Russia bans international LGBT movement as 'extremist' - The Washington Post - The Washington Post

RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the “international LGBT public movement” as an extremist organization — even though the alleged movement has no organizational structure, leaders, membership, website or address.

While seemingly preposterous — given that there is no such organized movement — the Russian ban, nonetheless, could have sweeping implications for LGBT people in Russia. It could be used to prosecute any LGBT organization, activity, communication or mutual support initiative, including those online.

While critics called the ruling legal nonsense, the Kremlin appears to be banking on global homophobia as a unifying ideology that will align intolerant countries — particularly in the Middle East and Africa — against the liberal West.

In many Middle Eastern and African nations, homosexuality is illegal. Anti-LGBT polices have long been a populist cause, for example in Uganda, which criminalized same-sex relationships earlier this year, including imposing a potential death penalty for “aggravated” homosexuality.

The ruling, which was delivered in a closed hearing, shocked liberal Russians, and prominent independent Russian media organizations on Thursday displayed the LGBT flag on their social media pages in solidarity with LGBT people.

Judge Oleg Nefedov ordered that the ban, which followed a motion to the court from the Justice Ministry, come into effect immediately.

The ban will probably force LGBT groups to operate in secret and could be used against LGBT people, although the legal implications remain far from clear.

Activists said Russian authorities were using the court system to criminalize and persecute LGBT people.

A striking element of the ban is its sweeping, amorphous nature, raising uncertainty about what actions and organizations may be targeted as extremist. It is a form of legal obscurantism often used by the regime of President Vladimir Putin, sowing confusion and fear about how to avoid arrest and, potentially, prison.

Renat Davletgildeev, an LGBT activist, journalist and author of the Russian Telegram channel Gay Dynamite, called the ruling “absurd, extrajudicial, illegal.”

Davletgildeev said the case resembled the absurdist writings of Franz Kafka, Eugène Ionesco or Samuel Beckett. “But this is not the reality in which we exist,” he said. “I can’t fit it in my mind.”

“The illegality of this whole process was observed from the first days,” Davletgildeev said. “We sent both individuals and legal entities a petition to the Supreme Court asking to be made interested parties. We have all been denied.”

A ban could force the disbanding of rights groups such as Delo LGBT+, which provides legal advocacy for queer people in court; Center T, a group representing transgender people; the Russian LGBT Network; and others. Activists who try to support LGBT people could be charged and imprisoned for 10 years. Individual participants in the movement could face six-year terms.

The wording of the Justice Ministry motion implied that LGBT people are part of a shadowy global organization with extremist goals set on harming Russia.

The Kremlin has long asserted that the West, particularly the United States and its European allies, are enemies of so-called traditional family values and are responsible for promoting “decadent” lifestyles.

None of the arguments or evidence presented to the court by the Justice Ministry were public, nor was any legal representative of LGBT organizations permitted to appear to argue against a ban. The court denied an application by representatives of the Russian LGBT Network and others to appear as interested parties.

The secrecy around the court hearing reinforced fear and anger in Russia’s LGBT communities that authorities are using the judicial system to sow hatred against them, and to smear them as representing “decadent” Western values.

One Russian LGBT Telegram channel, Guys+, called the judgment a “parody” and an “attempt by the state to humiliate LGBTQ+ people and recognize them as second-class citizens.”

“The trial of all of us is taking place without us,” the group said on Telegram.

A Russian cultural magazine, Discourse, announced its solidarity with LGBT people and said it plans to publish underground material in support of them.

The ban comes after two previous repressive Russian laws against LGBT people: a ban on “LGBT propaganda,” which criminalized the spread of any information about LGBT identities, and a ban on transgender transition — both changing a person’s sex in official documents, as well as the use of surgery or hormones.

It comes as Putin is pressing a regressive agenda of “traditional” values, with growing restrictions on abortion and officials urging women’s careers and education to be put aside in favor of having many babies at a young age.

Putin has frequently attacked transgender people and parental or marital rights for LGBT people as alien to what he calls the “Russian world.”

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the Kremlin was not tracking the highly controversial court case.

Davletgildeev, the activist and journalist, said that because the hearing was conducted in secret, it was not clear what might constitute extremist behavior. “A gay-okay T-shirt, or a rainbow keychain, or an LGBT Instagram account or a social media post — we don’t know.”

Russian LGBT organizations were scrambling to publish advice to LGBT people on how to protect themselves, in an environment where the legal implications were murky. Davletgildeev advised LGBT-identifying Russians to flee the country, and called on international rights organizations to help people from those groups find refuge outside Russia.

Pro-Kremlin analyst Yevgeny Minchenko raised doubts about the Justice Ministry motion in comments posted on Telegram before the Supreme Court endorsed the motion to ban the international LGBT movement: “Is there such an organization? Is it possible to join it? Is there a charter, a program, a leadership and so on? It seems to me that if we are talking about an extremist organization, it must have the characteristics of such an organization,” he wrote.

Minchenko said the legal implications of the ruling were unclear: “Will its nonexistent offices be shut down? There are more questions than answers to the situation.”

Russia’s Supreme Court last year recognized an online movement praising the 1999 Columbine shootings as a terrorist organization, and in 2020 it recognized a Russian youth gang movement, AUE, as extremist.

