Month: January 2022

Ukraine Suspects Group Linked to Belarus Intelligence Over Cyberattack

Posted on by SeeEU

Kyiv believes a hacker group linked to Belarusian intelligence carried out a cyberattack that hit Ukrainian government websites this week and used malware similar to that used by a group tied to Russian intelligence, a senior Ukrainian security official said.

Serhiy Demedyuk, deputy secretary of the national security and defense council, told Reuters that Ukraine blamed Friday’s attack – which defaced government websites with threatening messages – on a group known as UNC1151, and that it was cover for more destructive actions behind the scenes.

His comments offer the first detailed analysis by Kyiv on the suspected culprits behind the cyberattack on dozens of websites. Officials on Friday said Russia was probably involved but gave no details. Belarus is a close ally of Russia.

The cyberattack splashed websites with a warning to “be afraid and expect the worst” at a time when Russia has massed troops near Ukraine’s borders, and Kyiv and Washington fear Moscow is planning a new military assault on Ukraine.

Russia has dismissed such fears as “unfounded.”

The office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Demedyuk’s remarks.

Russia’s foreign ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his remarks. It has previously denied involvement in cyberattacks, including against Ukraine.

“The defacement of the sites was just a cover for more destructive actions that were taking place behind the scenes and the consequences of which we will feel in the near future,” Demedyuk said in written comments.

In a reference to UNC1151, he said: “This is a cyber-espionage group affiliated with the special services of the Republic of Belarus.”

‘Track Record’

Demedyuk, who used to be the head of Ukraine’s cyber police, said the group had a track record of targeting Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine and had spread narratives decrying the NATO alliance’s presence in Europe.

“The malicious software used to encrypt some government servers is very similar in its characteristics to that used by the ATP-29 group,” he said, referring to a group suspected of involvement in hacking the Democratic National Committee before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“The group specializes in cyber espionage, which is associated with the Russian special services [Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation] and which, for its attacks, resorts to recruiting or undercover work of its insiders in the right company,” Demedyuk said.

The messages left on the Ukrainian websites Friday were in three languages: Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. They referred to Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, where mass killings were carried out in Nazi German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The episode remains a point of contention between Poland and Ukraine.

Demedyuk suggested the hackers had used Google Translate for the Polish translation.

“It is obvious that they did not succeed in misleading anyone with this primitive method, but still this is evidence that the attackers ‘played’ on the Polish-Ukrainian relations [which are only getting stronger every day],” he said. 
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Kosovo Bans Serbian Vote on Constitutional Changes on its Soil

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Kosovo’s parliament on Saturday passed a resolution banning ethnic Serbs from voting on Kosovan soil in Serbia’s national referendum on constitutional amendments.

Serbia will hold a referendum on Sunday on amendments to the constitution that would change how judges and prosecutors are elected, a move the government says is aimed at securing an independent judiciary, a condition for EU membership.

Kosovo’s independence backers—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and the EU mission—urged Prime Minister Albin Kurti to allow Serbs in Kosovo to vote in the referendum.

But in an extraordinary session on Saturday afternoon, 76 out of 120 deputies voted in favor of a declaration banning Serbia from opening polling centers in Kosovo.

Kurti told parliament that establishing polling stations in majority Serb areas of Kosovo would be against the constitution, and that ethnic Serbs could vote by mail or in Belgrade’s government liaison office in Pristina.

“Kosovo is an independent and sovereign state and should be treated as such,” Kurti said.

Serbia, which still considers Kosovo part of its territory, has been organizing elections for its ethnic kin since the Kosovo War ended in 1999.

Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence but has pledged to normalize relations with its former breakaway province before joining the EU.

The head of Serbian Office for Cooperation with Kosovo said the ban was aimed at “annulling political and civic rights of Serbs [in Kosovo].”

“Kurti and his extremists should not think that in the future they will succeed in banning Serbs in Kosovo from voting, notably in April 3 elections,” Petar Petkovic said in a statement.

Serbia is holding presidential and parliamentary elections on April 3. Early on Saturday, Kosovo police confiscated two trucks of the Serbian election commission transporting ballot papers as they crossed the border at Merdare to head towards Serb-majority areas.

“We call on the Kosovo government to allow Serbs in Kosovo to exercise their right to vote in elections and electoral processes in accordance with this established practice,” Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, United States and the EU said in their joint statement Friday.
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Victims of Deadly New York City Fire to Be Memorialized Sunday

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Plans are underway for a large communal memorial service Sunday for victims of New York City’s deadliest fire in more than three decades.

Seventeen people, including eight children, were killed when a fire broke out on January 9 at a high rise residential building in the working class Fordham Heights neighborhood in the Bronx, a New York borough with a large African and Latino community.

Funerals were held Wednesday at a mosque in the neighborhood of Harlem for 12-year-old Seydou Toure and his sister, five-year-old Haouwa Mahamadou.

Community leaders are preparing to memorialize the remaining 15 victims, all of whom had ties to the west African country of Gambia, on Sunday, one week after the tragic blaze.

 

The large scale funeral will be held at the Islamic Cultural Center in the Bronx, according to Imam Musa Kabba of Masjid-Ur-Rahmah. He said the mosque is where some of the victims’ families have been gathering to grieve.

Kabba also said funeral plans have been complicated by the difficult task of identifying the dead and contacting next of kin.  

Community activists have been pleading for more help for survivors who have had trouble getting services, including financial assistance, advocates said at a recent news conference.

The Gambian Youth Organization, a Bronx-based group that has raised more than $1 million through an online campaign, is among a number of organizations raising money for those affected by the fire. 

Robert Agyemang, New York Director of African Communities Together, said in an interview with VOA, “This kind of tragedy isn’t something one organization should be left to deal with on their own,” adding that his organization “follows their lead” in reference to the other groups.

“We’re helping with gathering of materials. We’re helping with interpretation needs for when they need to get resources from the city that have been promised by the mayor, resources from the state that have been promised by the governor, and all these other entities that we do interact with on a normal basis,” Agyemang said.

“We, African communities … work with the city on several projects and we’ve been in communication with this city, as well to try to ensure that especially the Gambian families have been taken care of and make sure they have all the resources they need,” Agyemang added.

 

Some of the families have been struggling to decide whether to bury their loved ones in their homeland of Gambia or in the United States.

