Month: April 2022

The Biden administration is set to ask Congress for legislative changes that would make it easier for the U.S. Justice Department to seize Russian oligarch assets and transfer part of the money to Ukraine, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Tuesday. 

“We’ve been very carefully examining that question, and I expect that there will be requests for legislative changes,” Garland told members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee when asked if the Justice Department needed any additional authorities to target Russian oligarchs tied to the Kremlin. 

“These could go particularly in the way that we do the forfeitures, to make it easier for us to do the forfeitures,” Garland said. “Also, the possibility of taking the money out of the forfeiture fund that we collect this way and sending it to Ukraine.” 

Asset forfeiture is a court-authorized legal proceeding that allows the government to take possession of property that is used illegally, obtained from illegal activity or used to facilitate a crime. 

Properties and other assets of wealthy associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin that are seized and “forfeited” by the Justice Department are put into the department’s Assets Forfeiture Fund. The proceeds are typically used for investigative purposes, asset forfeiture operations and other expenses.  

Garland said the administration would support allowing some of the Russians’ assets subject to forfeiture to “go directly to Ukraine.” 

“We’re hard at work on it, and I expect very soon, within days, probably, that the administration will be able to present some request,” Garland said of the administration’s proposal.  

Members of the subcommittee expressed support for stepped-up efforts to target Putin’s associates.  

“I think there will be a receptive audience to give you more money if that’s what it takes to go after the people who profited from destroying the Russian economy,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Garland.  

The U.S. proposal comes amid growing calls for the Biden administration to liquidate and transfer the seized Russian assets to Ukraine, with some legal experts suggesting that Biden already has the authority to act under a 1977 statute.

Spokespeople at the Justice Department and the White House did not immediately respond to questions about the proposal.  

Last month, the Justice Department set up Task Force KleptoCapture to help enforce sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs, targeting their yachts, jets, real estate and other assets.   

The goal was to pressure Putin to end his devastating invasion of Ukraine by targeting his closest associates who have faced wide-ranging U.S. and international sanctions since the start of the Ukraine war.   

As part of their effort to “seize and freeze” Russian oligarch assets, the Justice and Treasury departments have also created a separate outfit known as REPO – Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs. Garland said international cooperation to enforce sanctions against Russia has been “heartwarming.”  

Earlier this month, the Justice Department said its first seizure was a $90 million, 77-meter luxury yacht belonging to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg that Spanish law enforcement took control of at Washington’s request. Vekselberg is one of 50 Russians the Treasury Department has identified as priorities for U.S. sanctions enforcement.

“Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war,” Garland said in announcing the seizure.  

During his testimony on Tuesday, Garland condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying that the “horrible atrocities” that are being seen in videos and photos from the country “are the kinds of things anybody growing up in the 20th century never expected to see in the 21st again.” 
…

Russian state news agencies say a gunman opened fire in a kindergarten in the nation’s western Ulyanovsk region, killing two students and a teacher before killing himself.

The Tass news agency, citing a regional law enforcement official, said the attack occurred in the village of Veshkayma. They said the gunman burst in during “quiet time,” when the children were sleeping. From his Telegram account, regional State Duma deputy Sergei Morozov said the two children were 5 and 6 years old.

The regional Ministry of Health said another kindergarten employee was wounded in the hand and was being treated. The law enforcement officials suggest a domestic conflict may have been the motive for the shooting. They said the identity of the attacker has been difficult to establish.

Rosgvardia, Russia’s national guard, said the shooter was not the owner of the weapon and the rightful owner of the gun had obtained it legally.

Tass reported regional that Governor Aleksey Russkikh is flying to the site of the shooting and has ordered regional officials to provide emergency assistance to the families of the victims.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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With the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an increasing number of experts are warning of worldwide food shortages. Some experts say the war will put long-term food security in jeopardy. Azerbaijan’s food supply relies heavily on imports from Russia and Ukraine. 