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Israel-Hamas War News: Live Updates - The New York Times

Hamas freed a group of 10 Israeli hostages, four Thai nationals and two Israeli-Russian dual citizens on Wednesday, the sixth such release of hostages since a cease-fire began on Friday.

The group included a few relatives of people who had already been released.

Here’s what we know about the Israeli hostages released on Wednesday.

Ra’aya Rotem, 54

Ra'aya RotemHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Reuters

Ra’aya Rotem, 54, her daughter, Hila, 12, and her daughter’s friend Emily Hand, 9, were hiding in her family’s safe room in Kibbutz Be’eri on the morning of Oct. 7, before they were kidnapped. Ra’aya texted her brother around noon, telling him that she and her daughter were being taken, according to The Times of Israel.

On Saturday, Hila was released from Hamas captivity without her mother, an apparent breach of the agreement between Israel and Hamas that children would be released with mothers, according to Israeli officials.

Hila told her relatives that she and her mother had been together for most of the time that they were in captivity, and that they were only separated two days before Hila was released, according to a report in The Times of Israel.

Itay Regev, 18

Itay RegevHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Associated Press

Itay and his sister Maya, 21, were at the Tribe of Nova music festival in Re’im on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostage. The siblings tried to escape together and were captured and taken captive in Gaza.

Maya, who sustained a gunshot injury to her leg, was released on Saturday, without her brother.

Raz Ben-Ami, 56

Raz Ben-AmiHostages and Missing Families, via Reuters

Raz Ben-Ami was kidnapped by Hamas from the Be’eri kibbutz on Oct. 7.

When she was taken hostage, Ms. Ben-Ami was being treated for neurosarcoidosis, a serious and rare disease that affects the brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerves, and has caused lesions to develop in her brain and spine.

Her medication suppresses the immune system, making her susceptible to infections, and her physicians said that they feared she would not survive in captivity for long.

Ms. Ben-Ami has had the disease for 13 years. Family members said that while the condition is painful, she has not complained and has maintained a positive attitude. She is an amateur artist, and enjoys beading, macramé and making jewelry. She recently started volunteering to do arts and crafts with older adults on the kibbutz.

Her husband Ohad, who was kidnapped with her, remains a hostage in Gaza.

Gali Tarshansky, 13

Gali TarshanskyHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Associated Press

Gali Tarshansky, 13, was kidnapped alone on Oct. 7 from her home in Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gazan border. Her brother Lior, 16, who was hiding with her, was murdered, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Ms. Tarshansky is a volleyball player on the Hapoel Ashkelon team and an animal lover, her family said. She also loves dancing, music and Marvel movies.

Her mother, Reuma, voiced her concern over her daughter’s safety at an event in Tel Aviv, Reuters reported, where other relatives of women and young girls held hostage urged women’s rights groups to push for the release of their loved ones.

Her grandmother, Kamelia Hoter Ishay, said on Tuesday she was fearful that the deal would collapse.

“The only thing I am waiting for is the phone call from my daughter, Reuma, who will say, ‘Gali is coming back,’” she said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. “And then I’ll know that it’s really over and I can breathe a sigh of relief.”

Yarden Roman-Gat, 36

Yarden Roman GatHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Associated Press

Yarden Roman Gat, a physiotherapist who lived on Kibbutz Be’eri, was forced into a car commandeered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, along with her husband, Alon, and 3-year-old daughter, Gefen, according to an account in The Times of Israel.

As the car approached the border with Gaza, the family spotted an Israeli tank and used the opportunity to jump out of the car. As they started running, Ms. Gat handed her daughter to her husband. The gunmen pursued them, shooting in their direction.

Ms. Gat was eventually captured and taken hostage, but her husband and daughter managed to evade the terrorists by hiding under bushes, taking cover for 12 hours, according to The Times of Israel account.

Liat Binin Atzili, 49

Liat Binin AtziliHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Reuters

Liat Binin Atzili and her husband, Aviv Atzili, were kidnapped from their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.

Liat, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, is a mother of three adult children and an educator, who also works as a tour guide for youth groups at Yad Vashem, the holocaust remembrance center in Jerusalem. She has traveled extensively in India, and enjoys nature and wildlife. Her husband remains in captivity.

Moran Stela Yanai, 40

Moran Stela YanaiHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Reuters

Moran Stela Yanai, a self-employed artist and jewelry designer from Be’er Sheva, had gone to the Nova music festival in Re’im to sell her handmade jewelry, according to the hostages and missing families forum.

Ms. Yanai contacted her family while trying to escape by car with a friend after the attack started. Friends who survived told Ms. Yanai’s relatives that, after the telephone call, the group encountered another gang of terrorists. Her friends fled in different directions, losing touch with Ms. Yanai.

Liam Or, 18

Liam OrHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Associated Press

Liam Or, a kindergarten teacher in Kibbutz Be’eri, was taken hostage at the home of his uncle. He is a chess champion and an ardent supporter of the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team.

His uncle, Dror Or, and his cousins, Noam, 17, and Alma, 13, were taken hostage at the same time. Noam and Alma were released on Saturday. The Or family believes that Dror is being held in Gaza.

Ofir Engel, 17

Ofir EngelHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Associated Press

Ofir Engel, a high school student from Jerusalem, was visiting his girlfriend, Yuval Sharabi, 17, at Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7 when he was kidnapped by Hamas militants.

