Troops from Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged fire with weapons including mortars and drones on their joint border Friday, killing one soldier from each side two days before top-level talks on a long-term peace deal. 

It was the second straight day of exchanges of fire ahead of Sunday’s planned meeting in Brussels between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. 

One Azeri soldier died in Thursday’s hostilities. 

The two ex-Soviet states have fought two wars in 30 years focusing on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. 

In a six-month conflict in 2020, Azerbaijan recovered swaths of territory lost in an earlier war that gripped the region amid the collapse of Soviet rule. 

In the latest skirmish, Armenia’s Defense Ministry said its forces came under fire with mortars and small arms near the village of Sotk, close to the border. The ministry said drones were also deployed. 

“In the wake of enemy fire, the Armenian side has one killed in action and one wounded,” the ministry said, adding the weapons exchanges eventually died down. 

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said it had cut short a drone attack by Armenia on its positions in the Kalbajar district on its side of the border. It later reported that one of its servicemen had been killed and that Azeri troops controlled the situation.

Tensions have risen while efforts intensify to get the two rivals to reach a peace deal despite differences on border demarcation and other issues. Talks have generally been staged under the jurisdiction of the European Union or Russia, which brokered the truce that ended the fighting in 2020. 

Foreign ministers from both sides met last week in the United States. 

Azerbaijan last month installed a checkpoint at the entry to the Lachin Corridor – the only road linking Armenia to Karabakh – in a move that Yerevan said was a “gross violation” of the 2020 cease-fire. 

On Thursday, each side said it was acting in self-defense and blamed the other for firing first. 

Armenia said four of its servicemen had been injured. Pashinyan said that incident was an attempt by Azerbaijan to disrupt peace talks. 

The latest clashes are also seen as a test of Russia’s ability to influence events in the South Caucasus. 

Russia is a formal ally of Armenia through a mutual self-defense treaty, but also strives for good relations with Baku. Moscow says the 2020 peace accord it brokered is the only basis for a long-term solution.  
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Iran on Friday released two French citizens, including one also holding Irish nationality, as Paris urged Tehran to free other foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic.

French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, and Frenchman Benjamin Briere, who was first detained while traveling in Iran in May 2020, were freed from their prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the French foreign ministry said.

They rapidly boarded a special flight to Paris and landed at the capital’s Le Bourget airport — no longer used for commercial flights — in the evening, according to AFP TV images.

There had been grave concerns about the health of both men, both of whom had been on hunger strikes to protest their conditions.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter: “Free, finally. Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan can reunite with their loved ones. It’s a relief.”

Briere’s sister Blandine Briere, who has led the campaign for his release, told AFP: “We are avoiding a tragedy. I have no words to describe the joy we feel.”

“We cannot tell you how relieved we are,” added Phelan’s sister Caroline in a statement.

Neither man was expected to speak publicly for some time and both families requested privacy.

The pair were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

‘Difficult ordeal’

Phelan, 64, a Paris-based travel consultant, was arrested in October in the city of Mashhad. In April, he was jailed for six and a half years on national security charges strongly rejected by his family.

With Iran rocked by anti-regime protests since September, Phelan was accused of taking photos of a burned mosque and police officers, and sending images to a British newspaper, the family said.

Phelan went on a dry hunger strike in January to protest his detention, refusing both food and water. But he stopped the action at the request of his family, who feared he would die.

Briere, 37, was first detained while traveling in Iran in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

Although acquitted by an appeals court, he remained in prison in a situation described as “incomprehensible” by his family.

Briere also went on hunger strikes to protest his conditions.

“This release had to happen before there was a catastrophe. There was a real risk to his life,” his lawyer told AFP.

‘Regain full freedom’

Iran’s foreign ministry described the release of Briere and Phelan as a “humanitarian action.”

Four more French citizens, described previously as “hostages” by the French foreign ministry, are still in prison in Iran.

Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said she had spoken earlier Friday to her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian and made clear “France’s determination to ensure that the other French citizens still detained in Iran also rapidly regain their full freedom.”

