Russia’s President Vladimir Putin should be tried in The Hague for war crimes, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a surprise visit to the Netherlands.
“We all want to see a different Vladimir here in The Hague,” Zelenskyy said. “The one who deserves to be sentenced for these criminal actions right here, in the capital of international law.”
The Ukrainian president spoke in The Hague, where he traveled unexpectedly Thursday. He is expected to meet Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo later in the day.
In March, the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an international arrest warrant against Putin over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow has previously said it did not recognize the court’s authority, but the warrant means that the ICC’s 123 member countries are required to arrest Putin if he ever sets foot on their territory, and transfer him to The Hague.
The warrant’s existence has already caused a stir in South Africa, where the Russian president could attend the next BRICS summit in August.
Last week, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country should leave the ICC — but his office backtracked a few hours later, stressing South Africa remained part of the court.
In spite of numerous reports that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine — including a recent U.N. investigation which said that Russia’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children amounted to a war crime — the Kremlin has denied it committed any crimes.
In his speech Thursday, Zelenskyy said Russian forces had committed more than 6,000 war crimes in April alone, killing 207 Ukrainian civilians.
The Ukrainian president renewed his call to create a Nüremberg-style, “full-fledged” tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression and deliver “a full justice” — and lasting peace.
“The sustainability of peace arises from the complete justice towards the aggressor,” Zelenskyy said.
Speaking shortly before Zelenskyy, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said the Netherlands was “ready and willing” to host that court, as well as registers of the damages caused by Russia’s invasion, echoing similar statements he made in December.
“Illegal wars cannot be unpunished,” Hoekstra said. “We will do everything in our power to ensure that Russia is held to account.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
KYIV — From the glass cage in a Kyiv courtroom, Roman Dudin professed his innocence loudly.
And he fumed at the unusual decision to prevent a handful of journalists from asking him questions during a break in the hearing.
The former Kharkiv security chief is facing charges of treason and deserting his post, allegations he and his supporters deny vehemently.
“Why can’t I talk with the press?” he bellowed. As he shook his close-cropped head in frustration, his lawyers, a handful of local reporters and supporters chorused his question. At a previous hearing Dudin had been allowed during a break to answer questions from journalists, in keeping with general Ukrainian courtroom practice, but according to his lawyers and local reporters, the presence of POLITICO appeared to unnerve authorities.
Suspiciously, too, the judge returned and to the courtroom’s surprise announced an unexpected adjournment, offering no reason. A commotion ensued as she left and further recriminations followed when court guards again blocked journalists from talking with Dudin.
***
Ukraine’s hunt for traitors, double agents and collaborators is quickening.
Nearly every day another case is publicized by authorities of alleged treason by senior members of the security and law-enforcement agencies, prosecutors, state industry employees, mayors and other elected officials.
Few Ukrainians — nor Western intelligence officials, for that matter — doubt that large numbers of top-level double agents and sympathizers eased the way for Russia’s invasion, especially in southern Ukraine, where they were able to seize control of the city of Kherson with hardly any resistance.
And Ukrainian authorities say they’re only getting started in their spy hunt for individuals who betrayed the country and are still undermining Ukraine’s security and defense.
Because of historic ties with Russia, the Security Service of Ukraine and other security agencies, as well as the country’s arms and energy industries, are known to be rife with spies. Since the 2013-14 Maidan uprising, which saw the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych, Moscow’s satrap in Ukraine, episodic sweeps and purges have been mounted.
As conflict rages the purges have become more urgent. And possibly more political as government criticism mounts from opposition politicians and civil society leaders. They are becoming publicly more censorious, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his tight-knit team of using the war to consolidate as much power as possible.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said authorities were investigating more than 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia by officials | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Last summer, Zelenskyy fired several high-level officials, including his top two law enforcement officials, prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova and security chief Ivan Bakanov, both old friends of his. In a national address, he said authorities were investigating more than 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia by officials, including 60 who remained in territories seized by Russia and are “working against our state.”