Azerbaijan imported goods worth roughly $470 million from Ukraine and $2.74 billion from Russia in 2021. Tobacco, food supplies, and medications are the most common commodities traded between Azerbaijan and Ukraine. 

Last year, Azerbaijan imported nearly $300 million of wheat from Russia, as well as timber materials worth $100 million and vegetable oils worth $46 million, according to the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 

Those three items account for more than 20% of imported goods from Russia. 

Officials and analysts agree that basic food prices have risen dramatically during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Prime Minister Ali Asadov stated at a government meeting on April 12 that food inflation had climbed 18% in the past three months. 

“Our overall inflation rate is 12.2% for three months. Inflated food products account for more than 60% of inflation,” Asadov said. 

According to the prime minister, prices have reached an all-time high as a result of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, particularly for grain. 

“Given the leading role of Ukraine and Russia in world grain production, and the difficulties that Ukraine will face this year, we are increasing these reserves,” he said. 

According to economist Vahid Maharramli, the Russia-Ukraine conflict could jeopardize Azerbaijan’s food security. He said Russia is the country’s largest source of wheat imports, accounting for 90% of overall imports. 

“Azerbaijan imports 1.35 million tons of wheat from Russia per year. We import other products, such as butter and dairy products, mainly from Ukraine,” Maharramli said.  

According to Maharramli, Azerbaijan would not be able to replace Russian and Ukrainian products with imports from other countries in the near future. 

“Because each country, first of all, tries to satisfy its needs. Countries are also considering building food stockpiles, unlike in previous years. Because everyone is trying to hedge against food shortages,” he said. 

Maharramli added that the country’s food prices have recently surged. If the government does not take preventive measures, he believes that providing food to low-income families will become increasingly difficult. 

“On average, we can say that the population of Azerbaijan spends 50% of their income on food. People with higher incomes spend 20% of their income on food and medicine, while people with low incomes spend up to 90% on food and medicine,” he said. 

Maharramli added that 3 million unemployed people live in the country, according to the estimates. For the most part, they rely on relatives and friends to provide their basic needs. He said that prices for food and services, such as housing and communal amenities, had risen in the previous year. 

“All this creates problems in providing food to low-income families,” he added. 

Rufat Guliyev, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, told VOA that the Azerbaijani government is exploring alternate food sources. 

“This year, more grain will be imported from Kazakhstan. By the end of this year, our country has strategic reserves. We can use it. I do not believe in further price increases. But the Russian-Ukrainian war will affect Azerbaijan’s food supply,” Guliyev said. 

Guliyev added that imported goods are to blame for most of the country’s inflation. 

“If the law of supply and demand is violated, of course, this affects prices. Today, the government of Azerbaijan unequivocally prioritizes the issue of increasing domestic production. There are enough opportunities for small businesses. Reforms will start with the central bank. Interest rates on loans will also decrease,” he said. 

Azerbaijan is transitioning from extensive to intensive development, according to Guliyev. 

This story was originated in the Azerbaijani service. 

 
…

 U.N. member states voted Tuesday to hold the five permanent Security Council members more accountable when they cast their vetoes. 

The General Assembly adopted the draft resolution by consensus – or without a vote. It was put forward by Liechtenstein and co-sponsored by more than 100 countries.

The resolution requires the president of the General Assembly to convene a meeting of the 193 U.N. member states every time one or more of the five permanent Security Council members casts a veto. The assembly would then hold a debate on the situation on which the veto was cast, and those who vetoed would be invited to address the assembly to explain their action.

The five permanent Security Council members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The U.S. and Britain were among the co-sponsors of the measure. Russia’s representative said after the adoption that his delegation had “no desire to join the consensus.” 

“The veto power comes with the responsibility to work for the achievement of the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter at all times,” Liechtenstein’s ambassador, Christian Wenaweser, said in introducing the text. He said the entire membership should be given a voice when the Security Council is unable to act.

