Moscow, Dec 31,2021: NATO countries are systematically transforming Ukraine into a military foothold against Russia and building bases there, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.
“NATO member states are systematically transforming Ukraine into a military foothold against Russia, building their bases there, using its territory for conducting exercises. If this year there were seven such maneuvers, then in the coming year, according to a law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada [the parliament] of Ukraine, 10 [drills are planned], including one year-round [exercise],” Lavrov said.
The minister added that the number of troops participating in drills in Ukraine will double in 2022 and reach 64,000.
Guwahati (Assam) , December 23,2021: In a breakthrough in their long-standing inter-state boundary disputes between Assam and Meghalaya, their respective Chief Ministers on Wednesday held a meeting and decided to resolve the issues at 6 areas on or before January 15 as a part of Phase I discussions.
“Meeting was held at a political level with the Assam counterpart on the border issue taking the 6 areas of differences for Phase I discussions. We have made considerable positive progress through our joint dialogue & hope to arrive at an amicable solution shortly,” Conrad Sangma tweeted.
After the meeting, Meghalaya Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong said, “It was a very productive and good meeting. The CMs have decided to make an announcement on or before January 15.”
“There are disputes in six areas and I am sure that we will be able to find a solution in at least some areas,” he added.
“Our regional committees have submitted their reports and we are working towards a final agreement on many disputed border areas,” Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
“Our regional committees have submitted their reports and we are working towards a final agreement on many disputed border areas. I am confident that gradually we will be able to resolve all-long pending border issues with Meghalaya and other neighbouring states,” Himanta Biswa tweeted.
“We have been continuously striving to resolve border issues with our neighbours. As part of our effort, held a meeting with my Meghalaya counterpart @SangmaConrad along with Deputy CM Meghalaya Shri Prestone Tynsong and several ministers and senior officers of both states,” he added.
Earlier on December 21, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had met on the issue of border realignment and alignment between two states.
Dec 10,2021:A group of 15 European Union member states have agreed to take in 40,000 Afghans for resettlement, Commissioner Ylva Johansson said after meeting interior ministers of those countries.
Germany will accept the bulk of the new arrivals, with 25,000, with the Netherlands accepting 3,159, Spain and France 2,500 each, and other countries in lower numbers, according to a document seen by the AFP news agency.
The United Nations high commissioner for refugees had previously urged the bloc to accept 42,500 Afghans over five years, but some of the 27 member countries had resisted.
There are an estimated 85,000 Afghans who have fled their homeland into countries nearer the EU, and the Taliban’s capture of power on August 15, coupled with a fierce drought, could trigger new flows.
During the aftermath of the chaotic US military withdrawal after 20 years of war and the return of the Taliban regime, 24 EU states have already taken in 28,000 evacuees.
But UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi has warned that 85,000 Afghans who are living in vulnerable situations outside the bloc need resettlement, and has urged Europe to take half.
Managua [Nicaragua], December 10,2021: Nicaragua’s government on Thursday ended its diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
“The government of Nicaragua declares that it recognizes that there is only one China in the world,” Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said in a televised announcement, reported CNN.
“The People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China and Taiwan is an undoubted part of the Chinese territory. The government of the Republic of Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan as of today and stopped having any contact or official relationship,” he said.
Nicaragua’s announcement leaves a little more than a dozen countries worldwide that maintain official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, including fellow Central American countries Honduras and Guatemala.
Although Taiwan and China have been separately governed for more than 70 years, Beijing views the democratic island of 24 million people as part of its territory and has regularly stated its aim of “reunification,” despite the fact Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
In a statement, Taiwan’s foreign ministry expressed “pain and regret” at the news and said it would, in turn, sever diplomatic relations with Nicaragua, halt bilateral cooperation, and evacuate staffers from the country, reported CNN.
“The Ortega presidency disregarded the long-term friendship between Taiwanese and Nicaraguan that shared weal and woe. We are very sorry to see that,” it said, referring to Nicaragua’s recently re-elected leader Daniel Ortega.
