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Nicaragua: MEPs demand the repeal of punitive laws against the opposition
Photo by Fernanda LeMarie
News | European Parliament
MEPs condemn restrictive laws devised to criminalise political opponents in Nicaragua and call for all arbitrarily detained political prisoners to be immediately released.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, MEPs strongly condemn all the Nicaraguan authorities’ repressive actions, in particular the deaths caused, against democratic opposition parties and other opponents of the regime.
MEPs demand the immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained political prisoners, among them pre-presidential candidates, as well as other opposition activists, human rights defenders and journalists. The government must provide an immediate proof of life and whereabouts of those imprisoned, they urge.
The Nicaraguan regime is deepening its authoritarian drift, they underline, closing off democratic space and international mediation for a peaceful solution to the conflict, clearly impeding free and fair elections due to be held on 7 November 2021.
The resolution denounces several restrictive and punitive laws against the opposition that have been adopted over the last few years. These laws, say MEPs, institutionalise repression and legalise the brutal acts that have been committed in the country since their adoption.
They ask, therefore, for the laws to be immediately repealed and for inclusive dialogue and democracy to be restored as the only peaceful way out of the political, economic and social crisis in Nicaragua. The Parliament also urges the Nicaraguan authorities to make immediate changes to the Electoral Law in accordance with the international parameters demanded by the Organization of American States (OAS) and to allow national and international electoral observation bodies to be present during elections.
MEPs stress that those responsible for the grave human rights violations committed since 2018 must be held accountable.
The resolution also calls on the Council and the member states to swiftly extend the list of sanctioned individuals and entities to include President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Rosario Murillo, as well as their inner circle, taking special care not to harm the Nicaraguan people.
The resolution was adopted by 629 in favour, 19 against and 40 abstentions.
Background
The human rights and democracy situation in Nicaragua has seriously deteriorated following the violent repression of public protests in April 2018. Since then, at least 130 people have been deprived of their liberty for political reasons and more than 108 000 Nicaraguans have been forced to flee and seek asylum in neighbouring countries, three-quarters of whom have sought protection in Costa Rica.
In its resolution of 8 October 2020, Parliament condemned attempts to adopt an unconstitutional law on the regulation of foreign agents, the special law on cybercrime and a law on hate crimes that provided Daniel Ortega’s government with a repressive tool to silence its critics.
Human rights breaches in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Iran
Supporters protest outside a court in Hong Kong
News | European Parliament
- Chinese and Hong Kong authorities must stop arresting, harassing and intimidating journalists
- Saudi Arabia must stop executing child offenders
- Iran must halt the imminent execution of Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali
On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Hong Kong, notably the case of Apple Daily
Parliament condemns in the strongest terms the recent forced closure of the Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong, the continued freezing of its assets and the arrests of its journalists. This is yet another step by Chinese authorities to dismantle free society in Hong Kong and abolish media freedom and freedom of expression there, MEPs say.
The resolution also calls on the Hong Kong authorities to stop harassing and intimidating journalists, release arbitrarily detained prisoners, and denounces any attempts to muzzle pro-democracy activists and their activities.
While urging the Chinese authorities to repeal the draconian national security law introduced last year, MEPs encourage EU countries to impose sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for serious violations of human rights and international law in Hong Kong under the EU human rights sanctions regime.
They also call on the Commission, the Council and EU countries to decline invitations to government representatives and diplomats to attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics unless the Chinese Government demonstrates a verifiable improvement in the human rights situation in Hong Kong, the Xinjiang Uyghur Region, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and elsewhere in China.
The text was adopted by 578 votes in favour, 29 against and 73 abstentions. For further details, the full version will be available here. (08.07.2021)
The death penalty in Saudi Arabia, notably the cases of Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish and Abdullah al-Howaiti
MEPs strongly condemn Saudi Arabia’s ongoing executions of child offenders despite its claims that it has abolished such practices. This includes the recent execution of Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish for crimes that may have occurred while he was a minor following his conviction in an unfair trial and involving a confession obtained from him under torture.
