The new flare-up of hostilities in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is raising the possibility of geopolitical change in the region, as some in Armenian society say they feel betrayed by what they see as the inaction of Russian peacekeepers. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
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Category: European Union
European Union news. The place name Euros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Euros (today’s Maritsa) – flows through the fertile valleys of Thrace, which itself was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent
Almost 50 Children From Occupied Ukrainian Regions Brought to Belarus
Belarusian state media reported that 48 children from Ukraine arrived in Belarus on Tuesday from Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims it has annexed.
The group of children came from the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. They include children from towns that were captured by the Russian army in July 2022. Those regions were illegally annexed by Moscow in December last year, but Russia doesn’t have full control over them.
In photos published by the Belarus state news agency Belta, the children were pictured holding the red and green state flag of Belarus and reportedly thanked the Belarusian authorities, while being flanked by police and riot police.
The removal of the children from Ukraine was organized by a Belarusian charity, supported by President Alexander Lukashenko, which has previously organized health recuperation programs for Ukrainian children in Belarus.
“The president, despite external pressure, said this important humanitarian project should continue,” Alexei Talai, the charity’s head, said in an interview with Belta. “All the Belarusian people,” he said, want to help “children from dilapidated cities and towns in the new territories of Russia.”
It’s not clear if the children were orphans or were removed from their parents with or without consent as Belarusian authorities didn’t provide any details about them. Belarusian officials have previously denied allegations that Belarus has helped to illegally remove children from Ukraine.
In June, Belarusian opposition figures gave the International Criminal Court materials that they said showed more than 2,100 Ukrainian children from at least 15 Russian-occupied Ukrainian cities who were forcibly removed to Belarus with Lukashenko’s approval.
Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian culture minister, hopes the material will prompt the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Lukashenko, as it did with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are seeing more and more evidence relating to the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus and this will continue until international organizations react and stop Minsk,” Latushka said in an interview with The Associated Press.
In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova. Judges in The Hague, Netherlands, said they found “reasonable grounds to believe” the two were responsible for war crimes, including the illegal deportation and transfer of children from occupied Ukrainian regions to Russia — something an AP investigation detailed earlier this year.
Belarus has been Moscow’s closest ally since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, when Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to send troops and weapons into Ukraine from Belarus. Russia has also deployed tactical nuclear weapons there.
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American Visitors Help Post-Pandemic Recovery of Britain’s Tourism Industry
Tourism industry watchers say one of the top overseas destinations for US travelers this summer was Britain, where Americans helped the recovery of the British tourism industry after the crisis caused by the COVID pandemic. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Umberto Aguiar in London. (Camera and Produced by Umberto Aguiar)
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Britain Invites China to Its Global AI Summit
Britain has invited China to its global artificial intelligence summit in November, with foreign minister James Cleverly saying the risks of the technology could not be contained if one of its leading players was absent.
“We cannot keep the UK public safe from the risks of AI if we exclude one of the leading nations in AI tech,” Cleverly said in a statement on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants Britain to become a global leader in AI regulation and the summit on Nov. 1-2 will bring together governments, tech companies and academics to discuss the risks posed by the powerful new technology.
Britain said the event would touch on topics such as how AI could undermine biosecurity as well as how the technology could be used for public good, for example in safer transport.
Cleverly, who last month became the most senior minister to visit China in five years, has argued for deeper engagement with Beijing, saying it would be a mistake to try to isolate the world’s second largest economy and Chinese help was needed in areas such as climate change and economic instability.
“The UK’s approach to China is to protect our institutions and infrastructure, align with partners and engage where it is in the UK’s national interest,” Cleverly said on Tuesday.
London is trying to improve ties with Beijing but there has been growing anxiety about Chinese activity in Britain in recent weeks after it was revealed that a parliamentary researcher was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for China.
The Chinese embassy in London was not immediately able to say if China would attend the AI summit.
Britain has appointed tech expert Matt Clifford and former senior diplomat Jonathan Black to lead preparations for the summit.
The Financial Times reported that government officials want a less “draconian” approach to regulating the technology, compared with the European Union’s wide-sweeping AI Act.
Under the incoming EU legislation, organizations using AI systems deemed “high risk” will be expected to complete rigorous risk assessments, log their activities, and make sensitive internal data available to authorities upon request.
Clifford told Reuters last month that he hoped the UK summit would set the tone for future international debates on AI regulation.
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Moscow Court Denies Appeal by Jailed American Journalist
A Moscow court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal by The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against a ruling that extended his pretrial detention by three months, according to Russian state media.
Gershkovich has been in detention since his arrest in March on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The U.S. government has said the journalist is wrongfully detained.
The court decision marks the latest setback in the legal fight for the reporter, whose pretrial detention has been extended twice — the first being in May.
That pre-trial detention was supposed to expire May 29 but it was extended to August and then again to November.
With his appeal rejected, his pretrial detention will now last until at least November 30.
No date has been set for his trial.
Gershkovich failed in two previous appeals against his pretrial detention.
Press freedom groups have condemned the court’s latest decision.
“The latest denial of Evan Gershkovich’s appeal is disappointing but unsurprising. Gershkovich is a Kremlin hostage, so we can’t expect any remedy to come from the Russian legal system,” Clayton Weimers, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ U.S. bureau, said in a statement.
Gershkovich appeared in public Tuesday for the first time in months at the court hearing. In photos from the courtroom, he appeared in a glass box surrounded by Russian security officials with covered faces.
Gershkovich’s lawyers tried to challenge the extension of his pretrial detention, but the judge declined to consider their appeal, citing unspecified procedural violations.
Wearing a yellow sweatshirt and jeans, he smiled occasionally to members of the media who were briefly allowed inside the courtroom.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to a VOA email requesting comment.
The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, was present at the hearing on Tuesday.
