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27
June

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Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies on Monday pledged to stand with Ukraine "for as long as it takes" by cranking up sanctions on Russia and backing security commitments for Kyiv in a post-war settlement.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the global economic fallout such as soaring energy and food prices has dominated this year's summit of the leaders of Germany, the United States, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Britain.

"We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support and stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," said the statement.

The statement was issued on the second day of the summit taking place at a castle in the Bavarian Alps, shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed G7 leaders on the war via video link.

In that address, which was not broadcast to the public, Zelenskiy asked for anti-aircraft defence systems, more sanctions on Russia and security guarantees, a European official said. He also said he wanted Russia's war in Ukraine ended by the end of the year before the winter sets in.

The G7 leaders said they would continue to coordinate efforts to meet Ukraine's urgent military needs and were ready to work with interested countries and institutions on sustained security commitments.

It was up to Ukraine to decide on a future peace settlement, free from external pressure or influence, they said, but they stood ready to support an international reconstruction plan, drawn up and implemented by Ukraine in coordination with partners.

This year's G7 host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said last week the country needed a "Marshall Plan", like the U.S. programme that rebuilt Europe after World War Two.

"We welcome the Presidency’s initiative to convene with Ukraine an international high-level experts conference, to make progress on a comprehensive reconstruction plan," the statement read.

The G7 leaders were ready to grant, or had already pledged or provided up to $29.5 billion in 2022 to help Ukraine close its financing gap, the statement said. Between 2014 and 2021, the group had already provided more than $60 billion of support.

The leaders were committed to cranking up the economic pressure on Russian "President (Vladimir) Putin’s regime and its enablers in Belarus, depriving Russia of the economic means to persist in its war of aggression against Ukraine".

They would also impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for war crimes, exercising "illegitimate authority" in Ukraine or helping Russian efforts that they said increased global food insecurity.

Russia denies committing war crimes in what it calls a special military operation, aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and removing dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and its allies in the West say this is a baseless excuse for a war of aggression. (Reuters)

27
June

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Ukraine's richest man filed a lawsuit against Russia at Europe’s top human rights court on Monday, seeking compensation over what he has said are billions of dollars in business losses since Russia's invasion.

Rinat Akhmetov, owner of the Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol where Ukrainian fighters defied weeks of Russian bombardment, sued Russia for "grievous violations of his property rights" at the European Court of Human Rights, his System Capital Management (SCM) holding company said.

It said Akhmetov was also seeking a court order "preventing Russia from engaging in further blockading, looting, diversion and destruction of grain and steel" produced by his companies.

"Evil cannot go unpunished. Russia's crimes against Ukraine and our people are egregious, and those guilty of them must be held liable," SCM quoted Akhmetov as saying.

"The looting of Ukraine’s export commodities, including grain and steel, has already resulted in higher prices and people dying of hunger worldwide. These barbaric actions must be stopped, and Russia must pay in full."

Asked about the suit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was no longer under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

"We left the (jurisdiction of) relevant documents. Therefore, here the answer is absolutely obvious," he said.

Russia has previously dismissed Ukrainian allegations of stealing from territories it has occupied during what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine.

Forbes magazine put Akhmetov's net worth at $15.4 billion in 2013. Since then, his business empire has been hit by Russia's Feb. 24 invasion and by years of fighting in Ukraine’s east since Russia-backed separatists seized territory there in 2014.

Akhmetov said last month his company Metinvest, Ukraine's largest steelmaker, had suffered $17 to $20 billion in losses because of Russia's bombardment of its steel plants in Mariupol. The final amount would be determined in a lawsuit, he said. (Reuters)

27
June

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NATO’s first new strategy concept in a decade will cite China as a concern for the first time but member states remain at odds over how to describe the country with the world's largest military and its relationship with Russia, NATO diplomats say.

Both a summit of the G7 rich industrial democracies now underway in Germany and a NATO summit to follow will tackle China's deepening ties with Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and what is seen as the growing inclination of China to flex its geopolitical muscle and coercive economic might abroad.

The new strategic concept to be endorsed at the NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday will address increasing threats posed by Russia and, for the first time, China, the world's second largest economy, U.S. officials said last week.

A White House official voiced confidence on Sunday that the document would include "strong" language on China, but said the negotiations were continuing ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid on June 29-30. 

NATO diplomats said the United States and Britain have pushed for more forceful language to reflect what they see as China's increasing military ambitions and growing concern that it could attack the democratically governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its own territory.

