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'Quran burning' protest scuppers Turkey-Sweden NATO talks

2023-01-21 00:00:00.0 欧洲新闻电视台-欧洲新闻原网页

Russia claims it has gained ground in Ukraine

The Russian army said on Saturday it carried out "offensive operations" in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, enabling it to take "advantageous positions".

"As a result of offensive operations, units of the Eastern Military District took more advantageous lines and positions," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It did not give any further details.

Fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region intensified on Friday, as Russian forces claimed to capture a village in the region, just 50 kilometres from the local capital.

The area is home to Europe's largest nuclear power stations, with fighting there raising fears of a possible catastrophe.

Yesterday, Ukraine's energy minister said the situation at the plant was dire due to the phycological state of its Ukrainian staff and the condition of their equipment.

Chechen fighters in Ukraine: Euronews report

A report by Euronews has looked at the Chechen fighters spilling blood on both sides of the Ukraine war.

Those fighting alongside Ukrainian troops include Russian President Vladimir Putin's oldest and fiercest enemies, veterans of the separatist wars in their homeland, alongside radical Islamists who have fought in Syria.

Meanwhile, Russia has used Chechens loyal to the Kremlin to discipline and reportedly even execute dissenting soldiers, as well as intimidate civilians in Ukraine.

Chechnya is a restive part of southern Russia in the Caucus region. After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, its primarily Muslim population tried to break away and establish their own state. This led to two horrific wars during the 90s, which ended in Moscow establishing control over Chechnya.

Chechen fighters on Ukraine's side. GENYA SAVILOV/AFP or licensors

Chechens waging war for Russia in Ukraine today, say experts, are those who teamed up with Moscow to break the rebellion of their own people during the Second Chechen War from 1999 to 2009.

But Jean-Francois Ratelle, an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, was sceptical about their significance on the battlefield, likening them to a disposable private army.

“These are not elite troops,” he said. “They were most likely used as a grunt force… It's always easier for a Chechen to be killed in a war than an ethnic Russian.”

“They were treated like cannon fodder for a while”.

Read the full report: 'TikTok warriors': What are Chechen fighters doing in Ukraine?

Kyiv sour at wavering over tanks

Ukraine lamented the "indecision" of its Western allies on Saturday, after they refused its requests for heavy tanks.

The hesitance will result in the deaths of more Ukrainians, claimed an Ukrainian presidential adviser.

"The indecision of these days kills even more of our fellow citizens", tweeted Mykha？lo Podoliak, urging Ukraine's allies to "think faster".

"You will help Ukraine with the necessary weapons anyway and realise that there is no other option to end the war", he pleaded.

Germany has been singled out in particular, following its decision to not deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a position slammed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as his country faces a renewed Russian offensive.

In a rare public criticism, foreign ministers from the Baltic states asked Berlin "to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine now" on Saturday.

Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia claimed it was the "responsibility" of Germany as "Europe's leading power".

Zelenskyy said he regretted Germany's cautious position on Friday evening, saying he was convinced that "there is no other solution" for its Western allies than to deliver tanks to its army.

During a meeting at the Ramstein airbase in Germany on Friday, the fifty or so countries represented did not agree on sending heavy tanks to Kyiv, despite its repeated requests for the heavy weaponry.

'Free the Leopards!' Campaign aims to 'embarrass' Germany into sending tanks to Ukraine

Russia claims the heavy tanks would not change anything on the ground, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the West was maintaining the "illusion" of a possible Ukrainian victory.

But many experts believe they would be a big advantage for Kyiv in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is back on the offensive after suffering heavy setbacks this autumn.

US labels Wagner a criminal organisation

Washington designated the Wagner Russian paramilitary group as an international criminal organisation on Saturday, denouncing its abuses in Ukraine, purchase of North Korean weaponry and massive recruitment of prisoners.

"Wagner is a criminal organization that commits vast atrocities and human rights abuses," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

"The Wagner group currently has some 50,000 people deployed in Ukraine, including 10,000 mercenaries and 40,000 prisoners", he said, adding its "recruitment methods" were causing “reservations” in the Russian Ministry of Defence.

The announcement could led to sanctions against the mercenary force, which also operates in Africa.

Wagner is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a 61-year-old Russian businessman, who was once Putin's chef. It has been very active in the fierce battle to take Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

"We will work tirelessly to identify, expose and target all who assist Wagner," said Kirby.

According to Washington, the group is growing in power and now rivals Russian forces.

"We have intelligence information that tensions between Wagner and the Department of Defence are escalating," he said.

"Wagner is becoming a centre of power competing with the Russian army and other Russian ministries", said the US official, claiming Prigozhin was "advancing" his own interests in Ukraine.

“Wagner makes military decisions on the overall basis of what will generate favour for him... particularly in terms of publicity”, he added.

The Kremlin has denied that there are tension between the Russian army and the paramilitary group, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the allegations "manipulation".

Founded in 2014, the Wagner Group, founded in 2014, has recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine in exchange for sentence reductions.

Air defence drills in Moscow

Russia announced on Saturday that it had conducted air defence exercises around Moscow, saying they were to prepare for possible "air attacks" against its critical infrastructure.

In a press release, the Russian Ministry of Defence said the exercises were to "repel air attacks against important military, industrial and administrative infrastructure."

