Moment Russian plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war appears to crash
A jailed Russian-British opposition activist who has been openly critical of the Kremlin has been moved to an unknown location, his family has said.
Vladimir Kara-Murza is currently serving a 25-year- sentence for treason and spreading “fake news” about the war in Ukraine and was being held in the IK-6 maximum security penal colony in Omsk, around 2,700 kilometres from Moscow.
In a post on social media, his wife Yevgenia Kara-Murza said: “We just learned that after 4 months of solitary confinement my husband @vkaramurza ‘left’ (as put by an official) the strict-regime penal colony in Omsk in an unknown direction.”
Elsewhere, the European Union has denied that a confidential document seen by the Financial Times is evidence of a Brussels plot to sabotage Hungary’s economy if Budapest blocks a €50bn package of aid for Ukraine.
A Brussels spokesperson insisted the document was merely a factual “background note” which “describes the current status of the Hungarian economy”.
While Budapest was the one EU member state to block the €50bn package in December, Viktor Orban’s government signalled it was ready to change its position, despite levelling furious allegations of “blackmail” against the EU in response to the FT report.
Ukrainian and Hungarian foreign ministers meet but fail to break a diplomatic deadlock
A years-long diplomatic conflict between Ukraine and Hungary took a step toward resolution on Monday during a meeting of their foreign ministers, but no breakthrough was reached on Hungary’s blocking of a crucial European Union financial aid package for Kyiv.
The meeting, at a resort near the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, came as European leaders are scrambling to persuade Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to lift his veto of 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in EU aid to Ukraine which he announced at an EU summit in December.
Orban, widely perceived as the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, has said he will not support financing the aid through the 27-member bloc’s budget, frustrating other EU leaders who are struggling to force a change in his position before a summit in Brussels on Thursday when they will try again to approve the funding.
Monday’s meeting was Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto’s first visit to Ukraine since Russia‘s invasion in February 2022, and the only official bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in the last two years.
Szijjarto said that modifications Ukraine made late last year to its education and language laws had “doubtlessly stopped a negative spiral” that had restricted the rights of ethnic Hungarians in the western Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia to study in their native language.
But, he said, those changes were not enough to resolve the dispute over the language rights of the Hungarian minority that has dominated the two countries’ poor relations for years.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 January 2024 18:18
Jailed Putin opposition activist Kara-Murza missing after being ‘transferred’ to unknown location
A jailed Russian-British opposition activist who has been openly critical of the Kremlin has been moved to an unknown location, his family have said.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 January 2024 17:17
Anti-war rock band at risk of being deported to Russia
The seven members of progressive rock band Bi-2 were arrested last week after a concert at a popular beach resort in Phuket, for allegedly failing to obtain the proper working papers.
Five of the seven members travelled using Russian passports, and at least four of the members are reportedly Israeli nationals, according to the Associated Press.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 January 2024 16:59
Hungary’s opposition submits motion for parliament to ratify Sweden’s Nato application
Hungarian opposition parties have submitted a parliamentary motion calling for an extraordinary session to ratify Sweden’s application to join Nato.
Hungary is the only country in the 31-member Atlantic alliance yet to ratify Sweden’s application. Turkey completed its approval last week, some 20 months after Stockholm applied to join Nato following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Our motion has been sent to the speaker … Now the question is whether 135 men will be brave enough to show up,” Zita Gurmai, an opposition politician, told Reuters.
Ms Gurmai was referring to whether members of parliament from the governing Fidesz party and their small Christian Democrat allies will vote for the motion, which would boost its chances of succeeding.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine, said last week he would urge politicians to approve Sweden’s accession at the first possible opportunity.
But parliamentary speaker Laszlo Kover said there was no urgency for any extraordinary move to ratify Sweden’s Nato accession and suggested that opposition attempts at an extra session would be likely to fail.
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 16:05
Ukraine and Hungary interested in Zelensky-Orban meeting as soon as possible
Signalling positive talks in Ukraine today, Ukraine and Hungary’s foreign ministers have said the two countries are interested in holding a meeting between their leaders as soon as possible.
In comments reported by Ukraine’s Evropeiska Pravda media outlet, following talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba also said the two countries had agreed to form a commission that would prepare proposals on the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.
Budapest and Kyiv have been at odds over the minority issue, with tensions amplified by Mr Orban’s decision to retain cordial ties with Russia despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 15:33
Georgian PM announces resignation head of South Caucasus elections
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili has resigned from office, saying he wanted to allow his replacement time to prepare for parliamentary elections due in the South Caucasus by October.
