Category: Russia

Putin: was it an assassination attempt?

Blog, Conflict, Europe, Politics, Russia

Brussels 26.05.2025 A Russian military commander of its air defense division claimed that President Vladimir Putin’s helicopter was “at the epicentre” of a Ukrainian drone attack on May 20, while travelling in Kursk oblast.

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“We were simultaneously engaged in an air defense battle and ensuring airspace security for the president’s helicopter flight. The helicopter was effectively at the epicenter of the response to the massive drone attack” Yury Dashkin said.

The claim, made five days after the alleged incident in Kursk Oblast, has not been independently verified. Dashkin provided no evidence to support the claim, and Russian authorities have not released further details.

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Putin’s visit to Kursk marked his first public trip to the region since Russian forces reclaimed most of the territory from Ukrainian control which was established there in August last year.

The incident raises question of the respect of the international law by Ukraine while attacking military target – the helicopter – in Kursk oblast, which is undisputable Russian territory. In international law, self-defense is the right of a state to use force in response to an armed attack. This right is recognized under Article 51 of the UN Charter and customary international law, which permits the use of force in self-defense when an armed attack occurs, according to the ICRC online casebook.
However the response must be necessary and proportional to the attack.

Russia breaks CITES Convention and indulges in wildlife trade

Blog, Conflict, Russia

Strasbourg 23.10.2024 The atrocious death of Taigan safari-zoo keeper Leocadia Perevalova, 41, mauled by lions on October 16 caused serious concerns about the “pocket of lawlessness” in Russia-controlled Crimea, where along with the breach of security, sanitary norms, the illegal trade in big cats flourishes, breaching Russia’s government obligation imposed by the CITES Convention. Apparently after the second death of an employee of the safari-park in suspicious circumstances, the catastrophic lack of security measures came to public attention, leading further to a shocking discovery of the intentional character of the irregularities, covering the shady wildlife trade.

The founder, and the owner of the parc Oleg Zoubkov, who at times claimed that he is just an ordinary guide in the parc, attempting to avoid the responsibility for the systemic neglect of public safety, has already announced that the death of Perevalova was a result of omitting the rules, and “forgetting” to close the lock of the lion’s cage. However the animal rights activists have pointed to many contortions in Zoubkov statement, which contradict the official information from the ongoing investigation, namely five hours pause between discovering of a dead body of the keeper to calling police.

The activists, and civil journalists confirmed that they have been attempting to draw the attention of the authorities to the catastrophic situation in the parc for many years. The breach of basic safety rules is obvious, so is the total neglect of sanitary obligations: in the park hosting around 1500 wild animals there is no one single veterinary specialist!
The only vet, visiting park upon request, comes from the city of Simferopol – 50 km away, and offers services free off charge, being a founder of animal charity “Fauna Blago” to help animals in need.
Furthermore there is nobody monitoring the health of animals, and even their numbers are kept unknown to facilities the illegal trade. The activists were raising the issue of uncontrolled animal reproduction, and vanishing of lion’s and tiger’s cubs used for adverting of the park.

Recently the fate of a lion’s cub Sherkhan attracted attention of the activists: “…Let us recall that the cub Sherkhan was transferred to Crimea by a businessman from Donetsk in mid-November. The lion cub was given to him as a birthday present. A whole room was set up for the little predator. He was kept in excellent conditions, grew up affectionate and friendly. But at one fine moment the man realized that the king of beasts is not a house toy, and brought his pet to “Taigan” writes Russian tabloid KP.ru (VIDEO of Zoubrov advertising Sherkhan lion cub below)

In spite of being from unknown origin, Sherkhan was sold to notorious Harbin Zoo, China, in breach of the CITES convention. The activists point at the bragging of Zoubkov, being proud of responding to high demand for “Russian lions” internationally for private zoos, and circuses, advertising, photo-shooting etc. Animal welfare groups demand the independent investigation of the situation, claiming that the local authorities in Crimea are totally corrupt, and enjoy their “fair share” in illegal big cats trade. The workers of the park, tell stories of cruelty, and also inbreeding of lions, and tigers, describing the safari park as a cover for illegal farming and trade in big cats. So far the demands of the activists have fallen on deaf ears. Local authorities, and law enforcement simulate activities, in reality allowing the big cats farming to prosper, transforming Crimea into a platform for illegal wildlife trade.
(VIDEO of Harbin zoo lions in winter below)

The Russian Federation joined CITES in January 1992 through the continuation of its membership as part of the former USSR and was elected to serve as a regional member on the CITES Standing Committee at CITES CoP17.