“Such a great number of crimes against the foundations of national security and the connections established between Ukrainian law enforcement officials and Russian special services pose very serious questions,” he said.
***
But while there’s considerable evidence of treason and collaboration, there’s growing unease in Ukraine that not all the cases and accusations are legitimate.
Some suspect the spy hunt is now merging with a political witch hunt. They fear that the search may be increasingly linked to politicking or personal grudges or bids to conceal corruption and wrongdoing. But also to distract from mounting questions about government ineptitude in the run-up to the invasion by a revanchist and resentful Russia.
Among the cases prompting concern when it comes to possible concealment of corruption is the one against 40-year-old Roman Dudin. “There’s something wrong with this case,” Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a former Ukrainian deputy prime minister and now opposition lawmaker, told POLITICO.
And that’s the view of the handful of supporters who were present for last week’s hearing. “This is a political persecution, and he’s a very good officer, honest and dignified,” said 50-year-old Irina, whose son, now living in Florida, served with Dudin. “He’s a politically independent person and he was investigating corruption involving the Kharkiv mayor and some other powerful politicians, and this is a way of stopping those investigations,” she argued.
Zelenskyy relieved Dudin of his duties last May, saying he “did not work to defend the city from the first days of the full-scale war.” But Dudin curiously wasn’t detained and charged for a further four months and was only arrested in September last year. Dudin’s lead lawyer, Oleksandr Kozhevnikov, says neither Zelenskyy nor his SBU superiors voiced any complaints about his work before he was fired.
“To say the evidence is weak is an understatement — it just does not correspond to reality. He received some awards and recognition for his efforts before and during the war from the defense ministry,” says Kozhevnikov. “When I agreed to consider taking the case, I told Roman if there was any hint of treason, I would drop it immediately — but I’ve found none,” he added.
The State Bureau of Investigation says Dudin “instead of organizing work to counter the enemy … actually engaged in sabotage.” It claims he believed the Russian “offensive would be successful” and hoped Russian authorities would treat him favorably due to his subversion, including “deliberately creating conditions” enabling the invaders to seize weapons and equipment from the security service bases in Kharkiv. In addition, he’s alleged to have left his post without permission, illegally ordered his staff to quit the region and of wrecking a secure communication system for contact with Kyiv.
But documents obtained by POLITICO from relevant Ukrainian agencies seem to undermine the allegations. One testifies no damage was found to the secure communication system; and a document from the defense ministry says Dudin dispersed weapons from the local SBU arsenal to territorial defense forces. “Local battalions are grateful to him for handing out weapons,” says Kozhevnikov.
And his lawyer says Dudin only left Kharkiv because he was ordered to go to Kyiv by superiors to help defend the Ukrainian capital. A geolocated video of Dudin in uniform along with other SBU officers in the center of Kyiv, ironically a stone’s throw from the Pechersk District Court, has been ruled by the judge as inadmissible. The defense has asked the judge to recuse herself because of academic ties with Oleh Tatarov, a deputy head of the presidential administration, but the request has been denied.
According to a 29-page document compiled by the defense lawyers for the eventual trial, Dudin and his subordinates seem to have been frantically active to counter Russia forces as soon as the first shots were fired, capturing 24 saboteurs, identifying 556 collaborators and carrying out reconnaissance on Russian troop movements.
Roman Dudin is facing charges of treason and allegations that he eased the way for Russian invaders | Jamie Dettmer for POLITICO
Timely information transmitted by the SBU helped military and intelligence units to stop an armored Russian column entering the city of Kharkiv, according to defense lawyers.
“The only order he didn’t carry out was to transfer his 25-strong Alpha special forces team to the front lines because they were needed to catch saboteurs,” says Kozhevnikov. “The timing of his removal is suspicious — it was when he was investigating allegations of humanitarian aid being diverted by some powerful politicians.”
