Tag: Russia

Africa
west africa

Uranium at issue in Great Game for West Africa

The ruling junta in Niger revoked the operating license of French nuclear fuel producer Orano at one of the world’s largest uranium mines. Russian companies have meanwhile indicated interest in picking up the lease for the giant Imouraren mine. However, exports are stalled by closure of the border with Benin, the vital sea corridor for landlocked Niger, as tensions mount between the two countries. The uranium dispute comes as French and US troops have been forced to withdraw from Niger, and Russian forces have moved in. The Pentagon’s AFRICOM commander Gen. Michael Langley has acknowledged that the US is seeking to establish new bases in neighboring West African countries, including Benin. (Map: World Sites Atlas)

Europe
Crimea

ECHR: Russia liable for rights violations in Crimea

Ruling in the case Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea), the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found that Russia is guilty of a pattern of human rights violations since 2014 in Crimea, as codified under under the European Convention on Human Rights and international humanitarian law. These violations included ill-treatment, intimidation, disappearances, forced Russian citizenship, and suppression of Ukrainian media and press. (Photo: chief39/Pixabay)

Europe
Ukraine

Russia suppressing Ukrainian language in occupied areas: report

A Human Rights Watch report finds that Russian authorities have violated human rights obligations by suppressing the Ukrainian language and injecting propaganda into educational curricula in occupied Ukrainian territories. Changes to school curricula include an array of disinformation aimed at justifying Russia’s invasion and portraying Ukraine as a “neo-Nazi state.” Russian authorities have also introduced military training in schools, mirroring the resurgence of youth military training in Russia, and require secondary schools to send lists of all students aged 18 and up for conscription into the Russian military. International law prohibits forced enlistment of an occupied population into the occupier’s military. (Map: PCL)

East Asia
DPRK

Russia-DPRK defense pact: Cold War redux

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a mutual defense assistance pact during Putin’s first visit to Pyongyang since 2000. According to a statement from the Russian government, the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership stipulates “mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties thereto.” Article 4 of the pact states: “If either side faces an armed invasion and is in a state of war, the other side will immediately use all available means to provide military and other assistance.” While full details were not made public, this appears to revive provisions of the 1961 treaty between the Soviet Union and North Korea that stipulated automatic military intervention if either nation came under attack. (Photo: gfs_mizuta/Pixabay via Jurist)

Europe
BALTOPS24

Baltic brinkmanship amid NATO war games

Sweden’s armed forces charged that a Russian SU-24 fighter plane violated the country’s airspace just east of the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, calling the act “unacceptable.” Just days before the incident, Sweden and other NATO allies were conducting naval exercises in the area as part of the annual Baltic Operations drill (BALTOPS). Amid the exercise, the Finnish military reported a similar airspace violation by four Russian warplanes over the Gulf of Finland. This was the first time Sweden and Finland had taken part in BALTOPS. (Photo: NATO)

Europe
demobilization

Russia’s ‘demobilization’ movement under attack

Russian citizens’ groups campaigning for “demobilization”—returning conscripts and reservists from the front in Ukraine—are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs of the authorities. Last month, The Way Home, the most prominent organization campaigning to bring Russia’s mobilized reservists home, was branded a “foreign agent” by the Justice Ministry, as was one of its most prominent leaders. The label, reminiscent of the “enemy of the people” designation of the Soviet era, imposes harsh constraints on activities and requires sources of funding to be disclosed. But protests by the kin of mobilized soldiers have continued outside the Defense Ministry in Moscow—despite the threat of repression. (Photo: PauliaMobility/Telegram via Novaya Gazeta Europe)

Africa
Niger

US agrees to withdraw troops from Niger

The US has agreed to withdraw its troops from Niger, the two countries announced in a joint statement. A Joint Disengagement Commission has been established to guarantee the protection and security of the some 1,000 US troops during the withdrawal process. Earlier this month, Russian military personnel entered an air base in Niamey, the capital, that was hosting US troops, raising fears of a confrontation. However, Russian forces avoided contact with the US troops, using a separate hangar at Airbase 101, which is next to Niamey’s international airport. (Map: PCL)

