Category: Blog

Russia: new migrant status

Blog, Europe, Human rights

Brussels 22.05.2021 A special legal status – ‘controlled presence’ – will be introduced for migrants that have no right to stay in Russia, but are forced to remain on its territory due to circumstances, for example, the coronavirus-related lockdown, a source in press service of the Russian Interior Ministry told TASS in response to a respective request. (Image above: USSR people friendship fountain, Moscow, Russia)

“As one of preventative activities aimed at improving the efficiency of the mechanism ensuring safety and law enforcement in the migration field, it is planned to introduce a special legal status – ‘controlled presence’. It will be established regarding migrants having no legal grounds to stay in Russia, but remaining on its territory for whatever reason,” press service said.

The new legal status will be applied to foreigners, regarding which, for example, a deportation judgement has been suspended or exit from Russia has been limited due to necessity to execute the imposed punishment, participate in legal proceedings, the ministry explained. “The issue is under consideration on establishing such a status regarding foreigners with socially-dangerous diseases, who have been provided with instructions by Rospotrebnadzor on observing certain sanitary rules, including lockdown, as well,” it added.

According to the data provided by the ministry, around 1.6M migrants have not left the country after expiration of the period of their stay in the country since last March when the coronavirus infection pandemic started. The measures that have been taken, have enabled around 400,000 people to legalize their status.

ECHR: Navalny Foundation lawsuit

Blog, Human rights, International, Politics

Brussels 21.05.2021 The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has given priority to the case on the lawsuit of the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) labeled an extremist organisation by Russian government, the director of the Foundation, Ivan Zhdanov, said live on the Navalny Live YouTube channel.

According to Zhdanov, Russia was given a deadline until May 20 to answer questions from the ECHR on this case. Navalny Foundation must announce its position by May 24. At the same time, all the procedures in the case, which can take years, the fund passed in a month, noted Ivan Zhdanov.

The director of the Foundation hopes that the ECHR will deliver its ruling earlier than the Russian court. Ivan Zhdanov suggested that it is precisely because of the consideration of the complaint in the European Court that the case on the recognition of the fund as an extremist organisation in the Russian court is being delayed.
“We believe that the lawsuit against the Anti-Corruption Foundation is a fundamental case that separates us from truly massive repression,” Zhdanov said. “The European Court of Human Rights has also realised that this lawsuit is one of the key events in modern Russian history. “.
In April, the Moscow prosecutor’s office turned to court with a demand to recognise the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Navalny’s headquarters as extremist organisations. As explained in the supervisory department, these organisations are engaged in the destabilisation of the social and socio-political situation “under the guise of liberal slogans.”
“The actual goals of their activities are to create conditions for changing the foundations of the constitutional order, including using the scenario of the “color revolution” the prosecutor’s office has underlined.

All Navalny’s headquarters stopped their activities under unprecedented pressure from Russian state.

GAZA: RSF calls for investigation

Blog, Conflict, International, World

Bruxelles 17.05.2021 “Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to include Israeli air strikes on more than 20 media outlets in the Gaza Strip in her investigation into the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Targeted Israeli airforce attacks have destroyed the premises of 23 Palestinian and international media outlets in the past week. The latest airstrikes destroyed the bureaux of the US news agency, the Associated Press, and the Qatari TV broadcaster Al Jazeera. According to the Israeli military, these attacks were justified because the “military intelligence” wing of Hamas, the Gaza Strip’s ruling Islamist movement, had equipment in these building.

“Deliberately targeting media outlets constitutes a war crime,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “By intentionally destroying media outlets, the Israel Defence Forces are not only inflicting unacceptable material damage on news operations. They are also, more broadly, obstructing media coverage of a conflict that directly affects the civilian population. We call on the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to determine whether these airstrikes constitute war crimes.”

“The first Israeli attack on media outlets occurred four days ago, after Hamas fired a series of rockets into Israel. In the early hours of 12 May, Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Al-Jawhara Tower, a 10-storey building in Gaza City that housed 14 media outlets including the Palestine Daily News newspaper and the pan-Arab TV channel Al-Araby.

“The next day, an Israeli airstrike destroyed Gaza City’s Al-Shorouk Tower, a 14-storey building that housed seven media outlets including the Al-Aqsa radio and TV broadcaster. The IDF said they were “striking Hamas weapons stores hidden inside civilian buildings in Gaza” concludes the RSF press-release.

