Category: European Union

MOSCOW — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Moscow on Friday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the signing of a strategic partnership treaty involving closer defense cooperation that is likely to worry the West. Pezeshkian, on his first Kremlin visit since winning the presidency last July, will hold talks with Putin focusing on bilateral ties and international issues before signing the treaty. Ahead of the talks, the Kremlin hailed its ever closer ties with Tehran. “Iran is an important partner for us with which we are developing multifaceted co-operation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Moscow has cultivated closer ties with Iran and other countries hostile towards the U.S., such as North Korea, since the start of the Ukraine war, and already has strategic pacts with Pyongyang and close ally Belarus, as well as a strategic partnership agreement with China. The 20-year Russia-Iran agreement is not expected to include a mutual defense clause of the kind sealed with Minsk and Pyongyang, but is still likely to concern the West which sees both countries as malign influences on the world stage. Moscow and Tehran say their increasingly close ties are not directed against other countries. Russia has made extensive use of Iranian drones during the war in Ukraine and the United States accused Tehran in September of delivering close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. Tehran denies supplying drones or missiles. The Kremlin has declined to confirm it has received Iranian missiles, but has acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran includes “the most sensitive areas.” Pezeshkian visit to Moscow also comes at a time when Iranian influence across the Middle East is in retreat after Islamist rebels seized power in Syria, expelling ally Bashar al-Assad, and after Iran-backed Hamas has been pounded by Israel in Gaza. Israel has also inflicted serious damage on the Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Russia too finds itself on the backfoot in Syria where it maintains two major military facilities crucial to its geopolitical and military influence in the Middle East and Africa but whose fate under Syria’s new rulers is now uncertain. Putin met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October and at a cultural forum in Turkmenistan the same month. Pezeshkian, who is holding talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin before meeting Putin, is accompanied to Moscow by his oil minister, … “Iranian president in Moscow for treaty signing with Putin” →

MOSCOW — A Russian court on Friday upheld the jail term of Robert Shonov, a former U.S. Consulate worker sentenced to almost five years for “secret collaboration with a foreign state.” Shonov, a Russian citizen, worked for more than 25 years at the U.S. Consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok until 2021, when Moscow imposed restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions. He was arrested in 2023 on suspicion of passing secret information about Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine to the United States in exchange for money and sentenced to four years and 10 months prison in November 2024. “The judicial act was upheld,” a court in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk ruled, according to its website, rejecting an appeal Shonov had made against his sentencing. The United States strongly condemned the conviction last year, calling it an “egregious injustice” based on “meritless allegations.” In September 2023, Russia expelled two U.S. diplomats it accused of acting as liaison agents for Shonov. In recent years, several U.S. citizens have been arrested and sentenced to long jail terms in Russia. Others are being held pending trial. Washington, which supports Ukraine militarily and financially against Russia’s military offensive, accuses Moscow of arresting Americans on baseless charges to use as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges. Even after a landmark prisoner swap in August, several U.S. nationals and dual nationals remain in detention in Russia. …

PETUSHKI, RUSSIA — Russia on Friday sentenced three lawyers who had defended Alexey Navalny to several years in prison for bringing messages from the late opposition leader from prison to the outside world. The sentences come as Russia — in the midst of a massive crackdown during its Ukraine offensive — seeks to punish Navalny’s associates since his unexplained death in an Arctic prison colony last February. Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin — who were arrested in October 2023 — were found guilty of participating in an “extremist organization,” a court in the Russian town of Petushki ruled. Kobzev, the most high-profile member of Navalny’s legal team, was given 5.5 years, while Liptser was handed five years and Sergunin 3.5 years. While serving his 19-year sentence, Navalny communicated with the world by transmitting messages through his lawyers which his team then published on social media. Authorities had moved him to a harsher prison regime that limited outside contact, before sending him to a remote colony above the Arctic Circle where he died. “We are on trial for passing Navalny’s thoughts to other people,” Kobzev said in court last week. The court said the men had “used their status as lawyers while visiting convict Navalny … to ensure the regular transfer of information between the members of the extremist community, including those wanted and hiding outside the Russian Federation, and Navalny.” ‘Outrageous’ It said this allowed Navalny to continue “planning the preparation and creating conditions for committing crimes with an extremist character.” Navalny had condemned the arrests of the lawyers as “outrageous” and part of a campaign to further isolate him in jail. The court proceedings, which opened in September in Petushki, a town about 115 kilometers east of Moscow, have been held behind closed doors. The verdicts come several days before four independent journalists accused of helping Navalny will be back in court, facing up to six years in prison. In his messages to the outside world, Navalny denounced the Kremlin’s Ukraine offensive as “criminal” and told supporters “not to give up.” The texts from prison were also full of tongue-in-cheek dispatches of daily life behind bars. In his speech last week, Kobzev compared Moscow’s current crackdown on dissent to Stalin-era mass repression. “Eight years have passed… and in the Petushki court, people are once again on trial for discrediting officials and the state agencies,” he said, in a … “Russia sentences Navalny lawyers to years behind bars” →

