Belarus holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia, Tass reports
Reuters is reporting that Belarus will be holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia, according to the state news agency TASS.
Belarus has begun checks on the readiness of its army to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, simultaneously with a drill being carried out by Russia.
Russia said on Monday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said in April that “several dozen” Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus under an agreement announced last year by himself and President Vladimir Putin.
Key events
Reuters reports that Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said that in order for Europe to avoid conflicts and be safe it must increase its defence capabilities, and he repeated his call for the construction of a common European air defence system.
In the face of the conflict in Ukraine, Poland is strengthening its defence capabilities, allocating over 4% of its Gross Domestic Product.
Speaking at the European Economic Congress, a meeting of politicians and business figures in Katowice, Tusk said EU countries should take joint action to increase spending on defence by at least 100 billion euros ($107 billion).
“Europe must be prepared in the next dozen or so months and the entire next five years for a situation in which no power in the world will dare raise a hand against it,” he said.
“Big money will move the war away from Europe’s borders for a long time, perhaps permanently.”
A joint air defence “must become a European project that will be a financial effort to build a dome over Europe,” he said. “We have many more initiatives and meetings than real actions to defend the European sky.”
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who attended the congress, also said Europe must spend more on defence, and declared that if she remains in office for another term she will propose new defence projects.
She promoted a previously announced proposal for the creation of a full-time EU defence commissioner, who would help support the European defence industry.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Russia’s moratorium on deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles is in question because of the “destructive” approach of the US, Reuters reports citing Russia’s state news agency RIA.
Russia and the US occasionally exchange views on strategic stability, Ryabkov said, adding that US ambassador Lynne Tracy had left Russia for a certain period of time, TASS news agency reported.
Belarus holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia, Tass reports
Reuters is reporting that Belarus will be holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia, according to the state news agency TASS.
Belarus has begun checks on the readiness of its army to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, simultaneously with a drill being carried out by Russia.
Russia said on Monday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said in April that “several dozen” Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus under an agreement announced last year by himself and President Vladimir Putin.
Kyiv detains two Ukrainian security officials over plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Here’s more from AFP on the alleged plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy:
Ukraine announced Tuesday it had detained two Ukrainian security officials involved in a plot coordinated by Russia to assassinate senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Kyiv says that the Ukrainian leader has been targeted by Russia on multiple occasions, including at the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The Security Service of Ukraine said in a statement that it had exposed a network of agents run by Russia’s Federal Security Service whose aim was to assassinate Zelenskiy and other senior Ukrainian political and military officials.
“The network, whose activities were supervised by the FSB from Moscow, included two colonels of the State Security Department who were leaking classified information to Russia,” the SBU said.
It said that Russia had worked to identify individuals close to Zelenskiy’s security detail who could take the Ukrainian leader hostage and kill him.
Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors announced last month they had detained a man suspected of aiding a Russian assassination plot on Zelenskiy.
And the SBU said last August that a woman had been arrested for over a plot of kill the Ukrainian leader by trying to uncover details of his movements outside Kyiv.
I’ve corrected a post at 12.27 which erroneously stated that France had summoned Russia’s ambassador, following updated information from the Reuters newswire.
Reuters updated its despatch with the following:
France said on Tuesday that its ambassador to Russia had been summoned on 6 May and accused Moscow’s diplomatic service of manipulating information and intimidation.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned France’s ambassador in Moscow but did not give a reason.
“France notes that diplomatic channels are once again being abused to manipulate information and intimidate,” France’s foreign ministry said, adding “the Russian Ministry has once again engaged in a reversal of responsibilities” and “is pursuing its aggressive maneuvers aimed at destabilizing European countries, notably through cyberattacks and hybrid actions”.
France said on Tuesday that its ambassador to Russia had been summoned on May 6 and accused Moscow’s diplomatic service of manipulating information and intimidation.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned France’s ambassador in Moscow but did not give a reason.
“France notes that diplomatic channels are once again being abused to manipulate information and intimidate,” France’s foreign ministry said, adding “the Russian Ministry has once again engaged in a reversal of responsibilities” and “is pursuing its aggressive maneuvers aimed at destabilizing European countries, notably through cyberattacks and hybrid actions”.
Ukraine says it has foiled Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskiy
Ukraine’s SBU security service claims it has caught a network of Russian agents plotting to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other government officials, Reuters reports.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of using chemical weapons on battlefield
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other at the global chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague of using banned toxins on the battlefield, the organisation said on Tuesday.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that the accusations were “insufficiently substantiated” but added that “the situation remains volatile and extremely concerning regarding the possible re-emergence of use of toxic chemicals as weapons.”
Last week, the US said Russia had violated the international chemical weapons ban overseen by the OPCW by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine.
Russia denied the allegations.
The OPCW said it had been monitoring the situation since February 2022, when Moscow invaded Ukraine.
Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, any toxic chemical used with the purpose to cause harm or death, is considered a chemical weapon.
“It is against the Convention to use riot control agents at war on the battlefield. If used as a method of warfare, these agents are considered chemical weapons and, hence, are prohibited under the Convention,” the OPCW said.