He was taken hostage along with his girlfriend’s father, Yossi Sharabi.

Amit Shani, 16

Amit ShaniHostages and Missing Families Forum, via Reuters

When Hamas terrorists entered the safe room of Amit Shani’s house on Kibbutz Be’eri just after noon on Oct. 7, the 16-year-old tried to resist, his mother, Tal Shani, said in an interview last month.

“I said, ‘Don’t! Don’t! We have only our hands and they have guns! They will shoot you!’” Ms. Shani recalled. The gunmen ordered Ms. Shani, Amit and his two younger sisters to march down a road. Amit and two Israeli men from another house were ordered into a car, Ms. Shani said.

“I was begging and crying and begging to leave him alone and take me,” Ms. Shani said. One of the kidnappers, she said, raised his gun toward her. She and her two younger daughters were left behind and were rescued by Israeli soldiers later that night. The army later confirmed that Amit had been kidnapped.

“I don’t know how we survived it,” she said. “It’s like a nightmare movie.”

Irena Tati, 73, and Yelena Trupanob, 50

Irena Tati, left, and Yelena Trupanob.Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, via Associated Press

Irena Tati, a physician, and her daughter, Yelena Trupanob, immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union and are dual Israeli-Russian citizens, according to the hostages and missing families forum.

They were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Yelena’s husband, Vitaly Trupanob, was murdered in the attack. Yelena’s son Sasha, 28, and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen, 29, were also taken hostage and are still being held in Gaza.

Nadav Gavrielov and Talya Minsberg contributed reporting.

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Henry Kissinger, American diplomat and Nobel winner, dead at 100 - Reuters

Nov 29 (Reuters) - Henry Kissinger, a diplomatic powerhouse whose roles as a national security adviser and secretary of state under two presidents left an indelible mark on U.S. foreign policy and earned him a controversial Nobel Peace Prize, died on Wednesday at age 100.

Kissinger died at his home in Connecticut, according to a statement from his geopolitical consulting firm, Kissinger Associates Inc. No mention was made of the circumstances.

It said he would be interred at a private family service, to be followed at a later date by a public memorial service in New York City.

Kissinger had been active late in life, attending meetings in the White House, publishing a book on leadership styles, and testifying before a Senate committee about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. In July 2023 he made a surprise visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During the 1970s in the midst of the Cold War, he had a hand in many of the epoch-changing global events of the decade while serving as national security adviser and secretary of state under Republican President Richard Nixon.

The German-born Jewish refugee's efforts led to the U.S. diplomatic opening with China, landmark U.S.-Soviet arms control talks, expanded ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam.

Kissinger's reign as the prime architect of U.S. foreign policy waned with Nixon's resignation in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal. Still, he continued to be a diplomatic force as secretary of state under Nixon's successor, President Gerald Ford, and to offer strong opinions throughout the rest of his life.

While many hailed Kissinger for his brilliance and broad experience, others branded him a war criminal for his support for anti-communist dictatorships, especially in Latin America. In his latter years, his travels were circumscribed by efforts by other nations to arrest or question him about past U.S. foreign policy.

His 1973 Peace Prize was awarded for ending American involvement in the Vietnam War but it was one of the most controversial ever. Two members of the Nobel committee resigned over the selection as questions arose about the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia. North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho was selected to jointly receive the award but declined it.

Ford called Kissinger a "super secretary of state" but also noted his prickliness and self-assurance, which critics were more likely to call paranoia and egotism. Even Ford said, "Henry in his mind never made a mistake."

"He had the thinnest skin of any public figure I ever knew," Ford said in an interview shortly before his death in 2006.

With his dour expression and gravelly, German-accented voice, Kissinger possessed an image of both a stuffy academic and a ladies' man, squiring starlets around Washington and New York in his bachelor days. Power, he said, was the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Voluble on policy, Kissinger was reticent on personal matters, although he once told a journalist he saw himself as a cowboy hero, riding off alone.

HARVARD FACULTY

Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in Furth, Germany, on May 27, 1923, and moved to the United States with his family in 1938 before the Nazi campaign to exterminate European Jewry.

Anglicizing his name to Henry, Kissinger became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1943, served in the Army in Europe in World War Two, and attended Harvard University on a scholarship, earning a master's degree in 1952 and a doctorate in 1954. He was on Harvard's faculty for the next 17 years.

During much of that time, Kissinger served as a consultant to government agencies, including in 1967 when he acted as an intermediary for the State Department in Vietnam. He used his connections with President Lyndon Johnson's administration to pass on information about peace negotiations to the Nixon camp.

When Nixon's pledge to end the Vietnam War helped him win the 1968 presidential election, he brought Kissinger to the White House as national security adviser.

But the process of "Vietnamization" - shifting the burden of the war from the 500,000-troop U.S. forces to the South Vietnamese - was long and bloody, punctuated by massive U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, the mining of the North's harbors, and the bombing of Cambodia.

Kissinger declared in 1972 that "peace is at hand" in Vietnam but the Paris Peace Accords reached in January 1973 were little more than a prelude to the final Communist takeover of the South two years later.

In 1973, in addition to his role as national security adviser, Kissinger was named secretary of state - giving him unchallenged authority in foreign affairs.

