Day: May 26, 2023

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has accused hostile states of falsely claiming that Moscow intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

In an interview with Russian media on Friday, the official noted that Moscow has not introduced any changes to its nuclear doctrine, and that “there have been no changes in our approach to this complex and alarming issue.”

“Our enemies are cynically speculating on this issue and trying to attribute to Russia non-existent intentions to use nuclear weapons in connection with what is happening in Ukraine,” Ryabkov said.

The diplomat explained that Russia’s nuclear doctrine allows for the use of tactical weapons in the case of an existential threat to the existence of the state, even if such aggression is carried out using conventional weaponry. However, he stressed: “I would not project all this onto what is happening in Ukraine and around it.”

Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Friday that if Kiev was to be provided with nuclear weapons by the West, it would warrant a preemptive strike from Russia.

Speaking to journalists during his visit to Vietnam, Medvedev, who currently serves as Deputy Chairman of Russia’s National Security Council, stated that in the current situation, it is likely that the West will send Kiev F-16 fighter jets and even, possibly, nuclear weapons.

“But that would mean that there will be a missile with a nuclear charge launched at them. There are irreversible laws of war. If it comes to nuclear weapons, it will be necessary to launch a preemptive strike,” Medvedev said.

He added that the “Anglo-Saxons” don’t fully appreciate this fact, and falsely believe the situation will not come to this. “It will, under certain circumstances,” the former president stressed.

Moscow has repeatedly argued that the crisis in Ukraine stems from decades of Western disregard for Russian national security. Since launching its military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has called for a neutral, non-aligned status for a demilitarized Ukraine, while insisting that Kiev drop its plans to join NATO and the EU, and confirm its non-nuclear status.

Source: Russia Today

Russia does not consider it normal for peace and security in Africa to depend on irregular assistance from other countries, Vassily Nebenzia, the country’s permanent representative to the UN, said on Thursday.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on financing African Union peace support operations, the diplomat said that “Russia supports the position of African countries that effective measures are required to improve predictability, reliability and flexibility in this matter.”

“We think it is not normal that peace and security in Africa depends on irregular assistance from individual states and associations,” he added.

According to Nebenzia, “Africans know better than anyone the true nature and the root causes of instability in their region. They have come a long way in building the regional peace and security architecture.”

Business journalist Winston Tackie recently told RT that “deeper cooperation between African states has greatly contributed to fighting colonialism and stabilizing the region.”

“There has been a struggle for African resources, where we’ve seen a lot of continental countries come into Africa,” he said, noting that Russia, on the other hand, has been a “key supporter” of leveling the playing field.

Source: Russia Today

Images of prominent International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Khan Karim Asad Ahmad and of ICC judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala have appeared on ‘Wanted’ notice boards in Moscow, several news outlets reported on Thursday. Each is part of a group of ICC officials charged by the Russian Investigative Committee over their role in issuing an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin.

Several Russian Telegram channels posted photos of public notice boards located in north-western Moscow bearing key details about the two ICC officials.

The images of the men appear among the photos of other suspects wanted by Russian law enforcement. An accompanying text says both officials are “absconding the investigative agencies.” Khan and Aitala are charged with “attacking a person or an entity enjoying international protection” and with “instituting criminal proceedings against a knowingly innocent person,” as well as with “illegally opening a criminal case,” the text added, citing the relevant articles of Russia’s Criminal Code.

Citizens reading the public notices are encouraged to relay to police any information that may lead to the officials’ detention. It is unclear if it was Russian law enforcement that posted the images of the ICC prosecutor and judge on the ‘Wanted’ notice boards in Moscow, although the posts resemble other official notices issued by police. Russian officials have not commented on the development.

Khan, a British ICC prosecutor, was also put on the Russian Interior Ministry’s ‘Wanted’ list, several Russian media outlets reported last Friday, citing the ministry’s database. The ICC member states responded to the development by saying they were “deeply concerned” at Moscow’s move. The court itself said in a separate statement that it considers Russia’s actions “unwarranted and unjustified coercive measures.”