France and Germany - given major European industrial investment in China - meanwhile favour more measured references, said the NATO diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the document was still being finalized.

At the Group of Seven summit on Monday, U.S. National Security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that NATO's strategy paper would "speak in ways that are unprecedented about the challenge that China poses".

One diplomat said a compromise was taking shape under which China would be described as a "systemic challenge", while including balancing language referring to a "willingness to work on areas of common interest" with Beijing.

The strategy document, which will update U.S.-led NATO's objectives and values, will also state member states' "awareness of the need for "resilience", the diplomat said.

Negotiators are in addition fine-tuning how to describe the relationship between China and Russia, with the Czech Republic and Hungary strongly opposed to the phrase "strategic convergence" to define it, one of the diplomats said.

China's foreign ministry has said the sole purpose of Western assertions about Chinese threats is to contain and suppress China's development and maintain U.S. hegemony.

CHINA'S 'GLOBAL AMBITIONS'

NATO officials are racing to complete the new strategic concept in time for the Madrid summit, where the Russian invasion of Ukraine will take centre stage.

Britain recently adopted language describing Russia as an “acute, direct threat” and China as a “strategic challenge.”

The Pentagon's latest annual report to the U.S. Congress underscored the importance of "meeting the pacing challenge presented by the People's Republic of China’s increasingly capable military and its global ambitions".

U.S. officials stressed the importance of including China in NATO's updated strategic concept, and Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea were therefore invited to the NATO summit for the first time.

The point was to signal that NATO is not “taking our eye off the ball in China” even as it focuses on strengthening Ukraine's defences, one of the officials said. “It's firmed up the democratic world on both Russia and China.”

“NATO can’t afford to ignore China,” agreed a European official. “Europe was a bit behind in recognising this, but views have definitely shifted in light of Hong Kong,” referring to Beijing's security crackdown on the Asian financial hub.

China says Taiwan and Hong Kong are purely its internal affairs.

Another European official said: “We tried to build an era of being nice and incentivising China and we got President Xi (Jinping)." Western critics say Xi has taken Beijing on a more authoritarian path at home and aggressive course abroad. "So I think most people would think a different approach is needed."

Regarding NATO's original mission to counter Russian threats to the West, the official added: “NATO’s area of operation is simply north of the Tropic of Cancer. It has no eastern or western limits. So I think it’s fair that NATO looks at that.” (Reuters)

27
June

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Aftershocks continue to be felt in the area hit by a deadly earthquake in Afghanistan last week and the area remains unsafe for survivors, a senior Afghan official said on Monday, as authorities continued to grapple with the disaster's fallout.

Afghanistan's most destructive earthquake in decades struck a remote southeastern region near the Pakistani border on Wednesday last week, killing at least 1,000 people, injuring 3,000 and destroying 10,000 homes.

Among the dead were 155 children, with nearly 250 children injured and 65 orphaned, the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) said.

"The place is not safe yet," Afghanistan acting Minister of Public Health Qalandar Ibad told a news conference in Kabul, adding that tremors continued to be felt in the area.

Aftershocks on Friday killed five people and injured 11. There are no reports of injuries in the later tremors reported by Ibad.

He said structures partially damaged in the main shock are not liveable, and people had to live in tents.

On the other hand, he said the mercury would drop fast in comings weeks in the mountains and this presented a fresh challenge for authorities.

"People do not have shelters - elders, children. ... We ask the international community to pay attention," he said.

The disaster is a major test for Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers, who many foreign governments have shunned because of concerns about human rights since they seized power last year.

In addition, sanctions on Afghan government bodies and banks have cut off most direct assistance for a country that was facing a humanitarian crisis, including famine, even before the 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck.

The United Nations and several other countries have sent aid to the affected area.

An Afghan aid agency appealed on Monday for cash for survivors of the earthquake, saying it had no room to store food and had enough tents, and that money for villagers to meet their particular needs would be most useful now.

"People ask for cash in the areas. They say they've received enough aid," the deputy head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), Mullah Noordden Turaby, told journalists.

Turaby said the ARCS had no place to store food and they had enough tents for shelter.

He said cash would be more useful to survivors struggling to make ends meet and the ARCS could help distribute money if donors were worried about transparency.

The U.N. humanitarian office reported progress in its latest bulletin on Sunday, saying that a shortage of tents had been resolved and groups were distributing various aid including food, hygiene kits and cash.

However, it said several logistical problems remained including limited communications as a result of downed mobile phone networks and poor road conditions in some areas. (Reuters)