The Gambian government said it is ready help in any way it can, including accommodating requests to repatriate the deceased, according to Alhagie Ebou Cham, president of the United Gambians Association and an honorary consul for Gambia.

Meantime, investigators are trying to determine why safety doors did not close when the fire erupted, allowing heavy smoke to rise through the 19-story tower and kill the victims.

The city’s medical examiner’s office said all the victims suffocated from the thick smoke in the building, where officials say a malfunctioning electrical space heater started the fire. Many people managed to escape, but others died as they tried to make their way down the stairs.

New York’s deadly fire and a January 5 blaze that killed 12 relatives in a Philadelphia rowhouse duplex, where officials said none of six smoke detectors were working, are the worst residential fires in either city in years.

Housing advocates say it is not a coincidence the two fires occurred in housing meant for low-income residents.

“The first thought when I read the news was, ‘I’m certain, based on the building and location, that this was low-income housing,’” Jenna Collins, a housing attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, said of the fire in New York.

“I was even less surprised to hear reports now that it was a space heater that caused that fire,” she noted, saying it is not unusual for residential properties either owned or subsidized by the government to have inadequate heating during the winter.

Soaring real estate prices have pushed low-income Americans even further away from the dream of home ownership, while available government-owned or subsidized housing in some cities plagued by poor maintenance conditions increases the chance of disaster.

“This is housing that’s been, for the most, neglected,” said Lena Afridi, acting executive director of the Pratt Center for Community Development in New York.

“People live where they can afford to live, in both cases, and people settled for places that might not be safe because that might be preferable to homelessness. But that should not be the dichotomy we set up.”

Afridi said she believed a lack of maintenance contributed to the fire, citing reports that residents relied on heaters to keep warm and that they ignored the fire alarm because they had previously heard so many false alarms.

U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed investing billions of dollars in affordable housing in his Build Back Better proposal, but the massive spending bill has reached an impasse in a Congress divided along party lines.

Jackson Mvunganyi of VOA’s English to Africa service contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press.
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Ethiopia on Edge of Humanitarian Disaster, UN Agency Says

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The World Food Program warns Ethiopia is on the edge of a humanitarian disaster as escalating fighting in the north is preventing the delivery of needed food from reaching millions of people in battle-scarred Tigray province. 

The last time a food convoy was able to reach Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, was mid-December.  Millions of acutely hungry people in this war-torn province have been deprived of food since then.

In a blunt warning to the warring parties and international community, World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri says his agency’s humanitarian operation in northern Ethiopia is about to grind to a halt.  He says intense fighting in the region is blocking the passage of fuel and food.

“Stocks of nutritionally fortified food for the treatment of malnourished children and women are now exhausted, and the last of WFP’s cereals, pulses and oil will be distributed next week,” said Phiri. “Because of fighting, food distributions are at an all-time low.  WFP aid workers on the ground tell me that warehouses are completely empty.”  

 

Fighting erupted between Ethiopian government troops and Tigrayan forces in November 2020.  Conditions have seriously deteriorated since then.  The World Food Program says 9.4 million people in northern Ethiopia now require humanitarian food aid, an increase of 2.7 million from just four months ago. 

In Tigray alone, the United Nations says 5.2 million people depend on international assistance to survive.  It says 400,000 people are living in famine-like conditions and another 2 million are on the verge of famine.  

The WFP aims to provide food aid for 2.1 million people in Tigray and for an additional 1.1 million people in the Amhara and Afar regions.  However, money is in short supply.  The U.N. food agency is urgently appealing for $337 million to carry out its emergency food assistance program in Northern Ethiopia over the next six months.
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Russia Detains 3 More Suspected REvil Group Members

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A Moscow court on Saturday remanded in custody three more suspected members of the ransomware crime group REvil for illegal trafficking of funds, a day after Russia claimed it had dismantled the group at the request of the United States.

The court identified the three men as Mikhail Golovachuk, Ruslan Khansvyarov and Dmitry Korotayev.  

In a rare apparent demonstration of U.S.-Russian collaboration at a time of high tensions between the two over Ukraine, Russian authorities detained and charged the REVil group’s members this week.

A police and FSB domestic intelligence operation searched 25 addresses, detaining 14 people, the FSB said Friday, listing assets it had seized, including $600,000 of computer equipment and 20 luxury cars.

The United States welcomed the arrests.

The United States said in November it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of anyone holding a key position in the REvil group.

A source familiar with the case told Interfax the group’s members with Russian citizenship would not be handed over to the United States.
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UN: Hate Speech in Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia an Incitement to Violence

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The U.N. human rights office condemns the rise of hate speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, warning it could incite violence between Serbian and Muslim ethnic groups that fought a devastating war following the breakup of Yugoslavia. 

Religious holiday celebrations in the autonomous Serb Republic of Srpska last weekend unleashed a torrent of nationalistic rhetoric and hate speech targeting certain communities.

U.N. human rights officials say individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia glorified atrocity crimes and convicted war criminals, including Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.   

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell calls the incidents an affront to survivors, including those who returned to their homes after the conflict.

“The failure to prevent and sanction such acts, which fuel a climate of extreme anxiety, fear, and insecurity in some communities, is a major obstacle to trust-building and reconciliation,” said Throssell. “As we have repeatedly highlighted, the rise in hate speech, the denial of genocide and other atrocity crimes and the glorification of war criminals in the Western Balkans highlight the failure to comprehensively address the past.”   

About 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995.  More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered in July 1995 in the Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide.  The killings were perpetrated under the command of Ratko Mladic, who led the Army of Republika Srpska.

Elections are due to take place in Serbia in April and later in October in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Throssell warns failure to prevent and sanction inflammatory hate speech will exacerbate the already extremely tense political environment.

“We stress once again the need for the authorities in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina to abide by their international human rights obligations to ensure the rights to truth, justice, and reparation,” said Throssell. “They should also adopt measures to prevent recurrence and to promote further reconciliation efforts.  We call on them to condemn and refrain from any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred.”   

She says all perpetrators and instigators of such acts must be held accountable.   

The U.N. human rights office is calling on political and religious leaders to speak out against intolerance and discriminatory instances of hate speech.

 
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Mali Gives Airlines 72 Hours to Confirm Service

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After several airlines discontinued service to Mali due to new regional sanctions, the country’s government has responded with its own economic threat.