“The U.S. position remains unwavering. The charges against Evan are baseless. The Russian government locked Evan up for simply doing his job. Journalism is not a crime,” Tracy told reporters outside the courthouse.
“Evan is fully aware of the gravity of his situation, yet he remains remarkably strong,” Tracy added.
The ambassador last visited Gershkovich in jail on Friday. After her visit, the U.S. Embassy in Russia said, “He remains strong and is keeping up with the news.”
your ad hereNew York Times: Evidence Suggests Errant Ukrainian Missile Caused Market Deaths
Evidence suggests a deadly explosion at a busy market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka this month was caused by an errant missile fired by Ukraine, the The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Ukraine has said the Sept. 6 blast, which killed at least 16 people, was caused by a Russian missile.
“Evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system,” the newspaper reported.
It quoted air defense experts as saying missiles such as the one that hit Kostiantynivka can go off course for a variety of reasons, including an electronic malfunction or having a guidance fin that is damaged or sheared off during launch.
It said security camera footage showed the missile flew into Kostiantynivka from the direction of Ukrainian-held territory, not from behind Russian lines.
The New York Times also cited evidence showing that minutes before the strike, the Ukrainian military had launched two surface-to-air missiles towards the Russian front line from the town of Druzhkivka, 16 kilometers northwest of Kostiantynivka.
It quoted two witnesses who said they had seen the missiles being fired from Druzhkivka in the direction of the Russian front line around the time of the strike. One was quoted as saying the missiles went in the direction of Kostiantynivka.
The newspaper said measurements of holes caused by the explosion and fragments found at the scene were consistent with the 9M38 missile, which is fired by the mobile Buk anti-aircraft vehicle.
The Buk system is used both by Ukraine and Russia.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. A Ukrainian presidential aide did not immediately respond to requests by Reuters for comment.
The New York Times quoted a spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces as saying the country’s security service was investigating the incident, and under national law could not comment further.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military command referred Reuters to that comment cited in the New York Times story.
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Azerbaijan Says Six of Its Citizens Were Killed by Landmines in Karabakh
Azerbaijan said on Tuesday that six of its citizens had been killed by land mines in two separate incidents in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and blamed “illegal Armenian armed groups” for laying the deadly mines.
Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, has an overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian population and broke from Baku’s control in the early 1990s after a war. Azerbaijan recaptured swathes of land in and around it in a 2020 war.
Baku said four interior ministry staff had been killed when their truck was blown up by a mine near a tunnel construction site. Another mine had killed two civilians, also in a truck, it said.
There was no immediate response from the ethnic Armenians authorities in Karabakh whom Azerbaijan wants to disband to allow it to re-integrate the territory. Armenia said on Monday that accusations that its own armed forces had placed mines on Azerbaijani territory were false.
The landmine incidents occurred a day after badly needed food and medicine was delivered to Karabakh along two roads simultaneously, a step that looked like it could help ease mounting tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Ties remain severely strained, however.
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry on Tuesday accused “illegal Armenian armed groups” of jamming the GPS navigation of a passenger jet flying from Tbilisi in Georgia to Baku.
Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh called the allegation “an absolute lie” designed to distract attention from what they called “the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the illegal blockade” of Karabakh by Baku.
That was a reference to months of Azerbaijani restrictions on the Lachin corridor — the only road linking Armenia with Karabakh — which had until the last few days not allowed in aid on the grounds that the route was purportedly being used for arms smuggling.
Armenia’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Azerbaijan’s diplomatic stance looked like it was preparing the ground for a military escalation.
Both sides say they remain committed to settling their differences via a peace deal.
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First 2 Cargo Ships Arrive at Ukrainian Port Since Russia Pulled Out of Grain Deal
Two cargo ships arrived at one of Ukraine’s ports over the weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from a wartime agreement designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
Two Palau-flagged bulk carriers, Aroyat and Resilient Africa, docked Saturday at the seaport of Chornomorsk in the southern Odesa region, according to an online statement by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The vessels are the first civilian cargo ships to reach one of the Odesa ports since Russia exited the grain deal.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in an online statement Saturday that the two ships will be delivering some 20,000 tons of wheat to countries in Africa and Asia.
For months, Ukraine, whose economy is heavily dependent on farming, was able to safely export its grain from Black Sea ports under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to ensure safe shipments. But Russia withdrew from the deal on July 17, with Kremlin officials arguing their demands for the facilitation of Russian food and fertilizer shipments had not been met.
Following the withdrawal, the Russian defense ministry said it would regard any vessels in the Black Sea headed to Ukrainian ports as military targets.
Since then, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube River, and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher. Some European countries have balked at the consequential local grain prices, and the Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports.
The interim corridor in the Black Sea, which Kyiv has asked the International Maritime Organization to ratify, was opened on Aug. 10 as United States and Ukrainian officials warned of possible Russian attacks on civilian vessels. Sea mines also make the voyage risky, and ship insurance costs are likely to be high for operators.
Ukrainian officials said the corridor will be primarily used to evacuate ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi since the war broke out. Kubrakov said Saturday that five vessels have since used the corridor to leave Ukrainian ports.
After tearing up the grain deal, Russia intensified attacks on the southern Odesa region, targeting its port infrastructure and grain silos with missiles and drones.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Air Force Command reported another attack overnight in which the Odesa region was the main target. Russian forces fired 10 cruise missiles and six Iranian-made Shahed drones, the statement said. All drones and six missiles were downed, while the rest hit an agricultural facility in the Odesa region.
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Chechen Strongman Kadyrov Appears in New Video Amid Rumors of Ill Health
Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday released new video footage in which he smiled and recommended everyone practice sport, in an apparent move to quash speculation about his ill health.
Speculation has swirled for months that the hugely influential 46-year-old head of Chechnya accused by rights groups of running a “totalitarian regime” might be ill.