Several U.S., German, British, Swedish and other European citizens, such as Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele arrested in February 2022, also remain detained.

The holding of foreigners by Tehran has increased tensions with the West at a time when the Islamic republic is under scrutiny for its crackdown on the protest movement that erupted in September.

Activists also are alarmed by a surge in the number of executions by Iran. On Saturday, Tehran hanged Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab on terrorism charges.
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A war of words is brewing between the U.S. and South Africa after the U.S. ambassador to the country said he would “bet his life” on U.S. intelligence that South African weapons were loaded onto a Russian vessel when it docked at a Cape Town naval base in December. The South African government hit back, saying that while it would investigate the matter, the U.S. ambassador’s remarks had “undermined” the relationship between the two nations.

Pretoria summoned U.S. Ambassador Reuben Brigety on Friday, amid a diplomatic spat that has put relations between the two friendly nations at their lowest ebb in years.

The demarche was issued after Brigety’s extraordinarily strident comments to South African media on Thursday in which he said the U.S. had observed South African weapons being loaded onto a Russian vessel, the “Lady R,” which docked at the port of Simon’s Town in Cape Town between December 6 and December 8 last year.

He said it showed South Africa was not neutral on the Ukraine conflict as Pretoria has always claimed.

“The arming of Russia, by South Africa, with the vessel that landed in Simon’s Town, is fundamentally unacceptable,” he said. “We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion.”

The South African government seemed caught by surprise by the ambassador’s comments, responding hours later that they were setting up an independent investigation into the matter led by a retired judge.

But Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa also hit back at Brigety’s remarks, saying the U.S. and South Africa had already discussed the matter privately.

“It is, therefore, disappointing that the U.S. ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter,” Magwenya said.

A spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said Friday that minister Naledi Pandor would also be speaking to her U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

However, Kobus Marais, shadow defense minister for South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance said the U.S. accusations were “deeply concerning.”

“If these allegations are indeed true it would be a gross violation of South Africa’s international obligations and a betrayal of the trust of our most important trade and investment allies,” Marais said.

There have long been questions surrounding why the ship docked in Cape Town last year.

Despite western efforts to get Pretoria’s support for Kiev since the Russian invasion

began last year, the South African government has maintained friendly relations with Moscow.

The country’s foreign minister held bilateral talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey

Lavrov earlier this year and – despite U.S. consternation – hosted Russian war ships in February for joint military exercises.

Steven Gruzd, a Russia expert at the South African Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that Pretoria could face economic fallout from its stance.

“South Africa is jeopardizing its access to the American market through something like the African Growth and Opportunity Act, those privileges would be revoked and then there would be real economic costs,” he said.

South Africa also has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a summit in the country in August, despite the fact there’s an arrest warrant out for him by the International Criminal Court and Pretoria is a signatory to the court.

If he shows up, South Africa is legally obliged to arrest him. This has led to calls by some within the ruling party to look into restructuring the agreement with the ICC.
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Italy is having second thoughts on renewing a controversial investment pact with China.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal was on the table during May 5 talks in Rome between Chinese Foreign Ministry official Wang Lutong and his Italian counterparts, according to the Italian news outlet Decode39. It was also under discussion when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Italy in February this year.

A senior Italian government official has told Reuters that his country is highly unlikely to renew the agreement when it expires early next year, but that it needs time for further discussions with Beijing.

The deal was sealed in a five-year memorandum of understanding signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Rome in March 2019, making Italy the only country in the Group of Seven advanced economies to participate in China’s global infrastructure program. But it has so far failed to produce the hoped-for economic returns, Italian officials told Reuters.

Italian politics also are a factor. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized the deal, which was negotiated by her predecessor before she came to power last September. In an interview with Reuters last year, Meloni said, “There is no political will on my part to favor Chinese expansion into Italy or Europe.”

Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had hoped the agreement would boost the Italian economy and increase exports to China. But the deal aroused the concern of allies such as the United States despite Italy’s insistence that it was purely commercial.