Metsola: Enlargement must remain a top priority

Blog, EU, Europe, Politics, Russia

Brussels 27.06.2024 In her traditional address to the European leaders at the EUCO Summit the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola has drawn attention to the following:
“Competitiveness, security & defence, and social equality are clear electoral messages for the EU’s programme”, said EP President Roberta Metsola to the European Council.

Addressing the European Council today in Brussels, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola highlighted the following topics:

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Ukraine
“The European Parliament welcomes the new security cooperation pact between Ukraine and the European Union.

The presence of President Zelenskyy here to mark the occasion is of important symbolical value and bears proof to our mutual commitment to our common security and shared destiny.”

Enlargement
“The step taken to begin formal EU membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova this month is significant and important. The European Parliament has been a strong advocate for the launch of EU accession negotiations.

Getting our Union ready for enlargement must remain a top priority in our next institutional cycle.”

Delivering on messages from the elections
“We have now a much clearer view of what people expect us to deliver on over the next five years. The challenge is now to turn these electoral messages into a political programme for the European Union. One that is serious, deliverable and implementable.”

Security and defence
“People have called for the robust defence of our values and for security to remain a top priority. Our support for Ukraine must continue.

It also means doing more to increase Europe’s ability to respond to any type of crisis and strategic autonomy. This requires a pressing need to develop a real common security and defence policy.

We have already worked together to ramp-up our capabilities, decrease duplications and reduce the fragmentation of the defence industries. Establishing a strong defence industrial base is the next step.”

Competitiveness and the Single Market
“European competitiveness is critical from an economic and a political perspective – we need to reinforce Europe’s place on the global stage.“

“We need to re-double our efforts for open, balanced, fair trade that is based on international rules, and broaden our network of trade agreements with partners by concluding and ratifying the ones we have in the pipeline.”

“Strengthening competitiveness will also require deepening the Single Market. Only by increasing productivity, speeding-up investments in own industrial capabilities, can we reduce strategic dependencies while simultaneously supporting and sustaining economic growth. The Single Market is our greatest economic driver.”

Financing growth
“If we are to grow our economies and pay back our debts, we have to get serious about finding innovative ways to fuel both public and private investment.”

“The increase of the ceilings in a mid-term revision of the EU’s current long-term budget was an important step in the right direction. As we prepare for the next MFF, we need to ensure a budget that is fit-for-purpose.”

“We need to complete our Banking and Capital Markets Unions, if we are serious about mobilising private capital to invest in our priorities, and to incentivise our companies to stay in Europe. This is how we sustain economic growth and create new quality jobs and futures with dignity.”

Leaving nobody behind
“When it comes to making progress on the green and digital transitions, no one should be left behind. Implementation here is key. That must be our focus now.”

“Whilst we are extremely proud of our world leading targets, burdens, bureaucracy and red-tape risk holding back progress. Each regulation may well be justified, but when taken together we need to be careful to ensure that this does not become too much. Our proposals must work for families. For industry. For farmers.”

“That is how we can bring Europe a little bit closer to how our people want it to be. How we can reflect on the message that the electorate sent us. How we will deliver on a stronger, safer, fairer and better Europe for all Europeans.”

Election of the President of the European Commission
“The European Parliament remains firmly behind the Lead Candidate process and we confirm that the European People’s Party is once again the largest political group in the European Parliament.

We will respect the due process. After the European Council communicates to us the name, we will invite the person to meet with Group leaders on Tuesday (2 July). The aim of this is to determine the candidate able to form the necessary qualified majority in Parliament to become the next Commission President. A candidate with a political programme that is able to capture the main electoral messages and reflect the views of the majority of the House.

The European Parliament stands ready to move the smooth process forward for electing a new Commission President without delay as soon as the European Council submits its candidate and for the hearings of the Commissioners after that.”