On Sunday, two videos appeared on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel.
Wearing a raincoat, he was seen in the first video strolling in an unidentified location. He smiled but his face appeared puffy.
In the second video he was heard speaking Chechen and then saying in Russian, “Practice sport.”
“I strongly recommend that everyone who cannot distinguish the truth from lies on the internet go for a walk, get some fresh air and put their thoughts in order,” said the words accompanying the videos. “The rain can be wonderfully invigorating.”
It was not possible to immediately establish when the videos were recorded but the footage was published following unconfirmed reports on social media that the Chechen leader was in a coma.
Kadyrov has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine and his battalions have fought alongside regular Russian forces there.
The former rebel warlord turned Kremlin ally has long referred to himself as Vladimir Putin’s “footsoldier.”
Elected president of Chechnya in 2007, Kadyrov has ruled majority-Muslim Chechnya with widespread evidence of extra-judicial killings and torture of his opponents.
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Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate Spray-Painted by Climate Activists
Climate activists sprayed orange and yellow paint on the columns of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to push demands for a stop to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
“Members of the so-called ‘Last Generation’ sprayed the columns on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint from fire extinguishers during the morning,” Berlin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It added that police officers noticed a hydraulic lift was being operated at the gate and they kept the protesters from scaling the landmark building. They arrested all 14 protesters at the site and launched an investigation into property damage.
The Last Generation, a Germany-based group within the Europe-wide A22 network that includes Britain’s Just Stop Oil, has made headlines in Germany with hundreds of road blocks by protesters who glued themselves to the tarmac.
Their action has triggered a law-enforcement crackdown by Germany’s federal states.
The Last Generation posted pictures of the spray-painting on X.
“We will not stop our protest unless a pivot is initiated. We have to exit oil, natural gas and coal by 2030 at the latest,” it said.
Germany aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, but it missed annual targets for the last two years.
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European Leaders Visit Lampedusa
European Union Commision President Ursula von de Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni toured a migrant center Sunday on the small Italian island of Lampedusa.
The center was recently overwhelmed with almost 7,000 migrants in a 24-hour period, a total that is nearly equivalent to the number of people who live on the island.
Residents of Italy’s southernmost island say they are frustrated with the steady stream of arrivals on their tiny island.
The island has struggled for years to manage the arrivals.
Lampedusa is less than 160 kilometers from Tunisia, making it a logical first stop for the migrants who are looking for a better life in Europe and elsewhere.
Many make the journey in rickety boats and they are often rescued by the coast guard. Many do not survive the journey. The latest victim was a 5-month-old baby, officials say.
Meloni, who was elected last year, promised to end the mass migrations.
Television footage of the politicians’ trip to the island showed them talking to residents.
Italy’s right-wing government recently allocated close to $50 million to help Lampedusa manage the massive influx of migrants. Some residents say that sum is not enough.
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Stoltenberg: ‘We Must Prepare Ourselves for a Long War in Ukraine
“We must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine,” NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany’s Funke media group published Sunday.
“Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin,” he said.
“We are all wishing for a quick peace,” Stoltenberg said, “but at the same time, we must recognize if [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country will no longer exist.”
Meanwhile, Russia targeted Ukraine’s Odesa region early Sunday with a combined drone and missile attack, hitting an agricultural facility, Ukraine’s Air Forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Also Sunday, Ukraine launched a drone attack on Crimea and Moscow.
A regional Crimean official said a drone hit a fuel tank, causing a fire that was extinguished.
The drones over Moscow interfered with air traffic over the capital.
The British Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia is “likely” reinforcing its defenses around the occupied town of Tokmak in southern Ukraine.
The town is 16 kilometers from the front line and Tokmak is being outfitted to become a “lynchpin” of Russia’s second main line of defenses.
Attention to the town’s defenses “likely indicates Russia’s growing concern about Ukrainian tactical penetrations of the main defensive line to the north.”
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Beer Flows, Crowds Descend on Munich for Oktoberfest
The beer is flowing and millions of people are descending on the Bavarian capital to celebrate the official opening of Oktoberfest.
With the traditional cry of “O’zapft is” — “It’s tapped” — Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap in the first keg at noon on Saturday, officially opening the 18 days of festivities.
Revelers decked out in traditional lederhosen and dirndl dresses trooped to Munich’s festival grounds Saturday morning, filling the dozens of traditional tents in anticipation of getting their first 1-liter mug of beer.
Minutes before the first keg was tapped, to cheers from the crowd, Bavarian Gov. Markus Soeder asked festivalgoers if they were ready for Oktoberfest to begin.
“I can only say one thing: This is the most beautiful, biggest, most important festival in the world,” he said.
The Oktoberfest has typically drawn about 6 million visitors every year. The event was skipped in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with COVID-19, but it returned in 2022.
A 1-liter mug costs between 12.60 euros and 14.90 euros ($13.45 to $15.90) this year, an increase of around 6% from last year.
This year’s Oktoberfest, the 188th edition, runs through Oct. 3.
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North Korea’s Kim Discusses Stronger Ties With Russia, State Media Says
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed practical issues in stepping up military cooperation with Russia’s defense minister, state KCNA news agency said Sunday.
During his visit to Russia, Kim inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships Saturday, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Kim’s trip comes at a time when “a fresh heyday of friendship and solidarity and cooperation is being opened up in the history of the development of the relations between the DPRK and Russia,” KCNA said, using North Korea’s official name.
Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation.
Kim and Shoigu “exchanged their constructive opinions on the practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries and in the fields of their national defense and security,” KCNA reported.
Shoigu told Russian media earlier that Moscow is discussing joint military exercises with North Korea.
On Friday, South Korea and the U.S. said military cooperation between North Korea and Russia would violate U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang and that the allies would ensure there was a price to pay.