***
Even before Dudin’s case there were growing doubts about some of the treason accusations being leveled — including vague allegations against former prosecutor Venediktova and former security chief Bakanov. Both were accused of failing to prevent collaboration by some within their departments. But abruptly in November, Venediktova was appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to Switzerland. And two weeks ago, the State Bureau of Investigation said the agency had found no criminal wrongdoing by Bakanov.
The clearing of both with scant explanation, after their humiliating and highly public sackings, has prompted bemusement. Although some SBU insiders do blame Bakanov for indolence in sweeping for spies ahead of the Russian invasion.
Treason often seems the go-to charge — whether appropriate or not — and used reflexively.
Last month, several Ukrainian servicemen were accused of treason for having inadvertently revealed information during an unauthorized mission, which enabled Russia to target a military airfield.
The servicemen tried without permission to seize a Russian warplane in July after its pilot indicated he wanted to defect. Ham-fisted the mission might have been, but lawyers say it wasn’t treasonable.
Spy hunt or witch hunt? With the word treason easily slipping off tongues these days in Kyiv, defense lawyers at the Pechersk District Court worry the two are merging.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Russia hammered Ukraine with a new barrage of missiles and drones in the early hours of Monday morning, as Moscow gears up to celebrate victory over the Nazis in World War II.
In the Kyiv region, Ukrainian air defense shot down 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones, according to Ukraine’s air force. But the debris damaged several buildings and injured civilians. Russian bombers also fired at least eight cruise missiles at the Odesa region, leaving food warehouses destroyed.
Russia celebrates the Soviet triumph over Hitler on May 9 annually, and President Vladimir Putin has used the holiday to boost his strongman image during his decades in power.
But this year’s celebrations will be somewhat muted, with Putin canceling parades in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, which border Ukraine, and in Russian-occupied Crimea, citing security concerns. Moscow is now in the second year of its full-scale war on Ukraine and there’s no sign of imminent victory, while even the Kremlin is no longer completely safe after last week’s drone attack.
Ukraine said all the drones were shot down, but falling debris still caused destruction. At least five people were injured, reported Sergiy Popko, head of Kyiv region’s military administration. Several cars were destroyed, and residential buildings, a diesel reservoir and a gas pipe were damaged.
Ukraine’s southern Odesa region also came under fire. The Ukrainian army reported that Russia fired at least eight cruise missiles at the region.
“X-22 type missiles hit the warehouse of one of the food enterprises and the recreational zone on the Black Sea coast,” the Ukrainian military said. “Emergency services work at the scene. Three people, all workers of the warehouse, got minor injuries. One person is missing,” Yuriy Kruk, head of Odesa district military administration, reported.
On the eve of Russia’s V-Day, the strikes come as the Kremlin struggles to break a stalemate in Bakhmut, which it has spent months attacking. Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has veered wildly in recent days, first threatening to pull his forces out of Bakhmut over a row with the Kremlin’s top military officials — then announcing his troops would remain on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s top priority is to hold Bakhmut through May 9 — and embarrass Putin in the process.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
The Ukrainian military shot down a hypersonic Russian missile over Kyiv using the newly acquired Patriot missile defense system, an air force commander confirmed on Saturday.
It’s the first time Ukraine has been known to intercept one of Moscow’s most sophisticated weapons, after receiving the long-sought, American-made defense batteries from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands.
“Yes, we shot down the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, referring to a Kh-47 missile, which flies at 10 times the speed of sound. “It happened during the night time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region.”
Ukraine confirmed that two Patriot batteries were operational last month, following training on the system from the U.S. and Germany, according to the Kyiv Independent. The interception of the hypersonic missile also represents a major success for the Patriot technology, in use on the battlefield after 20 years of upgrades.
Kyiv had initially denied that it had shot down the Kinzhal missile.
Ukraine first asked Washington for Patriot systems in 2021, well before Russia’s current war of aggression began in February 2022. The U.S. and Germany have each sent at least one Patriot battery to Ukraine; and the Netherlands said it has provided two.
Separately, a well-known Russian nationalist writer was injured in a car bomb, reported TASS, Russia’s state-owned news service. Zakhar Prilepin was wounded in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, in a blast that killed one person, according to the report.
