Month: March 2022

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters a 6th day, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has blamed the United States and its allies in collusion with what he referred to as a neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv. Ukraine and the West say Russia is launching unprovoked attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Just as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began to speak, most of the people in the U.N. Human Rights Council chamber rose and collectively left the room. Lavrov was unaware of it because, as he said, he was compelled to address the council by video conference instead of in person as he had intended.

Lavrov angrily accused the European Union of impinging on his right to freedom of movement by preventing him from flying over their air space to Geneva. He then spent the next 20 minutes blasting the policy of the “collective West” led by Washington that, he claimed has led to the Kyiv regime going to war with its own people since 2014.

He accused the Ukrainian regime of criminal actions and of unleashing an eight-year war against Russian and Russian-speaking citizens in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

These remarks stand in stark contrast with the view of most of the international community. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin could not remain indifferent to their fate. So, he decided to recognize the regions’ independence and launch what he called a special military operation to protect the inhabitants.

That justification for the invasion was voiced earlier by Putin himself. It has been dismissed as part of a surreal disinformation campaign by most Western governments, which have responded to the invasion with unprecedented sanctions. Lavrov lashed out against those as well. He spoke through an interpreter.

“The West has clearly lost control of itself in its desire to vent its anger on Russia and has gone to the extent of destroying all the institutions and rules it has created, including the inviolability of property…The sovereign equality of states is a key principle of the U.N. Charter. It fully applies to the work of the Human Rights Council.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres disagrees with that reading of the U.N. Charter. In response to Putin’s actions, he said the so-called “independence” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Guterres said they were inconsistent with the principles of the charter of the United Nations

While Lavrov was speaking, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, Shabia Mantoo, said the number of Ukrainian refugees was exponentially increasing.

“We have now over 660,000 refugees who have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the past six days alone. This is according to the latest data made available by governments and compiled by the UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency. At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century, and UNHCR is mobilizing resources to respond as quickly and effectively as possible.”

Mantoo said most refugees have fled to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, and Slovakia, while some have moved toward other European countries. She noted a sizeable number has gone to the Russian Federation, adding national authorities are responsible for their care.
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Ghana has welcomed home a first group of evacuated students who were studying in Ukraine when Russia invaded.  Ghana’s foreign ministry says more than 500 other Ghanaian students have fled Ukraine and can come home if they wish.

The first batch of 17 students arrived Tuesday in the capital, Accra, on two flights. 

Looking very calm, the students were welcomed by a government delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong. 

Nana Boakye Agyemang, a first-year medical student who has been studying in Ukraine for the past five years, spoke briefly to reporters at the airport. 

“This is quite unfortunate that we have to come home. Siblings should be calm, friends should be calm. The government is doing its possible best to make sure that we all come back home. For the meantime, we want to say thank you and we appreciate whatever has been done for us,” Agyemang said. 

Priscilla Adjai, another student, told VOA she decided to return to Ghana because she feared for her life.   

“We decided to move because they said the targeted areas were eastern Ukraine but we were in western Ukraine. We were not supposed to be targeted but two hours from me cities were bombed, so I became afraid because it’s narrowing down to where I am. So I talked to my parents and they said, ‘Yes, go ahead,’” Adjai said.

The deputy foreign minister told the media the government is working around the clock to evacuate Ghanaians who want to return home.   

“We thank the Almighty God that he’s seen you through and brought you home. In the next couple of hours you’ll reconcile and re-engage with your families. The government is determined to continue to make sure that your colleagues who are still in transit to be evacuated will be eventually evacuated,” Ampratwum-Sarpong said.

The students were later reunited with their parents, who were in a separate meeting with government officials. 

More than 500 Ghanian students who were in Ukraine when Russia invaded have made their way to Poland and Romania. Officials say those desiring to come back to Ghana will be flown home. 
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Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced Monday that his country will import about 2 million tons of wheat from Russia and buy natural gas as well under bilateral agreements the two sides signed last week during his official trip to Moscow.  