An intensifying Arab-Israeli conflict launched Kissinger on his first so-called "shuttle" mission, a brand of highly personal, high-pressure diplomacy for which he became famous.

Thirty-two days spent shuttling between Jerusalem and Damascus helped Kissinger forge a long-lasting disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

In an effort to diminish Soviet influence, Kissinger reached out to its chief communist rival, China, and made two trips there, including a secret one to meet with Premier Zhou Enlai. The result was Nixon's historic summit in Beijing with Chairman Mao Zedong and the eventual formalization of relations between the two countries.

Former U.S. ambassador to China Winston Lord, who served as Kissinger's special assistant, saluted his former boss as a "tireless advocate for peace," telling Reuters, "America has lost a towering champion for the national interest."

STRATEGIC ARMS ACCORD

The Watergate scandal that forced Nixon to resign barely grazed Kissinger, who was not connected to the cover-up and continued as secretary of state when Ford took office in the summer of 1974. But Ford did replace him as national security adviser in an effort to hear more voices on foreign policy.

Later that year Kissinger went with Ford to Vladivostok in the Soviet Union, where the president met Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and agreed to a basic framework for a strategic arms pact. The agreement capped Kissinger's pioneering efforts at detente that led to a relaxing of U.S.-Soviet tensions.

But Kissinger's diplomatic skills had their limits. In 1975, he was faulted for failing to persuade Israel and Egypt to agree to a second-stage disengagement in the Sinai.

And in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, Nixon and Kissinger were heavily criticized for tilting toward Pakistan. Kissinger was heard calling the Indians "bastards" - a remark he later said he regretted.

Like Nixon, he feared the spread of left-wing ideas in the Western hemisphere, and his actions in response were to cause deep suspicion of Washington from many Latin Americans for years to come.

In 1970 he plotted with the CIA on how best to destabilize and overthrow the Marxist but democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende, while he said in a memo in the wake of Argentina's bloody coup in 1976 that the military dictators should be encouraged.

When Ford lost to Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, in 1976, Kissinger's days in the suites of government power were largely over. The next Republican in the White House, Ronald Reagan, distanced himself from Kissinger, who he viewed as out of step with his conservative constituency.

After leaving government, Kissinger set up a high-priced, high-powered consulting firm in New York, which offered advice to the world's corporate elite. He served on company boards and various foreign policy and security forums, wrote books, and became a regular media commentator on international affairs.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President George W. Bush picked Kissinger to head an investigative committee. But outcry from Democrats who saw a conflict of interest with many of his consulting firm's clients forced Kissinger to step down from the post.

Divorced from his first wife, Ann Fleischer, in 1964, he married Nancy Maginnes, an aide to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, in 1974. He had two children by his first wife.

Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Terminally ill mother of hostage Noa Argamani records plea to see her - The Times of Israel

Liora Argamani, mother of Hamas hostage Noa Argamani, shared a painful video message Wednesday pleading to see her daughter again, as she battles stage four cancer.

“I have cancer, brain cancer,” said Argamani in the video message, sitting in the family’s temporary apartment in Tel Aviv, near her cancer treatment clinic.

“I don’t know how much time I have left. I wish for the chance to see my Noa at home.”

Noa Argamani was kidnapped from the Supernova desert rave on October 7 as Hamas terrorists attacked the party, slaughtering hundreds there. Her kidnapping was made infamous by a video showing her screaming while seated on the back of a motorcycle behind her captor.

Noa Argamani, 26, who was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 during a massacre at the Supernova desert rave. (Courtesy)

In the video, Argamani stretched her arms out toward her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who was also taken by Hamas terrorists.

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“I worked and fought hard to have a daughter,” said Yaakov Argamani, Liora’s husband, in the days following Noa’s abduction.

Noa is the Argamanis’ only daughter.

HEARTBREAKING:
Mother of Noa Argamani 26, who was kidnapped by Hamas on a motorbike, Is dying from Cancer. She hopes she will see her daughter one more time before she passes. She recorded this devastating video message.
Credit: @saraigivaty and @kozlovakeren pic.twitter.com/bHBHW5VDYp

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— Natalie Lisbona (@NatalieLisbona) November 29, 2023

“Noa,” her mother said in the new clip. “I want to tell you if I don’t see you, please know we did everything we could to get you released fast. The whole world loves you.”

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Ukraine war live updates: Russia slams Finland's border closure, warns that tensions could arise if troops are deployed - CNBC

Russian man who traced 'No to War' in the snow gets 10 days in jail

A Russian court has ordered a man to be jailed for 10 days after he used his finger to write "No to War" on a snow-covered turnstile at the entrance to an ice-skating rink at Moscow's Gorky Park.

According to court papers, the incident happened on Nov. 23 and the man, named as Dmitry Fyodorov, was sentenced the following day after being detained by the police.

Police decided his actions could amount to a civil offence under a law which targets anyone deemed to have acted publicly to discredit Russia's armed forces, a crime which in his case was punishable by a fine.

New laws cracking down on dissent were brought in soon after President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in what he called a "special military operation."