Members also call on Saudi Arabia to confirm that all other child offenders in the Kingdom, such as death-row inmate Abdullah al-Howaiti, will not be executed and that ‘confessions’ extracted under torture will be excluded from their cases.
While urging the country’s authorities to genuinely abolish the death penalty for these offenders, the resolution strongly supports EU sanctions against Saudi officials responsible for grave human rights violations. All EU exports of mass surveillance technology and other dual-use items to Saudi Arabia should be suspended, say MEPs.
The resolution also recalls that the Saudi Sakharov Prize laureate Raif Badawi has now been in prison for nine years and urges the EU and the international community to work towards his immediate release.
The text was adopted by 661 votes in favour, 3 against and 23 abstentions. It will be available in full here (08.07.2021).
The case of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran
Parliament calls on Iran, under its newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi, to halt the imminent execution of Swedish-Iranian academic Dr Ahmadreza Djalali. He must be pardoned, released immediately and unconditionally, and be allowed to return to his family in Sweden, says the text.
The resolution also calls on Iran to stop threatening Dr Djalali’s family in both Sweden and Iran. The charges of other arbitrarily detained EU nationals in the country must also be immediately dropped, MEPs demand. This includes German nationals Nahid Taghavi and Jamshid Sharmahd, French nationals Benjamin Brière and Fariba Adelkhah, Austrian nationals Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb, in addition to UK nationals Morad Tahbaz, Anoosheh Ashoori, Mehran Raoof and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The Council should consider more targeted EU sanctions against Iranian regime officials and entities involved in the arbitrary detention and sentencing to death of EU nationals, MEPs urge. The text calls on Iran to release its political prisoners, including human rights defenders, as they have been arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their fundamental rights to the freedoms of expression, belief, association, publication, peaceful assembly and media freedom.
For more details, the resolution will be available in full here (08.07.2021). It was adopted by 666 votes in favour, 5 against with 16 abstentions.
Human rights: MEPs want corruption punished under EU sanctions regime
News | European Parliament
Parliament has adopted a resolution welcoming the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, while calling for corruption to be included as a punishable offence.
Corruption has a devastating impact on the state of human rights, and often undermines the functioning and legitimacy of institutions and the rule of law, the resolution states. But unlike similar schemes around the world, such as the US Global Magnitsky Act, the current EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (GHRSR), adopted in December 2020, does not include corruption in connection with human rights violations as an offence punishable by restrictive measures. Parliament wants to change that and urges the European Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal that extends the scope of the GHRSR to cover these crimes.
MEPs should also be able to propose cases of serious human rights violations, in order to increase the legitimacy of the sanctions regime. In addition, Members insist on an inclusive process to facilitate input from civil society.
Qualified majority voting should also be introduced when sanctions are adopted under the scope of the GHRSR, the text urges, as this would implement the regime more effectively.
Counter-sanctions aim to deter the EU from defending human rights
In addition, MEPs condemn any counter-sanctions imposed on the EU, its institutions and Members of Parliament, bodies or citizens, solely for upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law through the GHRSR.
The EU’s response to such retaliatory measures by third countries must be swift and coordinate, they point out, adding that bilateral agreements with these countries must not undermine the EU’s sanctions framework and its credibility in foreign policy in general.
The text was adopted by 584 votes in favour, 73 against with 33 abstentions.
You can read more about the new framework here.
Quotes
“The EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime adds a direct and tangible way to respond to serious human rights violations and hold those responsible for abuses accountable. It needs to become an essential element of the EU’s broader strategy on human rights and a fundamental part of our external policy toolbox. I welcome the swift implementation of the new instrument and hope that it will support the objectives of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy”, said David McAllister (EPP, Germany), Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“By allowing us to target persons and entities responsible for grave human rights violations, wherever these abuses take place, the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime strengthens the EU’s leading role in human rights . The regime needs to also target economic and financial enablers of human rights abusers, and the Parliament and civil society need to be more closely involved to increase its legitimacy”, said Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium), Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights.
