Police in Northern Ireland said they removed Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney from an event in Belfast on Friday because of a security concern. 

Coveney was delivering a speech at a peace process event in the city when the alert was sounded, and the event venue was evacuated. 

In a statement posted to its Twitter account, Police North Belfast had declared a “security alert” during the event. Local media reported the incident involved a van that had been hijacked at gunpoint, with the driver forced to drive to the parking lot of the venue where Coveney was speaking.  

Organizers of the event told the Reuters news service a suspicious device was found in the van. Local media reports say the van was found abandoned in the parking lot with the driver inside unharmed. It is unclear what happened to the assailant. Police reportedly remained at the scene and urged the public to avoid the area. 

Coveney, who reportedly had been speaking about the importance of reconciliation in Northern Ireland, was about five minutes into his remarks when he was interrupted. 

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Coveney was taken to a safe location. From his Twitter account, Coveney thanked police for their work and said he was “saddened and frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him and his family.” 

The incident comes three days after Britain lowered its Northern Ireland-related terrorism threat level for the first time in more than a decade, with police saying operations against Irish nationalist militants were making attacks less likely. 

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

 
…

U.N. human rights monitors in Ukraine are condemning the use of explosive weapons and indiscriminate attacks by Russian military forces on civilians and civilian infrastructure as a probable violation of international humanitarian law.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine one month ago the United Nations human rights office reports at least 1,035 civilians have been killed and some 1,650 injured. It says it is difficult to get an accurate count on the number of casualties during a brutal, ongoing war.

However, what is certain is that the death toll and human suffering in cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine is increasing day after day. The head of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, says the biggest area of concern is the wide use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

Speaking on a video link from the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, Bogner says Russian military forces have widely used missiles, heavy artillery shells, rockets, and other explosive weapons, as well as airstrikes in or near populated areas.

“Private houses, multi-story residential buildings, administrative buildings, medical and education facilities, water stations, electricity systems have all been destroyed on a massive scale, with disastrous effects on civilians and their human rights, including their rights to health, food, water, education and housing.”

Bogner confirms the use of cluster munitions by Russia and says monitors are looking into allegations of their use by Ukrainian armed forces. She says the attacks cause immeasurable suffering and may amount to war crimes.

“Since the 24th of February, we have received allegations of Russian forces shooting at and killing civilians in cars during evacuations, without taking feasible precautions or giving effective advance warning. We are also following up on other allegations that Russian forces have killed civilians, including during peaceful assemblies.”

Bogner says monitors are looking into allegations that thousands of people who have fled the city of Mariupol and other areas have been forcibly deported to the Russian Federation and, supposedly, are being held hostage by Russian authorities. She says U.N. monitors so far have not been able to verify whether Ukrainian civilians who have gone to Russia have been forcibly moved there.
…

Western defense officials say Ukraine has been employing agile insurgency tactics to disrupt Russia’s invasion, and in the suburbs northwest and east of Kyiv, to push their adversaries back.  

 

Hitting and ambushing Russian forces behind the contact lines with fast-moving units, often at night, has proven among its most effective field tactics and is adding to the logistical missteps the Russians still have not been able to overcome, military strategists say. They add that the tactics are also demoralizing Russian troops. 

 

“They’re doing a tremendous job,” said Colonel John Barranco of the Atlantic Council, a New York-based think tank.  

“The Ukrainians have developed a very competent military with good leadership at the lower level and they’re motivated. And this is why, when I looked at the Russian forces deployed for the invasion, I thought, this doesn’t seem like a well thought-out effort.” 

Barranco, who oversaw the U.S. Marines’ initial operations in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and served two tours in Iraq, said Russia miscalculated the resilience and capability of Ukrainian ground forces and the determination the Ukrainians would show in defending their territory. He said when he analyzed Russian forces arrayed along Ukraine’s borders in February, before the invasion, he discounted the likelihood of a full-scale offensive.  

 

“It seemed like the Kremlin attack plan might have been written in 2014. The Ukrainians have spent eight years building up their military and training,” he said. Barranco credited training the Ukrainians have received since 2014 by U.S. National Guard units from California and other states in small-unit tactics for some of Ukraine’s battlefield successes. 

 

 

In the past 48 hours, Russian forces have struggled to maintain offensive actions northwest and east of Kyiv and have lost ground, with Ukrainian ground forces reoccupying territory they had lost, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Ukrainians say they have now managed to encircle the Russian-occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and the village of Hostomel northwest of Kyiv.  

Earlier this week, the Ukrainians retook the strategically located village of Makariv outside Kyiv. Much of the success rests with the Ukrainians targeting Russia’s already challenged supply lines.  

 

Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Ukrainians will likely continue to target logistical assets in Russian-held areas, forcing the Russians to “prioritise the defence of their supply chain and deprive them of much needed resupply.” 

 

British defense officials also confirmed Friday that Ukraine has reoccupied towns east of Kyiv. “Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian Forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv,” they said in a public intelligence update.  

 

“In the south of Ukraine, Russian Forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west toward Odesa, with their progress being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance,” they added.

 

Russian forces also appear to be preparing defensive positions around Kyiv, ready for a war of attrition. Earlier this week VOA reported that satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies, a space technology and earth-observation company, appeared to show Russians soldiers building protective dirt berms near the villages of Ozera, Zdvyzhivka and Berestyanka, northwest of Kyiv, and around Antonov Air Base. 

 

The berms are likely being built to guard against Ukrainian counterattacks, Western officials said. 

 

“The Ukrainians know their territory — they know their ground. They’ve thought about this for a long time, and they are outperforming the Russians at the small-unit level,” Barranco told VOA.  

 

He and other military analysts said the Ukrainians are using a variety of tactics to push the Russian forces onto the back foot.  

Among them are setting up so-called kill boxes, or defined target areas, and then drawing their foes into them; unleashing highly focused and ferocious attacks on isolated Russian troops; creating fallback routes after ambushes as they set up a subsequent attack; and striking mechanized units when they are stalled. 

 

Another advantage the Ukrainians are exploiting is competent leadership by noncommissioned officers (NCOs), the officials say, which is also consistent with U.S. military doctrine and training. 

 

“The U.S. puts a lot of focus on building a professional, noncommissioned officer corps of corporals and sergeants who understand the big picture and are given the delegated authority to make decisions on the battlefield as they lead their units,” Barranco said.  

 

“Junior officers are also taught to work closely with professional NCOs. The Russian military has acknowledged they have a problem with poorly trained NCOs and have started an NCO academy because they realize they do not have good leadership at the lower levels,” he added. 