Mali’s military government Friday gave airlines 72 hours, starting Jan. 15, to confirm their service to Mali with the country’s National Civil Aviation Agency or lose their time slots.

In a statement, Transport Minister Madina Sissoko, said that if airlines did not respond by the 72-hour deadline, “their time slots will be allocated to other airlines.”

Regional airlines such as Air Cote d’Ivoire and Air Burkina, the national carriers of Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, halted service to Mali after Economic Community of West African States sanctions were imposed following a special summit January 9 in Accra, Ghana. 

The bloc, known as ECOWAS, had threatened sanctions if Mali’s military government did not hold elections next month as previously agreed. Mali’s leaders last month announced a plan to hold the next presidential elections in 2026. 

The sanctions include border closures between Mali and ECOWAS countries and the blockage of transport of goods between the countries, except for such essentials as food and medicine. 

France’s national carrier, Air France, also halted flights to Mali this week, according to a Wednesday statement from the Malian Transport Ministry, after France backed the ECOWAS sanctions.  

 
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Canadian Foreign Minister to Visit Ukraine, Vows to Deter Russian Aggression

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Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kyiv next week to reaffirm support for Ukrainian sovereignty and reinforce efforts to deter “aggressive actions” by Russia, Ottawa said Saturday.

Moscow has stationed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and the United States said on Friday it feared Russia was preparing a pretext to invade if diplomacy failed to meet its objectives.

Canada, with a sizeable and politically influential population of Ukrainian ethnic descent, has taken a hard line with Moscow since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“The amassing of Russian troops and equipment in and around Ukraine jeopardizes security in the entire region. These aggressive actions must be deterred,” Joly said in a statement.

“Canada will work with its international partners to uphold the rules-based international order.”

Joly will meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal and travel to the west of the country to speak to a 200-strong Canadian training mission that has been there since 2015.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday and “emphasized that any military incursion into Ukraine would have serious consequences, including coordinated sanctions,” Trudeau’s office said.

Canada has imposed punitive measures on more than 440 individuals and entities over the annexation of Crimea.

Joly, who starts a weeklong trip to Europe on Sunday, will visit Brussels to see NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

She will also go to Paris for talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, the statement said. 

 

 
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Tsunami Observed in American Samoa, Tonga, After Volcano Erupts

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An underwater volcano off Tonga erupted Saturday, triggering a tsunami warning for several South Pacific island nations, with footage on social media showing waves crashing into homes.

Tsunami waves were observed in Tonga’s capital and the capital of American Samoa, a U.S.-based tsunami monitor said.

Saturday’s eruption at 0410 GMT of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano, located about 65 kilometers north of Nuku’alofa, caused a 1.2-meter tsunami, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said. An eruption Friday of the same volcano caused a smaller tsunami of 30 centimeters.

The agency said it continued to monitor the situation, but no tsunami threat had been issued to the Australian mainland, islands or territories.

Tsunami waves of 61 centimeters were observed by gauges at Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The U.S.-based monitor later canceled the warning for the U.S. territory of American Samoa.

The volcano’s eruption could be heard in Fiji, more than 800 kilometers from Tonga. Authorities there issued a tsunami warning, urging residents to avoid the shorelines “due to strong currents and dangerous waves.”

Jese Tuisinu, a television reporter at Fiji One, posted a video on Twitter showing large waves washing ashore, with people trying to flee from the oncoming waves in their cars. “It is literally dark in parts of Tonga and people are rushing to safety following the eruption,” he said.

New Zealand’s emergency management agency issued an advisory on tsunami activity for its north and east coasts with the areas expected to experience strong and unusual currents, and unpredictable surges at the shore.

On Friday, the volcano sent ash, steam and gas up to 20 kilometers into the air, Tonga Geological Services said in a Facebook post. It has a radius of 260 kilometers. 

 

 
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US Africa Envoy to Visit Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Ethiopia

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The U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa will visit Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Ethiopia next week amid ongoing crises in the two African nations, the State Department announced Friday.

David Satterfield and Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee will travel to Riyadh, Khartoum and Addis Ababa from Jan. 17-20.

In Riyadh, the pair will meet with the Friends of Sudan, a group calling for the restoration of the country’s transitional government following a military coup in October.

The meeting aims to “marshal international support” for the U.N. mission to “facilitate a renewed civilian-led transition to democracy” in Sudan, according to the statement.

Satterfield and Phee will then travel to Khartoum, where they will meet with pro-democracy activists, women’s and youth groups, civil organizations and military and political figures.

“Their message will be clear: the United States is committed to freedom, peace, and justice for the Sudanese people,” the statement read.

In Ethiopia, the pair will talk with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to seek a resolution to the deepening civil war.

“They will encourage government officials to seize the current opening for peace by ending the air strikes and other hostilities,” the statement read.

They will also ask for the establishment of a cease-fire, the release of political prisoners and the restoration of humanitarian access.

Satterfield, the former US ambassador to Turkey, was appointed to replace Jeffrey Feltman as special envoy Jan. 6.

Feltman quit just as he visited Ethiopia in a bid to encourage peace talks to end more than a year of war following the withdrawal of Tigrayan rebels.

The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, which last year threatened to march on Addis Ababa, by December had withdrawn to its stronghold, and the government has not pursued the rebels further on the ground.

Feltman had also sought to tackle the crisis in Sudan, but he was treated unceremoniously in October when Sudan’s military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, carried out a coup just after the U.S. envoy had left the country.

Feltman’s resignation came days after Sudan’s civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, quit, leaving Burhan as the undisputed leader of the country despite Western calls to preserve a democratic transition launched in 2019. 

 
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In Ukraine’s Trenches, Strays Bring Respite to Russia-Wary Troops

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With Russian troops massing and the specter of war looming over the trenches of eastern Ukraine, soldiers in the dugouts have found solace in the unlikely companionship of stray cats and dogs. 

In a muddy and freezing trench near the town of Avdiivka, 21-year-old Ukrainian soldier Mykyta was petting a dog adopted by the troops as he explained how she had become a valued asset on the frontline. 

“She immediately barks or growls if the enemy is planning an attack. It’s safer and calmer with her — no wonder they say that a dog is man’s best friend,” he told AFP, declining to give his last name over security concerns. 

More than two million Ukrainians were displaced from their homes and many pets were abandoned after fighting broke out in 2014 between pro-Moscow separatists and Kyiv’s army. 