The veto has been cast 295 times since the U.N. was created in 1945. The USSR/Russia has cast most of them. Britain and France have used it the least, last in 1989. It has stalled action most recently on Ukraine, but also for the last decade on Syria’s conflict, as well as crises in other parts of the world. 

While the resolution was adopted without a recorded vote, several delegations said they were abstaining, and at least one, Belarus, said it was disassociating itself with the outcome.  
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A Turkish court sentenced Osman Kavala, a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist, to life in prison without parole Monday after convicting him of trying to overthrow the government by financing protests.

Kavala, 64, has been in jail for the past 4½ years on charges that he helped finance and organize protests that began as small demonstrations in Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013 and morphed into mass anti-government protests.

Human rights groups say the case is politically motivated. Ten Western countries, including the United States, France and Germany, called for Kavala’s release in October on the fourth anniversary of his arrest.

The European Court of Human Rights has also demanded that Kavala be released, saying that his rights were violated. Turkey’s failure to comply with that order has led to proceedings that could see Turkey expelled from the Council of Europe.

The court in Istanbul on Monday also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years each for aiding an attempt to overthrow of Turkey’s government. It acquitted Kavala on charges relating to a 2016 alleged coup attempt that the Turkish government blames on the network of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Kavala denies he was involved in any anti-government activity related to the protests in 2013. In defense statements Friday, Kavala said he only took food and face masks to peaceful protesters.

“The fact that I spent 4½ years of my life in prison is an irreparable loss for me. My only consolation is the possibility that my experience will contribute to a better understanding of the grave problems of the judiciary,” Kavala told the court by videoconference from Silivri Prison.

Supporters of Kavala and the other defendants sentenced Monday packed the courtroom in anticipation of the verdict and yelled out in protest after the sentences were announced.

Rights group Amnesty International called the conviction a “devastating blow.”

“Today, we have witnessed a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions. This verdict deals a devastating blow not only to Osman Kavala, his co-defendants and their families, but to everyone who believes in justice and human rights activism in Turkey and beyond,” Nils Muiznieks, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said in a statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Kavala of working with U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who the Turkish leader alleges has financed insurrections in many countries.

Kavala told the court Friday via video link that ties between Soros and him are “fictional.”

He said the protests in Gezi Park were “unplanned and unexpected.”

“An attempt is being made to criminalize the Gezi Park events and to discredit the will of hundreds of thousands of citizens who participated in the events,” he said.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is headed to Moscow for a meeting Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to try to get him to agree to a pause or end to his two-month assault on Ukraine.

Guterres’ spokesperson said the U.N. chief is later going to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, because Guterres feels there is a “concrete opportunity” for progress.

En route to Moscow, Guterres met Monday in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has attempted, but failed so far, to mediate an end to the fighting between Turkey’s two maritime neighbors.

“You can see that even the willingness of the parties to meet with him, to discuss things with him, is an opening,” Guterres spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters. “We will see what we can do, whether we can get a concrete improvement in the humanitarian situation. Whether we can get the fighting to stop for any period of time.”

Guterres has made repeated calls for a humanitarian cease-fire or a brief pause in fighting but has been unsuccessful.

Haq said he didn’t want to “oversell the possibility” that either of these could happen, cautioning that diplomacy is neither quick nor a magic wand. But he said Guterres is willing to take a chance to try to improve the situation.

“Because ultimately, if we can move ahead, even in small way, it will mean a tremendous amount to tens, even hundreds of thousands of people,” Haq said.

But Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador said Monday that a humanitarian cease-fire is unnecessary.

“We don’t think that a cease-fire is a good option right now, because the only advantage it will give — it will give possibility for Ukrainian forces to regroup and to stage more provocations like Bucha,” Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told reporters, referring to the Ukrainian town where Russian soldiers are accused of committing atrocities.
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World leaders from Washington to Beijing have congratulated Emmanuel Macron, who became France’s first president in two decades to be reelected, with nearly 59% of Sunday’s runoff vote. But with high abstention and a historically high score for his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen, Macron faces big challenges pushing through his second-term agenda — and securing a majority in June parliamentary elections. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from the Paris suburb of Pantin.
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A Gambian man went on trial in Germany Monday, accused of belonging to a death squad that assassinated opponents of former dictator Yahya Jammeh, including an AFP journalist.