North Korea has no plans to have contacts with the United States
North Korea is not considering any contacts with the United States. This was stated by Foreign Minister Yi Song-guon, quoted by Reuters.
Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program has been a problem for Washington for years.
“We are not even considering the possibility of contact with the United States, let alone making one that would lead us nowhere, taking only valuable time,” I said in a statement issued by the Korean Central Telegraph Agency.
His statement came after the new US special envoy to North Korea said in Seoul on Monday that he looked forward to a “soon-to-be positive response” from Pyongyang for dialogue.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has been a problem for Washington for years, and to change that, President Joe Biden’s government has analyzed the policy pursued so far and said it would seek a “corrected and practical” approach to persuading Pyongyang to disarm. nuclear attitude.
Yesterday, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that the United States seemed to be misinterpreting signals coming from North Korea.
Kim Jong-un, a senior figure in the DPRK’s ruling Communist Party, responded in this way to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who said on Sunday that he considered Kim Jong-un’s recent speech on readiness an “interesting signal”. both for confrontation and for diplomacy with the United States.
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Zelensky set conditions for Russia to open Russian schools in Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy told RIA Novosti that Russian schools in Ukraine will appear only if Ukrainian ones are opened in Russia. He spoke about this in an interview with foreign media, the text of which was published by the press service of the president’s office.
“They ask me how to solve the problem with schools, with languages? I say: you just need to respect each other, and everything will be fine,” the Ukrainian leader explained.
He stressed that there are many private schools in Ukraine, for example, English, and in the future there will be Hungarian ones.
“If you want a Russian school, let’s open a Ukrainian school in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tyumen, where many Ukrainians live. This is called a“ povaga, ”Zelensky concluded.
The language law in Ukraine was adopted in April 2019. It obliges to communicate exclusively in Ukrainian in almost all spheres of life: in government bodies, schools, universities and hospitals, in shops and cafes, in courts, the army, the police, during the election campaign and referendums. An exception was made only for private communication and religious rituals.
All Russian-language schools in Ukraine have switched to teaching in Ukrainian since September 1, 2020. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 125 state Russian-language schools, as well as 43 private schools, functioned in the country at the end of the 2019 academic year (cf. Gabrielyan, A.M. Native language in the sphere of secondary education in Crimea as a reflection of the linguistic picture of the peninsula // Humanitarian paradigm. 2018. No. 4 [7] p. 15–32.)
On the other hand in Crimea, there are 15 general educational organizations with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction (224 classes, 4258 students) and one school with the Ukrainian language of instruction (9 classes, 144 students).
Schools of Crimea with the study of native languages and teaching in languages other than Russian According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Republic of Crimea [3], in the 2017-2018 academic year, 196.5 thousand children were enrolled in 527 municipal educational institutions of the Republic of Crimea. Of these, 5.6 thousand (3%) are in the Crimean Tatar language, 318 students (0.2%) are in Ukrainian. In the 2017-2018 academic year in Crimea, there were 15/162 educational organizations with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction – 202 classes, 3753 students. On the basis of general educational institutions with Russian as the language of instruction, classes with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction have been opened (in 31 schools there are 133 classes, 1879 students).
In educational institutions of the Republic of Crimea, the study of the following native languages is organized in various forms: – Crimean Tatar – 21.6 thousand students, – Ukrainian – 10.6 thousand students, – Armenian – 97 students, – Bulgarian – 73 students, – Greek – 343 pupils (of whom 94 pupils study as a native, 249 study as a second foreign language), – German – 58 pupils.