Sasha Selipanov, a well-known car designer, was born in the Soviet Union but at 17 moved to the U.S. In California, he mastered the skill of designing high-end cars, creating vehicles for Lamborghini and Bugatti among others. He showed VOA Russian the concept of his first hypercar, which he is building in Los Angeles. Click here for the full story in Russian.  …

As the U.S. and Armenia signed a strategic partnership agreement in Washington this week, experts say the Kremlin is slowly losing one of its few remaining allies. While Moscow says that Armenia’s distancing itself from Russia will bear consequences, the Armenian government is trying to steadily chart a pro-Western path.  Click here for the full story in Russian.    …

Britain and Ukraine signed a 100-year agreement Thursday, with Britain pledging to provide Ukraine with $3.6 billion in military aid this year. The deal was announced during a joint news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, at the presidential palace where British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Starmer is on his first trip to Ukraine since he took office. Starmer called the agreement historic and said the new partnership “reflects the huge affection that exists between our two nations.” The partnership will include cooperation in the areas of culture, education, science and technology. Regarding military assistance for Kyiv’s war against Russia, Starmer said Britain plans to provide Ukraine with a loan of more than $2.6 billion. He said the loan “will be paid back not by Ukraine, but from the interest on frozen Russian assets.” Starmer also announced that Britain was providing Ukraine with 150 artillery gun barrels and a new mobile air defense system. In his comments, Starmer credited Ukraine’s allies, particularly the United States, for contributing to the success Ukraine has had against “aggression from Russia.” He said he wanted to pay tribute to the U.S. for “the work that the U.S. has done here, the support that they have put in, because it’s been a vital component of what has been quite an incredible achievement by Ukraine.” The comments came just days before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a critic of U.S. support for Ukraine, takes office and a day after the new president’s pick to be the U.S. secretary of state, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, told a Senate panel the war must end. Speaking at his confirmation hearing, Rubio called the conflict a “war of attrition” and a “stalemate” that must be ended. He said the first step should be a ceasefire that halts ground fighting, which has for more than a year mostly occurred in eastern Ukraine. Rubio called the destruction in Ukraine “extraordinary,” saying it will “take a generation to rebuild.” “The truth of the matter is that in this conflict, there is no way Russia takes all of Ukraine,” Rubio said. “It’s also unrealistic to believe that somehow, a nation the size of Ukraine … is also going to push these people all the way back to where they were on the eve of the invasion.” Even as he argued for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting that started with Russia’s … “Britain, Ukraine sign 100-year agreement” →

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, analysts say Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees an opportunity to rekindle what he calls his close working relationship with the president-elect. However, as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the incoming Trump presidency poses risks as well as opportunities. …