“Taiwan as a part of international society has the right to diplomatic relations with other countries. We will continue to promote “Steadfast Diplomacy” to expand our international surviving space, dedicating ourselves into maintaining regional peace and stability, fighting for the international status that we deserve, and protecting this nation’s interests and the benefit of the people,” the statement also said.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has steadily ramped up its global influence and outreach. Meanwhile, recent US presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have sought to bolster Taiwan on the world stage with large arms sales and high profile visits by US officials.
Kiev [Ukraine], December 10,2021: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Joe Biden held a telephone conversation on Thursday to discuss the security situation around Ukraine and the prospects for intensifying the peaceful settlement in Donbas, the Ukrainian president’s press service reported.
During the talks, which lasted one and a half hours, the two leaders exchanged their views on the results of the recent talks between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the conversation, Zelensky reiterated his country’s commitment to peaceful settlement in Donbas, stressing that Kiev has clear proposals to unlock the peace process and stands ready to discuss them in various formats.
Zelensky and Biden also discussed the ways to provide security, financial and political support for Kiev and the steps to strengthen Ukraine’s energy sustainability.
On Tuesday, Biden and Putin met online to discuss the Ukrainian crisis, among other issues.
Washington [US], December 9,2021: The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill by a vote of 428 to 1 banning imports from China’s Xinjiang made with forced labour and threatening sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for persecuting the minority community.
The bill come days after the US announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The bill, passed on Wednesday, intends to ensure that “goods made with forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China do not enter the US market.”
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, requires corporations to prove with “clear and convincing evidence” that imports from Xinjiang are not made with forced labour, American news website Axios reported.
The bill must now pass the Senate and be signed by US President for it to take effect.
The legislation targets “goods, wares, articles, and merchandise imported directly from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or made by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tibetans, or members of other persecuted groups in China.”
The bill requires the American president to impose sanctions on officials responsible for persecuting minorities and facilitating the use of involuntary labour.
The legislative text highlights the poor conditions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps.
The prisoners are forced to produce “textiles, electronics, food products, shoes, tea, and handicrafts” at a network of government-subsidized factories in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China, according to legislation.
Back in July, the Senate passed its version of the bill with a unanimous vote.
Earlier this year, US President Joe Biden had warned businesses who are involved in Xinjiang to run a “high risk” that they are in conflict with US laws on forced labour.
Washington, Dec 7,2021: US President Joe Biden discussed with European allies the Russian military buildup near Ukrain and underscored the collective support for the country’s sovereignty, the White House said in a readout of the call.
“The leaders discussed their shared concern about the Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s borders and Russia’s increasingly harsh rhetoric. They called on Russia to de-escalate tensions and agreed that diplomacy, especially through the Normandy Format, is the only way forward to resolve the conflict in Donbas through the implementation of the Minsk Agreements,” the White House said in the readout on Monday.
Participants in the call included French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the White House said.
The parties called on Russia to de-escalate tensions and agreed that diplomacy is the only way to resolve conflict in Donbas through the Minsk Agreements, the White House added. Russia has said it reserves the right to move troops on its territory as it sees fit.
Noc 29,2021:France is ready for a serious discussion with the UK on issues related to illegal immigration, but will not be held hostage by internal London policy, said the country’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
The two countries are already at odds over post-Brexit trade rules and fishing rights, and last week relations soured further after 27 people died trying to cross the English Channel.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to President Emmanuel Macron outlining five steps the two countries could take to prevent immigrants from taking the perilous journey. One — the sending of illegal immigrants back to France — angered Paris.
France responded by canceling an invitation to British Interior Minister Priti Patel to attend a meeting on Sunday with its European counterparts to discuss the matter after Johnson posted the letter on Twitter.
“The UK has left Europe but not the world. We need to work seriously on these issues without being held hostage by British domestic politics,” Darmanin told reporters after meeting his Belgian, German and Dutch colleagues in Calais.