A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the blast was the “direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain,” without providing evidence, according to Reuters.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Hundreds of civilians on Sunday fled Ukrainian territories under Russian control as part of an “evacuation” ahead of what’s feared to be intense fighting around an area home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
A Ukrainian mayor slammed Moscow’s move as a cover-up operation to move troops, while the U.N. nuclear watchdog raised concerns over heavy fighting during a potential spring counteroffensive when Ukrainian forces are expected to seek to regain control of territories lost to Russian control.
Russian forces announced the evacuation for 18 settlements on Friday, and over the weekend, civilians have been rushing to leave those areas. The Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, called it a “mad panic” as thousands of cars were stuck on the roads with five-hour waits, BBC reported.
Meanwhile, Russian paramilitary group Wagner’s boss on Sunday signaled that his men would continue to fight in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a U-turn from an earlier threat — made in a video filmed alongside dead bodies — to withdraw from there as he criticized Moscow for failing to supply his group with the ammunition it needed.
Russian defense officials reportedly had reservations about over-assisting Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner mercenaries have played a key role in securing control over Ukraine’s eastern territories.
In Bakhmut, Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking the besieged city with phosphorus munitions.
Russia’s Federal Security Services claimed on Sunday they had foiled an attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to attack a military airfield in central Russia with drones stuffed with explosives. Kyiv has not responded to the accusation but previously attributed such actions to “false flag” operations or Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
The EU will send a civilian mission to Moldova to help the Eastern European nation combat growing threats from abroad, officials have confirmed, following a string of reports that the Kremlin is working to destabilize the former Soviet Republic.
In a statement issued Monday, the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said that the mission, under the Common Security and Defence Policy, would step up “support to Moldova [to] protect its security, territorial integrity and sovereignty” against Russia.
Officials confirmed that the mission will focus on “crisis management and hybrid threats, including cybersecurity, and countering foreign information manipulation and interference.”
In February, the president of neighboring Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Kyiv’s security services had intercepted Russian plans to “break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova.” The country’s pro-EU leader, President Maia Sandu, later alleged that “the plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and taking hostages.”
According to Vlad Lupan, Moldova’s former ambassador to the U.N. and a professor at New York University, Brussels’ move comes after “multiple signals Moldova would not be able to deal with Russian influence operations alone.” He told POLITICO that the mission would now have to focus on “communicating why the EU’s rule of law and democracy brings both respect and prosperity to the people compared to the Russian autocratic model.”
Home to just 2.6 million people, Moldova was for decades one of Moscow’s closest allies, and 1,500 Russian troops are currently stationed in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Elected in 2020, Sandu has repeatedly condemned the Kremlin for invading Ukraine and called for the withdrawal of its forces from her country. In June last year, EU leaders announced Moldova, as well as Ukraine, would be granted candidate status, beginning the process for its accession to become a new member state.
However, Moscow still maintains a significant hold on the country, operating several popular Russian-language state media outlets and supplying almost all of its natural gas. After the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced last year it would raise prices, as well as turn off the taps unless past debts were paid in full, Moldova, one of the Continent’s poorest countries, has turned to Brussels for support in diversifying its supplies.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
BRUSSELS — Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday reassured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Beijing would not add “fuel to the fire” of the war in Ukraine and insisted the time was ripe to “resolve the crisis politically.”
While Xi’s remarks — as reported by the state’s Xinhua news agency — made no specific reference to international fears that China could send arms to Russia’s invading forces in Ukraine, his words will be read as a signal that Beijing won’t give direct military assistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Xi was making his first call to Zelenskyy more than 400 days into the Russian war against Ukraine, and he suggested that Kyiv should pursue “political resolution” through dialogue — presumably with Russia — to bring peace to Europe.
For months, Xi had resisted pressure from the West — and pleas from Zelenskyy — for the two of them to have a direct chat. Instead, he held multiple meetings with the diplomatically isolated Putin, including in the Kremlin.
