Category Archives: Europe

Blinken vows to escalate sanctions on Russia but warns war could last ‘some time’

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Speaking from Moldova, US secretary of state warns Russia holds military advantage that western allies are finding hard to counter

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a pledge on Sunday to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions and provide more aid to Ukraine, but warned that Russia held a military advantage that western allies are finding hard to counter and the war was set to last “some time”.

“Vladimir Putin has, unfortunately, the capacity with the sheer manpower he has in Ukraine and overmatch he has, the ability to keep grinding things down against incredibly resilient and courageous Ukrainians. I think we have to be prepared for this to last for some time,” Blinken told CNN.

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Poutine not Putin: classic Quebec dish off the menu in France and Canada

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French restaurant threatened for selling fries, cheese and gravy snack that sounds like the Russian leader

Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has prompted demonstrations around the world, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to condemn the war.

But anger towards the Russian leader has also ensnared an unlikely casualty: a French-Canadian delicacy of potato fries, cheese curds and gravy.

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Iran nuclear talks rocked by Russian demand for sanctions exemption

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Moscow seeks guarantees regarding trade with Iran that would undermine west’s response to Ukraine invasion

Russia has been accused of trying to take the Iran nuclear deal hostage as part of its wider battle with the west over Ukraine, after it threw a last-minute spanner into plans for an agreement to lift a swathe of US economic sanctions on Tehran.

After months of negotiations in Vienna, a revised deal was expected to be reached within days under which US sanctions would be lifted in return for Tehran returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear nonproliferation deal.

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US officials fly to Venezuela for talks in apparent bid to further isolate Russia

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Experts believe rare meeting with Moscow ally could signal significant shift in US policy towards Caracas

Senior US officials have flown to Venezuela for rare talks with Nicolás Maduro’s government in an apparent bid to prise the South American country away from its Russian backers after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

White House and state department negotiators met Maduro representatives in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, on Saturday in what was the first such encounter in years.

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Spanish minister defends police accused of brutality at Melilla border

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Video of man being beaten by officers prompts outrage, but interior minister says use of force ‘proportionate’

Spain’s interior minister has defended the behaviour of police who were filmed beating and pepper-spraying a young sub-Saharan African man as he climbed over the border fence between Morocco and Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla, insisting the officers’ use of force was “proportionate”.

The video emerged last week as about 3,700 people tried to scale the six-metre (20ft) fence over two days. On Wednesday, an unprecedented 2,500 people tried to clamber over the border, of whom 491 succeeded. The following day, 1,200 people attempted to cross over, with 380 making it.

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Clear picture of war in Ukraine clouded by large areas of unknowns

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Analysis: lack of reliable information has made it hard to assess the Russian military’s successes and failures

In conflict, where information is everything, what is striking about the war in Ukraine is not what is known but the very large areas of unknowns.

And even as commentators have picked over and analysed everything that is known about the Russian military’s operations and performance in Ukraine in an effort to predict the trajectory of the conflict, it’s what is poorly understood that may yet be more significant still.

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Brazilian politician’s sexist remarks about Ukraine refugees spark outrage

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Arthur do Val heard in leaked audio messages calling women fleeing war ‘easy because they’re poor’

A prominent member of the Brazilian right is facing calls to resign after he was exposed in leaked audio messages making a succession of callous and misogynistic remarks about Ukrainian refugees during a purportedly humanitarian mission to the recently invaded country.

Arthur do Val, a São Paulo congressman and former supporter of Brazil’s rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro, made a three-day trip to the region last week, supposedly to raise awareness of the human cost of Vladimir Putin’s attack.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine and Russia blame each other as Mariupol evacuation fails again – live

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Hopes of establishing a humanitarian corridor out of besieged city of Mariupol dashed for second day running

The Ukrainian military is reporting that Russia has suffered losses of more than 11,000 military personnel since the invasion began.

A total of 285 Russian tanks and 985 armoured combat vehicles were also reported to have been destroyed as well as 109 artillery systems, 44 aircraft and 48 helicopters, according to a report by the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine and published to the website of the Ukrainian ministry of defence.

The scale and strength of Ukrainian resistance continue to surprise Russia.

[Russia] has responded by targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

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Defeating Putin in Ukraine may take years, says Dominic Raab

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Deputy PM says Nato will need ‘strategic stamina’ as Starmer accuses ministers of moving too slowly on sanctions

It may take years for Vladimir Putin to be defeated in his conquest of Ukraine, Britain’s deputy prime minister has admitted, as Labour accused the government of moving too slowly over sanctions.

Dominic Raab said people who thought the crisis could be resolved in days were “deluding themselves” and that Nato would need to “show some strategic stamina” in its bid to force the Russian army to retreat.

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Nervous residents of Mariupol prepare to leave during second ceasefire

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Hundreds of thousands hope to flee city in south-east Ukraine despite Russia allegedly breaking last ceasefire

More than 430,000 people trapped in the port city of Mariupol by encircling Russian forces are nervously preparing to evacuate after a ceasefire was announced, a day after a similar plan fell apart amid accusations that Moscow had failed to respect the agreement.

Local authorities in the south-eastern Ukrainian city said an evacuation supervised by the Red Cross would begin at noon local time (10am GMT) during a nine-hour cessation in Russian attacks.