The conflict, which has claimed 13,000 lives, has simmered in recent years with only sporadic reports of escalations and military deaths in eastern Ukraine. 

But that has changed recently with Kyiv’s Western allies accusing Russia of building up tens of thousands of troops around Ukraine’s borders in preparation for a possible invasion. 

Those tensions are at the center of intensive negotiations this week between the United States, NATO and Russia in Geneva and Brussels, with both sides accusing the other of ratcheting up tensions. 

“The animals aren’t to blame — the war is,” said 49-year-old soldier Volodymyr, who also declined to give his last name citing security concerns. 

An AFP journalist said around 15 cats and several dogs had taken up residence together with the soldiers in Volodymyr’s section of the trenches. 

“They were abandoned. They had to fend for themselves. We have to feed them,” Volodymyr said, pouring leftover soup for the cats. 

‘Talisman’ puppy 

After spending months on the frontline with their adopted strays, some soldiers have ended up taking their new comrades home, away from the fighting. 

In the basement of a bombed-damaged house where he sleeps while at the front, 29-year-old soldier Dmytro, meanwhile, is full of praise for his black hunting cat, Chernukha. 

“When winter came, field mice were running around the dugouts,” Dmytro said. 

“She caught them all,” within two months, the young soldier with a shaved head told AFP proudly. 

But it wasn’t the first time a pet had intervened during the war, he said. 

Dmytro told AFP that in 2014 he befriended a one-month-old puppy near the then-flashpoint town of Slavyansk. He said the dog soon became a “mini-talisman” among his fellow soldiers. 

Minutes before one bout of shelling began, he remembered, the dog hid. “We very quickly took the same measure as the dog,” Dmytro said with a smile on his face. 

We “grabbed bulletproof vests, helmets” and “ran.” 

With tensions higher now over fears Russia could invade, soldiers say the animals have been a particular boon, helping them relax and bringing respite to their daily routine. 

“You come back to the post, lie down on the bed, and here comes Chernukha,” Dmytro said. 

The cat “lies on your stomach and looks at you as if she wants to be petted.”

“It’s a sedative,” he said. 
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Lisbon Fined for Sharing Protesters’ Data with Targeted Embassies

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The mayor’s office in Lisbon has been fined $1.4 million for sharing the personal data of protest organizers with embassies of countries targeted by the protests, Portugal’s data protection commission said on Friday.

The mayor’s office came under fire in June 2021 when Ksenia Ashrafullina, a Russian-Portuguese organizer of a protest rally in Lisbon, said she had received an email showing the city hall had shared data on her and fellow organizers with the Russian Embassy.

After an internal investigation, it was revealed that data on organizers of 180 protests has been shared with embassies since 2012, 52 of which occurred after the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation — which bans such data sharing — came into force in 2018.

The city hall, then led by Socialist mayor Fernando Medina, shared data of protesters in front of the Cuban, Angolan, Venezuelan, Israeli embassies with the targeted institutions.

The decision by the data protection commission (CNPD), published on its website, said that between 2018 and 2021 there were a total of 225 data breaches committed by the mayor’s office related to sharing protesters’ personal information with embassies and other entities.

In a statement, the mayor’s office, now headed by Social Democrat Carlos Moedas, said the decision was a “heavy legacy the previous leadership … left to the people of Lisbon,” adding the fine now posed a challenge for the budget.

“We will evaluate this fine in detail and how best to protect the interests of citizens and the institution,” it said.

Medina did not immediately respond to a request for comment Ashrafullina, who organized the rally in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, told Reuters she was satisfied with the CNPD’s decision: “We have been waiting for it, and it finally came.”

But Ashrafullina is still scared about the consequences of the data-sharing.

“I’m worried about what would happen if I ever needed to go back to Russia,” she said. 

 

 
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US Actor Baldwin Hands Over Phone to ‘Rust’ Investigators

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Alec Baldwin has handed his cellphone to authorities as they investigate the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the Rust movie set, almost a month after a warrant was issued for the device.

The U.S. actor was holding a Colt gun during a rehearsal for the Western being filmed in New Mexico in October when it discharged a live round, killing Halyna Hutchins.

Police are investigating why live ammunition was present on set, and requested Baldwin’s phone in mid-December on the grounds “there may be evidence on the phone” that could be “material and relevant to this investigation.”

Baldwin’s iPhone was turned over to law enforcement in New York state’s Suffolk County, where he has a home.

They will gather information off the device and provide their findings to New Mexico officials, a Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told AFP.

The sheriff’s office has not yet received the data to be retrieved off Baldwin’s phone, said the spokesperson.

Investigators have said they wanted to view text messages and emails sent to and from Baldwin — a producer and actor on Rust — regarding the project.

The search warrant for his phone said Baldwin had exchanged emails with the film’s armorer about the type of gun to be used in the scene.

Correspondence with Baldwin’s lawyer and his wife contained on the phone will not be handed over, under an agreement between Baldwin and the Santa Fe district attorney.

The sheriff’s office earlier said negotiations over “jurisdictional concerns” had held up the transfer of the phone.

Baldwin posted a rambling video over the weekend in which he insisted claims he was not complying with the investigation were “a lie.”

Prosecutors have not yet filed criminal charges over the tragedy and have refused to rule out charges against anyone involved, including Baldwin.

Baldwin has said he was told the gun contained no live ammunition, had been instructed by Hutchins to point the gun in her direction, and did not pull the trigger. 

 
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Former Danish Defense Minister Charged with State Secret Leaks

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Denmark’s former defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said on Friday he has been charged with violating a section of the penal code which includes treason for leaking state secrets.

Frederiksen, who served as defense minister from 2016-19, was charged with the rarely used section 109 of the code, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison, although it was not clear exactly what he was accused of.

Section 109 covers any “person who discloses or imparts any information on secret negotiations, deliberations or resolutions of the state or its rights in relation to foreign states.”

A statement published by Frederiksen on Friday did not specify what the charges against him referred to or whether the charges related to his time as a minister.

“I have spoken out as a member of parliament on a political issue, and I have nothing further to add at present. But I could never dream of doing anything that could harm Denmark or Denmark’s interests,” Frederiksen said in a statement.

It was not clear which comments Frederiksen referred to in his statement.