Last week, Russia’s Investigative Committee charged Khan and Aitala as well as two other ICC judges –Tomoko Akane and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez– in absentia, over the issuance of an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin. Khan and Aitala are the only two charged by Moscow so far.

According to the Investigative Committee, in late February Ahmad issued a request for an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and for Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights, which was then approved by the three judges.

The Russian president and the commissioner were accused of being responsible for “unlawful deportation” of children from “occupied areas” of Ukraine to Russia. The tribunal itself is not recognized by Russia.

The Investigative Committee maintained that there were “no grounds for criminal liability” and added that, in any case, heads of state are immune to that kind of prosecution, under a UN convention. The Kremlin also dismissed the warrant against Putin as null and void. Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in May that it would be “unthinkable” for any nation to try and enforce the ICC ruling against a nuclear power.

Source: Russia Today

Talking Europe interviews the boss of the largest and oldest group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People's Party. Manfred Weber is a veteran of the EU assembly, having first been elected nearly twenty years ago, and he is an important player in German politics, in the conservative Christian Social Union. He missed out on the job of EU Commission president in 2019, but does not seem to have given up on that ambition. We start the discussion with the European elections scheduled for June 2024, which could shake up the bloc's political scene.

Weber sounds upbeat about the EPP's chances in next year's European elections. "We have seen success by our national friends, by the national pillars of the EPP. We’ve seen that in the north of Europe, in Finland, in Sweden, and in Ireland. We also have centre-right governments in two Baltic countries. And now, to add to that, we have the success of Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Greece. In these times of uncertainty, of war, of economic challenges, I think our offer is attractive."

Weber addresses speculation about possible future deals between the EPP and the European Conservatives and Reformists, which contains elements that are commonly considered to be far right. "We won't work with far-right extremists, that is crystal clear," Weber responds. "Everyone who is a partner for the EPP must meet three basic criteria. They must be pro-European. They must be pro-Ukraine. And they must be pro-rule of law. That excludes cooperation with France's Le Pen, with the AfD in Germany, with PiS in Poland." (It is worth noting, however, that Weber's group used to include Viktor Orban's Fidesz, which Brussels did not consider to be pro-rule of law.)

Asked about his own political ambitions, Weber says: "If the EPP becomes again the biggest party in Europe, then we have a democratic right to ask for the most important post, and that is the presidency of the European Commission. We will do our best to keep the post within our political family. But as a matter of respect, we have to first see what Ursula von der Leyen's intentions are. She hasn't said what her commitments are yet."

Weber has strong words for French President Emmanuel Macron on the question of China and Taiwan. "It’s a tragedy that we don’t speak with one voice," he laments. "The trip by Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron to China turned into a diplomatic disaster. The interview of Emmanuel Macron showed Europe's hesitancy. To say publicly that Taiwan is not a European issue – I’m sorry, but 90 percent of all semiconductors are coming from Taiwan, so even from a purely economic point of view, Taiwan is highly important. For Macron to underline that we need more distance from our American friends – sorry, but without the Americans we will not win the fight for democracy and freedom. We need a common approach at the European level and I expect from the June EU Council that EU leaders will agree on one policy towards China. We cannot continue like this with the split that we have. And we have to de-link our dependency towards China and look to alternatives. We have to look to South America, to Japan, to India, to Canada. We need a free trade zone of the democracies of the world."

Also on the June EU Council, Weber says he expects strong action on migration. "We are sleepwalking in another migration crisis," he asserts. "The numbers are going up through Italy; also through the Balkan route. That’s why I expect our leaders at the June EU summit to act, not only to talk. That means solving the issue from a legislative point of view. We now have a good basis. There is a readiness, there is a momentum to close this file, and we have to close it before the European elections. The principles are clear. We have to decide at the external border: does someone have a chance of staying, or is there no chance? If there is no chance, then he must immediately leave. And if someone has the right to stay, then he must benefit from solidarity between EU members within the European Union."