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JANUARY 15: (RUSSIA OUT) People walk past a giant letter "Z", installed by Moscow's authorities as the symbol of support for the military invasion on Ukraine, at the entrance to the Gorky Park, January 15, 2023, in Moscow, Russia. The letter "Z" became the sign of Russian military propaganda, as a symbol of support for the war against in Ukraine since February 2022. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images

For those opposed to Russia's war in Ukraine, speaking out in public has since become a risky thing to do and critics say nearly 20,000 people have been detained and over 800 criminal cases opened.

Fyodorov, who admitted in court that he'd written the anti-war slogan, was handed ten days in jail for disobeying the police and allegedly refusing to go to a police station, something he denied according to the court papers.

He was also fined an unknown sum —  apparently for writing "No to War" — according to Russian media reports, though there was no mention of that in court papers posted online.

The authorities say maximum unity is needed at a time when Russia is locked in what Putin —  who is expected to seek another six-year term in office next year —  has described as an existential battle with the West. Critics accuse the authorities of brutally shutting down and punishing any dissenting voices.

— Reuters

NATO has 'unwavering' support for Ukraine, Blinken says

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 29: US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrives at the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting during the second day of the NATO foreign affairs ministers' meeting on November 29, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. Speaking ahead of the NATO meeting, the military alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said Ukraine will become a NATO member after the war, and that a halt in fighting in Gaza should be extended. (Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images)

Omar Havana | Getty Images News | Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that support for Ukraine was strong and would continue, as NATO foreign ministers met Ukrainian officials in Brussels to discuss the war on Wednesday.

"I have to tell you, listening to all of our colleagues around the table, every single one expressed strong enduring support for Ukraine," he told reporters.

"Some are questioning whether the United States and other NATO allies should continue to stand with Ukraine as we enter the second winter of Putin's brutality. But the answer here today at NATO is clear, and it's unwavering: We must and we will continue to support Ukraine." 

Questions have been raised about the longevity of U.S. support for Ukraine given the forthcoming 2024 election and rumblings of discontent among some Republicans about continued military assistance.

Blinken insisted Wednesday that "the United States is not standing alone."

"So we often talk about burden sharing and the imperative of burden sharing when it comes to Ukraine. That's clearly what we've seen and what we continue to see." 

— Holly Ellyatt

1 Hour Ago

Russia says it has taken control of village outside Bakhmut

Russia's defense ministry claimed Wednesday that its forces had taken control of a village on the outskirts of the wartorn town of Bakhmut in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said units of its southern group of forces had "liberated" the village of Artemovskoye (called Khromove in Ukrainian) in what Russia calls the Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed republic and pro-Russian separatist region.

"Units of the Southern Group of Forces, with the support of aviation and artillery fire, improved the situation along the front line and liberated the village of Artemovskoye," the ministry said, according to comments reported by the TASS news agency.

Ukrainian soldiers fire artillery at their fighting position in the direction of Bakhmut, Ukraine, 18 November 2023.

Diego Herrera Carcedo | Anadolu | Getty Images

The village had a pre-war population of 1,000 people, Reuters noted, and lies just east of Bakhmut, a town captured by Russian forces earlier this year after months of fighting that left the town largely destroyed.

CNBC could not verify the defense ministry's claim and Ukraine is yet to comment.

— Holly Ellyatt

2 Hours Ago

What Ukraine wants to tell NATO

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tells reporters what messages he intends to deliver to NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.

4 Hours Ago

Russia slams Finland's border closure, saying it's 'not threatened by anyone or anything'

The Kremlin slammed Finland's decision to close all of its border crossing points with Russia, saying the decision was unjustified.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the decision to close the last open border crossing until Dec.13 was excessive.

"Finland is not threatened by anyone or anything, and in this case this is, of course, an absolutely redundant measure to ensure border security, because there is no threat there and in reality there is no tension," the Kremlin spokesman told reporters, according to Google-translated comments carried by state news agency Tass.

Finnish border guard officers walk in the snow at the Raja-Jooseppi border crossing station to Russia in Inari, northern Finland, on November 25, 2023. Raja-Jooseppi in the far north of Finnish Lapland is the only crossing point open on the country's eastern border. Finland has closed seven checkpoints in response to Russian officials allowing increasing numbers of undocumented asylum seekers to pass through to the Finnish side of the border. (Photo by Emmi Korhonen / Lehtikuva / AFP) / Finland OUT (Photo by EMMI KORHONEN/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images)

Emmi Korhonen | Afp | Getty Images

Finland made the decision to close its border Tuesday, after repeatedly accusing Russia of purposefully sending undocumented migrants through crossing points in a bid to create instability in Finland. Helsinki sees the "hybrid attack operation," as it has described it, as retaliation for its joining NATO earlier this year.

Russia denies "weaponizing" migration — an accusation made by Finland and other countries, including Estonia and Latvia.

There have been media reports Wednesday that Poland plans to send troops to Finland's border with Russia in an effort to shore up security there. Asked about those reports, Peskov said that this would represent a "completely unprovoked, unjustified concentration of armed units on the Russian border."

He added that "tension may arise as a result of the concentration of additional units on the border." 

"The Finns must be clearly aware that this will pose a threat to us by increasing the concentration of military units on our borders," Peskov warned.

— Holly Ellyatt

5 Hours Ago

Sweden says Turkey said it would ratify its NATO accession 'within weeks'

Sweden's foreign minister said that Turkey has said it could ratify its much-awaited accession to the NATO military alliance "within weeks."