Wednesday’s call, which according to Ukrainian officials lasted an hour, could ease tension between China and the West over Beijing’s precarious position which has been largely in favor of Putin, analysts and diplomats say. But they also caution that this would not change Xi’s fundamental vision of a stronger relationship with Russia to fend off U.S. pressure, calling into question Beijing’s ability to broker peace satisfactory to both sides.
In Zelenskyy’s own words, the call with Xi served as a “powerful impetus” for their bilateral relationship.
“I had a long and meaningful phone call with [Chinese] President Xi Jinping,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “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.”
Xi, for his part, used the call to reject the West’s criticisms of China amid worries that Beijing was preparing to provide Moscow with weapons.
“China is neither the creator nor a party to the Ukraine crisis,” he said, as reported by state media Xinhua. “As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a responsible great power, we would not watch idly by, we would not add fuel to the fire, and above all we would not profiteer from this.”
The call came just days after China’s Ambassador to France Lu Shaye made an explosive remark during a TV interview saying former Soviet countries have no “effective status” in international law and disputed Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea, causing an international uproar and forcing Beijing to disavow him in an effort to mend ties with Europe.
Old splits, new bridges
One major difference, though, existed between the two.
Zelenskyy has been clear about the need for resistance to continue as Putin has shown no signs of easing the Kremlin’s military aggression, insisting that negotiations would not be possible while parts of Ukraine remain under Russian occupation.
Xi, however, said now would be the time for all sides to talk.
“Now [is the moment] to grasp the opportunity to resolve the crisis politically,” he said. “It’s hoped that all sides could make profound reflection from the Ukraine crisis, and jointly seek a way toward long-lasting peace in Europe through dialogue.”
Xi announced plans to send a special envoy to Ukraine to “conduct in-depth communication” on “politically resolving the Ukraine crisis.”
On the other hand, Beijing also accepted the request by Kyiv to send over a new ambassador. Pavlo Riabikin, former minister of strategic industries, was named in a Ukrainian presidential decree Wednesday to take over the ambassadorship left vacant for more than two years since Serhiy Kamyshev died of a heart attack.
Riabikin is expected to have smoother channels in Beijing, given that the chargé d’affaires, the second-in-command of the embassy, had been given limited access to the Chinese foreign ministry officials since the war began, according to two European diplomats with knowledge of the matter who spoke privately to discuss a sensitive topic.
‘Good news’ for Europe
Europe has piled pressure on China to act responsibly as a top U.N. member — and it reacted with cautious optimism to Xi’s call.
“Good news,” Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said in a tweet regarding Zelenskyy’s announcement of the call.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly hatched a plan with Beijing to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table this summer after his recent visit to Beijing — and his office claimed an assist for making the call happen.
“We encourage any dialogue that can contribute to a resolution of the conflict in accordance with the fundamental interests of Ukraine and international law,” an Elysée official told media in response to the call. “This was the message conveyed by [Macron] during his state visit to China, during which President Xi Jinping told the head of state of his intention to speak with President Zelenskyy.”
Chinese officials have also been emboldened by their success in brokering a recent deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, casting a keen eye on playing a role also between Israel and the Palestinians. For Chinese diplomats, this showed the appeal of Xi’s brand new “Global Security Strategy,” wooing third countries away from the U.S. orbit wherever possible.
One country, though, sounded less than enthusiastic about Xi’s latest moves.
“We believe that the problem is not a lack of good plans … [Kyiv’s] actual consent to negotiations is conditioned by ultimatums with knowingly unrealistic demands,” Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova told journalists, adding that she “noted” Beijing’s willingness to put in place a negotiation process.
Stuart Lau and Nicolas Camut reported from Brussels; Veronika Melkozerova reported from Kyiv; Clea Caulcutt reported from Paris.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Florida’s Republican governor and wannabe presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he supported the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine — a move long opposed by Kyiv, which has set reclaiming its lost territory as a precondition for any talks with Russia.
“It’s in everybody’s interest to try to get to a place where we can have a ceasefire,” DeSantis said in an interview with the Japanese, English-language weekly Nikkei Asia.