 
…

U.S. President Joe Biden is headed to Poland Friday, after meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Biden and von der Leyen announced formation of a joint task force to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the profits from its energy sales “to drive his war machine” in Ukraine. Biden said he wanted “to make it clear that the American people would not be part of subsidizing Putin’s brutal, unjustified war against the people of Ukraine.”

“We are determined to stand up against Russia’s brutal war,” von der Leyen said. “This war will be a strategic failure for Putin.”

The United States is providing Europe with 15 billion cubic meters of liquid natural gas this year.

In Poland, Biden will go to the eastern town of Rzeszów, near the border with Ukraine.   Poland, a NATO ally, has taken in millions of Ukraine refugees.

Late Thursday, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Ukraine told the agency that Russian forces were shelling Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych, where many people live who work at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This is putting them at risk and preventing further rotation of personnel to and from the site.

Earlier Thursday, Biden said there would be a Western military response if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

“It would trigger a response in kind,” Biden replied to a reporter’s question during a news conference. “Whether or not you’re asking whether NATO would cross (into Ukraine to confront Russian forces), we’d make that decision at the time.”

He also said at NATO headquarters that Russia should be removed from the Group of 20 major economies and that Ukraine be allowed to attend G-20 meetings.

Biden confirmed the issue was raised during his meetings with other world leaders Thursday as they marked one month since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Asked whether Ukraine needs to cede any territory to achieve a cease-fire with Russia, Biden responded, “I don’t believe that they’re going to have to do that,” but that is a decision for Kyiv to make.

At his news conference, Biden said the United States is committing more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance “to help get relief to millions of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine.”

“With a focus on reuniting families,” the United States will welcome 100,000 Ukrainians and invest $320 million to support democratic resilience and defend human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries, the president said.

NATO also announced Thursday that the defense alliance would bolster its capabilities after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the organization’s leaders to provide more weaponry to his country ”without limitations” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second month.

Zelenskyy’s appeal came as Biden met with NATO leaders to discuss their short- and long-term response to the Russian invasion.

Addressing the summit via video, Zelenskyy said his military needed fighter jets, tanks, and improved air and sea defense systems, as he warned Russia would attack NATO member Poland and other Eastern European countries. 

“Russia has no intention of stopping in Ukraine,” he declared. ”It wants to go further. Against Eastern members of NATO. The Baltic states. Poland, for sure.” 

A White House statement issued Thursday said that “between now and the NATO summit in June, we will develop plans for additional forces and capabilities to strengthen NATO’s defenses.”

A Biden administration official told reporters that Zelenskyy did not reiterate on Thursday his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO previously rejected on the grounds it would lead to direct conflict between NATO and Russia. 

NATO members said in a joint statement after the summit that they would “accelerate” their commitment to invest at least 2% of their national budgets on the alliance, allowing for a significant strengthening of its “longer term deterrence and defense posture.”

The alliance also vowed to “further develop the full range of ready forces and capabilities necessary to maintain credible deterrence and defense.” 

In addition to participating in the NATO talks, Biden met Thursday with G-7 leaders and the European Council.

The White House on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting 48 Russian state-owned defense companies and more than 400 Russian political figures, oligarchs and other entities — an action Biden said was being done in alignment with the European Union.

Britain said Thursday its new package of sanctions includes freezing the assets of Gazprombank, a main channel for oil and gas payments, as well as Alfa Bank, a top private lender in Russia. Oil tycoon Evgeny Shvidler, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref and Polina Kovaleva, stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are among individuals sanctioned. 

China has criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia and has drawn warnings from Biden about not helping Russia evade the measures.

Asked about his recent phone discussion on the topic with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said he had made clear to Xi “the consequences of him helping Russia,” but, he noted, “I made no threats.”

Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine   
…

Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed Thursday on a landmark law to curb the market dominance of U.S. big tech giants such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.

Meeting in Brussels, the lawmakers nailed down a long list of do’s and don’ts that will single out the world’s most iconic web giants as internet “gatekeepers” subject to special rules.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) has sped through the bloc’s legislative procedures and is designed to protect consumers and give rivals a better chance to survive against the world’s powerful tech juggernauts.

“The agreement ushers in a new era of tech regulation worldwide,” said German MEP Andreas Schwab, who led the negotiations for the European Parliament.

“The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of Big Tech companies,” he added.

The main point of the law is to avert the years of procedures and court battles needed to punish Big Tech’s monopolistic behavior in which cases can end with huge fines but little change in how the giants do business.

Once implemented, the law will give Brussels unprecedented authority to keep an eye on decisions by the giants, especially when they pull out the checkbook to buy up promising startups.

“The gatekeepers – they now have to take responsibility,” said the EU’s competition supremo Margrethe Vestager.

“A number of things they can do, a number of things they can’t do, and that of course gives everyone a fair chance,” she added.

‘Concrete impacts’

The law contains about 20 rules that in many cases target practices by Big Tech that have gone against the bloc’s rules on competition, but which Brussels has struggled to enforce.

The DMA imposes myriad obligations on Big Tech, including forcing Apple to open up its App Store to alternative payment systems, a demand that the iPhone maker has opposed fiercely, most notably in its feud with Epic games, the maker of Fortnite.

Google will be asked to clearly offer users of Android-run smartphones alternatives to its search engine, the Google Maps app or its Chrome browser.

A Google spokesperson told AFP that the US internet giant will “take time to study the final text and work with regulators to implement it.”

“While we support many of the DMA’s ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, we remain concerned that some of the rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans,” the spokesperson said.

Apple would also be forced to loosen its grip on the iPhone, with users allowed to uninstall its Safari web browser and other company-imposed apps that users cannot currently delete.

In a statement, Apple swiftly expressed regret over the law, saying it was “concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users.”

After a furious campaign by influential MEPs, the law also forces messaging services such as Meta-owned WhatsApp to make themselves available to users on other services such as Signal or Apple’s iMessage, and vice versa.

France, which holds the EU presidency and negotiated on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member states, said the law would deliver “concrete impacts on the lives of European citizens.”

“We are talking about the goods you buy online, the smartphone you use every day, and the services you use every day,” said France’s digital affairs minister, Cedric O.

Stiff fines

Violation of the rules could lead to fines as high as 10% of a company’s annual global sales and even 20% for repeat offenders.

The DMA “will have a profound impact on the way some gatekeepers’ operations are currently conducted,” said lawyer Katrin Schallenberg, a partner at Clifford Chance.

“Clearly, companies affected … are already working on ways to comply with or even challenge the regulation,” she added.