The state prosecutors office and the Ministry of Defense declined to comment on Frederiksen’s statement.

The news come after the head of Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit last month was detained, charged under the same section of the law over his suspected involvement in a case of “highly classified” information leaks. Lars Findsen has denied wrongdoing, describing the accusation as “completely insane.” 

 
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Birdwatchers Flock for Glimpse of Rare Snowy Owl in US Capital

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The white dome of the U.S. Capitol shone through the night, illuminating a small group huddled down the hill, bundled tightly against the winter cold and carrying binoculars and cameras with long lenses.

The motley crew were not there to photograph Washington’s famous monuments, they had their sights set on a rare creature that flew in from the arctic: a snowy owl.

“There he is!” shouted one of the birdwatchers.

The crowd shifted positions to get a better angle.

“It’s amazing,” said an enthused Meleia Rose, 41. “I’ve been a birder a long time, and this is my first time ever seeing a snowy owl.”

Birdwatching, or birding as it is also known, is a popular pastime in the United States, with hobbyists typically hiking through forests or camping in rural areas to spot different species of birds.

So the majestic owl’s appearance a week ago in the city, much further south than its usual habitat, has proved a magnet.

“You can see the Capitol,” Rose said, wrapped in a big winter coat and accompanied by her partner. “It’s arresting to have the contrast, the wildness with the city — but especially D.C. where it’s so … monumental and iconic.

The couple, who hired a babysitter for the occasion, got a good look at the rare bird, allowing them to mark “snowy owl” off their “life list,” a catalog of every bird they’ve seen.

Like others staring up at the young female owl, identified by its gray and white plumage, Rose was alerted to its arrival by eBird, a network used by birdwatchers to signal particularly interesting finds, which logged 200 million observations last year by 290,000 enthusiasts worldwide.

Users had pinpointed the snowy owl near Union Station, a bustling transportation hub just down the road from the Capitol, where a line of taxis curls around a grassy park, crisscrossed with walkways and dotted with tents set up by the homeless.

At the center of the park, on top of a marble fountain, a pair of yellow eyes peered out, searching for an evening snack, most likely one of the capital’s countless rats.

An ‘arctic visitor’

One recent visitor was Jacques Pitteloud, Switzerland’s ambassador to the United States and a passionate birdwatcher.

“The snowy owl has been on my list a long time,” Pitteloud told AFP, “but it’s truly extraordinary to see it in the middle of Washington, D.C.”

“She was truly the superstar of Union Station!” he added.

With broad white wings, these birds are “like a creature from another world,” explained Kevin McGowan, a professor with Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology.

Snowy owls live a good part of the year near the Arctic Circle, but most migrate south for the winter, usually stopping near the U.S. border with Canada.

Its visit so far south to Washington is “like having a polar bear coming by your neighborhood,” McGowan said.

“Snowy owls are such a charismatic bird,” noted Scott Weidensaul, the co-leader of Project SNOWstorm, a group that researches and tracks snowy owls.

“And particularly for birdwatchers in the Washington, D.C., area where it is an unusual event to see one down there. You know, that’s a big deal.”

In a black down jacket, Edward Eder was setting up his camera for a second night in a row. It’s equipped with an ultra-long lens for him to see the bird up close.

“A lot of people have taken up or become more enthusiastic birders during the pandemic,” explained the 71-year-old retiree, attributing the trend in part to the ability to easily social distance.

With their parents pointing the way, a small group of children attempt to catch a glimpse of the bird, which some may even recognize as kin to Hedwig, the snowy owl companion to Harry Potter in the cult book and movie series. 
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Europe Sees Hope for Eventual Deal in Mali 

Posted on by SeeAF

A key European diplomat believes there is still a chance to defuse the growing political crisis in Mali that has seen the country’s interim military government clash repeatedly in recent days with both its neighbors and members of the international community.

Emanuela Del Re, the European Union’s special representative for the Sahel, criticized Mali’s current rulers for provoking countries in the region and Europe by postponing elections for five years and for bringing in Russian mercenaries to help with security.

But in an interview Friday with VOA, Del Re said she thinks the coup leaders will eventually have no choice but to relent.

“I think that despite, of course, the fact that the government is so firm in saying that they want this long transition because probably they want to stay in power for a long time, the pressure will be so strong that at one point they will have to come to a compromise,” she said.

Del Re praised sanctions targeting Mali adopted earlier this week by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the EU, describing them as coherent and consequential, and called on the international community to maintain the pressure on the interim government.

Brussels meeting

At the same time, though, she and other European officials are continuing to talk to Malian officials and expect Mali to take part in a meeting scheduled for later this month in Brussels.

“The European Union wants to be coherent with this approach of the sanctions … it wants to be firm in this sense,” Del Re told VOA. “At the same time, it wants to also keep the doors open for negotiation.”

“I am sure that there will negotiations. There will be a dialogue,” she added.

Thousands of supporters of Mali’s military government took to the streets Friday in the capital, Bamako, railing against the ECOWAS sanctions as unjust.

“These illegal and illegitimate measures have three objectives: to destabilize the institutions, to destabilize the Malian army and to destabilize Mali,” Prime Minister Choguel Maiga told the crowd.

“But what they must not forget is that Mali is a lock, Mali is a dam. If Mali blows, and God help us, it will not blow, but if that happens, no one will have peace in ECOWAS,” he added.

Many of the protesters praised the military government for standing up to France, while others waived Malian flags and some even waived Russian flags.

The presence of Russian flags is likely to increase concern in the West, with European countries and the United States repeatedly warning the military government against bringing in mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a paramilitary company with ties to the Kremlin.

“We have seen what they have done in the Central African Republic, the predatory behavior and the violations of human rights, so we have made clear that we are completely against their intervention in Mali,” a European official told reporters Friday, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject when asked about reports that several hundred mercenaries are now in Mali.

According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mali’s military government has committed to paying Wagner $11 million per month – $132 million a year – for the services of 1,000 mercenaries, an amount equal to more than 20% of Mali’s yearly defense expenditures.

Mali’s government has denied reports it is using Russian mercenaries, but the move appears to be having an impact on other international forces sent to the country to help fight against terrorists linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Sweden to withdraw

Sweden’s foreign minister said Friday that her country will withdraw from the Takuba Task Force, a European special forces mission to Mali, and that it may withdraw a couple hundred troops serving in Mali under the United Nations.