As Russia’s war with Ukraine approaches the three-year mark in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is emphasizing his country’s hope for continued U.S. support under the incoming Trump administration.  “We are waiting for the inauguration of the U.S. president. I think the whole world is waiting because the United States is a strategic partner in global stability,” Zelenskyy said this week during a joint press conference in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.  Zelenskyy described the U.S. as “the largest donor supporting Ukraine in its war for survival against Russian aggression” and expressed optimism for deepened cooperation under the principle of “peace through strength.”   He also said his administration is already coordinating with Washington regarding possible meetings with President-elect Donald Trump, who assumes office on Monday.  “Our teams are working on the details of this crucial discussion. We want to end this war, but on the terms of a just peace,” he said.   The key focus for Ukraine in future peace negotiations will be securing robust and comprehensive security guarantees to prevent any future Russian aggression.  Trump has voiced skepticism of continued U.S. military support for Kyiv, repeatedly vowing that he would end the war before assuming the presidency on Jan. 20. In recent days, however, his aides have said the new timeline for ending the war is in the first 100 days of his administration, which would be by the end of April.  Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday: “Even if the conflict ends, Ukraine must have the ability to defend itself.” He added that this is a matter of long-term security and stability for Ukraine.  Tusk, standing alongside Zelenskyy in Warsaw, said Ukraine’s best security guarantee would be membership in Euro-Atlantic institutions. But, he pointed out, the thought of Ukraine joining NATO remains “controversial among some states,” making it vital for the Western alliance to provide Ukraine with a tangible solution to secure peace in Europe.  Ukrainian military troop strength  Ukraine cannot engage in “games” by reducing the size of its military, Zelenskyy also said, rejecting any proposals to do so.  He said a strong defense force is “the only security guarantee” ahead of potential peace negotiations with Russia. His remarks referred to Bloomberg News reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to push for Ukraine to sever ties with NATO and adopt a “neutral state” status … “Ukraine’s Zelenskyy seeking continued US support under Trump” →

ROME — Pope Francis fell Thursday and hurt his right arm, the Vatican said, just weeks after another apparent fall resulted in a bad bruise on his chin.  Francis didn’t break his arm, but a sling was put on as a precaution, the Vatican spokesman said in a statement  On Dec. 7, the pope whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall that resulted in a bad bruise.  The 88-year-old pope, who has battled health problems including long bouts of bronchitis, often must use a wheelchair because of bad knees. He uses a walker or cane when moving around his apartment in the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel.  The Vatican said that Thursday’s fall also occurred at Santa Marta, and the pope was later seen in audiences with his right arm in a sling. At one of the meetings, Francis apologetically offered his left hand for a handshake when he greeted the head of the U.N. fund for agricultural development, Alvaro Lario.  “This morning, due to a fall at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis suffered a contusion to his right forearm, without fracture. The arm was immobilized as a precautionary measure,” the statement said.  Speculation about Francis’ health is a constant in Vatican circles, especially after Pope Benedict XVI broke 600 years of tradition and resigned from the papacy in 2013.  Benedict’s aides have attributed the decision to a nighttime fall that he suffered during a 2012 trip to Mexico, after which he determined he couldn’t keep up with the globe-trotting demands of the papacy.  Francis has said that he has no plans to resign anytime soon, even if Benedict “opened the door” to the possibility. In his autobiography Hope released this week, Francis said that he hadn’t considered resigning even when he had major intestinal surgery. …

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — China initiated a new round of diplomatic outreach to Japan and the European Union this week as Washington prepares for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. A delegation of Japanese lawmakers traveled to Beijing and a Chinese military delegation went to Japan for the first time in five years. Meanwhile, the European Council’s new president held his first phone call with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Analysts say China is trying to test the alliance between Washington and its allies through the diplomatic efforts. “Senior Chinese officials believe the incoming Trump administration will be more hawkish toward China, so Beijing needs to try to take U.S. allies out of Washington’s orbit,” Chen Yuhua, a China studies professor at Akita International University, told VOA in a video interview. Other experts, however, say the effectiveness of Beijing’s strategy remains unclear. While China is “improving relations with everyone, they are not willing to fundamentally change their external behavior. We don’t know how long [this trend] will last,” said Stephen Nagy, a professor of politics and international studies at Tokyo’s International Christian University. Seafood and soldiers On Monday, lawmakers from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, and its coalition partner Komeito began a three-day visit to China. During the trip, Japanese lawmakers met with top Chinese leaders, including Premier Li Qiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Japanese side urged China to lift import bans on Japanese seafood “at an early date” and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals living in China. Hiroshi Moriyama, the secretary general of the LDP, said during his keynote speech on Tuesday that China and Japan “need to boost mutual understanding between their peoples and strengthen dialogue at various levels to improve their ties.” Moriyama also reiterated Tokyo’s concern about rising tensions in the East China Sea and Beijing’s detention of several Japanese nationals under espionage charges. During his meeting with the Japanese delegation Tuesday, Wang said Japan and China “face important opportunities” to improve and develop bilateral relations. On Wednesday, Li said Beijing and Tokyo should focus on exploring economic cooperation in areas such as the digital economy and green development, while increasing people-to-people exchanges at the sub-national level. At the same time lawmakers were visiting Beijing, a Chinese military delegation started a five-day visit to Japan. During the trip, the Chinese delegation was expected to meet their Japanese counterparts and visit some military units, according to a … “China reaches out to US allies ahead of Trump’s inauguration” →