The Big Tech companies have lobbied hard against the new rules and the firms have been defended in Washington, where it is alleged that the new law unfairly targets U.S. companies.

With the deal now reached by negotiators, the DMA now faces final votes in a full session of the European Parliament as well as by ministers from the EU’s 27 member states.

The rules could come into place starting Jan. 1, 2023, though tech companies are asking for more time to implement the law.
…

As NATO, G-7 and European Union leaders met behind closed doors Thursday in Brussels to discuss their response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, protesters gathered outside demanding that the West take tougher action against Moscow.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called for a day of protests in support of his country, exactly one month after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Outside the European Union headquarters, where EU leaders were joined by U.S. President Joe Biden for talks Thursday afternoon, several hundred protesters waved Ukrainian flags and placards.

Hanna Hopko, a former Ukrainian lawmaker and head of the country’s International Relations Commission, helped organize the protest.

“We have key demands: first, to provide maximum military assistance to Ukraine, because Ukrainian armed forces are winning this war. But we need the resupply of lethal weapons. … Second, we need tougher sanctions, including an embargo on oil and gas,” Hopko said.

“We expect that NATO, the EU and the global leadership, G-7 — they finally make a decision, and we will see determination to help Ukraine to win. We ask a question: Does morality end at the NATO borders? Does humanity end at the NATO borders?” she added.

The United Nations said Thursday that more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, but cautioned the figure could severely underestimate the true number of people killed.

Many have died as a result of Russian missiles and airstrikes, prompting calls for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which the Western alliance has rejected.

Among the protesters in Brussels was Zlata Podovolenkova, who fled her home in Hostomel outside Kyiv, which is now a front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces trying to take the capital. She still has family members stuck in the middle of the war zone.

“We are asking for NATO to close the sky, to provide us with weapons that will be able to help Ukraine to win this war,” Podovolenkova said. “Because we are sure that we’re going to win, but it’s not only a matter of time, it’s a matter of how many people will die, how many civilians will die in this terrible war.”

Their demands were left largely unsatisfied. NATO did agree to boost weapon supplies, increase humanitarian aid and tighten sanctions, but will not impose a no-fly zone or supply fighter jets, arguing either action could spark direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

“Europe could do much more to help Ukraine. NATO can do much more to help Ukrainians,” said Andrea Castagna, an Italian national who joined the protest in Brussels. “We are, I think, in a situation which is very comparable with 1939, when people in Europe had to decide that Hitler was Hitler.

“And now we are in a time when we have to decide that Vladimir Putin is no longer the leader of a nation. He is an imperialistic dictator that will destroy everything that we built after the Second World War,” Castagna said.

The United States and its NATO partners have approved billions of dollars in military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and imposed ever-stronger sanctions against Moscow.

VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze contributed to this report.
…

U.S. and British officials on Thursday accused the Russian government of running a yearslong campaign to hack into critical infrastructure, including an American nuclear plant and a Saudi oil refinery.

The announcement was paired with the unsealing of criminal charges against four Russian government officials, whom the U.S. Department of Justice accused of carrying out two major hacking operations aimed at the global energy sector. Thousands of computers in 135 countries were affected between 2012 and 2018, U.S. prosecutors said.

Cybersecurity analysts described the moves as a shot across the bow to Moscow after U.S. President Joe Biden had warned just days ago about “evolving intelligence” that the Russian government might be preparing cyberattacks against American targets.

John Hultquist, whose firm Mandiant investigated the Saudi refinery hack, said that by making the criminal charges public, the United States “let them know that we know who they are.”

In one of the two indictments unsealed on Thursday and dated June 2021, the Justice Department accused Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, a 36-year-old Russian Ministry of Defense research institute employee, of conspiring with others between May and September 2017 to hack the systems of a foreign refinery and install malware known as “Triton” on a safety system produced by Schneider Electric SE.

The refinery wasn’t named, but the British government said it was in Saudi Arabia and had previously been identified as the Petro Rabigh refinery complex on the Red Sea coast.

In a second indictment, dated August 2021, the Justice Department said three other suspected hackers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) carried out cyberattacks on the computer networks of oil and gas firms, nuclear power plants, and utility and power transmission companies between 2012 and 2017 — a campaign researchers have long attributed to a group sometimes dubbed “Energetic Bear” or “Berserk Bear.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The three accused Russians in the second case are Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulov, 36, Mikhail Mikhailovich Gavrilov, 42, and Marat Valeryevich Tyukov, 39. None of the four defendants have been arrested, a U.S. official said.

Britain’s Foreign Office said that the FSB hackers targeted the systems controlling the Wolf Creek nuclear plant in Kansas “but failed to have any negative impact.”

“Russia’s targeting of critical national infrastructure is calculated and dangerous,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. She said it showed Russian President Vladimir Putin “is prepared to risk lives to sow division and confusion among allies.”

A Justice Department official told reporters that even though the hacking at issue in the two cases occurred years ago, investigators remained concerned Russia will carry out similar attacks in future.

“These charges show the dark art of the possible when it comes to critical infrastructure,” the official said.

The official added that the department decided to unseal the indictments because they determined the “benefit of revealing the results of the investigation now outweighs the likelihood of arrests in the future.”

The 2017 Saudi refinery attack stunned the cybersecurity community when it was made public by researchers later that year. Unlike typical digital intrusions aimed at stealing data or holding it for ransom, the attack appeared aimed at causing physical damage to the facility itself by disabling its safety system. U.S. officials have been tracking the case ever since.

In 2019, those behind Triton were reported to be scanning and probing at least 20 electric utilities in the United States for vulnerabilities.

Two weeks before the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Russian government-backed Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics. Prosecutors believe Gladkikh worked there. On Thursday, British officials also announced sanctions on the institute.

The Foreign Office said FSB hackers had targeted British energy companies and had successfully stolen data from the U.S. aviation sector. It also accused the hackers of trying to compromise an employee of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon who fell afoul of the Kremlin and now lives in London. 
…

Turkey is paying a heavy economic price for its dependency on Ukrainian and Russian wheat, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sees wheat exports drying up.  The shortages are raising further concerns in Turkey about skyrocketing inflation, as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
…

There will be a Western military response if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday.  

“It would trigger a response in kind,” Biden replied to a reporter’s question during a news conference. “Whether or not you’re asking whether NATO would cross (into Ukraine to confront Russian forces), we’d make that decision at the time.”  

The U.S. president also said at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that Russia should be removed from the Group of 20 major economies and that Ukraine be allowed to attend G-20 meetings.  

