BLOGONITY

white house — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he and President Donald Trump discussed achieving an agreement to end the war between Ukraine and Russia that would involve Kyiv and be backed by European peacekeeping forces. Following meetings Thursday at the White House, Starmer said the plan would “reach a peace that is tough and fair, that Ukraine will help shape, that’s backed by strength to stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin coming back for more.” Any agreement cannot lead to a peace “that rewards the aggressor,” Starmer underscored, mirroring remarks that French President Emmanuel Macron delivered at his White House meeting with Trump on Monday that “the aggressor is Russia.” “We agreed history must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader,” Starmer said, speaking alongside Trump during their joint news conference. Starmer vowed to work closely with other European leaders and said the United Kingdom was ready to deploy peacekeeping troops together with its allies, “because that is the only way that peace will last.” Trump, however, was noncommittal on providing any security guarantees, including on a proposed U.S. “backstop” to support European peacekeepers to enforce a potential truce — a condition Starmer required. “I don’t like to talk about peacekeeping until we have a deal,” Trump said during the news conference. “I like to get things done. I don’t want to give it the bad luck sign.” Trump signaled that the U.S. backstop could be given in the form of the deal he is trying to secure with Kyiv that would allow American access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and recoup funds given by former President Joe Biden’s administration to support the country’s war efforts. “It’s a backstop, you could say. I don’t think anybody’s going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers,” the president told reporters at the Oval Office earlier Thursday. During the news conference, Trump defended his decision to directly negotiate with Russia without the involvement of Kyiv or European allies as “common sense,” saying, “If you want peace, you have to talk to both sides.” Trump said that talks with Moscow were “very well advanced” but cautioned that there was only a narrow window to secure a deal. He expressed confidence that Putin would “keep his word” and not launch further aggression on Ukraine should a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv be reached. “I’ve known him for … “British PM Starmer seeks to project unity with Trump despite differences on Ukraine “ →

Pope Francis is continuing to improve from a bout of double pneumonia, the Vatican said Thursday evening. The 88-year-old pontiff had progressed from using a nasal tube for supplemental oxygen to alternating the tube with a mask that allowed for a more comfortable flow, according to a detailed update. Doctors on Thursday still said Francis’ “prognosis remains guarded,” suggesting that they did not think he was out of danger. Francis spent Thursday morning in respiratory therapy. Later, he prayed in the chapel of his private suite in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he also received the Eucharist. After that, the pope attended to Vatican work responsibilities. Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 with a case of bronchitis that soon worsened to double pneumonia. This hospital stay is his longest during his time as pope. He is prone to lung infections, having had part of a lung removed when he was a young man. It is not yet clear how his illness will affect his participation in the Lenten season, which begins on March 5 on Ash Wednesday and leads up to Holy Week and then Easter, on which according to Christian tradition Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem. Some of the faithful who have journeyed to Rome to see the Vatican and possibly the pope have altered their plans and are now saying prayers for Francis outside Gemelli Hospital for his full recovery. Lili Iparea Fernandez, from La Cruz, Mexico, traveled to Rome with other pilgrims from Mexico, hoping to participate in Francis’ general audience this week. When that was canceled, she decided to pray for him outside the hospital instead. “We firmly believe that the pope will recover because he is a very strong man,” she said Thursday. “So I invite everyone to believe firmly, with certainty, with confidence, with hope that the pope is going to be well.” The pope’s illness has prompted Catholics to gather in Vatican City, his native Argentina and other areas of the world to hold prayer vigils. Francis has been pope since 2013 when his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. …

Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, on Thursday called for the group’s disarmament and disbandment. VOA Kurdish spoke to locals in Diyarbakir, Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city. While many residents supported Ocalan’s message of peace, others wondered whether his call would be met by real steps by the Turkish government to address the Kurdish question. Click here for the full story in Kurdish. …

Following the Freedom House report where Russia occupies the record low 183rd place in global ratings of political and civil freedoms, VOA Russian spoke to human rights activists who painted a grim picture of Russia rapidly descending into the abyss with the war in Ukraine exacerbating the lack of democratic freedoms that existed before.  Click here for the full story in Russian. …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday that North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to Russia after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties. The National Intelligence Service said in a brief statement it was trying to determine how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia. The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an address on Feb. 7, confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and said North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there. North Korea has been supplying a vast number of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials. North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers say they’ve become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields because of their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain. In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, although U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200. Earlier Thursday, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that an additional 1,000 to 3,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Kursk between January and February. South Korea, the United States and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia, as well. During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the U.S. agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. Ukrainian officials weren’t present at the talks. That marked an extraordinary shift in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine. …