France stamped the “seizure of power” by Russia in the CAR
France has accused Russia of “seizing power” in the Central African Republic (CAR), acknowledging that CAR cooperation with Russian “mercenaries” has forced Paris to reduce its military cooperation, AFP reported.
Earlier this month, the French military cut off budget aid and military co-operation with the CAR, accusing the African government of being an “accomplice” in a Russian-backed anti-French disinformation campaign.
The CAR has become a key area in the dispute over the role of the Wagner mercenary group in Africa (the Kremlin’s weapon, which does not officially exist), run by shady Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigogine, a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin.
“In the Central African Republic, there is a form of seizure of power, and in particular military power, by Russian mercenaries,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM television, adding: “We are fighting this and it has made us to take measures to withdraw a certain number of our troops. “
He said the Russian military had bypassed CAR President Faustin Archang Tuadera and exploited the country’s wealth.
One of the poorest countries in the world, the CAR has been chronically unstable since gaining independence from France in 1960.
In 2013, France launched a 3-year military operation to stop sectarian violence after then-President Francois Bozize was ousted by predominantly Muslim rebel groups.
The CAR’s closer relationship with Moscow dates back to 2018, when Russia sent “instructors” to help train its armed forces and provided it with small arms, receiving relief from the UN arms embargo.
Last December, under a bilateral co-operation agreement, the Kremlin sent several hundred troops to fortify Tuadera, which was threatened by a rebel offensive.
The Russians also provide personal protection for the president, and his influential national security adviser, Valery Zakharov, is Russian.
In an interview with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche on May 30, French President Emmanuel Macron said that “anti-French talks have given legitimacy to the predatory Russian mercenaries at the top of the state. Tuadera is now a hostage of the Wagner group.”
In July 2018, three Russian journalists investigating Wagner’s operations in the CAR for investigative media – Orhan Jemal, Alexander Rastorguev and Kiril Radchenko – were killed in an ambush.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oligarch in exile and a critic of the Kremlin, is funding their project, and the investigation he backed linked their murder to Prigogine.
But Russian investigators denied the allegations, insisting the trio had died in a robbery.
Prigogine, who has been sanctioned by both the EU and the United States, has denied allegations of links to Wagner and denied any role in the conflicts in Africa.
A French “sister” of the Statue of Liberty leaves for the United States
The work is based on a 3D digitization of a plaster model from 1878, used by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi to build the Statue of Liberty, donated by France to the United States in 1886.
A French “sister” of the Statue of Liberty in New York left for the United States, world agencies report.
The scale model of the sculpture is bronze, with a height of 2.83 meters. It was leased for 10 years to the French Embassy in the United States by the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. Since 2011, the statue has been at the entrance of the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Paris.
The work is based on a 3D digitization of a plaster model from 1878, used by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi to build the Statue of Liberty, donated by France to the United States in 1886 on the occasion of the centenary of their independence and became a of the symbols of the country. Gustave Eiffel, the creator of the Eiffel Tower, was also involved in the design of the internal structure of the monument.
The French little “sister” of the Statue of Liberty is transported in a sarcophagus, which is placed in a container equipped with a device for geolocation, ensuring that the container is closed and for temperature control. The transportation of the statue is financed by the French shipping company CMEM.
The voyage began in Le Havre on June 19-21 aboard the ship Tosca.
The statue will first be unveiled in New York, where it will be displayed on Ellis Island for the American national holiday on July 4, not far from Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty is located. The trip will end with the unveiling of the sister-in-law monument in the garden of the residence of the French ambassador to the United States in Washington on July 14 on the occasion of the French national holiday.
The larger version of the Statue of Liberty was donated to the United States by France. It was completed in 1886. The new one is 16 times smaller than the original. Also designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi in 1878, “The Statue of Liberty is precious to all Americans, and especially to me as a child of immigrants and a child of New York, growing up looking at her face as part of welcoming newcomers to the United States. so once we open up after Kovid, it’s great that Lady Liberty will be one of the passengers to the United States, “said Liam Wesley of the US Embassy in France.