NATO member Turkey raised objections to Sweden's application, accusing Sweden of harboring individuals it deems to be terrorists. Hungary has also dragged its feet about ratifying Sweden's accession.

"I had a bilateral with my colleague, the (Turkish) foreign minister ... where he told me he expected the ratification to take place within weeks," Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters, Reuters noted.

Billstrom told CNBC on Wednesday that Hungary's foreign minister had promised to not be the last country to ratify Sweden's accession, saying this would likely happen as soon as Turkey had given its own green light to the process.

"That means it is more in the hands of Ankara than maybe of Budapest. We expect white smoke from Budapest the moment there is white smoke from Ankara, to put it very bluntly," he told CNBC's Silvia Amaro in Brussels.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban "has repeatedly said that Hungary won't be the last to ratify Sweden's membership," Billstrom said, noting that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had once again confirmed this to him on Tuesday.

— Holly Ellyatt

6 Hours Ago

Hungary will never send weapons to Ukraine, foreign minister says

Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told CNBC on Tuesday that the country will never send weapons to Ukraine, saying that the "more weapons delivered, the longer the war will take."

Szijjártó added that Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in October to see if there is scope for peace in the ongoing conflict.

Despite being a member of the EU, Hungary has maintained friendlier ties with Russia, pushing back against European sanctions on Moscow and against efforts to curb Russian oil and gas imports. Hungary has defended its continued energy cooperation with Russia, saying it needs to maintain energy supplies and combat inflation.

— Karen Gilchrist, Holly Ellyatt

22 Hours Ago

Russia conducting a 'hybrid operation' at borders, Finnish foreign minister tells CNBC

Russia has been allowing migrants without valid documents through to the Finnish border, as well as "mobilizing" people toward Finland and the European Union, Finland's minister for foreign affairs Elina Valtonen told CNBC's Silvia Amaro on Tuesday.

"We consider this to be a hybrid operation by Russia," she said, adding that Finland had "responded accordingly" by deciding to shut its entire border with Russia.

"We hope that Russia goes back to normal where they respect our treaties," Valtonen said. If treaties continue to be disrespected by Russia, borders may remain closed, she added.

Border closures may also impact people who live across the two countries, and diplomatic missions that may otherwise use the crossings to come into the West, she added.

"I think this just goes to show that Russia, in its current state, is using all possible means to cause trouble," Valtonen said.

She also addressed Ukraine's application to join NATO, saying Finland believed Ukraine's "rightful place is in NATO in the future," while pointing out that the alliance cannot accept new members if they are actively involved in a war.

"Whatever the steps are we can take to advance Ukraine's membership in NATO in the future we will take those steps," Valtonen said.

She also reiterated support for Ukraine in its "fight for freedom."

— Sophie Kiderlin

22 Hours Ago

Germany is increasing its military support for Ukraine: Foreign minister

"We are not only keeping up our military support for Ukraine's self defense, but we are increasing it by 8 billion euros [$8.79 billion]," Annalena Baerbock, Germany's foreign minister, said Tuesday in response to a question asked by CNBC's Silvia Amaro.

Baerbock added that the NATO-Ukraine forum — scheduled as part of the ongoing NATO meeting in Brussels — also makes clear "that the security and the peace in Ukraine is also the insurance for peace in Europe."

— Sophie Kiderlin

Tue, Nov 28 20236:34 AM EST

Wife of Ukraine's military intelligence chief in hospital following suspected poisoning

The wife of Ukraine's military intelligence chief has been admitted to hospital with suspected poisoning, Ukrainian media reported Tuesday.

Sources in the Ukrainian intelligence community told the Kyiv Post news outlet that Marianna Budanova, the wife of Ukraine's head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, had been poisoned.

KYIV, UKRAINE - MARCH 10: Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, speaks during the farewell ceremony for Dmytro Kotsiubailo on Independence Square on March 10, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The farewell ceremony for Dmytro Kotsiubailo known as “Da Vinci” was held in St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, and then the procession went to the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). 27-year-old “Da Vinci” was the commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion as part of the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Three days ago, Dmytro Kotsiubailo died in a battle with Russian troops on the front line near Bakhmut. Dmytro became the first volunteer who received the highest national title of Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime with the award of the Order of the Gold Star for personal courage. (Photo by Yurii Stefanyak/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images

When asked to confirm reports that Budanova had been taken ill, a source in Ukraine's Defense Intelligence was quoted as telling the Kyiv Post: "Unfortunately this is true."

The Babel news outlet said its intelligence sources had informed it that Budanova had been "poisoned with heavy metals."

Budanova's condition in hospital is unknown but Babel reported that "the course of treatment is now being completed, and then there will be a check-up by the doctors," quoting an unnamed source. Budanova had been diagnosed with heavy metal damage.

"These substances are not used in any way in everyday life and military affairs. Their presence may indicate a purposeful attempt to poison a specific person," the intelligence agency said.

Media outlets said the suspected poisoning was being investigated and treated as an attempted assassination.

— Holly Ellyatt

Tue, Nov 28 20236:32 AM EST

3,000 additional Chechen fighters to be sent to Ukraine, leader says

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov attends a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in the Chechen capital Grozny, Russia May 9, 2022. 