Since the BRI memorandum was signed in 2019, the two countries have made progress in energy manufacturing and joint investment between Italian sovereign funds and Chinese funds, but less so on infrastructure, which is more sensitive for Italy’s NATO allies and the U.S.

Two ports

A key element of the agreement calls for the development of the Italian ports of Genoa and Trieste. These are the busiest ports in Italy, and Trieste is strategically located at the north end of the Adriatic Sea with overland links to Central and Eastern Europe.

Italian Minister of Enterprise and Manufacturing Adolfo Urso recently said the port of Trieste would not fall into Chinese hands, arguing it has become more important than ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We must understand that rebuilding Ukraine is the engine of European economic revival, just like the Marshall Plan after World War II,” he said.

China has said little publicly about Italy’s hesitation. Jia Guide, the Chinese ambassador to Italy, acknowledged in an April 26 interview with the Italian news outlet Sole 24 Hours that the memorandum of understanding is not a legally binding treaty.

“It embodies the political will of the two sides to strengthen practical cooperation in various fields. Adhering to win-win cooperation is the unchanging mainstream between China and Italy, and it truly conforms to the fundamental and long-term interests of the two peoples,” he said.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cited “fruitful outcomes” since the signing of the agreement and said there is “a need for both sides to further tap into the potential of our Belt and Road cooperation.”

Nicola Casarini, a senior research fellow at the Wilson Center, told VOA Mandarin that a renewal of the agreement would lead to more Chinese investment in Italy and provide Italian companies with better market access in China. A decision not to renew, he said, would be seen by Beijing as an unfriendly signal but would likely not prompt retaliatory measures.

“Since China is trying to mend ties with Europe as a whole, I think it is pretty unlikely that the Chinese government will single out Italy in terms of commercial reprisals, as it did in the case of Lithuania,” he said.

“Why? Because that will elicit a backlash from the rest of the European partners of Italy. In that case, China-Europe relations will worsen.” He said China was more likely to adopt “more sophisticated” measures such as diverting trade away from Italy toward other European partners such as France and Germany.

The deal has failed to boost Italy’s underperforming economy in the past four years as expected. Italian exports to China totaled $18.1 billion (16.4 billion euros) last year compared with $14.2 billion (13 billion euros) in 2019. Chinese exports to Italy rose to $62.8 billion (57.5 billion euros) from $34.6 billion (31.7 billion euros) over the same period, according to Reuters.

Taiwan Strait

Meloni, meanwhile, has been more outspoken about the Taiwan Strait issue than her predecessor. In an interview with Taiwan’s Central News Agency before being elected, she said she would strengthen cooperation with Taiwan, a move likely to anger Beijing.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing to establish a representative office in Milan, which would be its second official agency in Italy and essentially function as a consulate.

Italy, meanwhile, sent a delegation to Taiwan to discuss cooperation in semiconductors at the end of last month but postponed a visit to Taiwan by a delegation of Italian politicians, also scheduled for April. Chinese officials have yet to react sharply to Italy’s warming partnership with Taiwan.
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United Nations experts who attended an emergency session on Sudan at the U.N. Human Rights Council Thursday were thwarted in their appeal for independent investigations into atrocities allegedly committed against Sudanese civilians by two rival armed forces.

By a vote of 18 in favor, 14 against, and 15 abstentions, the 47-member Council adopted a resolution that condemns the human rights violations committed after the October 25, 2021, military coup in Sudan and the conflict that erupted this year on April 15.

The resolution says these actions have “led to the death of hundreds of civilians, thousands injured, increased levels of sexual and gender-based violence, mass internal and external displacement, and destruction of property.”

The resolution calls for the U.N. designated expert on human rights in Sudan to monitor and document all allegations of human rights and abuses since the 2021 military takeover.

However, Hassan Shire, executive director of the rights organization DefendDefenders said the resolution “remains below what is objectively needed, namely an investigative mechanism that exposes and holds accountable those responsible for inflicting this misery on the Sudanese people.”