Russia has gone out of its way to publicize the visit and to drop repeated hints about the prospect of military cooperation with North Korea, which was formed in 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union.
Kim also toured Russia’s Pacific Sea Fleet equipped with strategic nuclear submarines among other military vessels, KCNA said, quoting him as praising the fleet for its contribution to peace in the region.
Earlier this month, North Korea launched its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine.”
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Ukraine, Russia Both Claim Control of Village Near Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces made progress Saturday in their offensive against Russian troops in the east and south, a military spokesperson said, as the two militaries disputed who controlled the village of Andriivka.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s land forces, posted a video to Telegram showing a scorched, desolate landscape that he said proved his forces had captured the village.
Andriivka is unrecognizable, a correspondent for Ukraine’s Hromadske radio said. It is “so badly destroyed that soldiers do not even know where to place the pole with the Ukrainian flag,” Yanina Lvutina said on the radio’s website.
Ukraine considers Andriivka crucial to regaining the nearby, also-destroyed city of Bakhmut.
Russia’s Defense Ministry disputed Ukraine’s claim to Andriivka. Reuters was unable to verify either battlefield report.
Meanwhile, airstrike alarms sounded at midday throughout Ukraine as the country’s military warned of the threat of ballistic attacks on population centers, including Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and the Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa regions.
A series of blasts were reported in the Kharkiv region, although information on casualties or damage was not immediately available.
Also Saturday, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told Reuters that Ukraine’s drone production has increased by more than 100 times since last year.
Ukraine is also testing artificial intelligence systems, he said, that can detect targets kilometers away, as well as guide drones despite disruptions from electronic warfare measures.
“There will be more drones, more attacks, and fewer Russian ships. That’s for sure,” he said, noting the recent attacks on Russian naval targets in the Black Sea.
‘We’ve made significant progress’
In his nightly video address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his nation’s allies for their continued support in the fight against the Russian invasion.
“This week, we’ve made significant progress in implementing existing defense agreements and other support packages,” he said.
“Denmark, thank you for the new defense package, which is already the 12th package. Equipment, ammunition, and missiles for our air defense,” he said. “Germany, thank you for the new batch of military aid. Belgium, your participation in our pilot training is approved. Thank you! Norway, your decision to provide additional funding for Ukraine’s recovery. It’s crucial. Thank you!”
He also singled out the United States and South Korea for their support.
President Joe Biden will host Zelenskyy in Washington on Thursday in their third meeting at the White House.
British warn of cruise missiles
Finally, in its daily intelligence update Saturday, the British Defense Ministry warned of the “realistic possibility” that Russia will resume using air-launched cruise missiles against Ukrainian infrastructure targets in the winter.
The ministry said Russia has likely created a “significant stockpile” of the missiles, since open-source reports indicate that Russia began reducing its use of the missiles in April.
The report also said the missiles “were at the heart” of most strike missions that Russia launched against Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure between last October and March. They allowed Russia to release munitions “from deep within Russian territory.”
Some information in this article came from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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2 Ships Head to Ukraine’s Black Sea Ports to Load Grain, Official Says
Two cargo vessels were bound for Ukrainian ports on Saturday, becoming the first ships to use a temporary corridor to sail into Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
Ukraine last month announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to release ships trapped in its ports since the start of the war in February 2022 and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Kyiv to export grain.
Five vessels have so far left the port of Odesa, using the corridor that hugs the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.
Ukraine, a leading global food producer and exporter, also wants to use the corridor for its food exports.
The bulk carriers, Resilient Africa and Aroyat, were making their way through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports to load almost 20,000 tons of wheat for Africa and Asia, Kubrakov said.
Data from ship tracking company MarineTraffic showed that the Aroyat was at Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port, while the other vessel was en route in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry said on the Telegram messaging app that the wheat would be shipped to Egypt and Israel.
“While the U.N. is not involved in the movement of those vessels, we welcome all efforts for the resumption of normal trade, especially of vital food commodities that help supply and stabilize global food markets,” a U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
“We continue our efforts to facilitate exports for agricultural products from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” the official said.
The loadings are a test of Ukraine’s ability to reopen shipping lanes at a time when Russia is trying to re-impose its de facto blockade, having abandoned the grain deal in July. Moscow has launched frequent drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian grain export infrastructure.
The Black Sea grain deal was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in July 2022 to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s top grain exporters.
Ukraine made several attacks in recent days using sea drones and missiles on Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet in and around the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014.
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Activists in Europe Mark Anniversary of Amini’s Death in Iran
Hundreds gathered in central London on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests of the country’s conservative Islamic theocracy.
Chanting “Women! Life! Freedom!,” the crowds held her portrait and rallied around the memory of a young woman who died on September 16, 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory headscarf law. Similar protests took place in Italy, Germany and France.
“We’re calling on everyone to remember those killed, but also continue the fight, because this fight has to go to the end. Mahsa Jina Amini and the many others cannot have died in vain,″ said Maryam Namazie, an Iranian human rights activist in the U.K.
“We have to have a better society as the result of this huge, Herculean fight.″
In Iran, authorities sought to prevent the anniversary from reigniting the protests that gripped the country last year. Amini’s father was detained outside his home after the family indicated that they planned to gather at her grave for a traditional service of commemoration, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw said. People in downtown Tehran reported a heavy security presence, and security forces were seen in western Iran, where the Kurdish minority staged large protests last year.
Hengaw reported a widespread general strike in Kurdish areas on Saturday, circulating video and photos that appeared to show streets largely empty and shops shuttered. Human Rights Activists in Iran, another group that closely follows events within the country, also reported the general strike. There was no acknowledgement of the strike in state media.
Videos on social media purported to show tear gas being fired in Mashhad and Karaj, a satellite city of Tehran. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran also reported the tear gas being used. Iranian state media did not acknowledge any such incidents.
Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman from the western region, died three days after she was arrested by morality police, allegedly for violating laws that require women to cover their hair in public. While authorities said that she suffered a heart attack, Amini’s supporters said she was beaten by police and died as a result of her injuries.
Her death triggered protests that spread across the country and rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s four-decade-old Islamic theocracy.
Authorities responded with a violent crackdown in which more than 500 people were killed and upwards of 22,000 others were detained, according to rights groups. The demonstrations largely died down early this year, but there are still widespread signs of discontent. For several months, women could be seen openly flaunting the headscarf rule in Tehran and other cities, prompting a renewed crackdown over the summer.
Activists around the world sought to renew the protests on the anniversary of Amini’s death.
On Saturday, about 100 protesters gathered in front of the Iranian Embassy in Rome under the “Women, life, freedom,” banner.
“Now it is important that all the world start again to demonstrate in the streets, because what we want is to isolate this regime and, in particular, we want to push all the states not to have political and economic agreements with Iran,” protester Lucia Massi said.
In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that a garden in the French capital now carried Amini’s name. The mayor called Amini an Iranian resistance hero and said Paris “honors her memory and her battle, as well as those of women who fight for their freedom in Iran and elsewhere.”
The Villemin Garden that now also bears Amini’s name is in Paris’ 10th district, next to a canal with popular boat tours for tourists.
Iran blamed last year’s protests on the United States and other foreign powers, without providing evidence, and has since tried to downplay the unrest even as it moves to prevent any resurgence.
The protests were partly fueled by the widespread economic pain Iranians have suffered since then-President Donald Trump withdrew from a nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. But that suffering also may have made it difficult to sustain prolonged demonstrations, as many Iranians struggle to make ends meet.
President Joe Biden issued a lengthy statement on Friday acknowledging the anniversary of Amini’s death, and the United States announced new sanctions on Iranian officials and entities. U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also noted the anniversary and imposed new sanctions on Iranian officials.
Soheila Sokhanvari, an Iranian-British artist, moved to the U.K. to study a year before the 1979 revolution that brought Iran’s conservative Islamic leaders to power. She was in London preparing for a solo exhibition on pre-revolutionary feminist icons last year when she heard about Amini’s death.
The protests that followed marked the first time the world has seen “a revolution which is instigated by women,” she told The Associated Press earlier this month.
“But I think what’s really important about this protest is that Iranian men, for the first time in the history of Iran, they’re actually standing with women and they’re supporting the women and they’re showing respect for the women,” she said. “That’s very original, and it’s never happened in the history of Iran.”
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Russia shows Kim Jong Un bomber and warplanes
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers and other warplanes Saturday from Russia’s Pacific fleet.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other leading military officials gave Kim a tour of the bombers and warplanes after the North Korean leader’s arrival in the Far Eastern Russian city of Artyom.
The items the Russians showed Kim are weapons that Russia has used in its invasion of Ukraine.
Later Saturday, Kim and Shoigu traveled to Vladivostok to inspect more inventory, including a weapons-laden frigate.
Kim’s trip to Russia has included more than four hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin and raised alarms about what the two countries want from each other and what kinds of deals the two will strike.
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UN: 700 Million People Don’t Know When — Or If — They Will Eat Again
A global hunger crisis has left more than 700 million people not knowing when or if they will eat again, and demand for food is rising relentlessly while humanitarian funding is drying up, the head of the United Nations food agency said Thursday.
World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain told the U.N. Security Council that because of the lack of funding, the agency has been forced to cut food rations for millions of people, and “more cuts are on the way.”
“We are now living with a series of concurrent and long-term crises that will continue to fuel global humanitarian needs,” she said. “This is the humanitarian community’s new reality — our new normal — and we will be dealing with the fallout for years to come.”
The WFP chief, the widow of the late U.S. senator John McCain, said the agency estimates that nearly 47 million people in over 50 countries are just one step from famine — and a staggering 45 million children younger than 5 are now estimated to suffer from acute malnutrition.
According to WFP estimates from 79 countries where the Rome-based agency operates, up to 783 million people — one in 10 of the world’s population — still go to bed hungry every night. More than 345 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity this year, an increase of almost 200 million people from early 2021 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.
At the root of the soaring numbers, WFP said, is “a deadly combination of conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and soaring fertilizer prices.”
The economic fallout from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have pushed food prices out of the reach of millions of people across the world at the same time that high fertilizer prices have caused falling production of maize, rice, soybeans and wheat, the agency said.
“Our collective challenge is to ramp up the ambitious, multi-sectoral partnerships that will enable us to tackle hunger and poverty effectively, and reduce humanitarian needs over the long-term,” McCain urged business leaders at the council meeting focusing on humanitarian public-private partnerships. The aim is not just financing, but also finding innovative solutions to help the world’s neediest.
Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, told the council that “humanitarian relief has long been the domain of government” and development institutions, and the private sector was seen as a source of financial donations for supplies.
“Money is still important, but companies can offer so much more,” he said. “The private sector stands ready to tackle the challenges at hand in partnership with the public sector.”
Miebach stressed that “business cannot succeed in a failing world” and humanitarian crises impact fellow citizens of the world. A business can use its expertise, he said, to strengthen infrastructure, “innovate new approaches and deliver solutions at scale” to improve humanitarian operations.
Jared Cohen, president of global affairs at Goldman Sachs, told the council that the revenue of many multinational companies rivals the GDP of some of the Group of 20 countries with the largest economies. And he said five American companies and many of their global counterparts have over 500,000 workers — more than the population of up to 20 U.N. member nations.
“Today’s global firms have responsibilities to our shareholders, clients, staff, communities, and the rules-based international order that makes it possible for us to do business,” he said.
Cohen said businesses can fulfill those responsibilities during crises first by not scrambling “to reinvent the wheel every time,” but by drawing on institutional memory and partnering with other firms and the public sector.