The suspect, identified by media as Bai Lowe, is accused of crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder, including the 2004 killing of AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara.

Lowe, 46, wore a black hooded coat and hid his face behind a green folder as he arrived in court in the northern town of Celle.

The trial is “the first to prosecute human rights violations committed in Gambia during the Jammeh era on the basis of universal jurisdiction”, according to Human Rights Watch.

Universal jurisdiction allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, regardless of where they were committed.

Outside the courtroom, activists held a placard demanding that Jammeh “and his accomplices be brought to justice”.

Lowe is accused of being involved in two murders and one attempted murder while working as a driver for the hit squad known as the Junglers between December 2003 and December 2006.

“This unit was used by the then-president of Gambia to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things” with the aim of “intimidating the Gambian population and suppressing the opposition”, according to federal prosecutors.

Hydara, 58, was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of the Gambian capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.

Lowe is accused of helping to stop Hydara’s car and driving one of the killers in his own vehicle.

Controversial column

Hydara was an editor and co-founder of the independent daily The Point and a correspondent for AFP for over 30 years.

The father-of-four also worked as a Gambia correspondent for the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and was considered a doyen among journalists in the tiny West African state.

In his newspaper The Point, he had a widely read column, “Good morning, Mr President”, in which he expressed his views on Gambian politics.

According to investigations by RSF, Hydara was being spied on by Gambian intelligence services just before his death.

Hydara was a tenacious and “really stubborn” journalist, according to his son Baba Hydara, 45.

“This is a day we have been waiting for for 18 years,” Baba Hydara told AFP outside the court.

“It’s an important day for justice but it is just the beginning of a long journey,” he said, expressing a hope that Jammeh will also “be judged”.

Prosecutors also accuse Lowe of driving members of the Junglers to a location in Banjul in 2003 to assassinate lawyer Ousman Sillah, who survived the attack with serious injuries. 

‘Important day for justice’

In a third incident in 2006, Lowe is accused of driving members of the unit to a site near Banjul airport where they shot and killed Dawda Nyassi, a suspected opponent of the president.  

The court heard that he arrived in Europe via Senegal in December 2012, seeking asylum as a political refugee who feared for his life under president Jammeh.

The evidence against him includes a telephone interview he gave in 2013 to a US-based Gambian radio station, in which he described his participation in the attacks, according to police.

Jammeh ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years but fled the country in January 2017 after losing a presidential election to relative unknown Adama Barrow. 

He refused to acknowledge the results but was forced out by a popular uprising and fled to Equatorial Guinea.

Lowe is the third alleged accomplice of Jammeh to be detained abroad. 

The other suspects are Gambia’s former interior minister, Ousman Sonko, under investigation in Switzerland since 2017, and another former Jungler, Michael Sang Correa, indicted in June 2020 in the United States.

Patrick Kroker, a lawyer for Baba Hydara, told AFP outside the court that the opening of the trial was “an important day for justice”. 

“We hope it will be a signal to… Switzerland and the United States, but also Gambia”, he said.
…

The European Union (EU) and India agreed on Monday to set up a trade and technology council to step up cooperation, as the bloc’s chief held talks with officials in New Delhi who have seen a flurry of top visits since the start of the Ukraine war.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is on a two-day trip to India’s capital, part of Western efforts to encourage New Delhi to reduce ties to Russia, its main weapons supplier, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

India has refrained from explicitly condemning Russia’s invasion, while calling for an immediate end to violence. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation.”

The United States is the only other country that has a technical agreement with the EU similar to the one signed on Monday with India.

