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by Sam KINGSLEY Agence France Presse HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finland is preparing for a potentially historic decision “before midsummer” on whether to apply to join NATO as a deterrent against Russian aggression. The Nordic nation of 5.5 million has traditionally been militarily non-aligned, in part to avoid provoking its eastern neighbour, with which it shares a 1,300 kilometre (830 mile) border. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 saw public support for […]
by Herve BAR Agence France Presse Ukraine is preparing for “big battles” against Moscow’s forces in the east of the country, officials in Kyiv said, as thousands of civilians flee in fear of an imminent Russian offensive. Evacuations resumed on Saturday from Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, where a missile strike killed 52 people at a railway station a day earlier, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the latest Western leader to visit Kyiv. Hailing […]
KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson walked through the streets of Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a surprise visit Saturday, weeks after the city was attacked by Russian forces and remains vulnerable. Zelensky’s office published a video of the pair walking through the largely empty city centre guarded by what appeared to be snipers and other heavy security. They walked through Kyiv’s main Kreshchatyk street to the Maidan square, […]
by Hervé BAR Agence France Presse KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) — A rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed dozens on Friday, as civilians raced to flee the Donbas region bracing for a feared Russian offensive. World leaders condemned the attack with US President Joe Biden accusing Russia of being behind an “horrific atrocity” while the French government called it a “crime against humanity” and British Prime Minister […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said on Friday it was shutting down the local offices of more than a dozen international organisations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Fifteen organisations have been taken off Russia’s registry of international organisations and foreign NGOs due to “violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation,” the justice ministry said in a statement without providing further details. Russia also shut […]
by Robin Millard © Agence France-Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday strengthens the forum and sends a powerful message that “massive”-scale violators cannot be members, rights organizations said. The United Nations General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly to stop Moscow sitting in judgement of other nations’ human rights records following allegations of war crimes in its six-week-long assault on Ukraine. Russia withdrew […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union on Thursday said it had approved an embargo on Russian coal and the closing of the bloc’s ports to Russian vessels over the Ukraine war. An official from the French presidency of the European Council said the moves spearhead a “very substantial” fifth round of sanctions against Moscow. That package also includes a 10 billion euro ($10.9 billion) ban on exports to Russia, including high-tech goods, and […]
by Hervé Bar, with Philippe Rater at the United Nations © Agence France-Presse SEVERODONETSK, Ukraine (AFP) — The United Nations suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council on Thursday, as US President Joe Biden called the atrocities continuing to emerge in Ukraine an “outrage” to humanity. The diplomatic rebuke came as the G7, the European Union and Washington further tightened the economic screws on Moscow, spurred by the horrific images emerging in recent days […]
by Hervé Bar © Agence France-Presse SEVERODONETSK, Ukraine (AFP) — Desperate evacuation attempts from eastern Ukraine were under way Thursday as authorities warned of an imminent Russian offensive, following the devastation around Kyiv that has shocked the world. Russian troops have been withdrawing from around the capital and Ukraine’s north, leaving a trail of destruction, as they prepare for an expected assault on the country’s southeast. Scenes of carnage that Ukrainian officials have accused retreating […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday called on NATO members to provide Kyiv with all the weaponry it needs to fight Russia. “My agenda is very simple. It has only three items on it. Its weapons, weapons, and weapons,” Kuleba told journalists ahead of a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. “I call on all allies to put aside their hesitations, their reluctance, to provide Ukraine with everything it […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Little is known publicly about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters, sanctioned on Wednesday by the US government over Moscow’s “atrocities in Ukraine.” The US Treasury identified the daughters as Katerina Tikhonova, “a tech executive whose work supports … the Russian defense industry” and Maria Vorontsova, who leads state-funded genetics research programs “personally overseen by Putin.” A senior US official said Washington believes “Putin’s assets are hidden with family members.” […]
The White House announced sanctions Wednesday targeting Russia’s top public and private banks and two daughters of Vladimir Putin, adding pressure on the country’s economy and its elite over the invasion of Ukraine. The new sanctions targeted Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, two adult daughters of Putin’s with his former wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva. Also hit with new sanctions were the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of Russia’s Security […]