He added that the tone of London in private was not the same as in public.
France has been dealing with the issue of illegal immigration to the UK for 25 years and now is the time for London to wake up, said Darmanin.
“If immigrants are coming to Calais, Dunkirk or northern France, it’s because they’re attracted to England, especially the job market, which means you can work in England without any identification,” he said.
“The UK must accept its responsibility and limit its economic attractiveness.”
London, Nov 29,2021: UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid say they will do everything to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Truss and Lapid wrote a joint article for The Daily Telegraph ahead of the Monday signing of a memorandum of understanding on deepening ties, particularly in what concerns cybersecurity, defense, and trade.
“We will also work night and day to prevent the Iranian regime from ever becoming a nuclear power. The clock is ticking, which heightens the need for close cooperation with our partners and friends to thwart Tehran’s ambitions,” Truss and Lapid said in their article.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday that despite the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran will be seriously involved in the Vienna negotiations over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program on November 29.
In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA (also known as the Iran nuclear deal) with the P5+1 group of countries (the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom – plus Germany) and the European Union. It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal’s adoption. In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran, prompting Iran to largely abandon its obligations under the accord.
The sixth round of negotiations to restore the JCPOA and lift US sanctions ended in Vienna on June 20. The seventh round will begin on Monday. Permanent Representative of Russia to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said the deal is almost sealed and only political issues regarding the US commitment to the agreement will be discussed.
New York [US], November 19,2021: Emphasising that the new financial and payment technologies methods including cryptocurrencies and digital crowdsourcing are enabling terror groups for collecting and transferring funds, India at UN on Thursday (local time) urged member states to strengthen counter-financing structures at par with international standards to curb terrorism.
Speaking at UNSC special joint meeting, Rajesh Parihar, First Secretary, India’s Permanent Mission to UN said: “Misuse of blockchain technology, virtual/cryptocurrencies, digital crowdsourcing, prepaid phone cards etc have posed new risks to Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) efforts. The proliferation of fake charities and fake non-profit organisations (NPOs) during the COVID pandemic has further exacerbated this risk.”
“An effective multilateral approach to CFT, built on PPP to identify and mitigate new terror-financing risks, strengthening support to financial watchdogs such as FATF to ensure that member states bring their counter-financing structures at par with international standards are needs of the hour today,” Parihar added.
The United Nations Security Council meeting was on Terrorist Financing Threats and Trends and the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 2462.
India also asked the international community to call out the States who wilfully provide financial assistance, safe havens to terrorists and hold them accountable.
“India is committed to support and strengthen UN efforts to assist member states lacking Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) capacities by providing financial support,” he said.
“Continuous expansion of terrorist groups is a reality check for all of us that despite Security Council resolution 2462 to counter the financing of terrorism (CFT), its implementation by the member states remains challenging for reasons including the lack of political will,” he added.
Speaking further, he said: “The global implementation survey of resolution 1373, adopted by the CTC on November 4 and FATF’s latest report (October 2021) on “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring”, highlights the continued terror-finance risk due to lack of action by a country in our neighbourhood.”
Underlining that India is steadfast in its commitment to CFT and has developed over the last few decades the necessary capabilities, legal frameworks, institutions, best practices for CFT, Parihar said that India took measures to bring its financial sectors to international standards including those of FATF.
“An effective multilateral approach to CFT, built on PPP to identify and mitigate new terror-financing risks, strengthening support to financial watchdogs such as FATF to ensure that member states bring their counter-financing structures at par with international standards are needs of the hour today,” Parihar added.
Yesterday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged democracies around the world to ensure that crypto-currencies or bitcoin do not end up in the wrong hands and spoil the youth.
Delivering a keynote address at The Sydney Dialogue, PM Modi said that it is essential for democracies to work together to create standards and norms for data governance.
“It should also recognise national rights and, at the same time, promote trade, investment and the larger public good,” he said.
Nov 18,2021:United States President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are set to meet in person in Washington, DC, for the first time in five years to discuss economic integration, immigration and the pandemic.