“I think this relationship today is more important than ever,” von der Leyen said in her opening remarks during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We have a lot in common but we are also facing a challenging political landscape.”

She identified cooperation on security, climate change and trade as the main areas of focus.

“Both sides agreed that rapid changes in the geopolitical environment highlight the need for joint in-depth strategic engagement,” an EU-India joint statement said.

“The Trade and Technology Council will provide the political steer and the necessary structure to operationalize political decisions, coordinate technical work, and report to the political level to ensure implementation and follow-up in areas that are important for the sustainable progress of European and Indian economies.”

Von der Leyen’s visit comes days after British Prime Minister Boris met his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, and agreed to increase bilateral defense and business cooperation. Johnson was preceded by U.S. officials and the foreign ministers of Russia and China.

The EU chief was expected to offer to increase sales of European military equipment to India and relaunch talks on a free trade deal, a senior EU official said before the talks began.

“They reviewed progress in the vibrant India-EU strategic partnership & agreed to deepen cooperation in areas of trade, climate, digital technology and people-to-people ties,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, said on Twitter.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said after meeting Von der Leyen that they “exchanged views on the economic and political implications of the Ukraine conflict.”

Like many European countries, India has continued to buy oil from Russia despite sanctions imposed on Moscow from the United States and other developed countries.
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Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday that it had declared 40 German diplomatic staff “personae non gratae” in a retaliatory move after Berlin expelled the same number of Russian diplomats. 

In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said it had taken the decision after Germany on April 4 declared a “significant number” of officials at the Russian embassy in Berlin “undesirable.”  

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the expelled Russians had never actually done any diplomacy during their time in Germany, but rather “systematically worked against our freedom and the cohesion of our society.” 

The expelled German diplomats by contrast had worked hard on bilateral relations despite difficult circumstances, she said in a statement, adding that the news had been expected. 

“Russia is therefore harming itself with today’s expulsions,” she said. 

Germany was one of several European countries to expel Russian diplomats after reports of mass graves being found and of civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during Russian occupation. 

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a “special operation” to degrade its military capabilities and root out what it calls dangerous nationalists. 

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces. 

 
…

Greenpeace activists sought to block a tanker on Monday from delivering Russian oil to Norway, chaining themselves to the vessel in a protest against the war in Ukraine, the advocacy group said.

The Ust Luga product tanker is currently anchored outside Exxon Mobil’s Slagen oil terminal some 70 km south of the capital Oslo, according to vessel tracker Marine Traffic.

Activists arriving in a small boat chained themselves to the tanker’s anchor chain as they sought to prevent the offloading of a cargo estimated at 95,000 tons of oil, Greenpeace said in a statement.

“Oil is not only at the root of the climate crisis, but also of wars and conflicts. I am shocked that Norway operates as a free port for Russian oil, which we know finances Putin’s warfare,” Greenpeace Norway head Frode Pleym said.

The group called on the Norwegian government to ban imports of Russian fossil fuels and said Exxon Mobil’s Norwegian Esso unit should cancel any contracts for such imports from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
…

American diplomats will start returning to Ukraine this week, first to the western city of Lviv and then eventually to the capital, Kyiv.

The United States is also providing further foreign military financing to Ukraine to help the country obtain more advanced weapons and air defense systems to fend off Russian attacks, according to senior U.S. officials.

U.S. President Joe Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic, to be U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

“This would be to underscore our commitments (to Ukraine). We will seek to have our diplomats returned to our embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible,” a senior State Department official said.

Several European Union and NATO member countries are sending their diplomats back to Kyiv, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia. The U.K. government announced Friday that it would shortly reopen the British Embassy in Kyiv.

The return of foreign diplomats is seen as a sign of some semblance of safety in Ukraine after almost two months of Russia’s shelling and bombing.

“We intend to obligate more than $713 million in foreign military financing,” the State official said. “This includes funding for Ukraine and 15 other allies and partner nations in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Balkans. … And it will provide support for capabilities Ukraine needs, especially for the fight in the Donbas.”