Chingis Kondarov | Reuters

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said an additional 3,000 Chechen fighters will be sent to fight in Ukraine.

"To solve the tasks set by our Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin, we will not spare any effort or resources," Kadyrov said on Telegram Monday, adding: 

"This position is shared with me by another three thousand worthy Chechen soldiers who have begun service as part of new units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian National Guard."

He said two new regiments subordinate to Russia's defense ministry had been created, called "AKHMAT-Russia" and "AKHMAT-Chechnya." Kadyrov said most of the troops have battle experience and "the best equipment and modern weapons." 

"In addition, the guys are highly combative and very motivated to achieve results."

Chechen fighters have a fierce reputation and one gained in two wars fought against Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s when the Chechen Republic sought independence from Russia. Times have changed since then, however, and Kadyrov is a Putin loyalist.

Kadyrov said the 3,000 Chechen personnel were " the best of the best" and described them as "the ones who deserve to be the loyal foot soldiers of our unsurpassed leader Vladimir Putin!"

— Holly Ellyatt

8 Hours Ago

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US military aircraft crashes in sea off Japan killing at least one - Reuters

TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A U.S. military aircraft with eight people onboard crashed into the sea in western Japan on Wednesday, with several media outlets reporting one crew member had died and the condition of at least two hauled from waters was unclear.

Japan's coast guard said what appeared to be wreckage from the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and one "non-responsive" person had been found some 3 km from Yakushima island.

Fishing boats in the area found three people in the surrounding waters, a representative of a local fisheries cooperative said, adding their condition was unknown.

Another Osprey landed safely at the island's airport on Wednesday afternoon around the time of the crash, a spokesperson for the local government said.

U.S. forces in the region were still gathering information, a spokesperson said.

The United States, which pledged to defend Japan after its defeat in World War II, has about 54,000 U.S. troops in the country, many in the strategically important southern island chain, amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea.

The crash happened just before 3 p.m. (0600 GMT) with witnesses saying the aircraft's left engine appeared to be on fire as it descended, media reported.

Japan, which also operates Osprey aircraft, said on Wednesday it had no plans to ground the aircraft but had asked the U.S. military to investigate the crash.

Developed jointly by Boeing (BA.N) and Bell Helicopter, the Osprey can fly both like a helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft and is operated by the U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy and the Japan Self Defense Forces.

The deployment of the Osprey in Japan has been controversial, with critics saying it is prone to accidents. The U.S. military and Japan say it is safe.

In August, a U.S. Osprey crashed off the coast of northern Australia while transporting troops during a routine military exercise, killing three U.S. Marines.

Another crash-landed in the ocean off Japan's southern island of Okinawa in December 2016, prompting a temporary U.S. military grounding of the aircraft.

Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Tim Kelly and Satoshi Sugiyama; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by David Dolan, Gerry Doyle and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukraine spy chief's wife poisoned, says Kyiv - BBC.com

By Jaroslav LukivBBC News

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Marianna Budanova has a masters degree in psychology and worked several years ago as an adviser to the Kyiv mayor

The wife of Ukraine's spy chief Lt Gen Kyrylo Budanov, Marianna Budanova, has been poisoned with heavy metals, a spokesman for the country's military intelligence has told BBC Ukrainian.

Andriy Yusov said several other agency employees also had mild symptoms of poisoning. He did not specify how many.

Reports in Ukrainian media did not say whether or not Russia was thought to be behind the alleged attack.

There were no suggestions that Gen Budanov may also have been targeted.

The general, who leads the Main Directorate of Intelligence (DIU) of Ukraine's defence ministry, has played a key role in planning and sometimes executing major military operations against Russian forces, following Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

A Ukrainian intelligence source earlier told the BBC Mrs Budanova was being treated in hospital after falling ill.

News website Babel, which on Tuesday was the first to report the alleged poisoning, said Mrs Budanova had been taken to hospital after feeling unwell for a "prolonged period of time".

Citing its own sources in Ukrainian intelligence, Babel said she was now completing a course of treatment and would be monitored by doctors.

No detail has been given of the type of heavy metal suspected in Mrs Budanova's poisoning. However, the unnamed official made clear the substances were "not used in any way in everyday life or military operations".

Gen Budanov said earlier this year that he and Marianna Budanova had lived in his office since February 2022 for safety reasons

Ukrainska Pravda later quoted its own sources as saying the poisoning had been confirmed after tests.

She had most likely been given poisoned food, it reported, but was now "feeling better" after completing an initial course of treatment.

Separately, Ukraine's Unian news agency quoted its source as saying that Mrs Budanova was being treated in a hospital in Ukraine, not abroad.

Mrs Budanova - born in 1993 in Kyiv - has a master's degree in psychology. She later became involved in politics, working as an adviser to the mayor of Kyiv.

In 2022, she told Elle magazine that she had also worked as a volunteer in Kyiv's military hospital in 2015-17.

In September, Lt Gen Budanov, 37, told the War Zone website that he and his wife had been staying in his office "since the February invasion" in 2022 for safety reasons.

"She's [Marianna] actually a professor at our national police academy. She's teaching legal psychology. It's not a problem for her as it might have been for someone else."

Mr Yusov told Ukrainska Pravda earlier this year that more than 10 assassination attempts had been made against Gen Budanov.