Hope for democracy crushed

In his opening speech to the Council, Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, condemned the 2021 military coup, which was carried out by the commander of Sudan’s army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Türk said the recent fighting, which was triggered by animosity between the two men, has plunged the country into catastrophe and once again has crushed the hoped-for transition to full civilian rule and democracy.

“I strongly condemn this wanton violence, in which both sides have trampled international humanitarian law, notably the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution,” Türk said.

He noted the clashes between the two rival forces and armed attacks, including shelling and airstrikes in densely populated residential areas in the capital Khartoum, have put millions of civilians at acute risk and have prevented them from accessing critical supplies and assistance.

“Today, immense damage has been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people,” he said. “It is essential that both parties urgently commit to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace.”

Türk called on Sudan’s rival commanders to establish a humanitarian truce “to enable lifesaving deliveries of aid; to allow for safe passage for civilians from areas of hostilities; and to protect humanitarian supplies from looting.”

He enjoined them to respect international humanitarian law, to protect civilians, and bring an end to human rights violations.

‘An internal affair’

Several humanitarian cease-fires declared since the start of fighting last month have failed to stop the violence.

The chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, Tlaleng Mofokeng, echoed the High Commissioner’s plea for the warring parties to immediately end the fighting and to stop targeting the civilian population and infrastructure.

She called for immediate, independent and impartial investigations into the loss of civilian lives and “gross human rights violations inflicted upon humanitarians, human rights defenders and other civic activists.”

“Establishing robust investigative and accountability mechanisms is of utmost importance, as they are instrumental in effectively monitoring, documenting, investigating, and prosecuting violations,” she said.

In a testy interchange with council members, Hassan Hamid Hassan, Sudan’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said what is happening in his country is “an internal affair” and what the Sudanese Armed Forces are doing is “a constitutional duty for all armies of the world.”

He questioned why the council was rushing to hold this ad hoc session now, “especially without the support of any African or Arab countries.”

Hassan said that the protection and promotion of human rights has always been and always will remain a priority for his government.
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Like Turkey, Greece faces key national elections this month, and topping the foreign policy agenda are Athens’ tense relations with its NATO ally and neighbor. Conservative and liberal parties in Greece have long differed in their approach to dealing with Turkey, along related issues of defense and illegal migration. Now, they are emerging more united than previously.

In a three-hour long, national debate Wednesday, Greece’s six leading political party leaders crossed swords largely on the economy, the lingering energy crisis and measures to alleviate household budgets from rising prices and the cost of living here.

But when foreign policy and migration took center stage, even the strongest of political opponents seemed united.

In surprise remarks, Alexis Tsipras, the leftist leader of the Syriza party said he was prepared to keep a massive steel fence shielding the country from Turkey and illegal migrants pouring in, rather than tearing it down and engaging in what he has long advocated: an open-arms policy toward refugees.

Keeping Greece’s borders safe is a given, Tsipras said. And he said Greece is open to following through with suggestions to fortify those defenses against Turkey and illegal migration.

Greece’s conservative government under Kyriakos Mitsotakis has already vowed to extend a sprawling 35-kilometer fence to cover the entire stretch of a river that divides Greece and Turkey in the north.

The Evros river snakes about 140 kilometers across the frontiers of the two countries, serving as one of the key crossing paths for thousands of illegal entries each year.

Tsipras, a former prime minister whose Syriza party is trailing second behind the conservatives, supported the ambitious fence plan but he warned that it was not a perfect solution.

“Let’s not kid the Greek voters,” he told a panel of journalists at the nationally televised debate. “Let’s not fool them like Donald Trump did with designs of building a fence along the border with Mexico. No migration problem can be solved with a fence alone. The European Union must weigh in, and migration policies must change.”

On the easternmost frontier of the European Union, Greece is still reeling from a migration crisis that saw more than a million refugees flood Europe at the height of Syria’s bloody civil war in 2015 and 2016.

Tsipras controls over a quarter of the national vote and his declaring support for plans for the fence illustrates Greece’s toughening stance against illegal immigration.