Israel is ranked 86th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

US-Russia meeting in Reykjavik

Blog, Europe, International, Politics

Brussels 13.05.2021 Russian Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the timeline of bilateral Russia-US contacts by phone Wednesday, May 12, including the proposed highest-level Russia-US Summit, and agreed to hold a separate meeting during the Arctic Council ministerial session in Reykjavik.

“The sides discussed the timeline of other Russian-US contacts for the upcoming period, including Washington’s proposal on the organization of the Russia-US summit,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

The sides also touched upon the interaction between the two countries in the Arctic Council – in particular, in regards to the upcoming Russian presidency in the organisation, which will begin on May 20.

“Lavrov and Blinken agreed to hold a separate meeting on the sidelines of the [May 20] session to review key issues of bilateral relations and the international agenda,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Russia denies Donbass takeover plans

Blog, Europe

Brussels 13.05.2021 Russian Federation has no plans for taking over the territories of Donbass that are beyond Kiev’s control, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said in response to EU allegations Russia harbored some intentions to take over the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk breakaway regions.

“Russia has never had any takeover plans, nor will it have any in the future. It has never done anything like that,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

Peskov had reiterated more than once that the question of taking over Donbass was not on the Kremlin’s agenda. At the same time he stressed that Russia was taking a consistent and responsible stance in favour of protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population in that territory.

Russian Navalny doctor vanishes

Blog, Uncategorized

Brussels 10.05.2021 Russian doctor Alexander Murakhovsky who first treated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after he collapsed on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow last year, has disappeared, Russian police said on Sunday, May 9.
The physician was last seen leaving a hunting base in a forest in the Omsk region — around 2,200 km (1,370 miles) east of Moscow — in an all-terrain vehicle on Friday, police said.

A search effort was already underway including emergency services, drones, a helicopter and volunteers on the ground. The doctor was promoted to the position of regional health minister last November.

The doctor falsely announced that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was not poisoned but had a bout of pancreatitis and hypoglycemia has disappeared in a swampy forest, according to several Russian media outlets. Kremlin-friendly outlet Life.ru suggested that “there could have been an accident” after two bears were spotted where the doctor was last seen.

Alexander Murakhovsky, who was promoted to become minister of health of the Omsk Region days after he publicly refuted claims that someone had tried to kill Vladimir Putin’s most public foe, went hunting on a four-wheeler May 7 and has not been seen since. His hunting companions reportedly say his four-wheeler got stuck in muddy terrain behind them, and he set off on foot. He spoke to one person on his walkie-talkie but later did not respond.

Bible-loving politician under trial

Blog, EU, Europe, Uncategorized

Brussels 09.05.2021 The trial against Finnish Christian politician Päivi Räsänen, accused of hate speech towards minorities for citing the Bible concerning gay people, is regarded as a new step in the intensifying persecution of Christians in Western democracies.

The trial i the first time when a politician with such a status is being prosecuted for expressing Christian doctrine concerning human sexuality.

Räsänen is the former head of the Finnish Christian Democrats and a former Minister of the interior. She is now serving a Member of the Parliament elected first time in 1995.

The police which conducted the initial investigation have underlined that Räsänen’s tweet from 2019 was not a reason to initiate action against her. The tweet had an attached photo of a Bible text which included a fragment of the Saint Epistle to the Romans:

Räsänen is a politician of a clear rhetoric, defending the Christian doctrine on sexuality and family. Yet, that was enough for the prosecution to impose two years of prison sentence regardless the freedom of belief.
This whole affair poses serious questions concerning freedom of the fundamental freedoms in the concept of a liberal democracy. It means that these freedoms are increasingly more threatened, especially concerning the Christianity.

#Abyss: Brussels youth for human rights

Blog, EU, Europe, Lifestyle, Politics

Brussels 02.03.2021 “The abyss”, an icebreaker party scheduled for Friday, April 2, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. to defend the right of assembly* in the ongoing context of the pandemic, did not take place at the Parc du Cinquantenaire in Brussels as initially announced, but at the Bois de la Cambre, according to information. published in the morning on the Facebook group of the event.

Brussels Bourgmestre Philippe Close does not intend, according to his spokesman, to close the woods,surrounding the capital, considering that this would be depriving citizens of the freedom to enjoy it to breathe and walk there. For its part, the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone has indicated that its forces will be present this Friday evening at both places, at the Cinquantenaire and at the Bois de la Cambre.