Georgian media reported that Irakli Kobakhidze, the current leader of Georgian Dream, would succeed Garibashvili as prime minister – a move analysts said was unlikely to spell policy changes, and was primarily aimed at shoring up the governing bloc ahead of the elections.
Under Mr Garibashvili’s leadership, Georgia declined to impose sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, while also restoring direct air links to Russia for the first time since 2019. However, his party also achieved its long-standing goal of European Union candidate status in December, even as relations with the West have been strained by accusations of authoritarian tendencies and Georgia’s deepening relations with Russia.
His Georgian Dream party says it is in favour of European Union and Nato membership, both of which are overwhelmingly popular in Georgia – but to which Russia, whose troops garrison two breakaway Georgian regions, is opposed.
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 14:53
David Cameron urged to act over disappearance of jailed British-Russian dissident
Foreign secretary David Cameron has been urged to act after jailed British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza disappeared from a prison colony in Siberia.
Family and friends have become increasingly concerned the fate of Mr Kara-Murza, who has survived two poisonings since 2015, and was jailed for 25 years in April 2023 by a Moscow court on charges of treason over his opposition to the war in Ukraine.
He has been held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security penal colony in Omsk for the past four months, but on Monday his wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, said he has been moved to an unknown location.
Bill Browder, a friend of Mr Kara-Murza and head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, described the removal of the dissident as “pure sadism”, adding: “As he’s a UK citizen, our foreign secretary David Cameron should be using all tools to get Vladimir released. The government must act decisively before he dies in prison, which will likely happen if he’s not released.”
MPs have also called on the government to act, including Tory chair of MPs’ foreign affairs committee, Alicia Kearns.
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 14:29
UN’s highest court to rule on hearing Ukraine case against Russia
The United Nations’ highest court will rule on Friday whether it will hear a case in which Ukraine has accused Russia of violating international law by saying its invasion was launched to stop an alleged genocide.
Ukraine brought the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, alleging that Russia is breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by saying the invasion was justified to stop a genocide of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
In hearings in September, lawyers for Moscow urged judges to throw out the case, saying Kyiv’s legal arguments were flawed. The ICJ on Monday said a ruling on Russia’s objections to the court’s jurisdiction will be handed down on Friday.
On Wednesday, the ICJ will rule in another case brought by Ukraine against Russia in which it accused Moscow of violating U.N. anti-terrorism and anti-discrimination treaties in relation to the downing of flight MH17 in July 2014. Russian has denied involvement in the incident.
The same court on Friday ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide as it wages war against Hamas militants in Gaza, and do more to help civilians. It stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire as requested by South Africa.
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 14:15
Russian ministry proposes no-fly zone over energy facilities, report says
Russia’s energy ministry has proposed restricting flights over Russian energy facilities, the Vedomosti newspaper reports, after a spate of Ukraine-linked attacks this month on oil infrastructure.
Under the reported plan, only aircraft deployed to protect energy facilities, and planes of top Russian officials or of visiting foreign officials would be allowed to fly with special permission in the designated zones.
It came as regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev claimed Russian air defences had thwarted a drone attack on Monday on the Slavneft-Yanos oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow,
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 13:46
Members of dissident Russian rock band face deportation after arrest in Thailand
Members of a dissident Russian rock band critical of the war in Ukraine are facing possible deportation home from Thailand after they were arrested in the resort island of Phuket for working without a permit, officials have told Reuters.
Human rights activists fear the self-exiled rock band Bi-2 would face harsh punishment if it was sent back to Moscow. The group is known for its condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with its lead singer Igor Bortnick labelled by Russian authorities as a “foreign agent” after he criticised Vladimir Putin online.
Seven band members were detained at Bangkok’s immigration detention centre after their arrests on Jan. 24 for working without a permit, Kriangkrai Ariyaying, the superintendent of Phuket’s Immigration Bureau, told Reuters.
“This usually results in deportation to their country of origin but there is some discretion (about the destination),” Mr Kriangkrai said.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher on Thailand for Human Rights Watch, said the band members would “likely face harsh prosecution and other grave dangers” if they were sent back to Russia due to their dissident status, adding: “This case is a litmus test of Thailand’s compliance with fundamental human rights principles.”
Andy Gregory29 January 2024 13:29