“We now know that there is Wagner Group,” Sweden’s Ann Linde told reporters in Brest, France, following a meeting of EU foreign ministers. “If they have a stronger and stronger impact, then it will be not possible to continue with those large number of troops from us.”

Other European officials cautioned that additional troops could be pulled if the situation worsens and warned there could be regional implications.

“It cannot be accepted for its part for the risk of having a domino effect,” Del Re told VOA. “The countries of the region, the countries of the G-5, for instance, they fear that this could be an example that might somehow give the idea of copying the situation to other countries.”

Despite these complications, Del Re and other European officials insist they have no intention of abandoning Mali or its neighbors in the Sahel.

“What we are worried about very much is the population of Mali, because they are already in such a condition,” Del Re told VOA. They don’t deserve this situation.”

Annie Risemberg contributed to this report from Bamako.
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US Says Russia Preparing ‘False Flag’ Operation to Justify Invading Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

A flurry of security talks in Europe this week aimed at defusing the crisis over Russian troops massed at the border with Ukraine have ended with no breakthrough. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Washington and its allies are now “ready for any contingency” to deal with Moscow’s actions, as Ukraine suffered a massive cyberattack on government websites overnight. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Analysts: Even EU Members Taking ‘Wait and See’ Approach on China-Lithuania Standoff 

Posted on by SeeEU

Taiwan has pledged $1 billion to Lithuania in its latest move to counter China’s pressure on the small Baltic nation — the first European Union member to allow Taipei to use its name on a de facto embassy.

Taiwan’s promise made Tuesday will help fund joint projects in half a dozen sectors and comes after a January 5 agreement to invest $200 million in Lithuanian industry. 

The combined $1.2 billion investment aims to counter China’s increasing pressure on Vilnius since November 18, when Lithuanian authorities allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in its capital under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei.” 

That gesture upset China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory. In the past two months, China has recalled its ambassador from Vilnius while ordering Lithuania’s ambassador to leave Beijing, and it has implemented an embargo against Lithuania, boycotting all of its exports as well as any EU products that use Lithuanian-made components.  

In a press conference Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the $1.2 billion investment “the Taiwan authorities’ attempts to expand space for Taiwan independence activities with dollar diplomacy.” 

China sees Taiwan eventually returning to its control, even though many Taiwanese perceive themselves as a self-governing nation. 

“None of us thought the trade volume between Lithuania and China was that large, so we figured China wouldn’t use economic sanctions against them,” Chang Fu-chang, an associate professor with the Graduate Institute of European Studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA Mandarin. “But we were wrong.” 

Bor Yunchang, an economics professor at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, is pessimistic about Taiwan’s investments. He told VOA Mandarin: “Any investment made for political gains will be on thin ice. It just can’t be as effective in connecting the two countries as capital flows among private sectors.”

China’s revenge   

In most European countries and the United States, Taiwan uses Taipei, the name of its capital, for its foreign offices that are embassies in all but their official designation. Lithuania’s move came as many governments are exploring expanded ties with Taiwan, a high-tech industry powerhouse, even as Beijing’s increasingly assertive foreign and military policy in the region has caused uneasiness worldwide. 

Taiwan’s presence in Vilnius is its first new representative office in Europe since the Taipei Representative Office opened in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2003.  When the office opened, China’s Foreign Ministry accused Lithuania of “undermining Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity” and told Vilnius to “correct the mistakes immediately.” 

“This development is really striking,” Timothy Heath, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, told VOA’s Russian Service, referring to the Vilnius office. “It is the first time a European country has expressed formal recognition of Taiwan in decades. It’s a pretty big development, and understandably China is very angry at this change.”    

Relations between the two countries were fraying before Taiwan’s newest office opened. In August, Beijing stopped approving new permits for Lithuanian food exports to China and halted direct freight train service to Lithuania. Then, in November, China began pressuring companies in the EU to stop using Lithuanian components.  

Mantas Adomenas, Lithuania’s vice minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters in December that China had “been sending messages to multinationals that if they use parts and supplies from Lithuania, they will no longer be allowed to sell to the Chinese market or get supplies there,”   

In a videoconference with Taiwan’s National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-Hsin on Tuesday, Aušrinė Armonaitė, Lithuania’s minister of the economy and innovation, said Vilnius was already seeing companies cancel contracts with Lithuanian providers because of pressure from Beijing. 

“I think China is very worried that Lithuania is setting a precedent and more countries in Europe could follow Lithuania’s example. I think this is the reason why China has reacted so harshly,” said Heath.    

Future unclear  

Chang of Taiwan’s Tamkang University said China’s targeting of multinational companies in EU member states outside Lithuania is particularly effective because the enterprises value the lucrative Chinese market. 

He said Lithuania’s biggest trading partners include two other Baltic countries — Estonia and Latvia — and Russia and the EU.

Chang added that while “Taiwan has stepped up its efforts in developing trade relations with Vilnius, Lithuania’s export structure is unlikely to change in the short term.”

There are also different opinions among Lithuania’s leaders over their nation’s trade policy with China. In early January, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said it had been a “mistake” to allow use of the Taiwan designation. 

Chang said external pressure and internal disputes are hampering efforts by the Lithuanian government to obtain public support for its policy on China and Taiwan. Within the government, diverging views of the president and the prime minister have triggered a confrontation between pro-China and anti-China factions, he added.  

“So the big question is how long can the Lithuanian government stand by Taiwan,” Chang told VOA Mandarin. “That $1.2 billion isn’t a big amount, so, long term, it’s hard to say where the economic relationship between the two countries will be.”  

Heath of the Rand Corporation said that many countries are taking a “wait and see” attitude on whether they might want to consider the path Lithuania has taken.   

“I think in the near term, the EU recognizes the importance of the trade relations with China. The larger countries — France, Germany, Italy — are not in a rush to destabilize their trade relationship with China,” he told VOA Mandarin.

Heath continued: “Nevertheless, I think countries in Europe and around the world are watching closely: What happens to Lithuania? Does it back off its relationship with Taiwan? Or does it maintain it? Whatever it decides, many countries in the world will be watching carefully and thinking about what that might mean for their own relationship with Taiwan.” 