JOHANNESBURG — The Group of 20 major economies has been instrumental in coordinating the response to crises like the COVID pandemic. But top officials from the U.S. and several other member states skipped the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in South Africa this week, raising questions about the group’s continued relevance in a splintered global environment. The two-day meeting in Cape Town ended without a communique, with current G20 leader South Africa saying there was not sufficient consensus to issue one. In his opening remarks at the event, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the fractured geopolitical climate and stressed the importance of international cooperation. “At this time of global uncertainty and escalating tension, it is now more important than ever that the members of the G20 should work together,” Ramaphosa said. “The erosion of multilateralism presents a threat to global growth and stability.” He said the G20 finance ministers meeting had to address major issues like climate change financing, ensuring debt sustainability for developing countries, and Africa’s need to process its own critical minerals for inclusive growth. But it appeared the world’s largest economies were not able to find common ground on a number of issues. South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted this wasn’t the first time. “The issue of the communique and the absence of it is not something new,” Godongwana said. “To my knowledge, I mean, since the Russia-Ukraine war, it has been difficult to find a joint communique. Now, new differences have emerged on a number of other topics.” Climate adaptation funding was one of the areas where there was a “difference of opinion,” he said. The finance ministers meeting was beset with similar problems faced by last week’s G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg, which laid bare the discord in current geopolitics. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skipped the event amid a spat with host country South Africa, and after the U.S. criticized the themes around climate change and “solidarity, equality and sustainability.” The finance chiefs of other large economies, including Japan, India and China also sat it out. However, all of them, including the U.S., sent representation at various levels. Still, the absence of some top officials underscores global divisions sparked by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the “America First” administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Professor Alex van den Heever of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. “I think that this has … “Global splinters evident at G20 finance ministers meeting” →

Anticipation is growing in Russia for a summit – yet to be scheduled – between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. On the streets of Moscow, many Russians welcome what they see as a thaw in relations with Washington, and what some hope is the beginning of the end of their country’s isolation from the West. Jonathan Spier narrates this report. …

Friedrich Merz, who is set to become Germany’s chancellor after his Christian Democratic Union party won the country’s Feb. 23 parliamentary elections, has said that Europe may have to establish an “independent” defense capability because the U.S. has become “largely indifferent” to Europe’s fate.  A top priority of any new European defense mechanism would be protecting Ukraine, now in its fourth year of trying to fight off the Russian invasion.   The country has survived thus far in large part because of a heavy flow of U.S. military aid provided by then-president Joe Biden. New President Donald Trump has said he wants to end the war and recoup Washington’s costs, going so far as to demand Ukraine give the U.S. access to the country’s mineral wealth in return for the tens of billions of dollars the U.S. has spent on Ukraine’s defense.   Voice of America’s Russian Service asked experts to assess the ability of European countries to help Ukraine to withstand, both militarily and economically, the Russian invasion, and to rebuild its destroyed infrastructure.  Andriy Zolotarev, director of the Third Sector Analytical Center, a Kyiv-based think tank, told VOA that U.S. military aid is uniquely important to Ukraine’s defense. “In particular, the U.S. has huge stockpiles of weapons, they are a supplier of critically important intelligence information,” he said. “All the European countries taken together do not have satellite groupings like the United States. In addition, the U.S. has extremely important and truly irreplaceable types of weapons for Ukraine — Patriot [missile defense] systems, ATACMS [long-range guided missiles], HIMARS [multiple launch rocket systems], as well as spare parts for armored vehicles and artillery systems, and much more. This cannot be discounted in any way.”  According to Zolotarev, while Europe produces advanced weapons and other military equipment, the European Union together with Great Britain can only partially compensate for what Ukraine would lose if the U.S. stopped providing assistance.  “Their efforts can soften the negative effect, but will not avoid unpleasant consequences,” he said. “This will simply delay the inevitable end. Europe is currently far from being in the best economic and military shape.”  Mark Feigin, a self-exiled Russian human rights activist and former lawyer, noted in an interview with VOA that while Europe includes two countries with nuclear arsenals, Great Britain and France, and is collectively far richer than Russia, the continent’s military potential is hampered by the fact that it … “Experts: Europe could not replace US as guarantor of Ukraine’s security” →

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, left for the United States after authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed as part of the case, an official said Thursday. The brothers — who are dual U.S.-British citizens and have millions of online followers — were arrested in late 2022 and indicted last year on charges they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny the allegations. In December, a court ruled that the case couldn’t go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors. The case, however, remained open, and there is also another ongoing investigation against them in Romania. Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors approved a request to change the travel restrictions on the Tates but didn’t say who made the request. The brothers are still required to appear before judicial authorities when summoned. “The defendants have been warned that deliberately violating these obligations may result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure,” the statement said. Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He and Tristan Tate, 36, are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump. The Tates’ departure came after Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said this month that an official in the Trump administration expressed interest in the brothers’ case at the Munich Security Conference. The minister insisted no pressure was applied to lift restrictions on the Tates after a Financial Times report on the meeting caused a stir in Romania. The Bucharest Court of Appeal’s decision that the Tate case could not proceed was a huge setback for DIICOT, but it didn’t mean the defendants could walk free, and the case hasn’t been closed. Last August, DIICOT also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well. The Tate brothers’ legal battles aren’t limited to Romania. Late last year, a U.K. court ruled that police can … “Andrew Tate, accused of rape, trafficking in Romania, leaves for US” →