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died fighting since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, and some of them have been women. Tetiana Kukurika met with two families who lost loved ones in the war. Anna Rice narrates her story. VOA footage by Sergiy Rybchynski. Video editing by Vitaliy Hrychanyuk and Anna Rice.  …

Britain announced Thursday a treaty with Ukraine that includes military collaboration, science and technology partnerships, and an effort to track stolen Ukrainian grain. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is visiting Kyiv to sign the pact with Ukrainian leaders. Starmer is also announcing a new round of lethal military aid for Ukrainian forces, his office said. “This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century, bringing together technology development, scientific advances and cultural exchanges, and harnessing the phenomenal innovation shown by Ukraine in recent years for generations to come,” Starmer said in a statement. Starmer said Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to “wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners,” and instead has left Ukraine and its allies “closer than ever.” The agreement includes cooperation on maritime security in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to deter Russian aggression, Starmer’s office said. Outside of military collaboration, the two countries will work together on agricultural technology, healthcare and space issues. Aerial attacks Ukraine’s military said Thursday that Russian drone attacks caused damage at a farm in the Chernihiv region, while debris from drones destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses damaged houses in Kharkiv and Poltava. Chernihiv Governor Vyacheslav Chaus said on Telegram the farm damage included a hangar used to store corn, and that there were no casualties from the attack. Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram his region was targeted by Russian drones, missiles and heavy artillery, killing one person, injuring another and damaging about three dozen homes. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 34 of the 55 total drones Russia launched overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr regions. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday its air defenses destroyed 27 Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod, Voronezh, Tambov and Kursk regions. Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil depot, but no casualties. Some information for this story came from Reuters. …

In California, qualifying inmates volunteer as firefighters to assist in combating wildfires in Los Angeles. China uses forced labor involving arbitrarily detained Muslims in Xinjiang. …

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus on Thursday hailed a U.S. memorandum allowing military sales, including arms, to the island as a milestone affirming recognition of the island as a pillar of stability in the east Mediterranean region which has been fraught with conflict. U.S. President Joe Biden boosted security ties with Cyprus on Wednesday by issuing a memorandum that makes the island eligible to receive American defense articles, military sales and training. Cyprus has over the years played a key role in evacuating people out of conflict zones and established a maritime corridor for aid to war-ravaged Gaza last year. “This (memorandum) is a clear recognition of the Republic of Cyprus as a pillar of stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean, with the potential to further contribute to peace and the management of humanitarian challenges,” the Cypriot presidency said in a statement. The foreign ministry of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot administration in northern Cyprus said the U.S. decision showed Cyprus’ internationally recognized Greek government would “continue its arms race as if it were preparing for war.” “We call on the countries that support the warmongering of the Greek Cypriot side to act by calculating the consequences of these actions and to be sensible,” the statement said, adding it would keep taking steps with Turkey to protect the security of its citizens. Cyprus was close to Russia for decades, but there has been a marked shift in allegiances in recent years. Many in Cyprus have drawn parallels between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and EU-member Cyprus has followed its peers in adopting sanctions on Moscow. It is now getting FBI expertise in countering illicit finance. The U.S. embassy in Nicosia said access to U.S. programs would enable greater interoperability to respond to regional humanitarian crises, counter malign influence, and combat terrorism and transnational organized crime. The deepening in ties between the U.S. and Cyprus has been closely followed by Turkey, which in September criticized the pair’s signing of a roadmap to boost defense co-operation. The 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus followed a brief Greek-inspired coup after years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots that had led to the collapse of a power-sharing administration in 1963. …