Biden confirmed the issue was raised during his meetings with other world leaders on Thursday as they marked one month since Russia invaded Ukraine.  

Asked whether Ukraine needs to cede any territory to achieve a cease-fire with Russia, Biden responded, “I don’t believe that they’re going to have to do that,” but that is the judgment of Kyiv to make.  

At his news conference, Biden said the United States is committing more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance “to help get relief to millions of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine.”  

“With a focus on reuniting families,” the United States will welcome 100,000 Ukrainians and invest $320 million to support democratic resilience and defend human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries, the president said.  

NATO announced earlier Thursday that the defense alliance would bolster its capabilities after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the organization’s leaders to provide more weaponry to his country ”without limitations” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second month.  

 

Zelenskyy’s appeal came as Biden met with NATO leaders to discuss their short- and long-term response to the Russian invasion.  

Addressing the summit via video, Zelenskyy said his military needed fighter jets, tanks, and improved air and sea defense systems, as he warned Russia would attack NATO member Poland and other Eastern European countries.  

“Russia has no intention of stopping in Ukraine,” he declared. ”It wants to go further. Against Eastern members of NATO. The Baltic states. Poland, for sure.”  

A White House statement issued Thursday said “between now and the NATO summit in June, we will develop plans for additional forces and capabilities to strengthen NATO’s defenses.”  

A Biden administration official told reporters that Zelenskyy did not reiterate on Thursday his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO previously rejected on the grounds it would lead to direct conflict between NATO and Russia.  

NATO members said in a joint statement after the summit that they would “accelerate” their commitment to invest at least 2% of their national budgets on the alliance, allowing for a significant strengthening of its “longer term deterrence and defense posture.”  

The alliance also vowed to “further develop the full range of ready forces and capabilities necessary to maintain credible deterrence and defense.”  

In addition to participating in the NATO talks, Biden met Thursday with G-7 leaders and the European Council.  

The White House on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting 48 Russian state-owned defense companies and more than 400 Russian political figures, oligarchs and other entities — an action Biden said was being done in alignment with the European Union.  

Britain said Thursday its new package of sanctions includes freezing the assets of Gazprombank, a main channel for oil and gas payments, as well as Alfa Bank, a top private lender in Russia. Oil tycoon Evgeny Shvidler, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref and Polina Kovaleva, stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are among individuals sanctioned.  

China has criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia and has drawn warnings from Biden about not helping Russia evade the measures.  

Asked about his recent phone discussion on the topic with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said he had made clear to Xi “the consequences of him helping Russia,” but, he noted, “I made no threats.”  

The U.S. president heads to Poland on Friday, a visit that will also spotlight the millions of Ukrainians who have become refugees since Russia started the war.  

“I plan on attempting to see those folks,” Biden told reporters amid speculation he might go to Poland’s border with Ukraine. “I guess I’m not supposed to say where I’m going, am I?”  

Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.   

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  

 
…

The World Health Organization warns the fight against tuberculosis is at a critical juncture. It says the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed gains made since 2000 in saving lives from the infectious disease. For the first time in over a decade, the WHO says TB deaths increased in 2020.

It says around 1.5 million people died of TB during that pandemic year because of disruptions in services and lack of resources. Most deaths have occurred in developing countries, with conflict affected countries across Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East at greatest risk.

The director of the WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Program, Tereza Kaseva, says an extra $1.1 billion a year is needed for the development of new tools, especially new vaccines, to achieve the goal of ending TB by 2030.

She says investing in the fight against tuberculosis is a no-brainer given the benefits gained for each dollar spent.

“For every one dollar invested to end TB, 43 is returned as the benefits of a healthier, functioning society…Ending TB by 2030 can lead to avoiding 23.8 million tuberculosis deaths and almost 13 trillion U.S. dollars in economic losses.”

The WHO says extra funding would allow the world to treat 50 million people with TB, including 3.7 million children and 2.2 million with drug-resistant TB. WHO officials say that would be particularly beneficial for children and young adults who lag adults in accessing TB prevention and care.

Team leader of vulnerable populations in the WHO’s global TB program, Kerri Viney, says 1.1 million children and young adolescents become ill with tuberculosis every year.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday NATO will bolster its defense capabilities after his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called on NATO leaders to provide more weaponry to his country “without limitations” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second month.

Zelenskyy’s appeal came as Biden met with NATO leaders Thursday in Brussels to discuss their short- and long-term response to Russia’s month-old invasion of Ukraine, Biden’s first of three urgent meetings in Europe with world leaders.

Addressing the summit via video, Zelenskyy said his military needed fighter jets, tanks, improved air and sea defense systems, as he warned Russia would attack NATO members in Poland and in other eastern European countries.

“Russia has no intention of stopping in Ukraine,” he declared. “It wants to go further. Against eastern members of NATO. The Baltic states. Poland, for sure.”

In a statement released by the White House, Biden said, “Between now and the NATO summit in June, we will develop plans for additional forces and capabilities to strengthen NATO’s defenses.”

A Biden administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss the closed NATO summit, told reporters that Zelenskyy did not reiterate his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO previously rejected on the grounds it would lead to direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who has said the alliance would not send warplanes or troops to Ukraine, acknowledged before the summit that NATO must reinforce its defenses and “respond to a new security reality in Europe.”

After the summit, Stoltenberg said the alliance’s top military commander, General Tod D. Wolters, “has activated NATO’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense elements.”

“Allies are deploying additional chemical, biological and nuclear defenses to reinforce NATO’s existing and new battle groups,” Stoltenberg added.

Biden administration officials have previously sounded the alarm that Moscow could use chemical weapons in Ukraine and blame the Ukrainians for their use as part of a false-flag operation to justify the Russian invasion. Biden also has previously warned that Russia would pay a severe price if it launched a chemical weapons attack but has not specified what that response would involve.

NATO members said in a joint statement after the summit they would “accelerate” their commitment to invest least 2% of their national budgets on the alliance, allowing for a significant strengthening of its “longer term deterrence and defense posture.”

The alliance also vowed to “further develop the full range of ready forces and capabilities necessary to maintain credible deterrence and defense.

In addition to the NATO talks, Biden is meeting Thursday with G-7 leaders and the European Council. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the overall goal is to hear “the resolve and unity that we’ve seen for the past month will endure for as long as it takes.

Sullivan said that includes countries following through on commitments to supply military equipment to Ukraine, to enforce existing sanctions against Russia and to look for ways to augment both along with humanitarian aid for those affected by the fighting.