“We want to regain our right to meet and assemble except that we have to ask for an authorization and since we have been living under a “health dictatorship” for a year, it was obvious that we never would have had it. Hence the qualifier “wild” for our parties. We feel that we are not doing anything wrong. For several hours now, we have had the impression that we are organising a terrorist attack. It shows how far we have come. It’s just about putting some music in a park and even yesterday they didn’t even succeed. I think we have the law on our side, morality on our side, a good part of the people … “

*Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights

“Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

2. No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on the exercise of these rights by members of the armed forces, of the police or of the administration of the state”.

VGE: tribute in Strasbourg Parliament

Blog, EU, Politics

Brussels 05.12.2020 In agreement with President Emmanuel Macron the European Parliament will pay tribute to Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in the Strasbourg hemicycle on February 2, during a ceremony attended by the President of France and other heads of state and government, wrote on his Twitter micro blog David Sassoli, the speaker of the European Parliament.

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was asserting himself as a defender of multilateralism. Initiator of the G5, which later became the G7, he was committed to increased cooperation at European level, and a new political impetus for the European institutions. While conferences between European heads of state and government took place on an informal basis, “VGE” took advantage of its first summit as president, which was held in Paris, in December 1974, to institutionalise these meetings.

“We attended the last European summit, and we participated in the first European Council,” he said after the meeting. It was also under his mandate that the election by direct universal suffrage of the European Parliament was decided: in 1979 the first European elections were held, won by the UDF (the president’s party), which brought Simone Veil to the presidency. of the institution.

Giscard d’Estaing aspired to found a whole new EU system with framed by the Constitution, which is supposed to replace all of the current EU treaties, but after failure of referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005, where the idea was rejected by citizens, this project was adjusted and realised in a form of the Lisbon Treaty.

On Saturday, December 5, about thirty people were invited to enter the church to attend the funeral ceremony, while a security perimeter prevented access to residents of the commune d’Authon. According to the wishes of the deceased, music was part of the ceremony. Access to the vault of the former head of state, buried alongside his daughter Jacinthe, who died in 2018, will be free, as confirmed by the prefect of Loir-et-Cher. All citizens who wish to pay tribute to Valéry Giscard d’Estaing will therefore be able to do so.

French society regards among his achievements: the majority at 18; improving the condition of women;
free access to contraception; the legalisation of abortion; divorce by mutual consent; decriminalisation of adultery; the unification of college system for youth.

Erdogan accesses Baku oil

Blog, Conflict, International, Uncategorized

Brussels 12.11.2020 Anna van Densky OPINION The result of the military campaign for Nagorno-Karabakh is the entry of Azerbaijan into the NATO orbit. Turkey is NATO, even the first NATO army in terms of military personnel.

This Turkish military base presence agreed with Azerbaijan means unhindered access to Baku (pictured) oil, which is imported by Turkey, lucrative contracts of the Turkish energy company BOTAS with the Azerbaijani SOCAR, and in return President Erdogan will export Islam. In short, the Turkish expansion in the Caucasus will proceed in the military, political, economic and cultural spheres.
Do svidania, Azerbaijan!
It doesn’t make sense to have a “poker face” and declare Putin a “great winner”. Russia got a burden of protection of the poorest country in the Caucasus, which became even poorer after the N.Karabakh war, and at the same time suffers from militant chauvinism and high levels of anti-Russian sentiment, while the wealth of oil fields went to Turkey under the leadership of Erdogan.

It is not clear what is so victorious in the duty of protecting Armenia, which is in the deepest economic and political crisis? After the pogrom in the parliament in Yeravan, and hospitalisation of the speaker caused by mob attack, and further vandalism in Prime minister Pashinyan residence, Armenia resembles a failed state.

Meanwhile “Sultan” Erdogan received what Germany did not get during the Second World War, and because of what, in fact, the Battle for Stalingrad, where two million perished – access to Baku oil. Now, Erdogan gained access to the Baku oil rigs during a campaign that lasted a little more than two months. And he fought mainly with the forces of the Azeri army and with their funds from the sale of the same oil. And the Russian peacekeepers went to defend the dilapidated quarries of N. Karabakh, used for graveyards.
Concluding mentioned above, N.Karabach war opened Turkish era in Caucasus, which will change the region entirely and without return, launching its Islamisation. Sunset of Russian influence. One more failure of President Putin.
Image below: Turkish Defence Minister and former Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar is on official visit to Baku.
The fraternal gesture between the two military Azerbaijani and Turkish have been duly displayed in the official images, flaunting Ankara victory.