Ukrainians formerly imprisoned by Russia testified at the United Nations this week about the torture they were subjected to in captivity. Ukrainian journalist and activist Maxym Butkevych, who spent more than two years in a Russian prison in an occupied Ukrainian town, described how he was deprived of fresh air and sunlight, subjected to beatings and electric shocks, denied medical assistance and forced to appear in recorded videos under duress. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

Washington — The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it is expanding the web of sanctions on companies and institutions supporting Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, re-designating about 100 entities for sanctions and placing sanctions on 15 new entities. A senior Treasury Department official said that under the sanctions, any company that does meaningful business with parts of Russia’s military industrial complex also would face the risk of penalties. The official insisted on anonymity to preview the announcement on a call with reporters. The official said that removal of the sanctions would require congressional notification. That step could potentially make it harder for the incoming Republican Trump administration to adjust and change sanctions without drawing public scrutiny. The official stressed that there are new sanctions on 15 companies related to Russia and China that have worked together to avoid existing sanctions. Treasury is sanctioning the following Russian companies as being involved in this scheme: Herbarium Office Management, Atlant Torg, Sigma Partners, Tranzaktsii I Raschety, Arctur and Paylink Limited. It’s also sanctioning Russian national Andrei Prikhodko, the general director of Herbarium. Additionally, there are sanctions on China-based companies: Anhui Hongsheng International Trade, Qingyuan Fo Feng Leda Supply Chain Service, Heilongjiang Shunsheng Economic and Trade Development, Qingdao Hezhi Business Service, Xinjiang Financial Import and Export, Hangzhou Xianghe Trading, Shaanxi Hongrun Jinhua Trading, Fujian Xinfuwang International Trade, and Jilin Province Shunda Trading Company. Separately, the Keremet Bank in Kyrgyzstan is being sanctioned for coordinating with Russian officials and a U.S. bank to evade sanctions. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, an assault that led to aggressive sanctioning by the U.S. and its allies and efforts by Russia and its partners to get around the financial restrictions. The Democratic Biden administration sees recent changes in the global oil market as making it easier to crack down on Russia’s oil revenues without hurting global supplies. The Treasury Department announced last week that it was expanding sanctions against the Russian energy sector for its nearly 3-year-old war in Ukraine. …

The French government won praise last month for making good on its promise to rebuild the fire-hit Notre Dame cathedral in just five years. But authorities are facing a rockier time when it comes to rebuilding cyclone-hit Mayotte — France’s impoverished overseas territory off the coast of East Africa. Lawmakers this week began fractious hearings about how to speed up reconstruction of Mayotte, where Cyclone Chido last month killed dozens, injured thousands and flattened thousands of buildings, especially in shantytowns. On Sunday, another tropical storm triggered flooding in the archipelago, underscoring the fallout of extreme weather events that are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. French Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville announced that there were only a few injuries and no deaths from the latest storm and that it was time to get back to work. Visiting days after Cyclone Chido, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to swiftly rebuild Mayotte. But reconstructing Mayotte has dug up a raft of grievances and triggered hot political debate. The overseas territory — with an official population of about 320,000 — is the poorest and most underdeveloped department of France. Macron and his centrist government are accused of being too slow in delivering aid and water and restoring power after Cyclone Chido. Many of Mayotte’s residents are not French citizens, but rather undocumented immigrants, many from nearby Comoros. Top French ministers are now talking about cracking down on illegal immigration. So is far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party is the most popular in France. During a visit to the territory earlier this month, Le Pen got an enthusiastic welcome from many Mayotte citizens — who largely voted for her during 2022 presidential elections. She blames the government for poor public services like education — and for undercounting the number of migrants there illegally. …

WARSAW, POLAND — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of planning acts of sabotage worldwide that included “acts of air terror” against airlines.  Tusk spoke at a news conference in Warsaw alongside Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy.  “I will not go into details, I can only confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of air terror, not only against Poland, but against airlines around the world,” Tusk said.  The Kremlin has dismissed previous Western claims that Russia sponsored acts of sabotage and attacks in Europe.  Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England last year.  The pro-European Union government in Warsaw says that Russia is pursuing acts of hybrid war against Poland and other Western countries in retaliation for their support for Poland’s neighbor Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s full-scale invasion.  The government has accused Russia, and its ally Belarus, of fomenting a migration crisis on the EU’s eastern border with Belarus in order to create chaos and division in the EU.  Last year, Poland’s foreign minister ordered the closure of one of three Russian consulates in the country in response to acts of sabotage, including arson attacks that he said were sponsored by Moscow. …