Social media posts on Friday said air-defence systems were installed in several spots around the Russian capital, including on top of the country's defence ministry.

Russian officials did not initially comment on the reports, as weaponry resembling a Pantsir-S1 mobile anti-aircraft system was spotted on the roof of a building in central Moscow, some 2 kilometres east of the Kremlin.

Reports earlier in the week said mobile surface-to-air missile batteries were seen near the sprawling Losiny Ostrov forest park on Moscow's northern border and at another building in the capital.

Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, it has been hit with several drone strikes or attempted strikes deep inside its territory.

In December, a drone strike killed three people at a military airfield some 600 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Explosive drones also struck the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Russia-annexed Crimea.

While the US and other NATO members have provided billions of dollars’ worth of military aid to Ukraine, Washington maintains it will not send weapons that could be used for attacks inside Russia.

Turkey announced on Saturday it had cancelled a visit from Sweden, after an anti-Turkish protest was allowed in Stockholm.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the talks with his Swedish counterpart P？l Jonson were called off as they had "lost significance and meaning".

The visit was intended to try and remove Ankara's objections to Sweden's NATO bid.

Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist, Rasmus Paludan, was permitted to hold a demonstration on Saturday in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, arousing the ire of Turkey.

Paludan had said he intended to "burn the Quran" in front of the building.

Sweden's foreign minister Tobias Billstr？m condemned hatred towards Muslims Saturday afternoon, but emphasised there were certain freedoms in his country.

"Islamophobic provocations are appalling," he tweeted. "Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish Government, or myself, support the opinions expressed."

A counter, pro-Turkish protest was also planned at the embassy.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin condemned the demo, calling it a "hate crime".

"To allow this action despite all our warnings is to encourage hate crimes and Islamophobia," he tweeted. "The attack on sacred values ？？is not freedom but modern barbarism."

Turkey has blocked Sweden's NATO bid since May in an attempt to get Stockholm to fulfil several political demands, such as deporting critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurds it claims are "terrorists".

Why does Turkey want to block Finland and Sweden from NATO?

Critics have warned against meeting these demands, saying they undermine rights and freedoms in Sweden, alongside the country's sovereignty.

Sweden's Minister of Defence confirmed the trip had been “postponed”, a decision he said was made with his Turkish counterpart on Friday during a meeting on Ukraine in Germany.

"Relations with Turkey are very important to Sweden and we look forward to continuing the dialogue," P？l Jonson tweeted.

Ankara summoned the Swedish ambassador over the protests for the second time in days.

Last week Turkey's heckles were raised by the release of a video showing a mannequin resembling Erdogan being hung and labelling the Turkish president a dictator.

It was posted by a group affiliated with the Rojava Committee, which supports Kurds in Syria.

A pro-Kurdish demonstration, in which this committee participates, is also planned in Stockholm on Saturday, against Swedish membership of NATO and Turkish President Erdogan.

Turkey accuses Sweden of harbouring Kurdish activists and sympathisers whom it calls "terrorists", particularly those of the Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK) and its allies in northern Syria and Iraq.

A river in the Balkans, known for its stunning natural beauty, has been transformed into a giant floating rubbish heap, amid a spell of bad weather, worsened by long-running mismanagement.

Tonnes of plastic bottles, rusty barrels, used tires, household appliances, driftwood and other waste have piled up behind a barrier in the Drina River in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which snakes through forested hills.

Much of this rubbish was dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries in the Balkans, accumulating behind the fencing as it flows downstream.

The barrier installed by a Bosnian hydroelectric plant, a few kilometres upstream from its dam near Visegrad, a city in eastern Bosnia that has unwillingly been turned into a waste site, local environmental activists complain.

Heavy rain and unseasonably warm weather over the past week have caused many waterways in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro to overflow, flooding near-by areas and forcing scores of people from their homes.

Dejan Furtula of the environmental group Eko Centar Visegrad said “the huge inflow of garbage” was not stopping, despite torrential rainfall and floods subsiding.

The Drina River runs 346 kilometres from the mountainous northwestern Montenegro through Serbia and Bosnia. Many of its tributaries are known for their emerald colour and breath-taking scenery.

Some 10,000 cubic meters of waste are estimated to have amassed behind the Drina River's rubbish barrier in recent days, Furtula said.

The same amount was pulled in recent years from the river.

'Huge environmental and health hazard'

Cleaning up the waste is not the end of the issue.

Removing the rubbish takes on average up to six months. But it ends up at a local landfill in Visegrad, which Furtula said lacks even the capacity to handle the city’s own waste.

“The fires on the landfill site are always burning,” he said, calling the conditions there “not just a huge environmental and health hazard, but also a big embarrassment for all of us.”

Decades after the devastating 1990s wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Balkans lag behind the rest of Europe both economically and with regard to environmental protection.

The countries have made little progress in building effective, environmentally sound waste disposal systems, despite seeking EU membership and adopting some of the bloc's laws and regulations.

Unauthorised waste dumps dot hills and valleys throughout the region, while rubbish litters roads and plastic bags adorn trees.

Beside river pollution, many countries in the western Balkans have other environmental woes.

One of the most pressing is the extremely high level of air pollution affecting a number of cities in the region.

“People need to wake up to problems like this," Visegrad resident Rados Brekalovic said.

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