The statue will symbolize Franco-American friendship and will arrive in America 135 years after the original was unveiled in New York. She is already on her way to her final destination.
Dozens of Macedonians once again lined up for Bulgarian passports
Mineral water and books by authors such as Simeon Radev and the Miladinovi brothers were distributed by Viktor Stoyanov from the Macedonia Foundation to those waiting in front of the Bulgarian Citizenship Directorate in Sofia, Trud newspaper reported.
The queue of applicants to submit documents curled up again in front of the service of the Ministry of Justice on Aksakov Street, as due to covid restrictions the institution did not accept documents of applicants for a long time.
Most of the people in the queue are citizens of the Republic of Northern Macedonia, who with authentic documents certify that they are of Bulgarian origin and wish to obtain our passport and citizenship.
Vasil Garvanliev who represented Northern Macedonia received over 400 threats because of the Bulgarian flag in his song for “Eurovision”.
Vasil Garvanliev stirred the spirits in his homeland after the Bulgarian flag appeared in his video for Eurovision, Nova TV reports.
The situation became even more heated when he admitted his Bulgarian roots and dual citizenship. And yet he proudly calls Northern Macedonia his homeland and never hides where he came from.
“For me, the most important thing is the music. I sing for the people. I didn’t expect it to be a problem that the Bulgarian flag is present in my video,” Garvanliev said.
He shared that he has been involved in music since he was a child.
The singer revealed that he has received over 400 threats due to the appearance of the Bulgarian flag in his song.
The US named areas for possible cooperation with Russia
Washington declared its readiness to cooperate with Russia in a number of areas, only if it meets the interests of both countries. In particular, joint work can be started in the field of strategic stability, humanitarian access in Syria, as well as in the Arctic. This was stated by the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Jake Sullivan.
While willing to cooperate, Washington should reserve the right to “send a clear signal” to Moscow about actions by the Russian authorities that could “harm” America, Sullivan said. His words are quoted by the press service of the White House. “Let’s see what comes out of us. There are issues of strategic stability, Syria and humanitarian access. There are issues related to the Arctic. There are other areas where it will be in our interests to find a basis for working with Russia,” the politician said.
In Geneva on June 16, a meeting of the presidents of Russia and the United States will take place. According to the Kremlin, the parties will discuss the state and prospects for the further development of bilateral relations, issues of strategic stability, the fight against the pandemic and the settlement of local conflicts. According to the White House, Biden plans to discuss human rights with Putin.
Earlier, Profile reported that the United States predicted a “victory” for the Russian leader in negotiations with his American counterpart. According to American journalist Jed Babbin, the head of the United States will try to bypass the hot topics of the agenda, drawing attention to the need to maintain stability in bilateral relations.
United States President Joe Biden answered a journalist’s question about why the Russian leader does not change his position despite many sanctions and constant pressure from Washington. At a press conference in Britain, the American leader said: “(Because – Profile) he is Vladimir Putin.”
After such an answer, Biden nevertheless noted that he was not ready to talk about this in more detail, first he needed to sit down at the negotiating table with his Russian counterpart. During the conversation, he ranked Putin among the “autocrats” who “have tremendous power, and they do not need to answer to society,” according to the White House press service.
Therefore, according to the head of the United States, it is impossible to give guarantees that the behavior of such a politician and his country can be changed. He once again stressed that Washington is ready to resolve the issue of Russia’s behavior, which, in the opinion of the Americans, does not comply with international law.
The summit of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva will take place on June 16. According to the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, it will be held at the Villa La Grange.
Earlier it was reported that Biden plans to point out to Putin about his “harmful behavior”. The United States aims to demonstrate that the American leader will give a “tough signal” to his Russian counterpart at their upcoming meeting. It is not specified whether the “one-on-one meeting” will take place without assistants and advisers.