U.S. and Russian diplomats met Thursday in Istanbul for talks about the operations of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington. The meeting is the latest in a series of engagements between the two sides, including a phone call earlier this month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Working to restore U.S.-Russia relations was on the agenda last week for talks between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The U.S. State Department said after those talks in Riyadh that the two sides had agreed to create “a consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions.” Diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States declined during the past decade, with both sides expelling diplomats. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  …

NOUADHIBOU, MAURITANIA — Eager students from throughout west Africa raise their hands as teachers guide them through math and classical Arabic. Then they race outdoors to meet their parents, who clean houses, drive informal taxis or gut sardines in Chinese factories. Outside, government billboards urge these families and others to fight “migrant smuggling,” showing overcrowded boats navigating the Atlantic’s thrashing waves. Inside, posters warn the ocean can be deadly. Such messaging is hard to escape in Nouadhibou, Mauritania’s second-largest city and a launch point on an increasingly popular migrant route toward Europe. As authorities strengthen security measures on long-established routes, migrants are resorting to longer, more perilous ones. From Mauritania, they risk hundreds of kilometers of sea and howling winds to reach Spain’s Canary Islands. The route puts new strain on this port city of 177,000 people at the edge of the Sahara. Outdated infrastructure and unpaved roads have not kept pace as European and Chinese investment pours into the fishing industry, and as migrants and their children arrive from as far away as Syria and Pakistan. The school for children of migrants and refugees, set up in 2018 as an early response to the growing need, is the kind of program envisioned as part of the $219 million accord the European Union and Mauritania brokered last year. The deal — one of several that Europe has signed with neighboring states to deter migration — funds border patrol, development aid and programs supporting refugees, asylum-seekers and host communities. It’s a response to rising alarm and anti-migration politics in Europe. Nearly 47,000 migrants arrived on boats in the Canaries last year, a record “fueled by departures from Mauritania, even as flows from other departure points declined,” according to the EU border agency Frontex. Almost 6,000 were unaccompanied children under 18. Tracking deaths at sea is difficult, but the Spanish nonprofit Walking Borders says at least 6,800 people died or went missing while attempting the crossing last year. Conditions are so harsh that boats drifting off course can end up in Brazil or the Caribbean. Though many praise initiatives that fulfill migrants and refugees’ overlooked needs, few believe they will be effective in discouraging departures for Europe — even the head of the group that runs the Nouadhibou school. “We can’t stop migration,” said Amsatou Vepouyoum, president of the Organization for the Support of Migrants and Refugees, the city’s leading migrant aid group. … “School helps migrants in Mauritania; can it keep them from leaving for Europe?” →

US President Donald Trump says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be at the White House on Friday to sign an agreement granting the US access to Ukraine’s lucrative rare earth minerals. But Ukraine’s leader says a few outstanding issues remain. White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington. …

The Russian economy and the Russian ruble have not collapsed during the three years of the war in Ukraine despite crippling Western sanctions. However, authorities in Moscow are not hiding the fact that the country’s economy is overheated due to rising defense spending and high inflation, while interest rates are at an all-time record of 21%.  Experts say that the U.S.-Russia talks to end the war in Ukraine could be an opportunity for Moscow to prevent more severe economic consequences.  Click here for the full story in Russian.  …

WASHINGTON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to address the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and bilateral trade ties, amid the U.S. leader’s tariff threats on Europe and demands that the continent rely less on Washington for its security. Ahead of their meeting, Trump, who wants NATO members to boost defense spending to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product, reiterated his stance that Europe should “step up.” He told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that American taxpayers “shouldn’t be footing the bill than – more than the Europeans are paying.” In what appears to be a move to appease Trump, on Tuesday, Starmer announced an unexpected increase in the U.K. defense budget to 2.5% of the nation’s GDP by 2027, then to 2.6% the following year. “This week when I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength,” Starmer told members of the British Parliament, underscoring what he calls his country’s “most important bilateral alliance,” with the U.S. Starmer told reporters Tuesday that the increase in defense spending was “three years in the making,” following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The increase will be funded by cutting Britain’s already depleted foreign aid budget to just 0.3% of the country’s GDP. He acknowledged that the decision to ramp up defense spending was “accelerated” as Trump moves to negotiate with Moscow without the involvement of Ukraine or Europeans and made clear he is reducing U.S. support for Europe’s security. “President Trump thinks we should do more, and I agree with him. It chimes with my thinking on this,” Starmer said. He said he also aims to further increase defense spending to 3% in the next Parliament, which will begin in 2029 at the latest after the next general election. A key message for Starmer to reinforce is that Europeans must be part of any discussions on Ukraine, said Gesine Weber, a fellow on the German Marshall Fund’s Geostrategy team. “Because it would be very odd to have a situation where you have the burden shift to Europeans, but not the strategic responsibility and the strategic reflections,” she told VOA. In 2023, the U.S. spent 3.4% of its GDP on defense, according to U.S. government data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Insititute. European peacekeeping Starmer’s meeting comes on … “British PM Starmer to meet Trump at the White House” →