VOA Russian Service reporter Vadim Allen contributed to this report originated by the VOA Mandarin Service.
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Africa Cup of Nations – Day 6

Posted on by SeeAF

Africa Cup of Nations – Day 6 – 01/14/22

Senegal vs Guinea | 0-0

Malawi vs Zimbabwe | 2-1

Morocco vs Comoros | 2-0

Gabon vs Ghana | 1-1

 
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Shkreli Ordered to Return $64M, Barred from Drug Industry 

Posted on by SeeUS

Martin Shkreli must return $64.6 million in profits he and his former company reaped from jacking up the price and monopolizing the market for a lifesaving drug, a federal judge ruled Friday while also barring the provocative, imprisoned ex-CEO from the pharmaceutical industry for the rest of his life. 

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote’s ruling came several weeks after a seven-day bench trial in December that featured recordings of conversations that Cote said showed Shkreli continuing to exert control over the company, Vyera Pharmaceuticals LLC, from behind bars and discussing ways to thwart generic versions of its lucrative drug, Daraprim. 

“Shkreli was no side player in, or a ‘remote, unrelated’ beneficiary of Vyera’s scheme,” Cote wrote in a 135-page opinion. “He was the mastermind of its illegal conduct and the person principally responsible for it throughout the years.” 

The Federal Trade Commission and seven states brought the case in 2020 against the man known in the media as “Pharma Bro,” about two years after he was sentenced to prison in an unrelated securities fraud scheme. 

“‘Envy, greed, lust, and hate,’ don’t just ‘separate,’ but they obviously motivated Mr. Shkreli and his partner to illegally jack up the price of a life-saving drug as Americans’ lives hung in the balance,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said, peppering the written statement with references to the Wu-Tang Clan, whose one-of-a-kind album Shkreli had to fork over to satisfy court debt. 

“But Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a pharma bro no more.” 

Messages seeking comment were left with Shkreli’s lawyers. 

Shkreli was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals — later Vyera — when it raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after obtaining exclusive rights to the decades-old drug in 2015. It treats a rare parasitic disease that strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients. 

Shkreli defended the decision as capitalism at work and said insurance and other programs ensured that people who need Daraprim would ultimately get it. 

Shkreli eventually offered hospitals half off — still amounting to a 2,500% increase. But patients normally take most of the weekslong treatment after returning home, so they and their insurers still faced the $750-a-pill price. 

Shkreli resigned as Turing’s CEO in 2015, a day after he was arrested on securities fraud charges related to two failed hedge funds he ran before getting into the pharmaceutical industry. He was convicted of lying to investors and cheating them out of millions and is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, and is scheduled to be released in November. 

The FTC and seven states — New York, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — alleged in their case that Vyera hiked the price of Daraprim and illegally created “a web of anticompetitive restrictions” to prevent other companies from creating cheaper generic versions. Among other things, they alleged, Vyera blocked access to a key ingredient for the medication and to data the companies would want to evaluate the drug’s market potential. 

Vyera and its parent company, Phoenixus AG, settled last month, agreeing to provide up to $40 million in relief over 10 years to consumers and to make Daraprim available to any potential generic competitor at the cost of producing the drug. Former Vyera CEO Kevin Mulleady agreed to pay $250,000 if he violates the settlement, which barred him from working for a pharmaceutical company” for seven years. 

Shkreli proceeded to trial but opted not to attend the proceedings, instead submitting a written affidavit that served as his testimony. 

The trial record included evidence showing Shkreli kept in regular contact with company executives, even after he went to prison. A spreadsheet kept by one executive showed more than 1,500 contacts with Shkreli between December 2019 and July 2020. 

The record also included recordings of conversations Shkreli had from prison in which he discussed his control of Vyera, saying he had “no problem firing everybody,” boasting how he controlled the board, and comparing himself to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the pharmaceutical company to the social media behemoth. 

 
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Malians Protest ECOWAS Sanctions 

Posted on by SeeAF

Supporters of Mali’s military government demonstrated Friday against West African sanctions that have cut off the country from regional trade and finance.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed the punishment this week after coup leaders postponed promised elections to restore civilian rule by four years.

Mali’s military government called for mass demonstrations against ECOWAS sanctions that were imposed after a special summit last Sunday in Accra.

ECOWAS said it would further sanction Mali if elections weren’t held on a previously agreed upon date of February 2022. In December, leaders proposed a much longer transition with the next elections held in 2026. 

Because of the new sanctions, which included border closures and the blocking of shipments of goods, except for essentials, such as food and medicine, Mali reciprocally closed its borders to ECOWAS neighbors as well. 

Much of the country has been out of the control of the state since Mali was plunged into conflict in 2012. 

Modibo Dramé, a student at the University of Bamako who helped organize the demonstration, says that he supports the current military leaders for a period of five years, or even 10, because he thinks that is the only way Mali will finally see security.

“We want our country to have stability,” he said. “If ECOWAS wants to, we can do this together. If they don’t, we accept that — and we don’t stay together.”

In addition to Bamako, demonstrators gathered in major Malian cities like Gao and Timbuktu and in smaller towns across the country. The streets around Bamako’s independence monument were blocked to traffic, as thousands of people gathered by 3 P.M.Demonstrators could be seen carrying Malian and Russian flags 

Sixty-year-old Abdrahman Fofana, a pharmacist, came to the demonstration to support the military leaders, who he said are the first in Mali’s history to be able to stand up against France.

“For us Malians, what’s missing in us?” Fofana said. “That we are united. We have this today thanks to the sanctions. We are united today. We will get through this. We are ready, even if it means death.”

Several political and religious organizations have issued statements denouncing the sanctions against Mali, including those that have rejected the transition’s 2026 elections proposal.

Etienne Fakaba Sissoko, a political and economic analyst and director of Mali’s Economic and Social Policy Analysis Research Center, echoed Fofana’s assertion that the sanctions have united Malians politically.

“We are Malian first, before being part of the opposition or part of the majority,” Sissoko said. “We know that the primary victims of these sanctions are not the authorities, but rather the population, who didn’t ask to be in this situation,  This is why we see these as sanctions against the population more than sanctions against the country or against the current authorities. So this explains in part the support, the union, the cohesion around the transitional leaders that we have today.”