With the new assistance in foreign military financing, the U.S. would have committed about $3.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, and more than $4.3 billion since the start of the Biden administration.

Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Kyiv.

Blinken and Austin’s visit to Ukraine is the highest-level visit by an American delegation since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine on February 24.

It also came ahead of Tuesday’s consultations between the U.S. and dozens of allies at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where Austin will discuss Ukraine’s long-term defense needs.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov will attend Tuesday’s meetings.

On Tuesday’s agenda: an update on battlefield conditions, Ukraine’s resistance amid Russia’s attacks, upcoming security assistance to Ukraine, and Ukraine’s willingness and ability to move away from Russian-made systems.

“This isn’t about (Ukraine’s appeal to) NATO membership. It’s about helping them with their long-term defense needs going forward with a potential migration away from Soviet systems,” a senior defense official said.

“One of the things we expect to talk about in Ramstein on Tuesday is additional contributions by allies and partners on the systems, weapons and ammunition that the Ukrainians need the most,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said in a briefing in Poland on Sunday.

Kirby said the U.S. has accelerated major security assistance package deliveries to Ukraine in the past 10 days, and some of them are already arriving. The U.S. is not seeing any indication that those shipments are being interdicted by Russian forces.

Sunday, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces launched a new airstrike on the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces have been holed up and defiantly refusing Russian demands to surrender.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a tight blockade of the facility that Russian forces have struggled to take over from perhaps thousands of Ukraine fighters and civilians who have remained in control of the plant with its labyrinth of tunnels and passageways.

In a lengthy Saturday night news conference in a Kyiv subway station, Zelenskyy said he was looking for the Americans to produce results, both in terms of arms and security guarantees.

“You can’t come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons,” he said.

In each of the past two weeks, President Biden has approved $800 million in shipments of more arms for Ukraine, along with $500 million in economic assistance.

With congressional approval for military assistance for Ukraine nearly exhausted, Biden said he would seek approval for more aid, part of the West’s arming of Ukraine in its fight against Russia that falls short of sending troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly pleaded for more heavy weapons, including long-range air defense systems, as well as warplanes.

Zelenskyy’s meeting with Austin and Blinken was set to take place as Ukrainians and Russians observed Orthodox Easter. Zelenskyy is Jewish, but speaking from Kyiv’s ancient St. Sophia Cathedral, he cited Ukrainians’ wishes for the holiday.

“The great holiday today gives us great hope and unwavering faith that light will overcome darkness, good will overcome evil, life will overcome death, and, therefore, Ukraine will surely win!” he said.

But the Russian bombardment remains a constant threat for Ukraine. The Russian military reported that it hit 423 Ukrainian targets overnight, mostly in the eastern Donbas industrial region, and destroyed 26 Ukrainian military sites, including an explosives factory and several artillery depots.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Sunday that it is “deeply alarmed by the situation in Mariupol, where the population is in dire need of assistance.” The ICRC said, “Immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access is urgently required to allow for the voluntary safe passage of thousands of civilians and hundreds of wounded out of the city, including from the Azovstal plant area.”

After the Blinken-Austin visit, Zelenskyy is set to meet Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.N. chief is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara Monday and Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.

British officials said Saturday that Russian troops haven’t gained significant new ground despite announcing a renewed offensive along the eastern front, while Ukraine declared a nationwide curfew ahead of Orthodox Easter on Sunday.

Ukraine said Russian forces obstructed attempts to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol.

“The evacuation was thwarted,” Mariupol city official Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram, adding that about 200 people gathered at the government-appointed evacuation meeting point, but that Russian forces “dispersed” them.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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The world’s largest security body on Sunday called for the “immediate release” of four of its Ukrainian members detained in pro-Russian separatist territories in the country’s east.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) evacuated many of its staff from the country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. 

Many had been in the east to observe a cease-fire after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and several Ukrainian members have stayed on.

