the post from 2009 to 2019.
The ministry did not provide further details as to when Li would make the trip and which other countries he would be visiting.
Wednesday’s phone call is the first time Xi has spoken to Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. In comparison, Xi has spoken to Russian leader Vladimir Putin five times since the invasion – including a face-to-face at the Kremlin when the Chinese leader visited Moscow last month and another in-person meeting at a regional summit in Central Asia last September.
It comes after China’s ambassador to France sparked fury in Europe when he questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet republics,
The remarks by Lu Shaye, who said during a television interview that former Soviet countries don’t have “effective status in international law,” caused diplomatic consternation, especially in the Baltic states, and could undermine China’s efforts to be seen as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
China has claimed neutrality in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, with Beijing calling for peace in the conflict. But it has also refused to condemn Russia’s invasion or make any public call for Russia to withdraw its troops.
Its officials have instead repeatedly said that the “legitimate” security concerns of all countries must be taken into account and accused NATO and the US of fueling the conflict.
by tyler | Apr 20, 2023 | CNN, europe
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday “Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” in his strongest remarks reaffirming ties with Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In his first visit to Ukraine since the invasion began, Stoltenberg said he discussed a “multiyear support initiative” with President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that it would help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to “NATO standards.”
This would “ensure full interoperability with the alliance,” Stoltenberg remarked.
Even though Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, and NATO has insisted that it is not a party to the conflict, the bloc has played a critical role in supporting Kyiv, donating billions in military aid and other support.
The NATO chief said that since last February, the alliance’s allies have delivered more than 150 billion euros ($165 billion) of support, including 65 billion euros of military aid.
“Allies are now delivering more jets, tanks and armored vehicles,” Stoltenberg said. “NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.”
Part of Russia’s premise for its invasion of Ukraine was to fend off NATO from expanding close to its borders.
Finland’s accession to the alliance earlier this month marked a major shift in the security landscape in northeastern Europe, more than doubling NATO’s frontier with Russia.
Finnish public support for accession snowballed following the invasion of Ukraine, and also reignited calls from Kyiv to join.
Speaking at a joint conference in Kyiv, Zelensky said he valued the support from the alliance but pressed Stoltenberg on when Ukraine would be invited to join NATO.
“We need something more than the kind of relationship we are having now,” Zelensky said on Thursday. “We will be in their alliance, we believe that is a guarantee of Ukraine’s security and a concrete guarantee.”
“But while we await the membership and are not a member, we want to have very specific guarantees of security approved in Vilnius, if there is an opportunity to do that then we will be ready on our side.”
NATO has an open-door policy, meaning that any country can be invited to join if it expresses an interest, as long as it is able and willing to uphold the principles of the alliance’s founding treaty.
However, under the accession rules, any member state can veto a country from joining if they deem that the country doesn’t meet the standards required to join the alliance. These standards include being able to demonstrate a “functioning democratic political system based on a market economy” and “the fair treatment of minority populations,” according to NATO’s website, along with other things that are more difficult to demonstrate during wartime.
Ukraine’s membership would also raise questions about the most important aspect of NATO: the alliance’s security guarantee. Under Article 5 of its treaty, NATO members accept the premise that an attack on one is an attack on all. The nation under attack can invoke Article 5, in theory compelling the rest of the alliance to come to their aid. Given Ukraine is currently at war, this would likely mean an almost certain immediate invocation of Article 5, putting NATO at war with Russia.
No one in the alliance wants this to happen – some because they fear what an escalation would mean in terms of starting an effective world war, others because they still have certain ties with Russia.
In December, nine Central and Eastern European countries from the alliance signaled their support for Ukraine’s membership, while other members have so far refrained from backing Kyiv’s bid.
Stoltenberg said the topic of Ukraine’s NATO membership and security guarantees will be “high on the agenda” at July’s NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, but he stopped short of confirming the country’s accession.
“Ukraine’s future is in NATO. All allies agree on that,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the main focus of the alliance now is “to ensure that Ukraine prevails.”
NATO’s expansion in northern Europe has dealt a major blow to President Vladimir Putin’s military campaign, with the Kremlin reiterating on Thursday that preventing Kyiv from joining NATO is one of its key goals.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday Ukraine’s accession would “pose a serious and significant danger to our country, to the security of our country.”
Earlier this month, the Kremlin said it would scale up forces near Finland after the Nordic nation joined the alliance, warning that it will not bring more stability to Europe.
Before Finland’s accession, Russia shared about 1,215 kilometers (755 miles) of land border with five NATO members. But the expansion added some 1,300 kilometers (830 miles) to the alliance’s frontier with Russia.
by tyler | Apr 19, 2023 | CNN, europe
The brother-in-law and close political ally of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has warned that Italy’s low birth rate and an increase in irregular immigration could lead to “ethnic replacement,” sparking anger from the country’s opposition.
Francesco Lollobrigida remarks comes in response to a recent report which found Italy has one of the world’s lowest birthrates with fewer than 400,000 births in 2022.
He made the comments at a conference on Tuesday, where he said that incentives to have more babies, suggested by Meloni, did not mean women had to stay home to raise them.
“The way is to build a welfare system that allows you to work and have a family, supporting young couples to find employment,” he said. “Italians are having fewer children, so we’re replacing them with someone else. Yes to helping births, no to ethnic replacement. That’s not the way forward.”
Elly Schlein, the new head of Italy’s Democratic Party, described Lollobrigida’s statement as “disgusting” and “reminiscent of the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini.”
She accused Lollobrigida of reverting to the mentality of the 1930s, saying his words “have a flavor of white supremacism.”
Speaking to reporters at a protest against the state of emergency against migrants in Rome, Schlein added that she hopes Meloni’s government distances itself from the statements, “made on the day when President (Sergio) Mattarella is visiting Auschwitz.”