He said businesses also need “to act with speed and innovate in real time,” use local connections, and bring their expertise to the humanitarian response.
Lana Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates ambassador, said the U.N. appealed for over $54 billion this year, “and until now, 80% of those funds remain unfulfilled,” which shows that “we are facing a system in crisis.”
She said public-private partnerships that were once useful additions are now crucial to humanitarian work.
Over the past decade, Nusseibeh said, the UAE has been developing “a digital platform to support a government’s ability to better harness international support in the wake of natural disasters.” The UAE has also established a major humanitarian logistics hub and is working with U.N. agencies and private companies on new technologies to reach those in need, she said.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the funding gap has left the world’s most vulnerable people “in a moment of great peril.”
She said companies have stepped up, including in Haiti and Ukraine and to help refugees in the United States, but for too long, “we have turned to the private sector exclusively for financing.”
Businesses have shown “enormous generosity, but in 2023 we know they have so much more to offer. Their capacities, their know-how, and innovations are tremendously needed,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “The public sector must harness the expertise of the private sector and translate it into action.”
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Ukraine Confirms New Allegations Against Magnate Kolomoisky
Ukrainian business magnate Ihor Kolomoisky has been served with notice of a third set of allegations following his detention on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Friday.
A new court hearing on the case in Kyiv on Friday also significantly raised the bail demanded from Kolomoisky, who made his first court appearance earlier this month.
News reports from the court said the judge agreed to raise the bail to be posted to the equivalent of $105 million — from an original amount equivalent to under $14 million.
Kolomoisky’s lawyers had previously said they would appeal his detention and would post no bail.
The new allegations against one of Ukraine’s richest men were first reported on Thursday by Serhiy Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist and parliamentarian who now works as an adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office.
The SBU, acting with Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau and the prosecutor general’s office, said Kolomoisky was suspected of receiving 5.8 billion hryvnias from an alleged scheme to embezzle funds from PrivatBank, which he founded and was a shareholder of.
The sum, currently worth $157 million, was the equivalent of more than $700 million at the time, the SBU said.
Kolomoisky is suspected of setting up an organized group of bank employees to obtain the funds from 2013 to 2014, it said.
Reuters could not immediately reach Kolomoisky or his lawyers for comment on the new allegations. Kolomoisky has in the past denied any wrongdoing.
Kolomoisky is among the tycoons who built their fortunes in the ashes of the Soviet Union and amassed political power in Ukraine’s fragile democracy. He is under U.S. sanctions and was once a backer of Zelenskyy, whose election he supported in 2019.
Kolomoisky is a former owner of PrivatBank, which was nationalized in late 2016 as part of a cleanup of the Ukrainian banking system.
He was first served notice of suspicion of fraud and money laundering this month and ordered to be held in custody until the end of October.
Within days, Kolomoisky was identified by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) as one of six people suspected of embezzling 9.2 billion hryvnias ($250 million) from PrivatBank.
Zelenskyy is trying to root out corruption and restrict the influence of business magnates as Ukraine strives for membership in the European Union.
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Poland, Hungary, Slovakia to Continue Own Bans on Ukraine Grain
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary will impose their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports, the governments said on Friday, after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban affecting Ukraine’s five EU neighbors.
Restrictions imposed by the European Union in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere.
“We will extend this ban despite their disagreement, despite the European Commission’s disagreement,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a rally in the northeastern town of Elk. “We will do it because it is in the interest of the Polish farmer.”
Polish development minister Waldemar Buda said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he had signed the Polish ban regulation, which would run for an indefinite period of time from midnight.
Hungary imposed a national import ban on 24 Ukrainian agricultural products, including grains, vegetables, several meat products and honey, according to a government decree published Friday.
Slovakia’s agriculture minister followed suit announcing its own grain ban. All three bans only apply to domestic imports and do not affect transit to onward markets.
EU plea
EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday countries should refrain from unilateral measures against imports of Ukrainian grain. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it would respond in a “civilized fashion” if EU members break the rules.
The EU created alternative land routes, so-called Solidarity Lanes, for Ukraine to use to export its grains and oilseeds after Russia, which invaded in 2022, backed out of a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal in July that allowed safe passage for the cargo ships.
The EU Commission said existing measures would expire as originally planned Friday after Ukraine agreed to introduce any legal measures (including, for example, an export licensing system) within 30 days to avoid grain surges.
“It has concluded that thanks to the work of the Coordination Platform and to the temporary measures introduced on 2 May 2023, the market distortions in the 5 Member States bordering Ukraine have disappeared,” the European Commission said in a statement.
The EU said it will refrain from imposing any restrictions as long as the effective measures by Ukraine are in place and fully working.
Product glut
Farmers in the five countries neighboring Ukraine have repeatedly complained about a product glut hitting their domestic prices and pushing them towards bankruptcy.
The countries, except Bulgaria, had been pushing for an extension of the ban beyond its Friday expiry.
Poland, Hungary and Slovakia previously said they may extend the restrictions unilaterally while Bulgaria on Thursday voted to scrap the curbs.
Romania’s government, which unlike its peers did not unilaterally enforce a ban before May, said on Friday it “regretted that a European solution to extend the ban could not be found.”
It added it was waiting for Ukraine to present its action plan of measures to prevent an import surge by Monday before deciding how to protect Romanian farmers.
Romania sees over 60% of the alternate grain flows pass through its territory mainly via the Danube River, and its farmers have threatened protests if the ban is not extended.
For the last year, Ukraine had been moving 60% of its exports through the Solidarity Lanes and 40% via the Black Sea thanks to the deal.
In August, about 4 million tons of Ukraine grains passed through the Solidarity Lanes of which close to 2.7 million tons were through the Danube. The Commission wants to increase exports through Romania further, but the plan has been complicated by Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure along the Danube and near the Romanian border.