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, whose country currently chairs the OSCE, said the detention of four members “for engaging in administrative activities that fall within their official functions as OSCE staff” was “unacceptable.”

“We call for their immediate release,” he said. “They have been held without charge for a period of time now and the OSCE and their families have not been sufficiently informed of the situation.”

Earlier Sunday, the OSCE said on Twitter it was “extremely concerned” that several members had been “deprived of their liberty,” in line with Russian media reports they had been arrested.

It added that it was “using all available channels to facilitate their release.”

The security services of the Lugansk separatists said this month they had arrested two members of the OSCE mission, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. 

TASS said one of them had “confessed” to passing “confidential military information to representatives of foreign special services” and that a high treason investigation had been opened against him.

The Donetsk separatist prosecutor’s office confirmed he had opened espionage probes against several OSCE employees suspected of having collected and transmitted “information constituting state secrets” to the Ukrainian secret services.

The prosecutor’s office said this included videos, revealing the position of separatist military units. 

On Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, also called for the members of the body’s Ukraine Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to be released. 

“Russia’s lies claiming Ukrainian OSCE_SMM staff spied for the Ukrainian government are reprehensible,” he said on Twitter. 

The OSCE international observation mission in Ukraine was not renewed at the end of March, after Moscow blocked the proposal.

Authorities in Ukraine’s separatist regions have given OSCE staff until the end of April to cease all activities. 

The Vienna-based OSCE has 57 member states on three continents — including Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
…

An opposition liberal party convincingly won Sunday’s parliamentary election in Slovenia, according to early official results, in a major defeat for populist Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who was accused of pushing the small European Union country to the right while in office.

The Freedom Movement won nearly 34% of the votes, compared with around 24% for the governing conservative Slovenian Democratic Party, state election authorities said after counting over 97% of the ballots.

Trailing behind the top two contenders were the New Slovenia party with 7%, followed by the Social Democrats with more than 6% and the Left party with 4%.

The results mean that the Freedom Movement, a newcomer in the election, appears set to form the next government in a coalition with smaller leftist groups. The party leader addressed supporters via a video message from his home because he has COVID-19.

“Tonight people dance,” Robert Golob told the cheering crowd at the party headquarters. “Tomorrow is a new day and serious work lies ahead.”

Jansa, an ally of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, congratulated the “relative winner” of the election in a speech.

“The results are as they are,” Jansa said, praising his government’s work. “Many challenges lie ahead for the new government, whatever it may look like, but the foundations are solid.”

A veteran politician, Jansa became prime minister a little over two years ago after the previous liberal premier resigned. An admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Jansa had pushed the country toward right-wing populism since taking over at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reflecting strong interest in Sunday’s election, turnout was higher than usual — around 67% of Slovenia’s 1.7 million voters cast their ballot, compared with 52% in the previous election in 2018.

Golob, a U.S.-educated former business executive, came out as a frontrunner shortly after entering the political scene. The Freedom Movement party has advocated a green energy transition and sustainable development over Jansa’s nation-centered narrative.

Liberals had described Sunday’s election as a referendum on Slovenia’s future. They argued that Jansa, if reelected, would push the traditionally moderate nation further away from “core” EU democratic values and toward other populist regimes.

Opinion polls ahead of the vote had predicted that the leading parties would be locked in a tight race.

Jansa’s SDS won the most votes in an election four years ago but couldn’t initially find partners for a coalition government. He took over after lawmakers from centrist and left-leaning groups switched sides following the resignation in 2020 of liberal Prime Minister Marjan Sarec.

Jansa, in power, faced accusations of sliding toward authoritarian rule in the Orban style, drawing EU scrutiny amid reports that he pressured opponents and public media, and installed loyalists in key positions for control over state institutions.

The Freedom House democracy watchdog recently said that “while political rights and civil liberties are generally respected (in Slovenia), the current right-wing government has continued attempts to undermine the rule of law and democratic institutions, including the media and judiciary.
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