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Social media turn on Putin, the past master

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Disinformation and fake accounts were used against the west for years – now the Kremlin is under attack

• Russia-Ukraine war latest


One of the wildest aspects of the first Great Information War is not just that you can follow Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in real time, minute by minute and step by step, but you can also join in.

Because in 2022, information is power. And one of the many huge unexpected geopolitical shifts of the last week is that this power has been returned to the people.

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The people of Ukraine need our solidarity. But not just because they’re ‘like us’ | Kenan Malik

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The outpouring of sympathy and help for Ukrainian refugees has prompted debate about European attitudes to identity and ethnicity

In 1857, the English poet and Chartist leader Ernest Jones wrote a series of articles in the People’s Paper about the “Indian Mutiny” of that year. It was, he observed, no “mutiny” but a “national insurrection” that Britons should support as much as they had supported similar struggles in Europe. Britons were “on the side of Poland” when it “struggled for its freedom against Russia”. If Poland was “right”, Jones insisted, then “so is Hindostan”.

I was reminded of his argument as I read and listened to some of the commentary about Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. The invasion is brutal and unacceptable, an assault on democracy and sovereignty. We should oppose it just as we should oppose the Saudi assault on Yemen. We should support the people of Ukraine just as we should the people of Syria.

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MPs seeking ‘fast-track’ freeze on oligarchs’ assets before formal sanctions

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Amendment to the economic crime bill comes after criticism that UK has been slower to act than US or EU

Russian oligarchs suspected of having links to Vladimir Putin could have their UK assets seized even before the British authorities have completed formal steps to impose sanctions, under far-reaching plans tabled for debate in parliament on Monday.

The move – put forward in an amendment to the economic crime bill by former Tory cabinet minister David Davis and backed by a cross-party group of MPs – would, if passed, amount to the toughest action yet to clamp down on illicit Russian cash in the UK.

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Britons face fraught journeys overland and delays to find a way out of Russia

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Government has urged UK nationals to ‘consider leaving’ the country now but the war in Ukraine has led to travel disruption

British nationals urged to leave Russia amid the fallout of the war in Ukraine are facing fraught journeys back to the UK, with reports of tense border crossings, visa problems and disruption caused by flight cancellations.

The UK government updated its travel advice yesterday to “strongly advise” those whose presence is “not essential” in Russia to consider leaving now. In a statement on its website, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “If your presence in Russia is not essential, we strongly advise that you consider leaving by remaining commercial routes.”

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Biden and Zelenskiy discuss more aid for Ukraine as bombardment continues

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Intelligence report says Russia had responded to unexpected ferocity of the Ukrainian military by targeting cities such as Kharkiv and Mariupol

The strength of Ukraine’s resistance “continues to surprise Russia”, a British intelligence report has said, despite attempts by invading troops to break Ukrainian morale by targeting populated areas.

In its daily intelligence report, the Ministry of Defence said Russia had responded to the unexpected ferocity of the Ukrainian military response by targeting cities such as Kharkiv, Chirnihiv and Mariupol.

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How one man’s love of isolation put an Italian ghost town on the map

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Abandoned hamlet’s last remaining resident is now its unofficial guide. Our writer joins him for a tour

Giuseppe Spagnuolo wakes up at about 6am each day, eats the leftovers of the previous night’s dinner for breakfast, greets the stray cats he calls his “security guards” and clambers down the steps of his crumbling home to splash his face with water from the fountain in the square. Occasionally, he walks up to the next village, if his “aches and pains” allow, for coffee in the bar.

For 25 years, Spagnuolo has been the only inhabitant in Roscigno Vecchia, a long-abandoned hamlet 400m up a mountain in the Cilento area of Italy’s southern Campania region. “If you’ve experienced the school of life like I have, then you can easily live this way,” the 74-year-old said, sitting in front of the fire in his kitchen, which is cluttered with pots, pans, bottles of wine, tinned tomatoes, cheese and hanging salamis.

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Tens of thousands join rallies around the world in support of Ukraine

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Demonstrators gathered in cities across Europe, the US and South America to demand an end to Russia’s invasion

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in cities including Santiago, Vancouver Paris and New York in support of Ukraine, demanding an end to Russia’s invasion.

The protesters rallied on Saturday against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s attack, which began on 24 February and appeared to be entering a new phase with escalating bombardment.

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Visa and Mastercard will both suspend operations in Russia

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Transactions to be cut off after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged companies to take action

Visa and Mastercard have announced tonight they will be suspending operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

Visa said in a statement that it would cut off transactions “over the coming days” and consequently cards issued in Russia would not work abroad as well as foreign issued cards in Russia.

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Defiant Putin warns the west: your sanctions are akin to an act of war

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Ukraine told: your statehood is in doubt as Russian bombs end ceasefire in Mariupol

Vladimir Putin delivered a chilling warning to the west over the imposition of sanctions on Russia on Saturday, warning that measures designed to cripple his country’s economy were “akin to an act of war”.

In comments that were both defiant and threatening, the Russian president also told Ukraine’s leaders that their nation risked being dismantled as an independent sovereign state if they continued to resist Russia’s invasion.

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