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US, Germany Commit to Long-Term Support for Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke Friday in Washington, both reiterating their long-term support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia.
Speaking to reporters following their talks, Blinken said Germany and the United States, along with dozens of other nations around the world, are committed to providing military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. He said they also discussed Ukraine’s long-term ability not only to survive but to thrive following Russia’s invasion.
Baerbock echoed Blinken’s remarks, saying support for Ukraine goes beyond arms deliveries to include humanitarian issues and repairing infrastructure. She said she discussed with Blinken how the U.S. and Germany can dovetail their assistance to Ukraine more closely.
The two top diplomats were asked about Ukraine’s ongoing requests for long-range missiles systems that could reach deep into Russia and the West’s reluctance to provide them.
Baerbock said Germany and other NATO allies have told Ukraine from the beginning of Russia’s invasion that arms supplies would be limited to Ukraine’s self-defense and reclaiming territory within Ukraine.
The German foreign minister has been in the United States much of this week, traveling on Tuesday and Wednesday to Texas, where she visited an air base where German pilots are trained and meeting Thursday with U.S. lawmakers to discuss their continued support for Ukraine.
Ukraine grain shipments
Blinken said he and Baerbock also discussed the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Russia ended in July, and alternatives to getting grain out of Ukraine and to developing nations that need it.
Following a meeting on Friday in Bucharest with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said the nation planned to double the monthly transit capacity for Ukrainian grain through its Constanta port to 4 million metric tons in the coming months.
Speaking at a joint news conference, Kubrakov said they hope to double the port’s capacity by the beginning of October, which could help Ukraine solve at least half of its export issues.
Ukraine military advances
Ukraine’s military said Friday it has recaptured the village of Andriivka, about 10 kilometers south of the key front-line, Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut, following intense battles with Russian troops.
The latest victory in Ukraine’s protracted, multipronged counteroffensive comes just days ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s expected visit to Washington.
Also Friday, Britain’s Defense Ministry confirmed that a missile strike targeting the naval headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea this week delivered a blow that might have crippled portions of the facility for weeks or possibly months to come.
The landing ship Minsk and the Kilo 636.3 class submarine Rostov-on-Don were undergoing maintenance at the Sevmorzavod shipyard in the base’s dry docks when the missiles hit during a predawn strike Wednesday.
Open-source evidence, the ministry said, “indicates the Minsk has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage.”
According to the ministry’s report, any effort to get the submarine up and running would likely take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
In addition, the British ministry said there is also “a realistic possibility” that the intricate task of removing the damaged vessels from the dry docks could put the docks out of commission for months and present Russia “with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance.”
According to the British ministry, the Rostov was one of the four Black Sea fleet’s cruise-missile capable submarines that “have played a major role in striking Ukraine and projecting Russian power across the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.”
Zelenskyy to visit White House
Friday’s developments precede Zelenskyy’s anticipated arrival in Washington next week as the U.S. Congress continues to debate $21 billion more in aid to Ukraine to support its fight against Russia.
U.S. lawmakers are increasingly divided whether to provide Ukraine with more aid. President Joe Biden is seeking $13 billion in military aid and $8 billion in humanitarian aid, but some Republican lawmakers oppose sending more funding.
Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden next week at the White House after the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.
Although Ukraine’s counteroffensive push against the Russian invasion has been slower than expected, Zelenskyy celebrated Thursday what he described as Ukraine’s destruction of a Russian air defense system on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
“A special mention should be made to the entire personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine as well as our naval forces,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message. “The invaders’ air defense system was destroyed. Very significant, well done!”
Some information in this article came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Britain, France and Germany to Keep Nuclear, Missile Sanctions on Iran
Britain, France and Germany announced Thursday they will keep their sanctions on Iran related to the Mideast country’s atomic program and development of ballistic missiles. The measures were to expire in October under a timetable spelled out in the now defunct nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
In a joint statement, the three European allies known as E3 and which had helped negotiate the nuclear deal, said they would retain their sanctions in a “direct response to Iran’s consistent and severe non-compliance” with the accord, also known by its official name as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.
The measures ban Iran from developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and bar anyone from buying, selling or transferring drones and missiles to and from Iran. They also include an asset freeze for several Iranian individuals and entities involved in the nuclear and ballistic missile program.
Iran has violated the sanctions by developing and testing ballistic missiles and sending drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine.
The sanctions will remain in place until Tehran “is fully compliant” with the deal, the E3 said. The sanctions, according to the accord from eight years ago, were to expire Oct. 18.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the European decision an “illegal, provocative action” that will hamper cooperation, in comments quoted by the country’s official news agency IRNA.
“The actions of the European parties will definitely have negative effects on the efforts to manage the tension and create a suitable environment for more cooperation between the JCPOA parties,” the ministry said.
The 2015 nuclear deal was meant to ensure that Iran could not develop atomic weapons. Under the accord, Tehran agreed to limit enrichment of uranium to levels necessary for nuclear power in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of the accord, saying he would negotiate a stronger deal, but that did not happen. Iran began breaking the terms a year later and is now enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, according to a report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.
Formal talks to try to find a roadmap to restart the deal collapsed in August 2022.
The E3 have informed the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, about their decision, the statement said. Borrell, in turn, said he had forwarded the E3 letter to other signatories of the 2015 deal — China, Russia and Iran.
The development comes at a delicate moment as the United States is preparing to finalize a prisoner swap with Iran that would include the unfreezing of Iranian assets held in South Korean banks worth $6 billion.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington was in touch with the European allies over “the appropriate next steps.”
“We are working closely with our European allies, including members, of course, of the E3, to address the continued threat that Iran poses including on missiles and arms transfers with the extensive range of unilateral and multilateral tools that are at our disposal,” he said.