Lollobrigida said that while he was not against controlled immigration, noting his grandfather emigrated to Italy, irregular migration is a threat.
“If there are requests for a workforce, when you have exhausted the internal demand, you can, you must provide a workforce that also comes from other countries. It must be clarified that the first enemy of regular immigration, made through organized flows, is illegal and clandestine immigration,” he said.
Meloni’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and she has yet to make a public statement. Matteo Salvini, a junior partner in Meloni’s coalition of far-right and center-right parties, had previously tweeted about the threat of “ethnic replacement” in 2017, and Meloni had used the term in political speeches in 2016.
Italy has had a record number of arrivals by sea this year, with 34,715 people arriving as of April 19, according to the Interior ministry.
Far right White supremacist groups and conservative media personalities in both Europe and the US have been widely condemned in recent years for attempting to inflame nativist feelings among conservative White populations by warning that immigrants are “replacing” native born populations.
Replacement theory was first popularized by French writer Renaud Camus with his 2011 essay, “Le Grand Remplacement,” which posited White Europeans were being replaced by Muslim immigration.
by tyler | Apr 18, 2023 | CNN, europe
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was on Tuesday denied an appeal to change the terms of his detention on espionage charges at a court hearing in Moscow.
The US citizen was arrested in Russia last month in a sign of the Kremlin’s crackdown on foreign media news outlets since it invaded Ukraine last year.
Gershkovich is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison until May 29. He faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges. The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the spying accusations against Gershkovich.
He appeared in Moscow City Court to ask that his pre-trial detention be under house arrest rather than in jail.
He was pictured standing in a glass cage, standing with arms folded as journalists scrambled into the room. Gershkovich was smiling at times, in his glass cage, as proceedings were about to get underway.
During the hearing, he told the judge that he did not need the decision of his appeal translated into English. “No no, I don’t need translation,” said Gershkovich, who is a bilingual Russian-English speaker.
“On April 18, 2023, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow dated March 30, 2023 against Evan Gershkovich, who is suspected of committing a crime under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” the court said in a statement.
Gershkovich’s legal team said it offered bail amounting to about $613,000 to the court to release the reporter from detention, but the court denied bail.
“We suggested that the court consider the choice of preventive measures not related to isolation from society, including house arrest, since Evan has a registration in the territory of Moscow; or a ban on certain actions; or a bail in the amount of 50 million rubles,” lawyer Maria Korchagina said.
“Dow Jones, the owner of the WSJ, provided a letter of guarantee that if Evan is released from custody, they are ready to provide bail in the amount of 50 million rubles. But our request was denied,” she added.
The US Ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, was photographed standing to the right of the cage with lawyers. Tracy said she spoke to Gershkovich on Monday, and he remains strong and is in good health.
“The charges against Evan are baseless, and we call on the Russian Federation to immediately release him,” she said, speaking after the court made its ruling on Tuesday.
Members of the press filmed Gershkovich and subsequently left the court room.
Tatyana Nozkhkina, a lawyer for Gershkovich, said later that his team will keep appealing against the detention of the reporter. The next court date is at the end of May, when the court is due to decide on an extension of his detention.
Nozkhkina said her client was keeping in good spirits in jail, reading Russian classic novels as well as watching cooking shows on TV and exercising.
“He does not complain,” she said outside the court.
Gershkovich’s arrest marked the first detention of an American reporter in Russia on allegations of spying since the Cold War, rattling White House officials and further straining ties between Moscow and Washington.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed his arrest on Sunday, according to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, as relations between both parties have soured since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s main security service, the FSB, claimed that Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, had been trying to obtain state secrets. The Wall Street Journal categorically rejected the accusation.
Last week, the US State Department officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, giving further backing to the assertions by the US government and the Wall Street Journal that the espionage charges against the reporter are unfounded.
US President Joe Biden has also been blunt about Gershkovich’s arrest, urging Russia to “let him go.”
In December, the US negotiated the release of basketball star Brittney Griner, detained last year on what the US described as false drug smuggling charges, in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. But the swap did not include another American whom the State Department has declared to be unlawfully detained, Paul Whelan.
The same FSB investigator who led the Whelan investigation, Alexei Khizhnyak, is now investigating Gershkovich.
As US officials begin to consider ways to secure Gershkovich’s release, some are concerned about a prisoner swap in this case incentivizing the detainment of American journalists.
The United States “will look at creative and sometimes quite challenging options” to bring Gershkovich home, but the process could take a long time, a senior administration official told CNN Tuesday.
The official would not go into details about the options that the US is considering to secure the release of Gershkovich, and wouldn’t say if any proposals have yet been put on the table with Russians.
“Until an American is home, we’re always exploring and re-exploring and re-exploring what the options might be available to bring that American home,” the official said.
The official noted that in the past the Russians have wanted legal proceedings – which the US views as “illegitimate” – to play out in court first before they will engage in any serious negotiations.
“And that may well take a long time,” the official said.
And though the US Ambassador to Moscow was finally able to visit Gershkovich for the first time on Monday, the senior administration official said the US can’t be confident that the US will be granted consular access to Gershkovich again before his next hearing.
Russians have “flouted the norms of access that we think are vital and fundamental, including playing some very silly games about even us trying to get paperwork to Evan and trying to deliver that, trying to use the Postal Service deliver that, I mean, just kind of silly and but at the same time, very inhumane stuff for somebody in these conditions,” the official said.
“Given the way the Russians have treated this matter, but given the way they’ve also treated Whelan, Griner, Reed before that, I fear that we can’t count on norms being adhered to,” the official said, calling lack of regular consular access “appalling.”
