MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed his Belarusian counterpart for talks Friday on forging closer ties amid Minsk’s bruising showdown with the European Union.
Talks come after the incident of the diversion of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has found himself increasingly isolated since flight controllers told the crew of a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk on Sunday citing an alleged bomb threat. No bomb was found, but 26-year-old journalist Raman Pratasevich was arrested along with his Russian girlfriend.
EU leaders denounced it as air piracy and responded by barring Belarusian carriers from the bloc’s airspace and airports and advising European airlines to skirt Belarus. EU foreign ministers sketched out tougher sanctions Thursday to target the country’s lucrative potash industry and other cash-earning sectors.
At the start of his talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with Putin, Lukashenko ranted about the EU sanctions, describing them as an attempt to reignite the opposition protests that followed his reelection in August that was widely rejected as rigged.
Putin appeared relaxed and invited Lukashenko for a swim, while the Belarusian leader looked tense as he launched a long rant accusing the West of being perfidious and hypocritical.
In an emotional tirade, the 66-year-old Belarusian leader bemoaned the EU sanctions against the Belarusian flag carrier, Belavia, pointing to its role in carrying “thousands and thousands” of travelers from EU nations and the US who were stranded at the start of the pandemic.
The showdown over the Ryanair diversion has pushed Lukashenko, who has relentlessly stifled dissent during his rule of more than a quarter-century, even closer to his main ally and sponsor, Russia.
The two ex-Soviet nations have signed a union agreement that calls for close political, economic and military ties but stops short of a full merger. Russia has buttressed Belarus’ economy with cheap energy supplies and loans, but the ties often have been strained with Lukashenko scolding Moscow for trying to force him to relinquish control of prized economic assets and eventually abandon his country’s independence.
In his remarks at the start of Friday’s talks, Putin said the countries were moving to deepen their union “consistently, without rush, acting stage by stage.”
In the past, Lukashenko has tried to play the West against Russia, raising the prospect of a rapprochement with the EU and the US to wring more aid out of Moscow.
Such tactics no longer work after Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown last year. More than 35,000 people were arrested amid the protests and thousands beaten — moves that made him a pariah in the West. The flight’s diversion has now cornered the Belarusian strongman even more.
Many observers warn that the new, tougher EU sanctions would make Lukashenko easy prey for the Kremlin, which may use his isolation to push for closer integration. Some in the West have even alleged Russia was involved in the Ryanair diversion — something Moscow angrily denies — and will seek to exploit the fallout.
“Lukashenko is scared, and the Kremlin may demand payment for its political support by pushing for the introduction of a single currency, the deployment of military bases and more,” said Valery Karbalevich, an independent Minsk-based political analyst. “In this situation, it would be much more difficult for him to resist and bargain with Putin.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s main opponent in the election who left the country under official pressure, also acknowledged the danger that Russia may try to use his weakness to its advantage. She urged the EU to use whatever influence it has to help prevent any deals with Moscow that would hurt Belarus.
At the same time, Tsikhanouskaya also urged the EU to be “stronger, braver in its resolutions and decisions,” saying Lukashenko acted out of a sense of impunity in diverting the flight.
The European Commission on Friday presented a 3 billion euro ($3.7 billion) aid plan to support “a future democratic Belarus” that could be activated if the country moves toward a “democratic transition.”
But in a further sign of Belarus’ isolation, the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union moved Friday to suspend the Belarusian state broadcaster, BTRC, saying it has been particularly worried by its showing of interviews apparently obtained under duress. BTRC has two weeks to respond before the suspension takes effect. The move would bar Belarus from taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest, among other things.
Moscow has offered Lukashenko quick political support over the diversion, cautioning the EU against hasty action until the episode is properly investigated and arguing that Lukashenko’s actions were in line with international protocols in cases of bomb threats.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the EU’s decision to ask European airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace as “utterly irresponsible and threatening passengers’ safety.”
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy envoy at the United Nations, criticized the West on Friday for what he called a rash response and defended Belarus’ narrative, arguing its flight controllers only “recommended” the plane land in Minsk because of the purported threat, and the pilot could have continued if he wanted.
The International Civil Aviation Organization has said it will investigate the diversion, as many Western countries have asked.
As European airlines began skirting Belarus, Russia has refused some of their requests to change the flight paths of service to Moscow in the past two days but allowed some flights to proceed Friday. The Kremlin said the denial of quick permissions to use the bypass routes was technical, but Lukashenko hailed it as a show of support for Belarus.
