Tag: Russia

“Should Putin appear on German territory, he will definitely be arrested,” Feldhusen said. She recalled that Germany is a signatory to the Rome Statute along with over 120 countries.

“It will be very difficult for Putin to go on official trips to those countries,” she added. According to the diplomat, Germany believes that the warrant was issued in a timely manner.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants on March 17 for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova, alleging their involvement in the unlawful removal of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation since Feb. 24, 2022.

The Kremlin dictator’s arrest is authorized in 123 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, said.

According to the Office of the President of Ukraine, the court’s ruling implies that there will be no negotiations with the present Russian leadership and no lifting of sanctions.

Last week, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen announced that his government could corroborate a report by the Russian gas giant Gazprom, the operator of the undersea pipeline, about a strange object found near Nord Stream 2. The company sent pictures of the item to Danish authorities, while the Russian government made a formal inquiry through its embassy, the minister said. Copenhagen treats the discovery seriously and will investigate further, Rasmussen pledged at the time.

The object was mentioned last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a TV interview. He said it was found during a Gazprom survey about 30 kilometers away from where the pipeline was breached. The device may be an antenna used in remotely detonating a charge, the president suggested, citing experts.

Moscow asked for permission to explore further, Putin added, necessary because the object is located in Denmark’s exclusive zone. Russia could organize a mission “on its own, jointly with [the Danes], or, better yet, with an international group of experts in explosives who are trained to work at such depth.” Rasmussen said such permission would not be granted, triggering a rebuke from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced Russia’s readiness to switch to the yuan in foreign trade settlements with countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

He said this during the Russian-Chinese talks with the participation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, RBC reports.

Currently, the share of the yuan in Russia’s export calculations is about 16%.

“We are in favour of using the Chinese yuan in settlements between Russia and the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. I am sure that these forms of payments in yuan will be developed between Russian partners and their colleagues in third countries,” Putin said.

According to [Putin], national currencies are already actively used in Russian-Chinese trade.

The landing comes as the United States and Philippines strengthen military relations as China becomes more aggressive in the South China Sea.

Two U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors landed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines last week in a move signaling increased defense efforts between the two countries.

During the exercise, U.S. pilots from the Alaska-based 525th Fighter Squadron joined aviators from the Philippine Air Force’s 5th Fighter Wing for low-altitude flyovers, air combat maneuvering, formation training, and, with help from a KC-135 Stratotanker, air-to-air refueling over the heavily contested South China Sea.

“This was the first time that F-22s, or any fifth-generation aircraft, have landed on and operated out of the Philippines,” Capt. Karl Schroeder, one of the Raptor pilots, said in a release. “This milestone with a regional ally aids in providing stability and security to the Indo-Pacific.”

Regional stability has become an increasingly glaring focus of the two militaries as threats continue to emerge out of Beijing. While the Philippine Constitution prohibits permanent basing of foreign troops, the two nations’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement does allow for an increased footprint of American forces by way of rotations to a handful of predetermined locations.

Reportedly, one document is a statement on plans for economic cooperation, and the other is a statement on plans to deepen the partnership.

In addition, Russian sources say that Putin “supported the development of sporting links between the Russian Federation and China and the establishment of a sports association within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation”.

He explained that this is necessary because the West “uses sport as an instrument of pressure”.

The United States said Tuesday it is imposing a new round of sanctions on Iranian firms and people accused of procuring equipment used for Iranian drones.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control coordinated with the FBI to designate four firms and three people in Iran and Turkey for allegedly buying equipment, including European-made engines, to be used for Iran’s drone and weapons programs.

Those targeted for sanctions include the Iran-based Defense Technology and Science Research Center, its procurement firm Farazan Industrial Engineering Inc. and two other firms along with purchasing agents from the companies.

South Africa’s Paramount Group is gearing up production of composite blades for Soviet-designed helicopters with the establishment of a production facility in the UAE, looking to collect orders from African operators of the aircraft in need of maintenance and configuration upgrades.