For those wanting to know more about Vladimir Putin’s seemingly insurmountable grip on power, Andrew Roth, our Russia correspondent, tells us the tactics the Russian president uses to stay in post.
Putin: Russia open to developing relations with West on equal terms
Russian President Vladimir Putin said as he took the oath for a new six-year term on Tuesday that Russia did not rule out dialogue with the West but it needed to be on equal terms, Reuters reports.
In a short speech, Putin also said that Russia was open to developing relations with other countries he described as “the world’s majority”.
Russia’s state system must be resistant to any threats and challenges, he said.
Vladimir Putin arrives at inauguration ceremony
Here are some pictures from Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony:
Vladimir Putin has been sworn in for a new six-year presidential term. He is now making his inaugural address. There are a few colourful charecters at the ceremony, including American actor Steven Seagal.
Alexander Zaldostanov also known as “Khirurg” (The Surgeon), a leader of the Night Wolves bikers’ club, is also at the cereomy.
Exiled Russian opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya urged supporters on Tuesday to keep up the fight against President Vladimir Putin, describing him in a video on the day of his re-inauguration as a “a liar, a thief and a murderer”, Reuters reports.
Война, политические убийства, обнищание россиян. Нет никакого процветания России, нет мира и свободы для наших граждан. В этом видео рассказываю, чем мне запомнились предыдущие 6 лет правления Путина
https://t.co/DuwwiYhsp1— Yulia Navalnaya (@yulia_navalnaya) May 7, 2024
EU plans to sanction Ukrainian media oligarch accused of treason by Kyiv
Jennifer Rankin
The EU plans to sanction a media oligarch accused of conducting malign influence operations in Europe and ban four more Russian media outlets from the airwaves and internet in its latest round of measures against Russia.
The bloc is seeking to sanction Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian politician and businessman accused of high treason by Kyiv, who was released to Russia in a prisoner exchange in 2022.
According to the EU draft listing Medvedchuk has “continued funding and carrying out influence operations targeting political parties and individual politicians in Europe”.
He is said to fund Voice of Europe, a Russian media outlet accused of systematic “media manipulation and distortion of the facts”. Voice of Europe is set to be banned in the EU, alongside Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, the newspapers Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Izvestiya.
Voice of Europe and Medvedchuk were sanctioned by the Czech Republic in March for an alleged pro-Russian influence operation aimed at destabilising the European elections in June.
Under the latest proposal, EU political parties, foundations, NGOs and think-tanks will be barred from accepting money from the Russian state or its proxies.
The latest draft sanctions – the 14th since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – also proposes restrictions on goods and services linked to Russia’s liquified natural gas industry. The European Commission wants to impose restrictions on the transhipment of LNG in the EU to stop Russia exporting shipped gas to non-EU countries via EU ports.
The EU also wants to ban new investment, goods and services to build LNG terminals in the Russian Arctic. The proposals, however, stop short of a ban on Russian LNG, which unlike most pipeline gas has continued to be imported into the EU.
The plans have to be approved unanimously by all EU 27 member states before coming into force.
A Russian court has remanded a US citizen in custody for 10 days for disorderly conduct, Reuters reports citing the state-run RIA news agency.
A TV report said the man, while drunk, had climbed into a children’s library through a window and fallen asleep there.
Polish special services have found and dismantled bugging devices in a room where the council of ministers was due to meet on Tuesday, the special services coordinator’s spokesman said, Reuters reports.
Poland, a hub for Western military supplies to Ukraine as Kyiv fights Russia’s invasion, is on heightened alert for any signs of spying activity.
“The State Protection Service, in cooperation with the Internal Security Agency, detected and dismantled devices that could be used for eavesdropping in the room where the meeting of the Council of Ministers is to be held today in Katowice”, Jacek Dobrzynski wrote on social media platform X.
“The services are carrying out further activities in this matter,” Dobrzynski added.
On Monday, the government said it was verifying if a Polish judge who had access to confidential information and asked for political asylum in Belarus had been spying.
Good morning and welcome to our Ukraine blog as the time has just passed 10am in Kyiv and Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be sworn into office at a lavish ceremony in the Kremlin later today, embarking on a record-breaking fifth term with more power than ever before.
As AFP writes, the 71-year-old has ruled Russia since the turn of the century, securing a fresh six-year mandate in March after winning presidential elections devoid of all opposition.
The inauguration will be broadcast live on most major Russian television channels from around midday (10.00BST), when a luxury motorcade will drive Putin to Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace.
After arriving, he will walk through the palace corridors to the ornate Saint Andrew Hall, where he will take the presidential oath and make a brief address to Russians.
Government officials and foreign diplomats in Moscow have been invited to the ceremony, including French ambassador Pierre Levy, who is expected to attend.
Other European countries including Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic have signalled that they will not send representatives amid soured tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.
Yesterday Ukraine urged its western allies not to recognise Putin as the “legitimate president” of Russia given his 87% landslide victory was criticised by most international observers and dismissed as rigged by opposition and rights groups.
The ceremony comes at an especially tense time for Russia’s diplomatic relations given that yesterday it announced tactical nuclear nuclear drills and threatened to strike British military facilities amid its anger over comments by senior politicians including Emmanuel Macron and David Cameron.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