It also shows Greece’s continued concern for what leaders here, across the political divide, have billed as unprecedented Turkish provocation and aggression under the helm of incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

NATO allies Greece and Turkey came to the brink of war just a few years ago in a fierce contest over energy rights in the oil-rich Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.

But since the start of year, relations have thawed as Greece quickly rushed to the aid of Turkey in the wake of devastating earthquakes that left tens of thousands dead.

Mitsotakis said he was prepared to talk and seek a resolution to longstanding differences with whoever wins the Turkish election on Sunday.

He said he is ready to extend an olive branch and hand of friendship to any winner so as to resume these important talks.

But Mitsotakis said he holds no false illusion about the outcome and will continue to retain Greece’s policy of strong military deterrence.

In recent years, Greece has ramped up its defenses with a number of military deals with the U.S. — a move that has antagonized Turkey and its bid to lift a U.S. embargo on the purchase of F-16 warplanes.

The Greek defense spree has been so intense in recent years that NATO this week revealed that Greece’s spending in terms of the percentage of its GDP was the highest within the alliance, surpassing even that of the United States.

On Wednesday and at the debate, Tsipras, a longtime critic of the United States, said he also would not cancel those defense deals if elected in Greece’s May 21 polls.
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As Turkey heads to the polls for its momentous elections Sunday, former U.S. ambassadors to Ankara will be monitoring from afar.

While the perspectives shaped by their respective tenures in Turkey may vary, three former mission chiefs speaking to VOA share at least one view: The elections in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will face the biggest challenge to his two-decade rule will determine the course of Turkey’s future, its role as a NATO ally and its international standing.

Turkey’s elections are taking place amid an economy battered by inflation and a currency that has depreciated, much of which has been blamed on the current government’s policies as well as its failure to help people recover from devastating earthquakes earlier this year.

Erdogan has focused his campaign on quake reconstruction, the defense sector and spending measures, including raising the minimum wage and pensions, providing help for electricity and natural gas, and allowing some to take early retirement.

Ambassador James Jeffrey, who served in Ankara from 2008 to 2010, thinks Turkish people will be casting their votes based on three things: economic policies, earthquake response and criticisms of authoritarianism.

Turkey’s six-party opposition alliance is running on a promise to do away with the executive presidential system, established through a close mandate. The opposition, which says that mandate consolidated one-man rule, vows a return to the parliamentary system.

According to Jeffrey, the elections are the “first real referendum” on the presidential system. “This is the first chance for the Turkish public to decide whether they like this model or not,” he told VOA.

Democracy, media freedom concerns

David Satterfield, who served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2019 to 2022, believes Turks deserve to live in a flourishing democracy.

The U.S. government has expressed its concerns on several occasions with regard to democratic backsliding, including but not limited to what it describes as wrongful imprisonment of some political figures in Turkey.

Speaking to VOA via Zoom last week, Satterfield praised the level of political enthusiasm in Turkey. He believes the elections will produce an outcome that “genuinely reflects the views of the Turkish people.”

Despite criticism that Erdogan’s tenure has been marked by an authoritarian approach to politics, U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, who served from 2011 to 2014, says Turkey remains substantially democratic.

In February 2011, shortly after expressing concern about increasing press restrictions and diminishing freedom of expression, Ricciardone’s criticism drew an angry response from government officials, including then-Prime Minister Erdogan, who called him a “rookie” ambassador.

In an interview with VOA on World Press Freedom Day, Ricciardone spoke about his dismay at what he saw as deteriorating media diversity and freedom in Turkey.

“There was still a multiplicity of voices that could be heard, whether in print and broadcast media or in what was then still relatively early days on social media, with a lively conversation among different political perspectives,” he said.

Jeffrey said the reports the State Department does every year on the lack of checks and balances, along with ongoing press restrictions, should be taken seriously.

“Turks are well-educated and will make a considered decision on which way they want their country to go,” he said during a Skype interview. “I think that in the end, that will be reflected on whatever government we have.”

Human Rights Watch issued fresh warnings Wednesday that the government has accelerated efforts to tighten control over social media and independent news sites ahead of the high-stakes election, saying “the vote will test whether Turkish voters can rely on social media for independent news.”