London — Support appears to be growing in the West to fully seize hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets that were frozen following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, amid speculation that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will try to seek a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv soon after he takes office next week. Nations, including the United States, Canada, Britain, several European Union members states and Japan, froze about $300 billion of assets owned by Russia’s Central Bank after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some $200 billion of the assets are held in the Euroclear facility in Brussels, with approximately $5 billion frozen in the United States. U.S. media reported Tuesday that outgoing President Joe Biden is making a last-minute push for European allies to fully seize the assets so they can be used as leverage in any future peace negotiations. Some European lawmakers are pushing for the assets to be given to Ukraine, however, to buy weapons and help to rebuild the country. Others fear that seizing the assets would deter investors and destabilize Western currencies. Moscow has said that any seizure of its assets would be illegal and has pledged to retaliate. Ukraine reconstruction Ukraine’s reconstruction costs will reach at least $486 billion over the next decade, according to a February 2024 report by the Ukrainian government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations. Britain holds about $22 billion worth of Russian assets. Lawmakers voted last week in favor of a nonbinding motion to seize the assets and give the money to Kyiv. Member of Parliament Mike Martin, who brought the motion, cited uncertainty over future military aid for Kyiv under Trump. “We do know that he feels differently about Ukraine. He feels differently about the security of Europe, and he feels differently about Russia. So, if we want to shift the dial on Ukraine, especially in the face of a drawdown or potential drawdown in U.S. support, we need to go further and faster, and we need to seize these $300 billions of frozen assets and send them to Ukraine,” Martin told lawmakers. Geopolitical signals “It is not just about actions that lead to practical outcomes. It is also about signals that we send to our geopolitical opponents. … Any potential small amount of financial instability that the G7 countries moving together will create will be miniscule as … “Europe mulls seizing Russia’s billions to aid Ukraine “ →

Support is growing in the West to seize hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets that were frozen following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As Henry Ridgwell reports, European allies fear incoming U.S. President Donald Trump may slash military aid for Kyiv – and some say the Russian assets could make up the shortfall. …

Officials in western Ukraine said Wednesday a Russian missile attack hit critical infrastructure facilities in the Lviv region. Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said the missile strikes took place in two separate areas, and that there were no casualties. Ukraine’s military issued air alerts for regions across the country Wednesday, while the national power grid operator instituted power cuts in six regions. Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram that Russian forces attacked overnight with drones and missiles, with fragments from destroyed drones damaging two houses. In Dnipropetrovsk, Governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram that Russian attacks included artillery, drones and missiles that damaged an industrial site. Kirovohrad Governor Andriy Raikovich reported on Telegram what he described as a massive Russian drone attack that damaged several residential buildings. Officials in the Rivne region also said Russian missiles targeted the area overnight. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod area and another drone over the Tambov region. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that Ukrainian attacks injured one person, while Tambov Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov reported damage to a house. Some information for this story came from Reuters. …

As Russian President Vladimir Putin and his key ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, organize waves of illegal immigration into the EU as a tool of their hybrid war against the West, Poland has been building a wall on the border with Belarus, shielding itself from current and potentially future Russia’s hostile efforts. The wall, more than 5 meters high, stretches for more than 136 kilometers. However, illegal migrants bused to the border by Russian and Belarusian authorities increasingly use garden ladders to scale the wall and get into Poland. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

The Russian army is strengthening its positions in villages around the key eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk in an attempt to encircle it and lay siege to a vital transport hub linking embattled Donbas with the rest of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have been repelling the Russian attacks so far, but the battle is continuing for every remaining house in the villages surrounding Pokrovsk. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