Iran has long denied ever seeking nuclear weapons and continues to insist that its program is entirely for peaceful purposes, though Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has warned that Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to build them.
Under the terms of the nuclear deal, a U.N. arms embargo against Tehran will expire on Oct. 18, after which countries that do not adopt similar sanctions on their own as the E3 — likely Russia and perhaps also China — will no longer be bound by the U.N. restrictions on Iran.
However, Iran has lately slowed the pace at which it is enriching uranium, according to a report by the IAEA that was seen by The Associated Press earlier this month. That could be a sign Tehran is trying to ease tensions after years of strain between it and the U.S.
“The decision makes sense,” Henry Rome, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said of the European decision. “The real question is how Iran will react. Given the broader de-escalation efforts under way, I would expect Iran not to act rashly, but we never know.”
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A Wary China Eyes Ties With Russia, North Korea
China, watching this week’s historic Russia-North Korea summit from the sidelines, is likely to welcome a boost for President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine but worry that its longtime client state in Pyongyang could be slipping from its grasp, experts say.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s green bulletproof train headed to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a city in Russia’s far Khabarovsk region, on Thursday after his rare summit with Putin a day earlier, according to Yonhap News in Seoul.
In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kim is expected to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and visit a manufacturing facility that produces Sukhoi fighter jets. From there, he will head toward Vladivostok to inspect Russia’s Pacific fleet before returning to Pyongyang.
China and Russia, autocratic socialist states, have supported each other for decades. The two have become closer than ever as they seek to counter the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia. But experts say the shift by North Korea, their junior partner and socialist neighbor, toward Moscow may make Beijing feel as if Kim has found a new suitor.
Kim’s summit with Putin on Wednesday at the Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s far eastern Amur region reset Pyongyang’s strategic ties with Moscow based on their common military needs and goals, experts said.
Putin needs artillery shells and ammunition to sustain his war in Ukraine. Kim needs technological help to send a spy satellite into orbit after failed attempts in May and August.
Their converging needs brought them together for the first time since April 2019.
‘That’s why we came here’
Although specifics about this week’s summit were not announced in public, both Kim and Putin seem to have suggested they would meet each other’s needs in defiance of international sanctions and concerns.
“The relationship between Russia and North Korea that’s moving forward now is in violation of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a podcast on Wednesday. “We don’t want to see Russia be in a position where it can strengthen the capabilities it’s bringing to dealing with the aggression on Ukraine, and we also don’t want to see North Korea benefiting from whatever technologies it might get from Russia.”
Before their meeting, Putin gave Kim a tour of the spaceport and suggested he would provide satellite technology that Kim has been trying to hone. “That’s why we came here,” he said.
Prior to their closed-door, one-on-one meeting, Kim said Pyongyang would stand with Moscow in its “just fight against hegemonic forces” and pledged to provide “full and unconditional support for all measures” taken by Russia in its war in Ukraine.
Kim also said Pyongyang’s relationship with Moscow was its “top priority.”
Putin said before the one-on-one meeting that he planned to discuss with Kim issues including the economy, humanitarian aid and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
At a reception following their talks, Putin accepted Kim’s offer to visit Pyongyang, according to North Korea’s state media KCNA.
As North Korea’s primary aid provider and top trading partner, China has for years held considerable leverage over Pyongyang. But now, experts say, Beijing might feel anxious that Pyongyang is leaning too much toward Moscow and starting to slip from its influence.
Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said China probably feels ambivalent about the arms deals.
“On one hand, Beijing wants Putin to survive the Ukraine war, so it probably welcomes North Korean military aid to Russia,” Samore said. “On the other hand, Beijing may be nervous that Russian transfer of advanced military technology to North Korea could increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula and strengthen the U.S.-[South Korea]-Japan alliance.”
South Korea, Japan, US reflect on pledge
In August, Washington, Seoul and Tokyo agreed to bolster their defenses against North Korea at their summit at Camp David. They agreed to hold regular multidomain trilateral exercises and share live ballistic missile defense warning data.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on Thursday about the Putin-Kim meeting and stressed the importance of their commitment to consult against common threats — a pledge made at Camp David — and to cooperate in their efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
Experts said China is reluctant to match Russia in providing advanced weapons technologies to North Korea, at least explicitly. They said Beijing does not want to taint its international image by aiding a pariah state, risk further straining its relations with the U.S., and be on the road to become isolated like Russia.
China increasingly wants to be “a world power” and is thinking “globally, not just regionally,” said Ken Gause, director of special projects for the Strategy and Policy Analysis Program at research group CNA and an expert on North Korean leadership.
“They can’t go overboard in terms of the defense stuff in Northeast Asia because it can have negative effects on what they’re doing in the world,” including Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative, Gause said.
Gause said Beijing is likely to use its economic leverage over Russia to discourage Moscow from jeopardizing the security of Northeast Asia by giving Pyongyang “all kinds of sensitive technology.”
He said what North Korea gets from Russia will indicate Moscow’s stance toward Beijing. If Pyongyang gets advanced military technology such as submarine technology, it shows that “Russia is extremely desperate” and “Russia doesn’t care about what the Chinese say.”
Economic cooperation with China
Russia has become economically dependent on China since its invasion of Ukraine, which triggered multiple sanctions by the U.S. and its allies and partners.
Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Tuesday that Moscow’s economic cooperation with Beijing had “reached a very high level,” according to Russian state-run TASS news agency.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is planning to visit Moscow on Monday to hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, according to Interfax news based in Moscow.
Despite differences that might exist among the three autocratic states, Zack Cooper, former deputy national security adviser at the National Security Council and current fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said it would be difficult to drive “a serious wedge” into Beijing-Moscow-Pyongyang relations as they “increasingly” move in the direction of opposing the U.S. and its key allies.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing in Beijing on Thursday that “China and Russia have been in close communication on bilateral ties and international and regional issues.”
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