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The expert explained the softening of the US position on Russia
The Americans are unlikely to go for tougher rhetoric against Moscow ahead of the Russia-US summit scheduled for mid-June, the Europeans go much further than Washington in their statements, Andrei Sidorov, dean of the Moscow State University’s Department of World Politics, told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the head of the European Parliament David Sassoli, against the backdrop of the emergency landing of a Ryanair plane in Belarus, called for considering tougher sanctions against Russian officials. Bloomberg, in turn, reported that the European Union has sent the US a draft joint statement for the summit, scheduled for June 15, in which it is proposed to report a decisive response to the “model of negative behavior” and “hostile actions” of Russia. The EU-US summit will be held in Brussels a day before the Russia-US summit in Geneva.
“The main picture emerging in the West is that the United States is softening its position, while its European allies are tightening it,” Sidorov said. According to the expert, it is now important for the EU as a whole to maintain tension with respect to Russia, since this is the only factor of consolidation. “The differences within are quite serious. One struggle around the Nord Stream is a clear example of the differences that exist in the European Union,” the expert emphasized.
“The Americans are slowing down, the European Union is pulling ahead in anti-Russian rhetoric and in policy of tightening sanctions,” he added.
According to the expert, “the Americans would not like to quarrel” before the summit of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. “It is important for Biden to hold a summit with Putin. … For Biden’s positioning, especially within the country, it would be very important to note that America is back, Biden is a global leader, the entire former presidency of Donald Trump is, as it were, leveled out, with Putin, like Trump, he can speak, “Sidorov said …
He believes that the Americans would not like to further increase the tension between the countries ahead of the summit. “In practice, there is multivariance, which complicates the entire diplomatic background and the agreements that, apparently, our Foreign Ministry and their State Department managed to reach at this meeting. Because, I think, even agreeing on a protocol will be quite difficult, given the existing situation in Russia. -American relations. <…> We no longer talk about improving relations, but about making our confrontation predictable, “the expert said.
The Russia-US summit is scheduled for June 16 in Geneva. Earlier, White House spokesman Jen Psaki said that Biden would discuss strategic stability, Ukraine and Belarus at a meeting with her Russian counterpart.
Pushkov appreciated Biden’s words about the upcoming meeting with Putin in Geneva
Moscow has something to show Washington if US President Joe Biden wants to discuss with Vladimir Putin the observance of human rights in Russia, Senator Alexei Pushkov wrote in a telegram. Earlier, the American president said that he would not allow human rights violations and intends to “make it clear” at a summit with the Russian leader.
“There will clearly not be an easy dialogue in Geneva. Biden is again making harsh statements about Putin,” Pushkov wrote. He stressed that Russia has something to do with the American side.
Pushkov voiced Biden’s installation before meeting with Putin. “For a start – to demand from Biden to stop persecuting Julian Assange and abandon the demand for his extradition to the United States,” the senator said.
The Russian and US presidents will hold talks on June 16 in Geneva. They are expected to discuss issues of strategic stability, the fight against the pandemic, the international agenda and regional conflicts.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed the hope that Putin and Biden will begin a dialogue on reviving the arms control regime, including the replacement of the START III treaty.
Washington is steadily stepping up its sanctions pressure on Moscow, using the “human rights situation” as a pretext for restrictions. In turn, the United States was included in the Russian list of unfriendly states. The Foreign Ministry noted that now relations between the countries are at an impasse and the main thing is to find ways to get out of it. At the same time, the Kremlin emphasized that the policy of restrictions against Moscow is not reaching its goal.
The Polish president visited the Ecumenical Patriarch
The President of Poland Andrzej Duda visited the Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul on 25.05.2021, after his official visit to Ankara. During their meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Duda and his wife Agatha Kornhauser Duda talked to the patriarch, who is an old acquaintance and family friend.