Khan pressed on with his two-day visit and met with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, hours after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, with Western countries pushing to isolate the Russian leader for his actions. 

On Monday, the Pakistani prime minister defended his trip and responded to critics in a televised speech to the nation, saying Pakistan’s economic interests required him to do so.  

“We went there because we have to import 2 million tons of wheat from Russia. Secondly, we have signed agreements with them to import natural gas because Pakistan’s own gas reserves are depleting,” Khan said.  

“Inshallah (God willing), the time will tell that we have had great discussions,” the Pakistani leader said, referring to his three-hour meeting with Putin. He shared no further details. 

Critics, however, are skeptical about Moscow-Islamabad economic collaboration, citing tougher international sanctions slapped on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.  

On Thursday, Putin warmly received Khan at the Kremlin in front of cameras, shook hands and sat just next to the visitor for what Pakistani officials said were wide-ranging consultations on bilateral, regional and international issues.  

“The Prime Minister regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine and said that Pakistan had hoped diplomacy could avert a military conflict,” a post-meeting statement quoted Khan as telling Putin. 

Pakistani officials and Khan himself maintained that the Moscow visit was planned long before the Ukraine crisis erupted and was aimed solely at reviewing bilateral trade relations, including energy cooperation. 

Pakistan’s frosty relations with the United States, analysts say, have pushed the South Asian nation closer to its giant neighbors China and Russia in recent years. 

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who accompanied Khan on the visit, said after the delegation returned to Pakistan that Washington had contacted Islamabad ahead of the Moscow trip. 

“[U.S. officials] presented their position and we explained to them the purpose of the trip and went ahead with it,” Qureshi told reporters when asked whether the U.S. was opposed to the visit. “I’m convinced after the visit that we did the right thing.” 

Speaking on the eve of Khan’s trip to Russia, a U.S. State Department spokesman, when asked about it, said Washington believed that Pakistan, like “every responsible” country, would voice objection to Putin’s actions. 

But Pakistani leaders have avoided criticizing Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and stressed the need for seeking a negotiated settlement to the crisis.  

Islamabad also has developed close economic and military ties with Ukraine in recent years, with Pakistan being a major importer of Ukrainian wheat.  

Qureshi spoke to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Sunday and reiterated Islamabad’s “serious concern at the situation, underscoring the importance of de-escalation, and stressing the indispensability of diplomacy.” 

Pakistan sided with the U.S. during the Cold War and played an instrumental role in arming as well as training Washington-funded resistance to the decadelong Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan in the 1980s.  

While Islamabad’s often uneasy relations with Washington have lately strained over the country’s backing of the Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan, ties between India and the U.S. have solidified in recent years due to shared concerns stemming from China’s growing influence in the region.  

India, Islamabad’s bitter foe, had close ties with Russia during the Cold War, as Moscow was a major arms exporter to New Delhi. 

Moscow has restored ties with Islamabad in recent years, however. The two countries routinely hold joint military exercises and are working to deepen energy cooperation to help Pakistan overcome shortages. 

Khan in his address Monday reiterated that Pakistan’s decision to join the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan was an outcome of “the wrong foreign policy” of his predecessors.  

“I maintained from day one that we should not have taken part [in the U.S.-led war],” he said, adding that Pakistan suffered 80,000 casualties because of an Islamist retaliation and incurred billions of dollars in economic losses.  

“The most embarrassing part was that a country was fighting in support of a country that was bombing it,” Khan said, referring to U.S. drone strikes against suspected militant hideouts in Pakistani areas near the Afghan border. 

Khan also announced a cut in fuel and electricity prices to help offset a steep rise in the global oil market because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

He promised to freeze the new prices until the next budget in June. Critics said the move could result from opposition protests over rising inflation that officials blame on the coronavirus outbreak and tough economic reforms the government is undertaking in line with a $6 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. 