On the energy transition and the tensions over that issue in the German governing coalition, Weber says: "I'm not happy about the idea to forbid the combustion engine for our cars, for example. Why should a politician regulate a technology? Or tell people what they should use in their own house? Why is the European majority going against nuclear energy, as an option for producing electricity? It’s climate-neutral, and if France wants to do it, then let’s do it. We have to do things in a pragmatic way, not in an ideologically driven way. And what I see from the Greens in the 'traffic light' coalition in Germany, is that they are doing ideological politics."

Source: France24.com

The head of Sber, Russia’s largest state-owned lender, has called the small proportion of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Russian economy “shameful.”

Small businesses account for just one-fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and “it’s a shame,” Herman Gref said at a meeting of Opora Rossii, a non-governmental organization that represents the interests of SMEs.

He cited the example of China, where SMEs account for between 60% and 70% of the economy, adding that in the US and Finland small businesses account for around 60% of GDP, while this figure is over 70% in Italy.

In 2021, the contribution of SMEs to Russia’s GDP was 20.3%, according to the national statistics agency Rosstat. It’s expected that the output of smaller companies in the Russian economy will grow and reach 32.5% by 2024 under a series of national schemes designed to support SMEs.

Russia defines small- and medium-sized companies as businesses that employ fewer than 250 people, have annual revenues of under two billion rubles ($24.9 million), and meet certain ownership and corporate governance rules.

Experts say small businesses in Russia are more exposed to economic headwinds such as sluggish consumer demand and inflation, because they predominantly operate in the retail sector of the economy and rarely export to other countries.

Source: Russia Today

A German regional court in Frankfurt declared last year’s police raids on the properties of Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov illegal, Der Spiegel weekly reported on Friday. The nation’s law enforcement searched several villas and an apartment – as well as the superyacht ‘Dilbar’ allegedly linked to the businessman– in September 2022 as part of a money laundering, tax evasion, and sanctions violation case.

The court ruled that the initial money laundering suspicions were insufficient to warrant the searches at Usmanov’s premises in the first place. The judges also pointed to some “serious deficiencies” in the search warrants requested by Frankfurt’s Public Prosecutor’s Office at the time.

Suspicions against Usmanov were based on allegations that were too vague, the court declared. The assumption that his assets – which are worth billions of dollars – were the result of some “crimes committed in Russia,” coupled with some references to allegedly shady business practices and offshore companies, was not enough, it added.

The judges also criticized the fact that the German investigators heavily relied on a YouTube video by Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, since German law enforcement reportedly failed to present any evidence of Usmanov’s supposedly improper business practices other than those mentioned in the video.

Navalny, who presents himself as an anti-corruption activist, founded an NGO called ‘The Anti-Corruption Foundation’ (FBK), which focused on ‘independent investigations’ of alleged corrupt activities among Russian officials and businessmen. The FBK was designated as an extremist organization by a Moscow court in June 2021. The organization had previously already been labeled a “foreign agent” by Russian officials.

In September 2022, the German police seized almost 90 bank reports describing what they called “suspicious transactions” by Usmanov, as well as some allegedly valuable works of art. German law enforcement accused the Russian businessman of using his “extensive and complex network of companies and corporations” to disguise the origins of several transactions between 2017 and 2022.

Usmanov’s lawyers hailed the court ruling, adding that it strengthened their client’s trust in German law. The businessman has denied all the allegations. According to Der Spiegel, some other accusations, including alleged sanctions violations, still stand. The investigations against the tycoon will therefore continue, and confiscated items are unlikely to be returned to him any time soon, the media outlet added.

Source: Russia Today

For a second year, the war in Ukraine is adding to worries for American farmers already pinched by higher interest rates. VOA's Kane Farabaugh speaks with farmers in the Midwest state of Illinois about the impact of world events as they launch another planting season. Camera: Kane Farabaugh.

Source: Voice of America

As Türkiye is preparing for its second round of presidential elections, we spoke to elderly and disabled people about their motivations to vote on May 28. Why is it considered common sense to vote? How do they decide on their presidential pick? What are their hopes for the future?

Source: TRTworld.com

The PKK/PYD terror group has voiced opposition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's re-election in the upcoming presidential elections following Ankara’s successful anti-terror operations against the terror group, which began in 2016.

Source: TRTworld.com