Speaking after the meeting, the patriarch said: “I am not a stranger to Poland anyway. We have a small Orthodox church headed by Metropolitan Sava. I have visited the beautiful country several times at the invitation of Mr. Duda. I also received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University and we opened a newly built Orthodox church. On my last visit in 2019, I went to Auschwitz to take part in the march of the residents. Pope John Paul II is a very important figure who has united us and our churches. “
Duda met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday. After the meeting, Duda described Turkey as Warsaw’s “strongest ally” in his region, saying he believed the two countries could repel external threats within NATO.
During the Polish president’s visit to Ankara, an agreement was signed allowing Poland to purchase 24 armed drones, becoming the first NATO member to buy such Turkish-made machines.
The Duda family later visited the village of Polonezkoy near Istanbul, founded last night by Polish emigrants fleeing retaliation after an uprising in 1830 – barely survivors of the rebels’ general battle with the Russian Empire, which lasted more than a year and a half – since January. 1830 to October 1831. In the lands seized by Austria and Prussia, they did not even manage to revolt. And after the defeat, Poland no longer existed on the map of Europe. The Hôtel Lambert in Paris was the headquarters of the Polish emigrants in Western Europe after their brutal defeat in the struggle to restore the Polish state, as the Polish emigrants, driven from their homeland by the Russian whip, were zealously supported by their compatriots-emigrants in the Ottoman capital Tchaikovsky – Sadak Pasha, M Drashki – Ata Bey et al.
Austrian President told how his parents left Russia in 1917
Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen said that his parents who lived in Russia, after the revolution in 1917, were forced to leave the country and go to Estonia.
“My parents, as young people, lived in Russia, and after the Russian revolution in 1917 they had to leave the country. Estonia gave them asylum, where they lived for about 20 years, and when (Joseph) Stalin again“ knocked ”on their door, they again had to leave the country, after which they ended up in Vienna and Tyrol, where I grew up, “Van der Bellen said at a panel discussion with an Estonian colleague in Vienna, calling the meeting with her” almost family. “
He noted that he has really close family ties with Estonia. “Until 1959, I was an Estonian citizen, which is funny in itself, because Estonia did not exist as an independent state, but the passport was recognized internationally. My father traveled a lot, he was a businessman, so there were no problems here,” the Austrian president said.
Given the white emigrant roots of his family, an interesting situation arose last year after the insistent invitation from Moscow – Austrian President received an invitation to attend the Victory Parade in Moscow. Federal President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen received an invitation to attend the parade in honor of the 75th anniversary of Victory in Moscow on May 9, 2020, the representative of the Austrian President Reinhard Pickl-Herk told RIA Novosti.
As could be expected, President Van der Bellen was abcent in Moscow, only few state leaders were present at the military parade on June 24: Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania, Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Republika Srpska Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Moldova Igor Dodon, Serbia Alexander Vuchich, Tajikistan Emomali Rahmonyoev Uzbekistan , South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov.
German historian Karl Schlögel said that he did not see “anything new” in Putin’s article, noted that the Russian president “uses the interpretation of history as an instrument of his current policy” and criticized the description of the process of joining the Baltic states to the USSR in Putin’s article – the program article of the President of the Russian Federation on World War II, in which Putin analyzes the origins of the war, harshly criticizes the Munich Agreement and the policies of the Western powers at that time and justifies the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which has already caused criticism in Poland and the Baltic countries.
The deputy chairman of the opposition party PARNAS, orientalist, doctor of historical sciences Andrei Zubov, considered the following conclusions of Putin’s article to be incorrect. Zubov criticized the thesis that “the League of Nations, which was dominated by the victorious powers – Great Britain and France, demonstrated its ineffectiveness and simply drowned in empty talk.” At the same time, Zubov admitted that “the League of Nations was unable to prevent the aggression of either Germany, Japan, Italy or the USSR”; as well as the thesis about the incorporation of the Baltic states, which question is one of the most sensitive for the Austrian president.
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