Malian President Assimi Goita said during a televised address on January 10 that he remains open to dialogue with ECOWAS to “find a consensus.” 
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Tunisia Police Turn Water Cannons on Protest Against President

Posted on by SeeAF

Tunisia Police Turn Water Cannons on Protest Against President

TUNIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Tunisian police used water cannons and sticks to disperse more than 1,000 protesters trying to reach central Tunis Friday to demonstrate against the president in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions.

A heavy police presence prevented many protesters gathering in Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main street in central Tunis that is the traditional focal point of demonstrations including during the 2011 revolution that brought democracy.

Police then tried to disperse several different groups of protesters, at least one of which had hundreds of demonstrators, witnesses said, kicking and pushing them to force them back.

The Interior Ministry said 1,200 people had protested and said its forces had exercised restraint. 

Opposition parties including the moderate Islamist Ennahda are protesting against President Kais Saied’s suspension of parliament, assumption of executive power and moves to rewrite the constitution, which they call a coup.

“Preventing free Tunisians from protesting on the revolution anniversary is shameful … and is an attack on freedoms and represents a big decline under the coup authorities,” said Imed Khemiri, an Ennahda member of the suspended parliament.

Dozens of police cars stood in the area and two water cannons were used outside the Interior Ministry building, which is located on the same street.

Friday’s protest goes against a ban on all indoor or outdoor gatherings the government announced on Tuesday to stop a COVID-19 wave.

“Today Saied’s only response to opponents is with force and the security forces … it is so sad to see Tunisia like a barracks on the date of our revolution,” said Chayma Issa, an opposition activist.

Ennahda and other parties taking part in the protest accused the government of introducing the ban and resuming its night curfew for political rather than health reasons as a way of preventing protests.

Though Saied’s action in July appeared very popular at first after years of economic stagnation and political paralysis, analysts say he appears to have since lost some support.

Tunisia’s economy remains mired by the pandemic, there has been little progress in gaining international support for the fragile public finances and the government Saied appointed in September has announced an unpopular budget for 2022.

Friday falls on what Tunisians had previously marked as the anniversary of the revolution, the day the autocratic former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country. Saied decreed last year that the anniversary would fall on the December date of a street vendor’s suicide that triggered the uprising.
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Russia Takes Down Hacking Group at US Request, Intelligence Service Says

Posted on by SeeEU

Russia has conducted a special operation against ransomware crime group REvil at the request of the United States and has detained and charged the group’s members, the FSB domestic intelligence service said Friday. 

The arrests were a rare apparent demonstration of collaboration between Russia and the United States, at a time of high tensions between the two over Ukraine. The announcement came even as Ukraine was responding to a massive cyberattack that shut down government websites, though there was no indication the incidents were related. 

A joint police and FSB operation searched 25 addresses, detaining 14 people, the FSB said, listing assets it had seized, including 426 million rubles, $600,000, 500,000 euros, computer equipment and 20 luxury cars. 

Russia informed the United States directly of the moves it had taken against the group, the FSB said on its website. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it could not immediately comment. 

“The investigative measures were based on a request from the … United States,” the FSB said. ” … The organized criminal association has ceased to exist and the information infrastructure used for criminal purposes was neutralized.” 

The REN TV channel aired footage of agents raiding homes and arresting people, pinning them to the floor, and seizing large piles of dollars and Russian rubles. 

The group members have been charged and could face up to seven years in prison. 

A source familiar with the case told Interfax the group’s members with Russian citizenship would not be handed over to the United States. 

The United States said in November that it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of anyone holding a key position in the REvil group. 

The United States has been hit by a string of high-profile hacks by ransom-seeking cybercriminals. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters in June that REvil was suspected of being the group behind a ransomware attack on the world’s biggest meatpacking company, JBS SA. 

Washington repeatedly has accused the Russian state in the past of malicious activity on the internet, which Moscow denies. 

Russia’s announcement came during a standoff between the United States and Russia. Moscow is demanding Western security guarantees, including that NATO will not expand further. It has also built up its troops near Ukraine.
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Turkey, Armenia Hold First Talks in Years on Normalizing Ties

Posted on by SeeEU

Turkey and Armenia on Friday said a first round of talks in more than 10 years was “positive and constructive,” raising the prospect that ties could be restored and borders reopened after decades of animosity. 

Turkey has had no diplomatic or commercial ties with its eastern neighbor since the 1990s. The talks in Moscow were the first attempt to restore links since a 2009 peace accord. That deal was never ratified and relations have remained tense. 

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries said Friday the talks were held in a “positive and constructive” atmosphere, adding both sides were committed to a full normalization without any pre-conditions. They said special envoys had “exchanged their preliminary views regarding the normalization process.” 

The neighbors are at odds over several issues, primarily the 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed in 1915.

Armenia says the 1915 killings constitute a genocide, a position supported by the United States and some others. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One but contests the figures and denies killings were systematic or constitute genocide. 

Tensions again flared during a 2020 war over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Turkey accused ethnic Armenian forces of occupying land belonging to Azerbaijan. Turkey has since called for a rapprochement, as it seeks greater influence in the region. 

In separate but similarly worded statements, the foreign ministries said a date and location for the next round of talks would be finalized later. 

Turkish diplomatic sources said the discussions between the delegations lasted for about 90 minutes. 

Russia’s TASS news agency cited Armenia’s foreign ministry as saying Thursday it expected the talks to lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of frontiers closed since 1993. 

Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, said in November opening borders and renovating railways to Turkey would have economic benefits for Armenia, as the routes could be used by traders from Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last year the two countries also would start charter flights between Istanbul and Armenia’s capital Yerevan under the rapprochement, but that Turkey would coordinate all steps with Azerbaijan. 

The flights are set to begin in early February. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday Armenia needed to form good ties with Azerbaijan for the normalization effort to yield results. 

No easy breakthrough 

Despite strong backing for normalization from the United States, which hosts a large Armenian diaspora and angered Turkey last year by calling the 1915 killings a genocide, analysts have said the talks would be complicated. 

Emre Peker, a London-based director at Eurasia Group, said a cautious approach focusing on quick deliverables was expected on both sides due to the old sensitivities, adding that the role of Russia, which brokered the Nagorno-Karabakh cease-fire and is the dominant actor in the region, would be key. 

Cavusoglu also has said Russia contributed to the process of appointing the special envoys. 

“The bigger challenge will come from the question of historic reconciliation,” Peker said, adding that the fate of talks would depend on “Ankara’s recognition that it must right-size its ambitions.” 

 
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