Russia IL-76 crash under scrutiny

Blog, Conflict, Europe, Politics, Russia

Brussels 26.01.2024 In case the use of an U.S. or a German surface-to-air missile systems for the deadly attack on Russia’s Il-76 plane (pictured) is confirmed, Western countries will become complicit in the crime committed by the Kiev government, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

“According to preliminary investigation, Ukrainian armed forces carried out this terrorist attack using an anti-aircraft missile system. The missiles were launched from the village of Liptsy in Kharkov region,” the Russian diplomat said. “These could have been either American Patriot or German-made Iris-T missiles. If confirmed, this will make the Western suppliers of this ammo complicit in this crime. Just as they are complicit in shelling of peaceful neighborhoods of Russian cities that Ukrainian armed forces carry out with Western weapons.”

On January 24, Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft that was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) for exchange. All 74 people onboard, including 65 Ukrainians perished in the incident. The Russian Defense Ministry called the catastrophe a terrorist act and said Kiev authorities knew about the transportation POWs for an exchange that was planned at the Kolotilovka checkpoint.
In his video address late on Wednesday, President Zelensky said it was “obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and with the emotions of our society”.

The Ukrainian leader, who has cancelled a planned regional trip linked to his birthday on Thursday, stressed that “all clear facts must be established”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the downing of the plane as a “monstrous act”, according to Russian news agencies. He told reporters that if Mr Zelensky meant an international inquiry into “the criminal actions of the Kyiv regime”, it was definitely needed.

EU establishes Russia Crime Centre

Blog, Conflict, EU, Human rights, International, Politics, Russia

Today, the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) started its operations in the Hague, hosted by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust). The newly established Centre will be key to investigate Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine and facilitate case building for future trials. It will provide a structure to support and enhance ongoing and future investigations into the crime of aggression and contribute to the exchange and analysis of evidence gathered since the start of the Russian aggression.

The Centre will begin operating as of today. Eurojust will work closely with the Commission and the members of the Joint Investigation Team to ensure that the Centre can provide the best possible support to national authorities.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is competent to prosecute the gravest international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and the crime of aggression). However, at the moment, the ICC cannot prosecute Russia for the crime of aggression, since Russia is not a State party to the ICC. To close this gap, in November 2022 the Commission presented options to the Member States to guarantee that there is full accountability for all crimes committed in Ukraine. These options explored the possibility of establishing an accountability mechanism to allow the prosecution of the crime of aggression.

While discussions continue, in particular within the Core Group on the establishment of the Special Tribunal, it is crucial to ensure that the relevant evidence is properly secured, and that investigations can begin within the existing legal frameworks.

The evidence collected by the Centre could be used before other jurisdictions, including national and international courts, including a possible tribunal for the crime of aggression or the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes within its jurisdiction.

Prosecutors from the members of the Joint Investigation Centre will be relocated to Eurojust, where they can work together on a daily basis. The prosecutors will be supported by legal and analytical experts from Eurojust. Evidence identified can be stored securely in Eurojust’s Core International Crimes Evidence Database, established following the changes to the Eurojust Regulation based on the Commission’s proposal to amend Eurojust’s regulation.

Borrell: EU €3.5bn military support to Ukraine

Blog, Conflict, EU, Russia

Luxembourg 26.06.2023 “Today, the Foreign Affairs Council is approving a new top-up of our military support to Ukraine: €3.5 billion [for the European Peace Facility]” said the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell at doorstep of the EU Foreign ministers Council.

“I think that it is more important than ever to continue supporting Ukraine, because what has happened during this weekend shows that the war against Ukraine is cracking Russian power and affecting its political system”.

“We are certainly following closely what is happening, but now is the moment to continue supporting Ukraine more than ever, and that is what we will do”.

“Today, the Foreign Affairs Council is approving a new top-up of our military support to Ukraine: €3.5 billion [for the European Peace Facility]” the diplomat concluded.

Russia: response to two Ukraines

Blog, Europe, Russia

Brussels 08.02.2023 Russian former President Dmitry Medvedev (pictured) recalled that “the division along the 38th parallel (demilitarized zone between the DPRK and South Korea) created two independent countries.”