Meantime, Biden announced a new round of sanctions Thursday targeting 48 state-owned Russian defense companies and more than 400 Russian political figures, oligarchs and other entities.

Britain said Thursday its new package of sanctions included freezing the assets of Gazprombank, a main channel for oil and gas payments, as well as Alfa Bank, a top private lender in Russia. Oil tycoon Evgeny Shvidler, Sberbank CEO German Gref and Polina Kovaleva, stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were among individuals sanctioned.

China has criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia and has drawn warnings from Biden about not helping Russia to evade the measures.

Asked about China’s role, Stoltenberg said Thursday that China should “join the rest of the world in clearly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and not provide political support neither provide any kind of material support to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg told reporters the alliance is establishing four new battlegroups in the alliance’s eastern flank as part of its additional defensive measures since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The combat-ready units are set to deploy to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, according to Stoltenberg, bringing the total number of NATO battlegroups on its eastern flank to eight. The other NATO battlegroups have been fully operational in the Baltic states and Poland since 2017.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine and that the United States will work to hold Russia accountable.

Russia has repeatedly rejected accusations of war crimes.

The United Nations says more than 3.6 million refugees, including 1.8 million children, have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion one month ago. Another 6.5 million people have been displaced from their homes within the country. Among those displaced are 2.5 million children, the U.N. said.

National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who protested Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by bursting onto the set of a flagship television news show, says her colleagues at Kremlin-controlled TV Channel One are scared and she doesn’t regret for one moment her action.

The 43-year-old television journalist last week held up a banner behind the news anchor during a live broadcast denouncing the aggression in Ukraine and shouted, “stop the war.” On the banner she wrote: “No War” and “They are lying to you here.”

“My colleagues are scared,” Ovsyannikova told VOA. “The heads of Channel One forbade them to discuss this incident. Several colleagues quit, the rest — continue to work. They need to feed their families; they cannot find other work in such a difficult time. Because of Western sanctions, people have become real hostages of the difficult economic situation in Russia,” she added.

Ovsyannikova has declined an asylum offer from France after she staged her protest to challenge the Kremlin’s narrative of the invasion, which Russian leader Vladimir Putin has dubbed a “special military operation.” She was detained and fined $290 for loading a video onto YouTube denouncing the invasion, but her lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, told VOA more serious charges could be filed against her.

“Her action on the First Channel live has not yet been assessed by law enforcement agencies” he said. He added: “So far, Marina has not been summoned for interrogation. We do not have any official information about the investigation being carried out against her.”

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has launched a probe into her actions, according to Russian news agency TASS.

“A preliminary inquiry is being conducted regarding Ovsyannikova to determine whether her actions constitute a crime under Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code (‘Public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation’),” the news agency quoted an official saying. If found guilty of the charge Ovsyannikova could be jailed for 15 years.

Ovsyannikova has a 17-year-old son and a daughter. Her lawyer told VOA: “During the detention she was treated with respect, they were polite, they did not use physical force.” She was held for 14 hours but was denied a lawyer even though she demanded legal representation “about 20 times,” Gashinsky said.

No regrets

She does not recant a single word of her condemnation of the war. “She is happy that she was able to show the whole world that Russian people are mostly against armed conflicts. And those who support armed conflicts, Marina’s quote: ‘poisoned by state information propaganda.’ Marina is a pacifist. She believes that all conflict situations can be resolved through negotiations,” he added.

Gashinsky said: “It’s not easy for her now. Together with her are her two children and two golden retrievers. She has loans for a car and her house. Now she has lost the only source of income that she had, and she has no savings. She receives alimony from her ex-spouse for the maintenance of children. But she, like a real Russian woman, said that she would cope with all the difficulties.”

Ovsyannikova told VOA, via her lawyer, she is not making plans as “the future of our country is unknown and very foggy now and Russia is plunged into darkness.”

Others targeted

This week, Russian prosecutors also opened a case against journalist Alexander Nevzorov, who has more than 1.6 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, accused of deliberately spreading false information about the war in Ukraine. In an open letter to Russia’s top investigator, Alexander Bastrykin, Nevzorov dubbed the investigation “ridiculous.” The probe is focused on Nevzorov’s postings on Instagram and YouTube about Russia’s armed forces deliberate shelling of a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port town of Mariupol.

Nevzorov said the case against him was meant as a signal to journalists in Russia to show “the regime is not going to spare anyone.”

Russian authorities have been adding more and more offenses to try to shut down independent reporting on the war or any coverage that challenges the Kremlin version of what is happening in Ukraine, say Russian journalists.

On Tuesday, the Russian parliament passed amendments to the Criminal Code that would expand a new law of spreading of falsehoods to allow authorities to prosecute those deemed to have spread false information about the work of state bodies abroad.

A Moscow court this week granted prosecutors’ request to designate Meta an “extremist” organization and Russia’s federal censor instructed media organizations to stop displaying the logos of Meta, Facebook, and Instagram, all three are now being blocked on Russia’s internet along with Twitter. Television network Euronews is also now being blocked.

Most foreign news organizations have pulled their correspondents out of Russia and Russia’s few remaining independent digital news outlets have also gone into exile.

The editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, who received a Nobel Peace Prize last year announced this week he will auction his medal and donate the prize proceeds to an NGO that supports Ukrainian refugees. The paper has called on the Kremlin to: “Stop combat fire, exchange prisoners, release the bodies of the dead, provide humanitarian corridors and assistance, and support refugees.”

On Tuesday Russian investigative reporter Svetlana Prokopyeva announced she had left her home in the Russian town of Pskov and is now in Riga, Latvia. Two years ago, she was found a guilty of “justifying terrorism” in her reporting but was issued a fine rather than jailed in a case that was closely followed by the international media and rights groups. Her home was raided on March 18 during which she was forced to the floor and handcuffed. She was interrogated at a police station for allegedly spreading lies about the region’s governor.

“Yes, I am in Riga. I never thought this would happen in my life,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “I thought I would renovate the greenhouse, which was bent under the snow, and in the summer, maybe I’ll make a foundation under the house,” she added. “And I will be back. As soon as it is possible,” she added.

Some reporting for this story is from Reuters.
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Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine   
…

Chinese enterprises are caught between the high reputational risk of remaining in Russia during its war on Ukraine and the pro-Moscow sentiment that dominates China’s state-controlled media. So far, most have chosen to remain silent.

According to the Yale School of Management, more than 400 companies have announced their withdrawal from Russia’s economy since Putin launched the war on Feb. 24. Most are based in the U.S., European Union, Japan and South Korea.