Belarus leader seeks Russian support amid showdown with EU
https://arab.news/29wmf
Belarus leader seeks Russian support amid showdown with EU
- EU foreign ministers sketched out tougher sanctions Thursday to target the country’s lucrative potash industry and cash-earning sectors
- Lukashenko ranted about EU sanctions, describing them as an attempt to reignite opposition protests
India grants citizenship to first batch of immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh
- Citizenship Amendment Act grants citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to India
- Controversial citizenship law has been criticized by rights activists as being discriminatory toward country’s Muslims
NEW DELHI: India granted citizenship on Wednesday to a first batch of 14 people under a controversial law that has been criticized for discriminating against Muslims, midway through general elections in which religious divisions have taken center stage.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who fled to India from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014 because of religious persecution.
Enacted in 2019, the law was not immediately implemented due to strong protests and sectarian violence in New Delhi and other places that resulted in the death of scores of people.
India implemented the act in March, weeks before the ongoing elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are seeking a rare third consecutive term. Both deny CAA is anti-Muslim.
Four phases of the seven-phase election have concluded and votes will be counted on June 4.
On Wednesday, the recipients were administered the oath of allegiance and granted citizenship after their documents were verified, the home ministry said in a statement, without elaborating on their identities.
Hindu majority India has the world’s third-largest Muslim population with 200 million people. Rights and opposition groups have criticized Modi’s government and BJP saying they target the minority community and systematically discriminate against them to further the party’s core, Hindu revivalist ideology.
Modi and BJP deny the accusation and say they work for the welfare of all communities.
They have also said that the citizenship law only makes it easy for non-Muslim refugees to get a dignified life and is meant to grant citizenship, not take it away from anyone. Muslim refugees, they said, can apply under regular rules governing citizenship.
“This is like being reborn,” Harish Kumar, a Hindu refugee from Pakistan living in Delhi for over a decade, told news agency ANI after getting his citizenship on Wednesday. “If a person doesn’t have rights then what is the point, (now) we can go forward in education, jobs.”
India began voting on April 19 in the seven-phase election for which Modi launched his campaign by showcasing his economic record, governance and popularity. But he changed tack after the first phase to accuse the main opposition Congress party of being pro-Muslim and the issue has gained prominence since.
Analysts say this is likely aimed at firing up BJP’s Hindu nationalist base after a low turnout in the first phase sparked doubts that BJP and its allies could win the landslide that the party sought.
Slovakia PM Robert Fico wounded in shooting
- Robert Fico, 59, was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned what she described as a ‘vile attack’
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia: Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon and taken to hospital.
Reports on TA3, a Slovakian TV station, said that Fico, 59, was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova, some 150 kilometers northeast of the capital, where the leader was meeting with supporters. A suspect has been detained, it said.
Police sealed off the scene, and Fico was taken to a hospital in Banska Bystrica.
The shooting in Slovakia comes three weeks ahead of crucial European Union Parliament elections, in which populist and hard-right parties in the 27-nation bloc appear poised to make gains.
Deputy speaker of parliament Lubos Blaha confirmed the incident during a session of Parliament and adjourned it until further notice, the Slovak TASR news agency said.
Slovakia’s major opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, canceled a planned protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul public broadcasting that they say would give the government full control of public radio and television.
“We absolutely and strongly condemn violence and today’s shooting of Premier Robert Fico” said Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka. “At the same time we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps which could contribute to further increasing the tension.”
President Zuzana Caputova condemned “a brutal and ruthless” attack on the premier.
“I’m shocked,” Caputova said. “I wish Robert Fico a lot of strength in this critical moment and a quick recovery from this attack.”
Fico, a third-time premier, and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party, won Slovakia’s Sept. 30 parliamentary elections, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message.
Critics worried Slovakia under Fico would abandon the country’s pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.
Condemnations of political violence came from leaders across Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned what she described as a “vile attack.”
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.
Leaders in Latvia and Estonia also quickly condemned political violence.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on the social media network X: “Shocking news from Slovakia. Robert, my thoughts are with you in this very difficult moment.”
EU agrees on a new migration pact, as mainstream parties hope it will deprive the far right of votes
EU agrees on a new migration pact, as mainstream parties hope it will deprive the far right of votes
- EU government ministers approved 10 legislative parts of The New Pact on Migration and Asylum
- Mainstream political parties believe the pact resolves the issues that have divided member nations since migrants swept into Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq
BRUSSELS: European Union nations endorsed sweeping reforms to the bloc’s failed asylum system on Tuesday as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue.
EU government ministers approved 10 legislative parts of The New Pact on Migration and Asylum. It lays out rules for the 27 member countries to handle people trying to enter without authorization, from how to screen them to establish whether they qualify for protection to deporting them if they’re not allowed to stay.
Hungary and Poland, which have long opposed any obligation for countries to host migrants or pay for their upkeep, voted against the package but were unable to block it.