Last month, Paramount said it signed a strategic partnership agreement with UAE-based AAL Group to locally manufacture main and tail rotor composite blades for Mi-type helicopters. The Emirati entity has provided a full-range of maintenance and repair services for the Mi-family of rotary-wing aircraft for more than two decades

“Our activities with AAL Group in the UAE will include but not be limited to the management of an advanced manufacturing plant, an assembly line and maintenance repair and operations facilities, servicing and upgrading fleets of helicopters for our African partners,” Steve Griessel, Global CEO of Paramount told Defense News.

There are more than 23 operators of Mi-type helicopters across the African continent, with Togo being the most recent to receive new deliveries of two Mi-17 transport aircraft in December.

Russia’s defence ministry has said a Russian Su-35 combat plane was scrambled over the Baltic Sea after two United States strategic bombers flew in the direction of the Russian border, but that the fighter jet returned to base after the US planes moved away from Russian territory. The encounter on Monday follows last week’s diplomatic furore following the crash of a US surveillance drone into the Black Sea after it was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets in what was the first known direct military contact between Russia and the US since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency said that the National Defence Control Centre of Russia’s Ministry of Defence identified the two US planes as B-52H strategic bombers. “On March 20, 2023, the radars of the air defence forces of the Western Military District on duty detected two air targets flying in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation over the Baltic Sea,” the ministry said, according to TASS. The Su-35 fighter was scrambled to prevent “a violation of the state border” by the US aircraft, the ministry said, adding that the aircraft reached a “designated air patrol area”. “After the foreign military aircraft moved away from the state border of the Russian Federation, the Russian plane returned to its home base,” the ministry said, adding that the Su-35 was strictly in line with international air law. “No violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was permitted,” the ministry said.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova. They are accused of deporting children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia, which, according to the court, constitutes a war crime.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the document “legally worthless.”

“Decisions of the International Criminal Court have no value for our country, in particular from a legal point of view,” Zakharova wrote in a Telegram post.

“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and doesn’t bear obligations under it. Russia doesn’t cooperate with this body, and possible ‘recipes’ for arrest coming out of the International Court of Justice will be legally worthless and void for us.”

Deputy head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, made a rather discourteous comment:

“No need to explain how this (piece) paper should be used,” Medvedev said, adding a toilet paper roll emoji to his Twitter post.

The International Criminal Court said Friday that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

It was the first time the global court has issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

The ICC said in a statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation.

The move was immediately dismissed by Moscow.

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it expects to invest 300 trillion won ($230 billion) over the next 20 years as part of an ambitious South Korean national project to build the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing base near the capital, Seoul.

The chip-making “mega cluster,” which will be established in Gyeonggi Province by 2042, will be anchored by five new semiconductor plants built by Samsung. It will aim to attract 150 other companies producing materials and components or designing high-tech chips, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Shoigu told Austin that the incident was caused by the Americans violating the airspace restriction declared by Russia, with all the proper international notifications in place. Shoigu called US drone flights off the Russian coast “provocative in nature” and risked an escalation of tensions in the Black Sea. 

While Russia does not desire such a development, it will “continue to respond proportionately to all provocations,” Shoigu said. He added that the two nuclear powers “must act as responsibly as possible,” which includes keeping a military channel open to discuss any crisis.

Speaking at a Pentagon press briefing, Austin confirmed that he made the call, and said it was “important that great powers be models of transparency and communication.” However, he insisted the US would “continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows.”

An American intelligence drone crashed after colliding with a Russian fighter over the Black Sea on Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force’s European headquarters said in a release.

The MQ-9 Reaper drone was flying a routine surveillance mission in international airspace when it crossed paths with two Su-27 fighters around 7 a.m. local time, according to U.S. Air Forces in Europe.

The Russian jets began antagonizing the unmanned aircraft, repeatedly dumping fuel on and buzzing in front of the much smaller Reaper, the Air Force said. One Su-27 drew close enough to hit the drone’s tail propeller, causing its remote operators to lose control of the plane.