President Joe Biden has revived the so-called Three Amigos summit – to be held at the White House on Thursday, for the first time since 2016, when former President Donald Trump put an end to them.
“It’s the restoration – or at least the beginning – of an attempt to restore the trilateral meetings that were happening before the Trump administration decided that it was not interested in anything trilateral or multilateral,” said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute.
New York [US], November 18,2021: The United Nations calls for a more inclusive government in Afghanistan as the country has seen a curtailment of the fundamental rights of women and girls under the Taliban rule, a special UN envoy said on Wednesday.
Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said “These range from limiting the right to work to the absence of women from major decision-making fora and from senior echelons of the civil service.”
“We continue to call for a more inclusive administration in which government institutions reflect Afghanistan’s broad diversity. We have seen limited progress on this issue,” the envoy said.
Lyons said in her interactions with the Taliban, the de-facto authorities recognized that they have made mistakes on women’s rights and inclusivity and are now trying to address them. However, the Taliban made it clear that there are limits to concessions they are willing to make on some issues, she added.
“On girls education, the de-facto authorities have indicated they are working on a nationwide policy so that the right to girls’ education can be exercised across the country. But they state that they need more time to clarify the policy and its implementation,” Lyons said.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August after a decades-long war, which plunged the country into a prolonged humanitarian, security and economic crisis.
Going against all promises of the inclusive government, the Taliban have appointed an all-male cabinet.
They abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and handed over the women’s ministry building to the reinstated Ministry of Vice and Virtue, which was responsible for some of the worst abuses against women during the Taliban’s previous period in power from 1996-2001.
Vilnius, Nov 18,2021: Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said she had held a phone conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and called on the latter to exert pressure on Belarus to stop the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border.
“In a telephone conversation with President @vonderleyen, I stressed a need for the united EU stance in pressing [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko to stop migration flows and let international humanitarian organizations do their job in Belarus. Appeasement to dictator will only encourage rogue behaviour,” Simonyte wrote on her Twitter page on late Wednesday.
Von der Leyen said that she had discussed with Simonyte and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda the migration crisis and possible new sanctions against Belarus.
Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have been repeatedly accusing Belarus of facilitating the movement of migrants to the EU to get back at Brussels for sanctions and urged for more punitive measures against Minsk. The latter rejects the accusation and maintains that it is unable to tackle the influx of migrants under the weight of Western sanctions.
Kabul, Nov 16,2021: Ahead of a United Nations Security Council session on Afghanistan on Wednesday, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, who has been nominated by the Islamic Emirate as its envoy for the UN, renewed a call for the United Nations seat for the current Kabul regime.
On Wednesday, the UNSC is expected to address the situation in Afghanistan where a humanitarian crisis is looming.
There will be a briefing, followed by consultations, on Afghanistan. Special Representative and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Deborah Lyons and civil society representatives are expected to brief the session.
Suhail Shaheen, the Islamic Emirate’s Doha-based spokesperson, said the current government in Afghanistan “possesses what makes it eligible to represent the country at the UN”, he said on Twitter, repeating a call for Afghanistan’s UN seat.
Nov 13,2021:France on Friday warned Russia against damaging Ukraine’s territorial integrity after the United States shared with European allies its fears of Russian troop movements along the Ukrainian border and of a possible attack.
Four European diplomats told Reuters that US officials had expressed concern over an attack on Ukraine with its European Union allies at a briefing in Brussels. Two said the meeting took place on Wednesday with 30 ambassadors at the level of NATO’s transatlantic alliance.
France’s foreign and defense ministers, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly, issued an unusually sharp statement after meeting with their Russian counterparts in Paris.
“The two ministers expressed their concerns about the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine and clearly warned of the serious consequences of further possible damage to the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, Russia dismissed as inflammatory suggestions that Moscow could weigh in on an attack and accused the U.S. of aggressive moves in the Black Sea.