Salvatore Babones, an associate professor at the University of Sydney with expertise in the political economy of the Indo-Pacific region, said that for companies outside China, the desire to maintain a positive public image prompted their withdrawal from Russia.

“The risk of remaining in Russia is reputational,” he told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview. “Russia is a relatively small market, and there’s a huge public reaction against Russia right now. They (the companies) are responding to consumer pressure.”

Russia’s imports from China totaled about $54.9 billion in 2020. China is the largest source, followed by Germany, at $23.4 billion, and the United States, with just over $13.2 billion, according to the website Trading Economics, which uses figures from the United Nations COMTRADE database. By comparison, the site reports that China’s exports to the U.S. in 2020 totaled $452.6 billion.

Dan Harris, a trade lawyer who specializes in doing business in emerging markets and co-authors the China Law Blog, said the business calculus has changed because of the sanctions imposed on Russia.

“Companies that are not sanctioned … they are saying ‘I’m out’ because of reputational reasons or because it’s not worth figuring out and risking getting in trouble to sell a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of product to Russia. It’s just easier and safer to get out,” he told VOA Mandarin by phone.

A different approach

But while non-Chinese firms rush to exit Russia, most Chinese firms, especially those in the technology sector, have so far chosen to stay put.

The U.S. and other nations have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, including import bans on energy, export bans on advanced technology, and moves to exclude Moscow from the SWIFT system that banks and other financial institutions use for global financial transactions.

In a phone call on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping that Beijing would face severe consequences should it choose to provide aid to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort.

On March 14, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index hit a six-year low on fears that Chinese firms could be ostracized if Beijing sided with Russia, according to Bloomberg.

But on Chinese social media, where sentiment against the war is heavily censored, netizens overwhelmingly support Russia. A CNN analysis showed that during the first week of the Russian invasion, half of the most shared content on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo contained information attributed to a Russian official or comments picked up directly from Russian state media.

Consequently, some Chinese companies have doubled down on their support for Moscow, while others have changed course after getting hammered online for announcing plans to halt operations in Russia.

The Chinese government has refused to call Russia’s action in Ukraine an invasion. In a daily briefing on March 15, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China was “deeply grieved to see that the situation in Ukraine has reached its current state,” and he insisted the country was working for peace talks.

Didi, a ride-hailing app, faced public backlash after announcing that it would withdraw from the Russian market on March 4. Chinese netizens criticized the company, accusing it of giving in to pressure from America. Later, the company made a U-turn and said it would continue operating in Russia.

Hong Kong-based Lenovo Group, which announced the suspension of its shipments to Russia in late February, faced similar criticism on Chinese social media. Sima Nan, a Chinese television pundit known for his nationalistic and anti-American sentiment, wrote on his Weibo account that “Lenovo’s decision to follow America’s footstep is disgusting.”

This public support for Russia has left companies with little room to maneuver, according to Babones.

“The Chinese government suppresses any kind of discussion (that condemns Russia),” he said. “I can’t imagine that in China we would see a mass condemnation of Russia leading to the pressure on Chinese companies to exit the market.”

China’s official position on Moscow’s invasion has straddled both sides. Beijing has called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict while maintaining that the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia are counterproductive.

The Japanese business publication Nikkei Asia quoted an official at a major Chinese telecommunication company on March 9 as saying most Chinese companies “will not express opinions that conflict with the government’s stance.” At the same time, the official said, the companies will shy away from “any statements that are friendly to Russia to avoid boycott from Western companies.”

A former executive at the Chinese telecommunication firm Xiaomi told the Financial Times — and was quoted elsewhere as saying — that “it is politically sensitive to openly announce a sales suspension in the Russian market like Apple and Samsung, but from a business perspective, it makes (sense) to stand by and watch what happens next.”

Cost to Chinese firms

That wait-and-see approach might be costly to Chinese firms, according to experts. And firms that are more openly supportive of Russia risk a loss of international market share, forcing them to recalculate the risks of remaining in Moscow.

For example, at the telecommunications giant Huawei, just the rumor that it was helping the Russians defend against cyberattacks had reputational costs.

These stemmed from a March 6 report by the Daily Mail, a British newspaper, that cited “reports in China” as saying Huawei has been helping Russia stabilize its internet network after cyberattacks since the start of the Ukraine crisis.

The Daily Mail also cited a report on a Chinese news site that claimed Huawei would use its research centers to train 50,000 technical experts in Russia. The Chinese report has been deleted.

On March 9, the two remaining British members of Huawei U.K.’s board of directors resigned over the claim. Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski, a Polish professional footballer designated Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2020 and 2021, announced the early termination of his sponsorship deal with Huawei.

The former regional ambassador of Huawei in his home country and other parts of Europe, Lewandowski wore an armband in the Ukrainian colors of yellow and blue during a match and said, “The world cannot accept what is happening there. I hope the whole world will support Ukraine.”

Harris, the trade lawyer, said that Huawei is already on the “do not trade” list of the U.S. and some of its allies, and companies in other parts of the world, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe, might decide to cut ties with the Chinese firm to avoid violating sanctions imposed by Washington and other governments.

“If you’re dealing with China right now, you should be looking at what the world has done to Russia and figure that that could very well happen to China within the next few months,” Harris said.

“It might not happen if China backs away from Russia, but if China doesn’t back away from Russia, there are going to be a lot of sanctions, and things are going to get really bad.”
…

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine and that the U.S. will work to hold Russia accountable.

“We’ve seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities,” Blinken said, adding that many of the apartment buildings, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure hit “have been clearly identifiable as in-use by civilians.”

The assessment was based on a careful review of public and intelligence information gathered since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, according to the secretary.

Blinken traveled with U.S. President Joe Biden to Brussels Wednesday to meet with NATO and European allies on Thursday. Before his departure, Biden warned of Russia’s potential use of chemical weapons against Ukraine.

“I think it’s a real threat,” the president told reporters as he left the White House.

Biden administration officials have previously sounded the alarm that Moscow could use chemical weapons in Ukraine and blame the Ukrainians for their use as part of a false flag operation to justify the Russian invasion. The president has previously warned that Russia would pay a severe price if it launched a chemical weapons attack but hasn’t specified what that response would involve.

Russia has repeatedly rejected accusations of war crimes. 

Biden is expected to announce a new round of sanctions against Russia on Thursday, which marks one month since its invasion of Ukraine.

NATO is also expected to announce the deployment of four new battlegroups to the alliance’s eastern flank as part of its additional defensive measures since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels Wednesday.