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Amid Parthenon Dispute, Sunak Cancels Meeting With Mitsotakis - The New York Times

After the prime minister of Greece called for the British Museum to return the Parthenon marbles, his British counterpart abruptly called off their meeting.

For the past two years, Greece’s government has conducted delicate negotiations with the British Museum over the future of the Parthenon marbles, the ancient Greek antiquities brought to Britain in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin.

Now, Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, appears to be throwing cold water on those discussions.

On Monday evening, Mr. Sunak abruptly canceled a planned wide-ranging meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. According to the BBC, the decision was made after Mr. Mitsotakis, appearing on British television on Sunday, called for the marbles, which include statues of Greek gods and carved frieze panels that once decorated the Parthenon, to be returned to Athens.

Mr. Mitsotakis said on the BBC television program that sculptures had been stolen and needed to be reunified in Athens. “Where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument?” he said. The current situation, with the sculptures split largely between the British Museum in London and the Acropolis Museum in Athens, was unsatisfactory, he added, comparing it to cutting the Mona Lisa in half and splitting it between two museums.

Mr. Mitsotakis has made similar comments throughout his terms in office, and Mr. Sunak has also repeatedly stated he would not change British law to allow the sculptures, sometimes known as the Elgin Marbles, to leave the British Museum permanently.

In a statement, Mr. Mitsotakis said that he was dismayed that the meeting was canceled. “Greece’s positions on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures are well known,” he said in the news release. “I was hoping to have the opportunity to discuss them with my British counterpart as well, along with the major challenges of the international moment: Gaza, Ukraine, Climate crisis, migration.”

Asked for the reasons the meeting was canceled, a spokeswoman for Mr. Sunak’s office sent a statement saying that the deputy prime minister was available to meet with Mr. Mitsotakis.

A British Museum spokeswoman said in an interview that the museum had no comment on Mr. Sunak’s decision, but that constructive talks were ongoing.

For Mr. Sunak, a diplomatic row with Greece is an unwelcome distraction at a time when he is dealing with a stagnant economy and a rift in his Conservative Party over immigration policy.

He had generally cultivated friendlier relations with other European leaders since he became prime minister last year. In February, he settled a standoff with the European Union over the post-Brexit trade status of Northern Ireland.

But Conservative politicians have long argued that the Parthenon sculptures are part of the permanent collection of the British Museum and cannot simply be returned to Greece, whatever their provenance.

On Monday evening, Giorgos Gerapetritis, Greece’s foreign minister, said during a talk at the London School of Economics that he did not think that disagreement over the sculptures’ future was a “legitimate” reason to cancel a high-level meeting.

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UAE plotted to use COP28 to push for oil and gas deals, leaked notes show - POLITICO Europe

The world's top climate summit has become embroiled in a hypocrisy scandal, days before the start of key talks.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) schemed to use its position as host country of the imminent COP28 United Nations climate talks to discuss oil and gas deals with more than a dozen countries, leaked documents show.

Briefing notes prepared by the UAE's COP28 team for meetings with foreign governments during the summit, which starts Thursday in Dubai, include talking points from the Emirati state oil and renewable energy companies, according to documents published Monday by the Centre for Climate Reporting.

Germany, for example, is to be told that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) — whose CEO, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, is COP28's president — "stand[s] ready to expand LNG supplies to Germany."

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The briefing notes for China say that ADNOC is "willing to jointly evaluate international LNG opportunities (Mozambique, Canada, and Australia)."

They also propose telling oil-rich giants Saudi Arabia and Venezuela that "there is no conflict between sustainable development of any country's natural resources and its commitment to climate change."

With COP28 just days away, the leaked documents have cast a shadow over the start of the crucial forum.

Zakia Khattabi, Belgium's climate minister, told POLITICO: "If confirmed, these news reports add to the existing concerns regarding the COP28 presidency. The credibility of the U.N. climate negotiations is essential and is at stake here."

The documents also sparked an outcry from climate NGOs.

In a statement, Greenpeace's Policy Coordinator Kaisa Kosonen said, "if the allegations are true, this is totally unacceptable and a real scandal."

"The climate summit leader should be focused on advancing climate solutions impartially, not backroom deals that are fuelling the crisis," Kosonen said.

The documents also include estimates of ADNOC's commercial interests in the targeted countries, as well as an outline of energy infrastructure projects led by Masdar, the UAE's state renewable energy company.

ADNOC's business ties with China, for example, are valued at $15 billion over the past year, while those with the United Kingdom are worth $4 billion and the Netherlands' stand at $2 billion.

Every year, the country hosting COP appoints a president to lead negotiations between countries. The president meets foreign dignitaries and is expected to "rais[e] ambition to tackle climate change internationally," according to the U.N.

Home to some of the largest oil reserves in the world, the UAE has attracted criticism for appointing al-Jaber as COP president in spite of his role as chief of the country's national oil company. Al-Jaber is also chairman of the board of directors of the national renewable energy company.

In a statement, a COP28 spokesperson said: "The documents referred to in the BBC article are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 in meetings. It is extremely disappointing to see the BBC use unverified documents in their reporting."

This article has been updated to clarify Ahmed al-Jaber's role at the national renewable energy company and to add comments fro, COP28 and Greenpeace.

Barbara Moens contributed reporting.

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