European diplomats declined to give further details on U.S. reasons or evidence to fear an attack.
In addition, one diplomatic source said that last week at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council – the main political decision-making body within NATO – Karen Donfried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, shared in more detail her recent trip to Moscow. and shared her concern about the troop buildup.
“The patterns of Russian behavior are different from what we have seen before,” a NATO source said without explanation.
“So far, it is unclear whether this military build-up is intended to lead to an incursion into Ukraine or whether it is just another exercise.”
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and says the waters around it now belong to Moscow despite most countries still recognizing the peninsula as Ukrainian.
Russian-backed separatists took control of the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine that same year and soldiers on both sides are still regularly killed in the conflict there.
The Kremlin said it was dependent on Moscow, where it had deployed within its borders. “Such headlines do nothing more than pointless and unfoundedly nurture tensions. Russia is not threatening anyone, ”said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shuigu, in Paris for the talks with Parly and Le Drian, was quoted by TASS as saying that it is important to work with France to scale up the Ukrainian situation.
A rebuke
In another rare reprimand from Moscow, Paris earlier this week accused it of blocking efforts to convene a ministerial meeting between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine aimed at pushing forward peace agreements reached in 2014. France and Germany accused Russia of imposing unrealistic conditions, something Moscow neas.
The European Union this week accused a close Russian ally of Belarus of encouraging thousands fleeing parts of the world to try to cross its borders.
Brussels is expected to impose new sanctions next week, diplomats said. There is no suggestion at this stage that Russia is supporting Belarus functionally, although it has publicly rebuked the EU.
The Russian defense ministry said it had detected six flights of NATO spy planes in airspace over the Black Sea, part of what it described as intensifying reconnaissance by the Western Army.
The Russian military also said it was tracking U.S. naval ships in the Black Sea and accused Washington of studying the region as a possible theater of war.
Returning from Washington, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv and its Western allies have intensified diplomatic efforts to warn Russia against launching a new military attack on Ukraine.
A spokesman at a German foreign office said ministers from France, Germany and Ukraine would discuss the crisis on Monday in Brussels.
New Delhi, Nov 11,2021: India on Thursday said it has taken note of last week’s Pentagon report on China having built a large 100-home civilian village inside the disputed territory on the boundary with India, and added that New Delhi has neither accepted such illegal occupation of its territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, answering media queries on the issue, said the government has always conveyed its strong protest to such activities through diplomatic means and will continue to do so.
He also said that China has been undertaking illegal construction activities on the border areas in the past several years, including in the areas it has illegally occupied over the decades.
He said the government is maintaining a close watch on all developments that have a bearing on India’s security and takes all the necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,
He said: “We have taken note of the US Department of Defence’s report to US Congress which inter-alia also makes a reference to construction activities by the Chinese side along the India-China border areas particularly in the Eastern Sector. Reports had also appeared in the media earlier this year on this issue.
“As we had stated then, China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along the border areas including in the areas that it has illegally occupied over the decades.
“India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims. The Government has always conveyed its strong protest to such activities through diplomatic means and will continue to do so in the future.
“Further, as conveyed earlier the Government has also stepped up border infrastructure including the construction of roads, bridges etc, which has provided much needed connectivity to the local population along the border.
“The Government remains committed to the objective of creating infrastructure along the border areas for the improvement of livelihood of its citizens, including in Arunachal Pradesh.
“Government keeps a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India’s security and takes all the necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the spokesperson said.
The Pentagon, in its China Military Power Report last week to the US Congress, said that despite the ongoing diplomatic and military dialogue between India and China to reduce border tensions, China has “continued taking incremental and tactical actions to press its claims at the LAC”.
It said that in 2020, the “Peoples Republic of China built a large 100-home civilian village inside disputed territory between the PRC’s Tibet Autonomous Region and India’s Arunachal Pradesh state in the eastern sector of the LAC. These and other infrastructure development efforts along the India-China border have been a source of consternation in the Indian government and media”.