Mainstream political parties believe the pact resolves the issues that have divided member nations since well over 1 million migrants swept into Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. They hope the system will starve the far right of vote-winning oxygen in the June 6-9 elections.
However, the vast reform package will only enter force in 2026, bringing no immediate fix to an issue that has fueled one of the EU’s biggest political crises, dividing nations over who should take responsibility for migrants when they arrive and whether other countries should be obligated to help.
Critics say the pact will let nations detain migrants at borders and fingerprint children. They say it’s aimed at keeping people out and infringes on their right to claim asylum. Many fear it will result in more unscrupulous deals with poorer countries that people leave or cross to get to Europe.
WHY ARE THE NEW RULES NEEDED?
Europe’s asylum laws have not been updated for about two decades. The system frayed and then fell apart in 2015. It was based on the premise that migrants should be processed, given asylum or deported in the country they first enter. Greece, Italy and Malta were left to shoulder most of the financial burden and deal with public discontent. Since then, the ID-check-free zone known as the Schengen Area has expanded to 27 countries, 23 of them EU members. It means that more than 400 million Europeans and visitors, including refugees, are able to move without showing travel documents.
WHO DO THE RULES APPLY TO?
Some 3.5 million migrants arrived legally in Europe in 2023. Around 1 million others were on EU territory without permission. Of the latter, most were people who entered normally via airports and ports with visas but didn’t go home when they expired. The pact applies to the remaining minority, estimated at around 300,000 migrants last year. They are people caught crossing an external EU border without permission, such as those reaching the shores of Greece, Italy or Spain via the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic Ocean on boats provided by smugglers.
HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK?
The country on whose territory people land will screen them at or near the border. This involves identity and other checks -– including on children as young as 6. The information will be stored on a massive new database, Eurodac. This screening should determine whether a person might pose a health or security risk and their chances of being permitted to stay. Generally, people fleeing conflict, persecution or violence qualify for asylum. Those looking for jobs are likely to be refused entry. Screening is mandatory and should take no longer than seven days. It should lead to one of two things: an application for international protection, like asylum, or deportation to their home country.
WHAT DOES THE ASYLUM PROCEDURE INVOLVE?
People seeking asylum must apply in the EU nation they first enter and stay until the authorities there work out what country should handle their application. It could be that they have family, cultural or other links somewhere else, making it more logical for them to be moved. The border procedure should be done in 12 weeks, including time for one legal appeal if their application is rejected. It could be extended by eight weeks in times of mass movements of people. Procedures could be faster for applicants from countries whose citizens are not often granted asylum. Critics say this undermines asylum law because applicants should be assessed individually, not based on nationality. People would stay in “reception centers” while it happens, with access to health care and education. Those rejected would receive a deportation order.
WHAT DOES DEPORTATION INVOLVE?
To speed things up, a deportation order is supposed to be issued automatically when an asylum request is refused. A new 12-week period is foreseen to complete this process. The authorities may detain people throughout. The EU’s border and coast guard agency would help organize joint deportation flights. Currently, less than one in three people issued with an order to leave are deported. This is often due to a lack of cooperation from the countries these people come from.
HOW HAS THE ISSUE OF RESPONSIBILITIES VS OBLIGATIONS BEEN RESOLVED?
The new rules oblige countries to help an EU partner under migratory pressure. Support is mandatory, but flexible. Nations can relocate asylum applicants to their territory or choose some other form of assistance. This could be financial -– a relocation is evaluated at 20,000 euros ($21,462) per person -– technical or logistical. Members can also assume responsibility for deporting people from the partner country in trouble.
WHAT CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD?
Two issues stand out: Will member countries ever fully enact the plan, and will the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, enforce the new rules when it has chosen not to apply the ones already in place? The commission is due to present a Common Implementation Plan by June. It charts a path and timeline to get the pact working over the next two years, with targets that the EU and member countries should reach. Things could get off to a rocky start. Hungary, which has vehemently opposed the reforms, takes over the EU’s agenda-setting presidency for six months on July 1.
Calls mount on Polish government to expel Israeli envoy
- Israel dismissed calls for accountability after killing Polish aid worker in Gaza
- Ambassador compares peaceful protests in Poland to Nazi rallies
WARSAW: Polish activists on Wednesday submitted a nationwide petition for the government to immediately expel the Israeli ambassador over war crimes in Gaza.
Protests against Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian enclave have been a regular occurrence in Poland since the beginning of the onslaught in October.
One of the main groups organizing the rallies and meetings to extend political pressure, and bring Poles closer to Palestinian history and culture, is the initiative Wschod — a movement of young activists dedicated to social justice.
