Anadolu Agency’s Morning Briefing – Dec.1, 2022

Türkiye’s foreign minister said a trilateral meeting with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts on the sidelines of a NATO gathering had followed up on the Nordic countries’ bids to join the military alliance but that Sweden needs to take more steps against terrorism.

The European Commission will work with the International Criminal Court to “help set up a specialized court to try Russia’s crimes,” the president of the EU’s executive body said.

“Russia must pay for its horrific crimes, including for its crime of aggression against a sovereign state. And this is why while continuing to support the International Criminal Court, we are proposing to set up a specialized court backed by the United Nations to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression,” Ursula von der Leyen said in a video message that she shared on Twitter.

The UK announced sanctions on three more senior Russian officials.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, who is responsible for Russia’s weapons industry and equipping mobilized troops, and Dmitry Bezrukikh, head of the Wagner Group recruitment hub, have been sanctioned, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Arkady Gostev, director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, was also sanctioned for supporting the recruitment of prisoners into Wagner Group, it added.

Moscow will take “adequate measures” if the EU confiscates Russian state and private assets, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, as the bloc’s chief proposed a plan to compensate Ukraine for its reconstruction.

Russia’s defense chief announced that the country’s state defense orders would increase next year to 1.5 times the 2022 figure.

Germany’s parliament adopted a resolution Wednesday labelling the starvation of millions of Ukrainians under the Soviet regime a “genocide.”

The European Commission approved Hungary’s post-pandemic recovery plan but will hold back funds until Budapest fulfills all agreed conditions.

One person was injured in an explosion at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid on Wednesday.

The blast took place when an embassy worker opened an envelope, according to Spanish news outlet Radio Television Madrid.

The US supports the “separatist sentiments” of some leaders of the “Syrian Kurds” and openly pursues a line to separate these territories from the rest of the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Anadolu Agency.

Democrats in the House of Representatives unanimously chose congressman Hakeem Jeffries to be their next party leader, making him the first Black lawmaker to lead either major party in Congress.

A former Daesh/ISIS leader was killed in Syria’s Dar’a province last month, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in mid-October during a Free Syrian Army operation, the command said, noting “ISIS remains a threat to the region.”

Former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin died on Wednesday, state-run media said.

Zemin, 96, died in Shanghai from leukemia and multiple organ failure, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Source: Anadolu Agency