Tag: Russia

Europe
Mejlis

Tatar Mejlis opposes betrayal of Crimea

The representative body of the Crimean Tatar people has vowed to oppose any international recognition of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The Tatar Mejlis, now sitting in exile in Kyiv, said that any move to recognize Crimea as Russian territory would violate international law. Refat Chubarov, the body’s chairman, asserted in a statement: “Crimea is the homeland of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and an integral part of Ukraine. Accordingly, no one can decide the fate of Crimea under any circumstances, except for the Ukrainian state and the Crimean Tatar people.” The statement comes amid reports that the Trump White House is pressuring Kyiv to accept a peace formula that includes formal US recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea. (Photo: Crimean Tatar Mejlis)

Europe
Kozyreva

Russia: youth gets prison for poetic anti-war protest

A court in St. Petersburg sentenced 19-year-old activist Daria Kozyreva to two years and eight months in prison for “discrediting the armed forces” by publicly posting 19th-century Ukrainian poetry in protest of Russia’s war in Ukraine. On the second anniversary of the start of invasion last February, Kozyreva taped a piece of paper bearing a quote from Testament, by Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko, onto his statue in a St. Petersburg park. The excerpt read: “Oh bury me, then rise ye up / And break your heavy chains / And water with the tyrants’ blood / The freedom you have gained.” (Photo: Mediazona via Novaya Gazeta)

Syria
Mezzeh

UN rights council: investigate Assad regime atrocities

The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution demanding accountability for violations and abuses by Syria’s ousted Bashar Assad regime through “transitional justice,” and declaring support for “the commitments of the interim authorities” to an “orderly and inclusive transition” and establishment of a timeline for free elections. Assad al-Shaibani, foreign minister of the newly re-founded Syrian Arab Republic, welcomed the resolution, viewing it as an acknowledgement of the government’s “local and international efforts to protect human rights.” (Image: Mapping MENA)

Syria
syria

Israel, Turkey turn Syria into chessboard

The Israeli military carried out air-strikes on several sites in Syria—including Tiyas airbase, also known as T4, and Palmyra airbase, both in Homs province. The interim government in Damascus called the strikes “a blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty.” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz responded in a statement addressed to President Ahmed al-Sharaa: “If you allow forces hostile to Israel to enter Syria and endanger Israeli security interests—you will pay a very heavy price.” This was a barely veiled reference to Turkey. Local media reports indicate that Turkish forces are preparing to deploy to the T4 and Palmyra bases. Ankara reportedly plans to install Hisar-O and Hisar-U air defense systems and potentially the long-range SIPER system at these locations. The deployment of a Russian-made S-400 system is also under consideration, pending Moscow’s approval. (Image: Pixabay)

Palestine
anti-semitism

Israel anti-Semitism confab embraces fascism —yes, really

The Zionist-fascist convergence under Bibi’s regime is getting too blatant even for the habitually pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League, whose leader stayed away from a supposed “International Conference on Combating Antisemitism” held in Jerusalem under the auspices of the Israeli government, headlining Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu—and also featuring several figures from the European and American xenophobic (and even anti-Semitic!) far right. (Image via frgdr Blog. Hebrew lettering in background spells names of places in Europe where Jews were exterminated.)

Europe
anti-putin

UN inquiry: Russian ‘crimes against humanity’ in Ukraine

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that widespread enforced disappearances and torture committed by Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine constitute “crimes against humanity,” one of the most serious classifications of international crimes. Central to the commission’s findings is Rule 7 of the Rome Statute, which states that forced disappearance and torture constitute crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population. The report, which included evidence gathered by the commission and interviews with soldiers who deserted from the Russian armed forces, concluded that the enforced disappearances against civilians were perpetrated pursuant to a coordinated state policy. (Photo: CounterVortex)

Europe
Russian tank

US withdraws from investigation of Russian aggression

The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EuroJust) announced that the United States is withdrawing from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA), created to hold Russia accountable for its invasion and seizure of territory in Ukraine. The organization was launched by EuroJust in 2023 to assist Ukraine in prosecuting parties responsible for orchestrating the crime of “aggression” against Ukraine, facilitating information-sharing across international law enforcement and judicial bodies. The Biden administration collaborated with the organization by providing monetary support and appointing US prosecutors to help with the work of the ICPA. The funding cut-off comes as the White House has shifted course in US foreign policy on Ukraine, with President Donald Trump insisting on brokering a bilateral peace deal with Russia, regardless of the wishes of the Ukrainian government. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Europe
rusich

Russian paramilitary leader gets life for war crimes —in Finland

The Helsinki District Court in Finland sentenced a 38-year-old man to life for committing war crimes in Ukraine. Voislav Torden, 38, a Russian-Norwegian better known as Yan Petrovskiy, was deputy commander of a neo-Nazi paramilitary unit called Rusich, which participated in Russia’s first incursions into Ukraine in 2014. According to prosecutors, Petrovskyi was responsible for leading an attack on Ukraine’s eastern frontier in 2014, which left approximately 20 Ukrainian troops dead. Petrovskyi was accused of ordering his men to carve Rusich’s emblem into the chest of a wounded Ukrainian soldier. He was also charged for posing with a dead soldier’s body for photos, which were later uploaded to social media. (Photo of Azov Battalion fighters: Carl Ridderstråle/Wikimedia Commons)

Africa
Azawad

Jihadists and separatists to form alliance in Mali?

Talks are reported to be underway between JNIM, the main jihadist coalition in Mali, and the Tuareg-led secessionist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) over a possible alliance against the Malian army and its Russian mercenary allies. Mali’s military regime terminated a peace deal with the separatists last year after driving them out of their northern strongholds. The junta has consistently labelled secessionist groups as “terrorists'” and accused them of collusion with jihadists. Separatists deny this, though combatants from both groups share family and community ties, have allied opportunistically at times in the past, and operate in the same areas. According to France 24, current points of negotiation include JNIM softening its demands, especially regarding the application of sharia law, and breaking ties to al-Qaeda. A sticking point may be the FLA’s goal of an independent Azawad—the name they give to northern Mali. Intensified fighting in the north over the past year has had severe humanitarian consequences, driving tens of thousands of people to neighboring Mauritania. (Map of Azawad, the claimed Tuareg homeland, via Twitter)

Syria
SDF

Podcast: Free Syria and the Kurdish question II

In Episode 268 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the continued fighting in Syria since the fall of the Bashar Assad dictatorship in December. The recent outburst of violence in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast made headlines, but this week also saw anti-regime protests by Druze in Syria’s south. And fighting has never stopped between forces aligned with the new transition government and those of the Kurdish autonomous zone in the northeast. The situation is complicated by continuing military adventures on Syrian territory by foreign powers—Israel, Turkey, Russia and the US. Will Syrians be able to overcome these challenges and forge a democratic and multicultural order, in repudiation of sectarianism, ethno-nationalism and Great Power intrigues? (Photo: SOHR)

Africa
wagner group

Wagner-trained forces commit atrocities in CAR

A UN report finds that armed groups operating in the Haut Oubangui region of the Central African Republic (CAR) have been carrying out attacks against Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees, resulting in grave human rights violations. The report, prepared jointly by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), mainly attributes these attacks to Wagner Ti Azande (WTA), a militia affiliated with the national army. The WTA received training last year from the Russian private military company Wagner Group, from whom it takes its name. (Photo of CAR troops wearing the Wagner Group insignia via Corbeau News Centrafrique)