Wschod’s petition to expel the Israeli envoy, Yacov Livne, from Poland, was signed by 7,931 people as of Wednesday.
“I believe that the petition is an important signal to the Polish government from the Polish people,” Zofia Hecht, a member of Wschod, told Arab News as the activists submitted the petition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.
“There is a large group of people who really do not agree with what Israel is doing to Palestinians, and that we do not agree to normalize relations with such a terrorist entity that is Israel.”
Poland recognizes Palestinian statehood and has voted in favor of the UN’s recent resolutions to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and to recognize backing Palestine’s bid for permanent membership status.
A close ally of the US, the Polish government has avoided vocal criticism of Tel Aviv and its war on Gaza, where Israeli forces have over the past seven months killed at least 35,000 people — a large majority women and children — and injured 80,000 more.
UN agencies and experts have repeatedly accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The International Court of Justice in January also found it plausible that Tel Aviv’s actions in the enclave could amount to genocide.
“We think that the previous actions taken by the Polish government to prevent the Israeli genocide in Gaza were not sufficient,” said Emil Al-Khawaldeh, Wschod’s Palestine campaign coordinator.
“We expect the Polish government to at least respond to our petition signed by almost 8,000 people, and to meet our demands to expel the Israeli ambassador.”
The petition was created when Poles began to pay more attention to Gaza after the killing of a Polish national, Damian Sobol, who was one of the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers targeted and killed by Israeli troops in early April.
“In April, when Israel killed a Polish citizen, the Israeli ambassador took to Twitter to publish accusations of antisemitism,” Al-Khawaldeh said, citing Livne’s posts, which included labeling a Polish parliament deputy speaker as an “antisemite” for publicly charging Israel with war crimes.
“Until now, the Israeli ambassador has neither apologized for his own words nor, on behalf of the state of Israel, for murdering a Polish citizen,” he added.
Wschod’s petition to the government says that “there is no place” in Poland for an ambassador of a “state committing genocide” and demands that he be “immediately” expelled.
“It is absurd that in a country historically affected by genocide, hatred and hostility, we allow the holding of office by a person who represents the government of a country committing war crimes against innocent Palestinian civilians,” it reads.
About 6 million Polish citizens, including 3 million Polish Jews, were killed by German forces during the invasion and occupation of Poland in the Second World War. The occupation policies have been recognized in Europe as a genocide.
Eight decades later, as Poles unite and take to the streets to prevent a genocide of another people, Al-Khawaldeh, who is Polish Palestinian, and Hecht, who is Jewish, said that they have faced accusations of antisemitism.
The accusations regularly come from the Israeli ambassador, who, in a radio interview in November, went as far as to compare the Polish peace activists to Nazis.
“We’ve been holding peaceful marches in Warsaw and there’s been no single security incident. But in November, the Israeli ambassador compared the marches to Nazi rallies ... he compared us with the Nazi Germany of the 1930s,” Al-Khawaldeh said.
“Polish Jews are also protesting with us. They are organizing protests in Poland, peaceful protests, they are also having wonderful speeches against Israeli war crimes, against Israeli genocide in Gaza. This accusation is absurd.”
UK announces $175 million humanitarian aid boost for Yemen
- Nearly 200 aid groups called for more humanitarian aid this month to bridge a $2.3-billion shortfall in funds for Yemen
LONDON: The UK will significantly increase aid funding to Yemen aiming to feed more than 850,000 people in the war-torn country, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Wednesday.
New aid worth £139 million (around $175 million) to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen was announced in a meeting between Cameron and Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak in London.
The aid will be delivered through partners such as the World Food Programme and Unicef, a statement read, and hopes to treat 700,000 severely malnourished children.
The move comes a week after the EU announced $125 million for NGOs and UN agencies working in Yemen, where more than half the 34 million population needs aid after nine years of war.
Nearly 200 aid groups called for more humanitarian aid this month to bridge a $2.3-billion shortfall in funds for Yemen.
Houthi rebel attacks on international shipping are also on the agenda in Cameron’s meeting with Bin Mubarak, who is Yemen’s former ambassador to the United States.
Cameron blamed the attacks on Red Sea shipping for aggravating the humanitarian crisis “through blocking aid from reaching those who need it in northern Yemen.”
British and US forces have been carrying out joint strikes since January aimed at curbing the raids.
The attacks, which began in November, were found to affect more than half of British exporters in a British Chambers of Commerce report from February.
Yemen has been gripped by conflict following a 2014 coup by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which triggered a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government the following year.
Hundreds of thousands have died from fighting and other indirect causes such as the lack of food, according to the UN.
While hostilities have remained at a low level since a six-month UN-brokered ceasefire came into force in 2022, threats including food insecurity and cholera remain rampant.