The combat-ready units are set to deploy to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, according to Stoltenberg, bringing the total number of NATO battlegroups on its eastern flank to eight. The other NATO battlegroups have been fully operational in the Baltic states and Poland since 2017.

“I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains, with major increases of forces in the eastern part of the alliance on land, in the air and at sea,” Stoltenberg said, adding that Russia’s aggression is creating a “new normal” for NATO security.

The alliance chief said NATO leaders are also set to announce an agreement to address nuclear, chemical and other threats from Russia.

“I expect allies will agree to provide additional support, including cybersecurity assistance as well as equipment to help Ukraine protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to virtually address Thursday’s NATO summit, and he said ahead of the meeting that he is expecting Western leaders to both add to their Russian sanctions and pledge more aid for Ukraine. 

Britain will announce a package of aid that includes 6,000 anti-tank and high-explosive missiles and about $33 million for the Ukrainian military and for the BBC to fight disinformation, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

One key Russian industry that has been discussed for possible sanctions is the country’s lucrative oil and gas exports, but reliance on those supplies, particularly among European Union nations, which get 40% of their gas from Russia, has raised concerns about the effects of such actions.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that his country would “end this dependency as soon as possible,” but that doing so immediately “would mean to push our country and the rest of Europe into recession.”

Meanwhile shelling continued Wednesday in Kyiv, including attacks that injured four people in the Ukrainian capital. In the city of Chernihiv, Russian forces destroyed a bridge that had been used for evacuating civilians and delivering aid.

A senior U.S. defense official told reporters Wednesday that Ukrainians have pushed Russian forces back to about 55 kilometers east and northeast of Kyiv, whereas a day earlier they were about 20-30 kilometers away.

Russian forces are still trying to encircle Chernihiv but are stalled between eight and10 kilometers from the city center, the official added.

Stoltenberg told reporters the Ukrainian military’s resilience is the result of the courage of the Ukrainian people and a military that is stronger than it was when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea eight years ago.

A NATO official who was speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence told reporters Wednesday that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine.

The official said Russian forces have achieved “almost none” of their strategic objectives, while noting “they are stalled” in the northern cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv.

Russia is “achieving more results in the south, but the price is horrendous,” the official said.

On its English-language Telegram feed, Russia’s Ministry of Defense portrayed a vastly different war effort, praising Russian forces as they advanced on parts of southeastern Ukraine while Ukrainian forces fled, and claiming success in taking out Ukrainian fuel depots and positions with “high-precision long-range” weapons.

The United Nations says more than 3.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion one month ago. Another 6.5 million people have been displaced from their homes within the country.

National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press,  Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  
…

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia will only accept payments in rubles for gas deliveries to “unfriendly countries,” which include all EU members, after Moscow was hit by unprecedented sanctions over Ukraine.

Immediately after his announcement, the ruble, which has plummeted since the start of the Ukraine conflict, strengthened against the dollar and euro, while gas prices rose.

“I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payment for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles,” Putin said during a televised government meeting.

He added, however, that Russia will continue supplying the volume of gas outlined in its contracts.

Putin ordered Russia’s central bank to implement the new payment system within a week, saying it must be transparent and will involve the purchase of rubles on Russia’s domestic market.

Putin also hinted that other Russian exports may be affected.

Later Wednesday the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced it too will insist its international partners pay it in rubles.

“We will also conclude all our external agreements in rubles,” Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying by the official Tass news agency.

“It is clear that delivering our goods to the European Union, the United States and receiving dollars, euros, other currencies no longer makes sense to us,” Putin said.

Ukraine was quick to denounce Russia’s “economic war” on the EU and its efforts to “strengthen the ruble.”

“But the West could hit Russia with an oil embargo that would cause the Russian economy to plunge,” Ukrainian presidential advisor Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.

“This is now a key economic battle, and the West must collectively win it,” he added.

Crippling sanctions

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, whose country imported 55% of its natural gas from Russia before the conflict, said Putin’s demand was a breach of contract and that Berlin will discuss with European partners “how we would react to that.”

Austria’s OMV energy company said Wednesday that it would keep paying for Russian gas in euros despite the announcement.

“We don’t have any other basis for the contract. I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise,” OMV CEO Alfred Stern told Austrian television.

Western countries have piled crippling sanctions on Moscow since it invaded Ukraine.

The West froze about $300 billion of Russia’s foreign currency reserves abroad, a move that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday described as theft.

But while the United States banned the import of Russian oil and gas, the EU, which received around 40% of its gas supplies from Russia in 2021, has retained deliveries from Moscow.

Brussels, however, has set a target of slashing Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of the year and is eyeing an oil embargo.

“Russia is now trying to pressure the West with counter sanctions — and reduce its dependence on foreign currencies,” Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP.

‘Upend opponents’

Analyst Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management said, however, that it was “hard to see Putin’s move as ruble positive.”

Ash said Putin is essentially trying to force Western countries to trade with Russia’s central bank, which they have sanctioned.

“It will just accelerate diversification away from Russian energy,” he added.

According to investment group Locko Invest, the countries declared “unfriendly” by Russia account for more than 70% of Russia’s energy exports in terms of earnings.

The group also highlighted the danger for Gazprom of running out of foreign currency to honor its debts in the future.

But Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Foundation said: “Putin definitely knows how to build and exploit leverage.”

“Putin has routinely used escalation in such situations to upend his opponents’ best-laid plans. No reason to doubt that that’s changed,” Weiss said on Twitter.
…

The U.N. General Assembly began a lengthy debate Wednesday over two draft resolutions that seek to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, where millions wait for food, water and medical supplies or the chance to escape their besieged city safely.

“Thousands of Ukrainians have lost their lives over this month: young and old, women and men, civilians and military,” Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said of Russia’s war, which began in the early hours of February 24. “They died because Russia decided to attack — attack Ukraine, attack peace, attack all of us. Every day of the Russian war against Ukraine aggravates the humanitarian situation further and further.”

The numbers are staggering. In barely one month, the United Nations says 3.5 million people have fled to neighboring countries and 6.5 million are displaced within Ukraine. The U.N. estimates 12 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. The situation deteriorates daily.

U.N. member states have before them two resolutions. Both call for an immediate cease-fire, protection of civilians, critical civilian infrastructure, aid workers and medical personnel.

But there is one glaring difference: one text names Russia as the aggressor and calls on it to cease its actions against Ukraine, whereas the second text names no aggressor and essentially puts Ukraine — which was attacked — on the same level with its attacker.