“You don’t want to end up in like a [Battle of] Verdun situation, where you just have mass casualties, mass expense and end up with a stalemate,” he added, referring to the longest battle of World War I, in which around 700,000 were killed.
The idea is likely to get the cold shoulder from Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a ceasefire would only allow Russia to regroup its forces, and make the war last longer.
In his 10-point peace plan presented last November at a G20 summit, Zelenskyy set the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity as a precondition for peace, stressing that point was “not up to negotiations.”
DeSantis’ remarks are the latest in a series of controversial comments made by the Florida governor — who has yet to formally announce his bid for the 2024 presidential election — on the war in Ukraine.
Last month, he sparked fury even within his own Republican Party after calling the conflict a “territorial dispute,” and said becoming “further entangled” in Ukraine was not part of the U.S.’s “vital national interests.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
The Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are demanding an explanation from Beijing after China’s top envoy to France questioned the independence of former Soviet countries like Ukraine.
Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, said in an interview on Friday with French television network LCI that former Soviet countries have no “effective status” in international law.
Asked whether Crimea belongs to Ukraine, Lu said that “it depends how you perceive the problem,” arguing that it was historically part of Russia and offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
“In international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries do not have the status, the effective [status] in international law, because there is no international agreement to materialize their status as a sovereign country,” he said.
The comments sparked outrage among Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia — three former Soviet countries.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said in a tweet that his ministry summoned “the authorized chargé d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in Riga on Monday to provide explanations. This step is coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia.”
He called the comments “completely unacceptable,” adding: “We expect explanation from the Chinese side and complete retraction of this statement.”
Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, called the comments “false” and “a misinterpretation of history.”
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, shared the interview on Twitter with the comment: “If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don’t trust China to “broker peace in Ukraine,” here’s a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries’ borders have no legal basis.”
Kyiv also pushed back strongly against the ambassador’s comments.
“It is strange to hear an absurd version of the ‘history of Crimea’ from a representative of a country that is scrupulous about its thousand-year history,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, said in a tweet on Sunday. “If you want to be a major political player, do not parrot the propaganda of Russian outsiders.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the remarks “unacceptable” in a tweet on Sunday. “The EU can only suppose these declarations do not represent China’s official policy,” Borrell said.
France in a statement on Sunday stated its “full solidarity” with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence “after decades of oppression,” according to Reuters. “On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China,” a foreign ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The foreign ministry spokesperson also called on China to clarify whether the ambassador’s statement reflects its position or not.
The row comes ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, where relations with China are on the agenda.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
The Group of Seven richest countries set higher 2030 targets for generating renewable energy, amid an energy crisis provoked by Russia’s war on Ukraine, but they set no deadline to phase out coal-fired power plants.
At a meeting hosted by Japan, ministers from Japan, the U.S., Canada, Italy, France, Germany and the U.K. reaffirmed their commitment to reach zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century, and said they aimed to collectively increase solar power capacity by 1 terawatt and offshore wind by 150 gigawatts by the end of this decade.
“The G7 contributes to expanding renewable energy globally and bringing down costs by strengthening capacity including through a collective increase in offshore wind capacity … and a collective increase of solar …,” the energy and environment ministers said in a 36-page communiqué issued after the two-day meeting.
“In the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis, it’s important to come up with measures to tackle climate change and promote energy security at the same time,” Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference, according to Reuters.
The ministers’ statement also condemned Russia’s “illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked” invasion of Ukraine and its “devastating” impact on the environment. The ministers vowed to support a green recovery and reconstruction in Ukraine.
They also published a five-point plan for securing access to critical raw materials that will be crucial for the green transition.
Before the meeting, Japan was facing criticism from green groups over its push to keep the door open to continued investments in natural gas, a fossil fuel. The final agreed text said such investments “can be appropriate” to deal with the crisis if they are consistent with climate objectives.
The ministers’ meeting in the northern city of Sapporo comes just over a month before a G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