Planet Watch
air pollution

Lower emissions from US power grid (at least)

The US Department of Energy released its preliminary estimate for the nation’s carbon emissions in the previous year. While falling far short of the kind of drop needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals, a dip in emissions was recorded—almost entirely due to changes in the electric power sector. US carbon emissions have been trending downward since 2007, when they peaked at about six gigatonnes. The COVID-19 pandemic produced a dramatic drop in emissions in 2020, bringing the yearly total to below five gigatonnes for the first time since before 1990, when DoE monitoring began. Carbon releases rose after the return to “normalcy“; 2023 marked the first post-pandemic decline. The drop is largely due to the phase-out of coal-burning power plants. However, electricity generation remains the second source of emissions, behind transportation. (Photo: Ralf Vetterle, Pixabay)

Planet Watch
ASAT

Russia vetoes UN resolution to bar nuclear arms in space

Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution sponsored by the US and Japan which called on all nations to contribute to the peaceful use of outer space and to prevent a dangerous arms race in space-based weapons. The resolution reaffirmed the principles set out in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which compels states to “not place in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction.” The resolution was announced after the US accused Russia of developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon to put in space. President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s ministry of defense have denied the accusations. Russia’s UN ambassador called the resolution a “cynical ploy.” (Photo via University of Portsmouth)

North Africa
Khalifa Haftar

War crimes suits against Libya’s Haftar dismissed

A US judge dismissed a group of civil lawsuits accusing Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar of war crimes. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she had no jurisdiction to preside over a case concerning crimes committed in Libya—even though Haftar has US citizenship and lived for more than 20 years in the DC suburbs of northern Virginia. In the suits, first filed in 2019 under the Torture Victim Protection Act, the plaintiffs charged that family members were killed in bombardments conducted by Haftar’s forces on civilian areas of Tripoli that year. Plaintiffs noted that Haftar’s extensive properties in Virginia could have been used to compensate the survivors. The head of the Libyan-American Alliance, Issam Omeish, expressed his regret over the court’s decision, calling it a setback in the groups’ work seeking justice and accountability for rights abuses in Libya’s civil war. (Photo: Haftar with US embassy Chargé d’Affaires Leslie Ordeman and USAF Lt. Gen. John Lamontagne, January 2023. Via Wikimedia Commons)

The Caucasus
Georgia

Russia guilty of rights violations in Georgia conflict

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia’s occupation of two breakaway regions in Georgia systematically violated human rights. Georgia initially brought its case against Russia in August 2018, exactly 10 years after Russia invaded and began occupying the two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia also established military bases in those areas and a border patrol to secure an “administrative boundary line” (ABL) around the regions. The process of “borderization” blocked free travel across the ABL, enacting a heavy toll on those living along the line. Villagers lost access to farmland, water sources, and means of income. In some cases, families were separated. Georgian Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze celebrated the court’s decision, calling the judgment an important step toward the ultimate goal of achieving the “complete de-occupation” of Georgia. (Map: PLC)

Europe
Transnistria_

Mysterious drone strikes on Transnistria

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called for an investigation into a new drone strike on Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region, condemning the attack as “yet another provocation” in the enclave. The “kamikaze” strike targeted a Transnistrian defense ministry unit, resulting in damage to a radar station. The targeted facility is six kilometers from the border of Ukraine. This attack was the second to occur in Transnistria in less than a month. The region was similarly hit with a drone strike in March, causing a fire and resulting in damage to military property. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Pridnestrovian Moldovian Republic, as the breakaway government is called, condemned the strikes as “terrorist” attacks. Moldova’s Bureau of Reintegration Policy denies that Ukraine was involved in the incidents. The largely Russian-speaking breakaway region has been supported by Russia since the 1990s. The enclave hosts approximately 1,500 Russian troops. (Image: Wikipedia)