 
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Pope Francis is suffering from acute knee pain and won’t preside over this week’s Ash Wednesday celebrations after his doctor ordered him to rest. Despite his health issues, the pope has launched efforts to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine.

Pope Francis will not be presiding over the customary mass for the start of Lent at the Basilica of Saint Sabina on Rome’s Aventine Hill this year.

The pope’s knee ailment also forced him to cancel travel plans for the first time in his papacy. Francis was scheduled to celebrate mass Sunday in Florence for the closing of a meeting of bishops and mayors from the Mediterranean region.

But knee pain has not stopped the Pope from repeatedly voicing his concern about the developments in Ukraine.

On Friday, he visited the Russian ambassador to the Holy See, Alexander Avdeev, to express those concerns in person.

The Pope has called for Ash Wednesday this week to serve as a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine.

His worries were voiced again Sunday when he said his “heart is broken” and called for arms to fall silent.

Referring to those in search of refuge as brothers and sisters, the pope made an impassioned appeal for humanitarian corridors to help refugees leave Ukraine.

The Vatican has now said it is prepared to assist in any negotiation aimed at ending the war in the eastern European country. The Vatican’s No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said in interviews published in Italian newspapers Monday that the Vatican is offering to facilitate dialogue with Russia. He said there is always space for negotiation.

Earlier, the head of the Italian Bishop’s Conference, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, announced the pope would not travel after speaking to the Holy Father on the phone.

Bassetti said the pope had given his strong backing to the “Mediterranean, Frontier of Peace” meeting in Florence and had wanted to attend but the doctor recommended that he take a “period of greater rest” for his leg.

It remains unclear whether the pope’s current knee problem is linked to previous sciatica conditions that have forced him to cancel some of his public appearances in recent times and has also caused him to limp. Only last month, the 85-year-old pontiff complained of a pain in his leg, saying it was worse when he remained standing.

Pope Francis underwent colon surgery in July in what was considered his most serious health issue since he was elected head of the Catholic Church in March 2013. After spending 10 days in a hospital, he appeared to recover well and soon returned to his daily activities.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed Monday for the European Union to immediately admit Ukraine to the bloc, as the country battled a Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy posted photographs of himself on social media signing an application to join the 27-member nation EU. In a video, he said, “We appeal to the European Union for the urgent accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure.”

“We are grateful to our partners for being with us,” Zelenskyy said. “But our goal is to be together with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be on equal footing. I’m sure it’s fair. I’m sure we earned it. I’m sure it’s possible.”

It usually takes years for any country to officially join the EU, part of a multi-step process that often requires nations to make reforms to reach EU standards.

The head of Zelenskyy’s office, Andrii Sybiha, said on his official Facebook page that the documents requesting EU admission “are on the way to Brussels.”

The EU has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has offered military assistance to Kyiv as well as imposed tough economic sanctions on Russia and blocked Russian planes from EU skies.

Ukraine’s request comes after European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told Euronews in an interview Sunday of Ukraine: “They are one of us, and we want them in.”

However, Von der Leyen’s spokesperson, Eric Mamer, clarified Monday that the EU chief did not mean that Ukraine could join immediately.

He said Von der Leyen “specified that there is a process (for joining the EU). And I think that this is the important point.”

The application for Ukraine to join the EU, even if largely symbolic, is likely to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long accused the West of trying to bring Ukraine under its influence.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Ukraine and Western states appealed to the international community Monday to support a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and calling for an immediate cease-fire as Moscow’s forces stepped up their bombardment of the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.

“We are today at a crucial and historical moment,” European Union Ambassador Olof Skoog told member states on behalf of the 27 EU members. “Too many times in the past the international community has been blind or too slow in front of unfolding tragedies. Entire generations in many places around the world have paid and are still paying the price of inaction. We can’t make the same mistake again: We have to take action.”