Heat of elections or serious concern?

Asked about Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu’s comment describing the upcoming elections as a “Western coup plot,” Ricciardone said that even though such talk cannot be dismissed as political rhetoric, politicians resort to such statements in the heat of elections.

“I put it in that kind of context of trying to raise the political support by rallying against the foreigner or as a way of blaming others for things that make the electorate unhappy,” he told VOA.

Turkish voters still seem to have confidence in the electoral bodies of the state, he added. “I believe the state still has structures of governance that are strong enough to comply with the will of the Turkish people.”

Jeffrey appears to be on the same page. Underscoring the commitment of Turkish people to democracy, he said he expected they would demand a fair, democratic outcome.

But he also said he found Soylu’s comments concerning. “I have never heard anything accurate about my country from him. But fortunately he is not in charge of U.S.-Turkish relations,” Jeffrey said.

Implications for foreign policy

The election outcome could open up more opportunities for Washington and Ankara to directly talk, if not immediately reset relations.

Turkey’s S-400 defense system purchase from Russia triggered U.S. sanctions and Ankara’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet program. The opposition has signaled its intent to address the issue.

Ricciardone said the opposition’s plan to look into this issue was a “good intention that the United States can work with.”

A possible deal in response to Turkey’s request to buy new F-16 jets and modernization kits from the U.S. is still uncertain because of opposition in Congress, which needs to approve any proposed weapons sale to a foreign country.

Former diplomats do not expect to see any lessening of friction over the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey sees as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Ankara has designated as a terrorist organization.

Jeffrey, who also served as the special representative for Syria engagement until 2020, said Washington and Ankara had managed to avoid a real crisis, although they came close to one in 2019, when Turkish troops entered Syria to fight Islamic State rebels but also targeted Kuridsh SDF forces allied with U.S. forces in the region.

“SDF is still there and Turkey is still unhappy about this,” he told VOA. “But the basic positions have still been held almost four years later.”
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Ahead of what may be the most important elections in recent Turkish history, activists say the country’s refugee population is growing increasingly afraid of threats of mass deportations. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Istanbul and Sakarya province in Turkey with videographer Yan Boechat.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s primary challenger in the May 14 elections, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, is targeting the Kurdish vote in presidential and parliamentary elections. This marks a turnaround for Kilicdaroglu’s CHP party, which for decades ignored Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish region. Dorian Jones reports from the region’s main city, Diyarbakir.
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Russian crude oil shipments by volume have hit their highest level since the beginning of 2022, as Moscow has found new buyers outside Europe following Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.

At the same time, Russia’s oil revenues have shrunk by two-thirds. Western sanctions, along with a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil that began February 5, are squeezing the Kremlin’s profits by forcing it to sell at deep discounts.

“On a four-week average basis, overall seaborne exports in the period to May 5 were up by 180,000 barrels a day to 3.63 million barrels a day, the highest since the start of 2022, when Bloomberg began tracking the flows in detail,” the Bloomberg report said.

Almost all of the oil is being shipped to China and India, with smaller amounts heading to Egypt and Turkey.

“Four-week average shipments to Russia’s Asian customers, plus those on vessels showing no final destination, rose to a new high of 3.37 million barrels a day in the period to May 5. That’s up by 124,000 barrels a day from the period to April 28,” Bloomberg said.

Before its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia shipped around 1.5 million barrels of oil per day to the European Union. However, Western sanctions have reduced that trade to almost zero.

Bulgaria is the only EU member state still importing Russian crude oil, purchasing on average 83,000 barrels a day in the four weeks prior to May 5.

The Kremlin has succeeded in finding new markets, said Stefan Legge, an economist at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

“The EU imports of crude oil from Russia are completely replaced by Egyptian and Indian imports of crude oil. So, Russia has found other buyers, and the EU, in turn, has looked for other suppliers and also found it,” Legge told VOA.