Mexico and France, along with Ukraine, were among the 25 countries that drafted the text that names Russia, and their resolution has more than 80 co-sponsors in the General Assembly. South Africa is the author of the second text. It was not immediately clear whether their draft had any co-sponsors.

There are more than 70 diplomats slated to take part in Wednesday’s debate. A vote could potentially roll into Thursday.

Any result would not have a legally binding effect on Russia, but with strong international backing, it would express the will of the world that the hostilities should stop, and people should be helped.

The overwhelming number of speakers expressed support for the western draft, underscoring Russia’s destruction of Ukraine, including its siege on the southern port city of Mariupol, and the indiscriminate shelling and bombing of civilians and critical infrastructure.

“In light of the tragedy that is unfolding, the General Assembly has to take its responsibility to address this humanitarian catastrophe and urgently call on Russia to respect the basic principles of international humanitarian law that applies to everyone,” European Union Ambassador Olof Skoog said on behalf of the 27-member bloc.

Turkey, which has put itself forward as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine, said the war should never have started and should stop immediately.

“Let’s be clear: the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is not the result of a natural disaster,” Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu told the assembly. “It is manmade. It is the result of the blatant violation of international humanitarian law by the Russian Federation. This is unacceptable.”

Only Syria took the floor to support Russia. Moscow has provided military backing to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since 2015 in its brutal war against its population. Even Belarus, which hosts Russian troops on its territory and is believed to be considering involving its own military in Ukraine to support Russia, did not take to the floor of the General Assembly. Also absent from the debate were Eritrea and North Korea, which round out the countries that have publicly supported Moscow at the United Nations.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the western text as having “blatantly anti-Russian elements.”

“Let me be clear: this scenario will make a resolution to the situation in Ukraine more difficult,” Nebenzia said. “Because more likely, it will embolden Ukrainian negotiators and would nudge them to maintaining the current unrealistic position, which is not related to the situation on the ground nor to the need to tackle the root causes, which meant that Russia had to start, almost a month ago, its special military operation in Ukraine.”

He said that if countries wanted to help the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, they could vote for Moscow’s draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council.

That text is likely to fail to garner the nine necessary votes and no vetoes when it is put to a vote in the council later Wednesday.

Meanwhile, humanitarians continue without strong guarantees for their safety, to try to reach millions of Ukrainians with life-saving aid, many of them stranded in areas with active hostilities.
…

Senior Western officials are increasingly alarmed that Russia’s losses in Ukraine are making President Vladimir Putin more dangerous, some going as far as to compare him to a caged animal ready to lash out.

The warnings, from Washington and Brussels, come as new intelligence estimates suggest that up to 20% of Russian troops sent into Ukraine have been killed, wounded or captured as Ukraine fights Moscow to a near standstill.

“I don’t know if you can go as far [as to say] stalemate, but it’s clear that after one month, Russia has achieved almost none of their strategic objectives,” said a senior NATO official, who spoke to reporters Wednesday on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence.

“They are stalled in Kyiv. They are stalled in Kharkiv. They are stalled in Chernihiv,” the official said.

The price on the battlefield has been high.

NATO says based on intelligence from Ukraine and its own observations, including information accidentally released by Moscow, anywhere from 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in battle.

When wounded, captured and missing soldiers are factored in, the number of Russian troops taken off the battlefield is between 30,000 and 40,000, the alliance believes.

But Western officials warn that rather than pull back, Putin has decided to respond to failure with even greater brutality and tactics reminiscent of a previous era.

“They are achieving more results in the south, but the price of it is absolutely horrendous,” the senior NATO official said, accusing Moscow of trying to carpet-bomb the Ukrainian city of Mariupol into submission.

“What they do is World War II, 70-year-old techniques,” the official said. “To reach this extreme, you need to be cornered and you need to be pushed to break all moral human rules to go to such brutality.”

The official further warned that Russia’s failure to quickly subjugate Ukraine is feeding into Putin’s already deep hatred of Western values, increasing the chances he may choose to expand the conflict beyond Ukraine.

“The alliance is absolutely at risk,” the official said.

There is growing concern that Putin may turn to weapons of mass destruction, whether they be nuclear, chemical or biological.

“Russia must stop its nuclear saber rattling. This is dangerous and it is irresponsible,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels Wednesday, ahead of an extraordinary meeting of alliance heads of state.

“Any use of nuclear weapons will fundamentally change the nature of the conflict,” Stoltenberg said. “NATO is there to protect and defend all allies, and we convey a very clear message to Russia that nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought.”

Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert just three days after Russian tanks first rolled into Ukraine, and some Russian officials have floated the idea of using tactical nuclear weapons if necessary.

“If it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the U.S.-based cable news channel CNN on Tuesday.

U.S. defense officials said earlier this week that so far, they had seen no movement by Russia that would cause them to change Washington’s own nuclear deterrence posture.

But the U.S. has expressed growing concern about the possibility Russia will use chemical weapons.

“I think it’s a real threat,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday in Washington before leaving the White House to attend the NATO summit in Brussels.

NATO said Wednesday that the alliance was preparing for two equally frightening scenarios.

“One is what is openly called a false flag operation — this would be an accident on a chemical plant,” the senior NATO official said, pointing to the large amounts of ammonia, nitrates and other agricultural chemicals in Ukraine.

“If you have a massive release of those agents, it is very dangerous for the population,” the official added, warning that chemical clouds could then put other countries in the region at risk.

But NATO is also worried Russia could throw caution to the wind and use missiles or shells to target Ukraine with highly lethal neurotoxins.

“When you use them, they are so characteristic that the attribution is immediate,” the official said, adding that the biggest question for Western defense officials is whether Russia is going to want to stay below the threshold of attribution for the weapons it unleashes.
…

Well-known post-Soviet reformer Anatoly Chubais has reportedly left his post as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for stable development, a move that could signal a high-profile protest inside the Kremlin against Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
 

News agencies Bloomberg and Reuters on March 23 quoted Kremlin sources as saying that Chubais, who was responsible for relations with international organizations, had left the country.

Russia’s state news agency TASS quoted a source as saying that Chubais had left his position but did not confirm whether he was still in Russia or not.

 

No reason was given for Chubais’s departure. He is the highest-profile official on Putin’s team to resign since Russia launched its attack against Ukraine on February 24.

 

The 66-year-old Chubais was first deputy prime minister, finance minister, and chief of the presidential office when Boris Yeltsin was Russia’s first president following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

Chubais was a key reformer and an ideologue of the privatization program in Russia in the early 1990s.

 

Since the start of the war, many Western countries have implemented crippling sanctions on Russia and those close to Putin.

Information from Reuters was used in this report
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