PARIS — France’s new prime minister, Francois Bayrou, announced Tuesday the renegotiation of a contested plan raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, in a crucial move to seek more stability for his minority government.  In his first address to lawmakers at the National Assembly, Bayrou said: “I’m choosing to put this subject back on the agenda, with the social partners, for a short time and under transparent conditions.”  Bayrou vowed to seek “a new path of reform, without any totems or taboos, not even the retirement age,” as long as the financing for the changes is guaranteed.  President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 unleashed months of mass protests from January to June 2023 that damaged his leadership.  Bayrou also outlined other top priorities, including key budget decisions, one month after he was appointed by Macron.  What is Bayrou proposing?  Bayrou urgently needs to pass a budget bill for 2025. Following the collapse of the previous government, an emergency law has been approved to enable the state to levy taxes from Jan. 1, pay basic expenses and avoid a shutdown.  But only a proper budget would help reduce France’s deficit and allow key expenses such as defense measures needed amid the war in Ukraine or aid promised to angry farmers.  Financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission are pushing France to comply with EU rules limiting debt and keep France’s borrowing costs from spiraling. That would threaten the prosperity of eurozone countries.  France’s deficit is estimated to reach 6% of its gross domestic product in 2024. Bayrou on Tuesday said the government was aiming for a deficit of 5.4% this year, with the goal to reduce it to 3% — in line with EU rules — by 2029.  Can the government be toppled again?  Bayrou’s Cabinet relies on a fragile deal between Macron’s centrist allies and conservatives of The Republicans party who even together have no parliamentary majority.  The previous government was in place for only three months before being brought down by opposition lawmakers from both the left and the far right amid a budget dispute.  To avoid a repetition of that scenario, Bayrou seeks to secure a nonaggression pact with the Socialists so that they wouldn’t support any future move to topple the new government.  The Socialists said they are open to talks on the condition that they would include … “France’s new prime minister announces renegotiation of contested plan to raise retirement age” →

GENEVA — U.S. President Donald Trump will take part virtually in the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos just days after his inauguration, the forum president said Tuesday.  Borge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister who heads the Geneva-based organization, noted that Trump had twice attended the elite gathering of business, government and other leaders in person during his first term.  “On Thursday afternoon, he will join us digitally, online, live in a dialogue with our participants,” Brende told reporters Tuesday as he presented the five-day program that will start Monday — the day of Trump’s inauguration.  “We think that will be a very special moment,” he added, notably to help learn the administration’s “policy priorities.”  Brende said he didn’t know whether Elon Musk, the multibillionaire who is poised to co-lead Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, would attend, but said the forum expects “additional, high-level representation” from the administration once confirmation processes for Trump’s nominees get underway in the U.S. Senate as early as Monday.  Forum organizers say a record of around 900 business leaders, including from important emerging markets, will take part in the annual meeting this year, which is expected to draw nearly 3,000 participants from over 130 countries.  With climate change, war, global tensions, economic uncertainty and other issues in mind, Brende acknowledged that the 55th annual meeting of the forum will take place “against the most complicated geopolitical backdrop in generations.”  “But still in that fragmented and partly polarized world, there are still areas where we can collaborate and … we have big opportunities and responsibilities to find those areas where there is a possibility to improve the state of the world,” he said. The theme of this year’s edition is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age” — a nod to the growing importance of technology in the world.  The WEF has long been derided as a gathering of world elites who plot the future at a cushy, snow-bound powwow in the Swiss Alps. Critics often argue the developing world gets less attention than global powers and big business in the West or Gulf states.  Forum managing director Mirek Dusek insisted that the number of businesses from developing countries in the “Global South” was growing, and the attendance of their leaders was “on parity” with the participation of leaders in the developed world.  Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive commission, plans to … “World Economic Forum says Trump to take part virtually in Davos meeting, days after inauguration” →

LONDON — Britain’s antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it would investigate Google’s search services using its new powers to see how they impact consumers and businesses, including advertisers, news publishers and rival search engines. The Competition and Markets Authority, which has gained new powers to examine big tech, said search was vital for economic growth and it was critical that competition was working well. “Millions of people and businesses relied on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90% of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” CMA boss Sarah Cardell said in a statement. “It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal.” The CMA’s move comes after U.S. prosecutors in November argued to a judge that Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data, and search results with rivals, and take a range of other measures to end its monopoly on online search. Google did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. …