12/05/2024December 5, 2024Zelenskyy criticizes lack of Red Cross, UN help for captive Ukrainians
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had not received enough help from the United Nations and Red Cross in bringing back Ukrainians held in Russia.
Kyiv says Russia is holding thousands of its civilians, including Ukrainian children, in captivity.
“Do we currently receive much assistance from organizations such as the UN or the International Committee of the Red Cross in protecting and securing the return of Ukrainian prisoners held in Russia? In fact, we do not,” Zelenskyy said at a human rights conference in Kyiv.
“We all see, in particular, how weak the world’s response is to what Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners,” he said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4nnn1
12/05/2024December 5, 2024Russia says West ignoring warnings over sending troops to Ukraine
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of failing to heed the Kremlin’s warnings over the dangers of dispatching troops to support Ukraine.
His comments came amid speculation over possible Western deployments, potentially as a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire.
Lavrov said the political discourse indicates that the West was not listening to Moscow’s concerns.
“All these fantasies are only exacerbating the situation, and show that the people who hold such ideas, prefer not to hear the very clear warnings that President Putin has repeatedly given,” Lavrov said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4nnFo
12/05/2024December 5, 2024West slams Russia at OSCE meeting
Western countries have again condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine at an annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Ukraine dominated the foreign ministers’ meeting politically.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told the meeting that his country was continuing to fight for its right to exist.
“And the Russian war criminal at this table must know: Ukraine will win this right and justice will prevail,” he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is taking part in the meeting, accused Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of spreading a “tsunami of misinformation” and blamed Moscow for escalating the war in Ukraine.
“Now I regret that our colleague, Mr. Lavrov, has left the room, not giving me the courtesy to listen to us as we listen to him. And of course, our Russian colleague is very adept in drowning listeners with a tsunami of misinformation,” Blinken said.
Lavrov and Blinken, whose term in office ends next month, were not scheduled to meet.
https://p.dw.com/p/4nnGq
12/05/2024December 5, 2024Polish FM says Russia’s OSCE membership should be ‘suspended’
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Thursday that Russia’s membership in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should be suspended over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He made the comments while attending the organization’s gathering this year in Malta.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is also taking part in the meeting.
“Russia is destroying Ukraine, but it is also destroying its country’s future. Until it ends this brutal war, its membership in the OSCE should be suspended,” Sikorski told reporters after boycotting Lavrov’s speech at the summit.
https://p.dw.com/p/4nnFE
12/05/2024December 5, 2024Top US, Russian generals talk after long gap
The top military officials in the US and Russia held virtual talks last week amid heightening tensions between the two sides in recent weeks.
US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke by phone with Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov last week, the US military said.
It’s the first time Brown spoke with his Russian counterpart.
“The leaders discussed a number of global and regional security issues to include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Brown said in a statement.
The rare call took place on November 27, but “at the request of Gen. Gerasimov, Gen. Brown agreed to not proactively announce the call.”
The request for the call was made by the Russian Defense Ministry, the spokesperson said.
Brown became the top US general last year, and Gerasimov last spoke with Brown’s predecessor, Mark Milley.
https://p.dw.com/p/4nmDt
12/05/2024December 5, 2024Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Malta for OSCE gathering
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Malta to attend a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday.
This is his first visit to an EU member state since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also attending the meeting but he has no plans to meet Lavrov.
The OSCE has 57 members and it helps them coordinate issues such as human rights and arms control.
Ukraine has called for Russia to be excluded from the organization.
Kyiv boycotted last year’s summit over Lavrov’s attendance but the Ukrainian foreign minister is attending the meeting in Malta.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski criticized Lavrov’s attendance and said he would walk out.
“Mr Lavrov is coming here to lie about [the[ Russian invasion and what Russia is doing in Ukraine. And I’m not going to listen to those lies,” he said.
“Well, I will not be sitting at one table with Mr Lavrov. Russia corrupts every organization she joins. We need Russia to get out of Ukraine and only then will this organization make sense.”
His Latvian counterpart Baiba Braze said she would be doing the same.
“I will not be in one room with Mr Lavrov, I will walk out, yes. ((Flash)) I don’t know what signal it sends, but i cannot be in one room as an aggressor state.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4nmD2
12/05/2024December 5, 2024German defense minister warns of Russian provocations in the Baltic Sea
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has warned of increasing Russian military provocations in the Baltic Sea region.
There is an “increased presence of the Russian navy and civilian ships in the Baltic Sea,” the minister said speaking to the German public radio on Thursday.
There are repeated incidents there that “result from warning shots being fired into the air, warning shots being fired into the water,” Pistorius said, adding that the Russian navy is trying to “send signals.”
Germany and its NATO allies are countering this with their presence in the Baltic Sea, but want to avoid an escalation, the minister underlined.
“Our navy and that of the allies are behaving very prudently and with foresight,” he said, stressing that it is important “that we are present in the Baltic Sea with the allies.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4nmDv
12/05/2024December 5, 2024Russia, North Korea defense treaty comes into force, KCNA says
A major defense pact between North Korea and Russia has gone into effect after the two sides exchanged ratification documents, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the treaty in June.
The agreement obligates both states to provide military assistance in the case of an attack on the other, and to jointly oppose Western sanctions.
Moscow and Pyongyang have moved closer to each other in recent years amid increased tensions with the West.
The US and South Korea have accused the North of getting involved in Ukraine by dispatching thousands of North Korean troops to fight alongside Russian forces.
sri/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
https://p.dw.com/p/4nmE2