Medvedev, nowadays the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council has depicted Kiev’s speculation that the West is allegedly ready to split Ukraine “according to the Korean scenario” as the first step towards recognizing the existing territorial realities.

“It is clear that the “Korean scenario” speculation is just wishful thinking: ‘We, the rest of Ukraine, would be under Western control and protection. And then we would reach the level of the Republic of Korea. Also, there would remain some hope for reunification with the former territories’,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday, February 7. The politician commented that such hypothetic thinking “is meant for internal use only.”

“There is something else that is noteworthy here,” Medvedev stressed. “Kiev has in fact made a timid hint that there can be no victory. At best, they will follow the country’s division into parts. But in fact, this is the first step towards recognizing the realities that have developed on the ground,” he said.

Medvedev recalled that “the division along the 38th parallel (demilitarized zone between the DPRK and South Korea – TASS) created two independent countries.”

“In the meantime, Donbass and other territories have become part of Russia, which is the largest state with full sovereignty and the most formidable weapons,” Medvedev stressed.

Earlier, a former adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Alexey Arestovich admitted that Ukraine lacked the strength to win and that the Western countries were ready to implement the concept of “two Koreas” in the region. Prior to this, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Alexey Danilov claimed that Kiev might be offered a “Korean option” of the settlement, involving an “equivalent of the 38th parallel.”

As Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov also expressed a position of Kremlin, commenting on Kiev’s speculation about alleged discussions between the deputy chief of the Russian presidential staff, Dmitry Kozak, over the possibility of a “Korean option” for a settlement in Ukraine was a media concoction. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Danilov’s statement that Russia might allegedly offer Ukraine a “Korean option” as rumors and far-fetched speculation.

Gen.Clark: Ukraine can regain control over Crimea

Blog, Conflict, Europe, Russia

Brussels 12.01.2023 Since August, Ukraine has conducted successful counteroffensives in the north and south, taking back over 50 percent of the territory that Moscow seized after the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Ukraine has also conducted successful strikes on Russian military bases in Crimea and on Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol (pictured).

Some experts have argued that now is the time for Ukraine to retake Crimea, nine years after Vladimir Putin’s annexation in 2014. Were Ukraine to move in the south and break the land Kerch bridge running from Russia to Crimea, Moscow’s hold on the peninsula would be in danger.

Ukraine can regain control over Crimea, said Gen.Wes Clark, on condition it would be given the offensive weapons. The retired general expressed his opinion of a strong possibility of such a scenario on condition of the U.S. military support in the various fields, including intelligence.

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Image: social media.

Putin announces Xmas cease-fire

Blog, Conflict, Europe, Russia, Uncategorized

Brussels 05.01.2023 Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas, the first major truce of the more than 10-month war that has killed tens of thousands and devastated swaths of Ukraine.

Putin ordered the cease-fire to begin on January 6, the Kremlin said. Many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on January 6-7.

Putin did not appear to make his conditional on Ukrainian agreement to follow suit.

But it wasn’t clear whether hostilities would actually halt on the 684-mile front line. Ukrainian officials have previously dismissed Russian peace moves as playing for time to regroup their forces and prepare for additional attacks. A senior Ukrainian official quickly dismissed the proposal.

“The Russian Federation must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a ‘temporary truce.’ Keep hypocrisy to yourself,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, called earlier Thursday for both sides of the war in Ukraine to observe a Christmas truce.

Lavrov: Donbass “must be liberated”

Blog, Conflict, Europe, International, Russia

Brussels 29.12.2022 The Donetsk (DNR) and Lugansk People’s Republics (LPR), as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, which joined Russia following referendums, “need to be liberated”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said to Russian Channel One TV. (Image above: archive)

While answering a question about the borders of the regions that he was referring to, Lavrov said: “I am certainly talking about their borders as parts of the Russian Federation, based on the Russian Constitution.”

“It stems from the people’s will expressed in the four regions. It happened a while ago in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and this fall in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions,” Lavrov added.

The top diplomat underlined that Russia was determined to make sure that its special military operation would achieve its goals. The four regions “need to be liberated from the threat of Nazification that they have faced for years” he added.

From September 23 to September 27, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region, held referendums where the majority of voters opted to join Russia. On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and the LPR, the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia. On October 4, Putin signed laws ratifying the treaties.