Despite finding new buyers, Russia’s finance ministry said last week that oil export proceeds fell 67% last month, to $6.4 billion. Total federal budget revenues from oil and gas fell 64% in April from a year earlier.

“Russia is suffering,” Legge said. “Yes, they have found new buyers of oil but at a lower price. Urals [Russian oil] is trading at a discount compared to other sorts of oil. And the new buyers are not as attractive as the old ones.”

The new buyers are also much farther away, resulting in average shipping times of 16 to 18 days, up from four to six days for the pre-war shipments to Russia’s European neighbors, according to Reuters.

“That is negative for the cost, so prices in general will go up. And it’s also bad for the environment if you think about CO2 emissions. Part of the gamble of Vladimir Putin was that the Western countries would not be willing to bear those costs. But now that we see, I think more than a year, Western countries are willing to accept some of the cost,” Legge told VOA.

The West is trying to persuade allies like India to import less Russian oil.

“But of course, those countries are sovereign countries, and they have their own interests,” Legge added. “In a way, you want to make the second-best option for Russia even worse. But that will have limited success, as history tells us and as the economic analysis tells us today.”

Analysts say some Russian oil is likely still entering European markets. Crude oil is difficult to track, as it can be easily blended with other shipments in transit countries or at sea, while the complexity of shipping companies and vessel flagging adds to the difficulty of enforcing sanctions.
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The foreign ministers of Turkey and Syria will hold their first official meeting on Wednesday since the start of Syrian civil war more than a decade ago, officials said. 

The talks in Moscow will also involve the top diplomats of Russia and Iran, Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The announcement delivers a diplomatic boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just days before he faces the toughest general election of his 21-year rule on Sunday.

Erdogan supported early rebel efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, keeping a military presence in northern stretches of the war-torn country that angers Damascus.

But Erdogan reversed course after Turkey plunged into an economic crisis two years ago.

The Turkish leader has made up with former rivals across the region and is now courting a presidential summit with Assad.

Syria had refused, insisting that Turkey first pull out its troops.

A reconciliation with Syria is also supported by Erdogan’s opponents and plays an important part in Turkey’s election campaign.

Erdogan has pledged to speed up the repatriation of nearly four million Syrian refugees and migrants who fled to Turkey to escape poverty and war.

An agreement with Damascus is seen as a prerequisite for this process.

Iran and Russia have been helping mediate talks between the two sides.

Ankara said the repatriation will be discussed at the talks.

The sides will “exchange views on the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria, discuss humanitarian issues … and the voluntary, safe and dignified return of asylum-seekers,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu exchanged a few words with his Syrian counterpart on the sidelines of a regional summit in 2021.

But both sides insisted that this did not mark a resumption of formal talks.

Erdogan turned into one of Assad’s fiercest opponents when the violent repression of protests set off Syria’s civil war in 2011.

The Turkish leader called Assad a “murderer” in 2017, saying he should be brought to justice before an international tribunal.

But reversing course, Erdogan this year said that a presidential summit could help “establish peace and stability in the region.”

The Moscow meeting follows several rounds of lower-level talks in Moscow involving the four countries’ defense ministers.

The last one in April ended with Damascus insisting on “the withdrawal of Turkish forces” from Syria. 
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Drought-stricken Spain says last month was the hottest and driest April since records began in 1961. 

The State Meteorological Agency, known by the Spanish acronym AEMET, said Monday that the average daily temperature in April was 14.9 degrees Celsius (58.8 Fahrenheit), which was 3 degrees Celsius above the average. 

AEMET said average maximum temperatures during the month were up by 4.7 degrees Celsius. 

Rainfall was a fifth of what would normally be expected in the month, making it the driest April on record in Spain. 

Last year was Spain’s hottest since record-keeping started in 1961, and also the country’s sixth driest. 

Three years of scant rainfall and high temperatures put the country officially into long-term drought earlier this year. 

A flash study by a group of international scientists last week found that record-breaking April temperatures in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa were made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change and would have been almost impossible in the past. 

The government has requested emergency funds from the European Union to support farmers and ranchers whose crops are being affected by the situation.  
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