The West and Ukraine framed the crisis before the body as an existential threat to the principles of the United Nations, the charter on which it was founded in 1945, and the international rules-based order.

“Now it is time to act, time to help Ukraine, that is paying the ultimate price for freedom and security for itself and of the world,” Ukraine envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya said. “If Ukraine does not survive, international peace will not survive. If Ukraine does not survive, the United Nations will not survive — have no illusions. If Ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy fails next.”

Uniting for Peace resolution

The General Assembly is meeting under what is known as the Uniting for Peace resolution. It allows special meetings of the entire membership to be called when the U.N. Security Council is deadlocked on an issue and cannot exercise its mandate to maintain or restore international peace and security — in this case, because of Russia’s veto.

Although the council in practice has been divided on many issues, Uniting for Peace has been invoked fewer than a dozen times since it was adopted in 1950, according to the Security Council Report, which tracks U.N. meetings. The last time was 40 years ago, in 1982, concerning Israel.

The debate is likely to continue through Wednesday, as more than 100 countries have asked to take the floor. The United States is scheduled to speak toward the end of the debate, closer to the introduction of a draft resolution strongly condemning the Russian invasion and calling for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of Moscow’s troops. Its language mimics the one that Russia vetoed in the Security Council on Friday.

A two-thirds majority of voting assembly members is needed to adopt the resolution.

Russia

Russia’s envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, said Moscow’s actions, which he said were made in self-defense, had been “distorted.” He also tried to paint Moscow’s invasion as a defense of the principles of the U.N. Charter.

“We are protecting ourselves from a nationalist threat, but Russia is also seeking to uphold the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter on the soil of Donbas and Ukraine, ensuring that the main goal of the United Nations is upheld — namely to prevent succeeding generations from a scourge of war,” Nebenzia said.

He denied that Russian troops were targeting civilians.

“We constantly hear lies, fakes about indiscriminate shelling of Ukrainian cities, hospitals, schools, kindergartens,” Nebenzia said. “The Russian army does not pose a threat to the civilians of Ukraine, is not shelling civilian areas.”

China

China was the only major Russian ally to speak Monday morning. The situation has evolved to a point that China does not wish to see, Ambassador Zhang Jun said.

“The Cold War has long ended,” he said. “The Cold War mentality based on bloc confrontation should be abandoned. Nothing can be gained from stirring up a new Cold War, but everyone will stand to lose.”

“It is our consistent and unequivocal position that all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected, and that the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter should be upheld,” the Chinese envoy added.

Other allies, including Syria, Belarus, Venezuela and North Korea, are scheduled to speak during the debate.

Peace talks amid refugee exodus

As delegates took to the podium, Russian and Ukrainian delegations were meeting in a border town in Belarus for the first direct talks to halt the fighting.

“This offers a ray of hope,” Abdulla Shahid, the president of the General Assembly, said. “We pray that these talks will calm down tempers and pave way to peace.”

The U.N.’s Human Rights Office said Monday that more than 400 civilian casualties have been reported, including more than 100 deaths. It said the real figure could be much higher as many reported casualties have yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, civilians continue to flee to safety. The U.N. refugee agency says the numbers are changing by the hour, but already more than a half million people have already crossed Ukraine’s borders, mostly toward Poland.

Some reports have emerged that non-white refugees have encountered difficulty accessing transport to leave and discrimination at the Polish border. Ambassador Krzysztof Szczerski said that was not true.

“This is a complete lie and a terrible insult to us,” he said.

The Polish envoy said his government had organized trains to bring the elderly and mothers with children to Poland, sent aid convoys, and prepared hospital beds for the wounded and sick. In the past 24 hours, the first refugee babies had been born in Polish hospitals, he said.

Monday afternoon, the U.N. Security Council will hold another meeting on the situation, this time to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi are both expected to deliver updates to the council.

France and Mexico are circulating a draft resolution calling for safe and unhindered humanitarian access, which will likely be put to a vote on Tuesday.
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