VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Service members of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces take part in coastal defence drills in the Odessa region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released January 28, 2022. Ukrainian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS - 

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (Jan 28) the United States and NATO had not addressed Russia's main security demands in their standoff over Ukraine but that Moscow was ready to keep talking.

Putin offered his first reaction to the US and NATO responses to Russia's demands in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron after weeks of personal public silence on the crisis, in which Russia has massed troops near Ukraine.

The Kremlin quoted Putin as telling Macron he would study the written responses provided by Washington and NATO this week before deciding on further action.

"Attention was drawn to the fact that the US and NATO replies did not take into account Russia's principal concerns," the Kremlin said.

It listed those concerns as avoiding NATO expansion, not deploying offensive weapons near Russia's borders and returning NATO "military capabilities and infrastructure" to how they were before former Warsaw Pact states in eastern Europe joined.

"The key question was ignored - how the United States and its allies intend to follow the principle of security integrity ... that no one should strengthen their security at the expense of another country's security," it said.

The United States and its allies have warned Putin that Russia will face tough economic sanctions if he attacks Ukraine.

The measures would build on sanctions imposed since Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in east Ukraine in 2014, though there are divisions among Western countries over how to respond as Europe is dependent on Russia for energy supplies.

NATO said it was watching closely as Russia, which already has tens of thousands of soldiers near Ukraine's border, moves troops and military hardware into Belarus for drills.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Western military alliance was ready to increase its troop presence in eastern Europe and that a Russian attack could take many forms including a cyber attack, attempted coup or sabotage.

"From the NATO side we are ready to engage in political dialogue. But we're also ready to respond if Russia chooses an armed conflict confrontation," Stoltenberg said in Brussels.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier on Friday sent a conciliatory message while also saying the US and Western responses did not satisfy Russia's main demands.

"If it depends on Russia, then there will be no war. We don't want wars. But we also won't allow our interests to be rudely trampled, to be ignored," he told Russian radio stations.

Lavrov said he expected to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken again in the next couple of weeks. Their last meeting, in Geneva on Jan 21, produced no breakthrough but both sides agreed to keep talking.

Lavrov said, without giving details, that the US counter-proposals were better than NATO's. Russia was studying them and Putin would decide how to respond.

The comments were among the most conciliatory that Moscow has made on the Ukraine crisis, which has escalated into one of the tensest East-West standoffs since the Cold War ended three decades ago.

While the US and NATO responses have not been made public, both have stated they are willing to engage with Moscow on a series of topics, including arms control.

The US ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, told reporters that Washington had raised the possibility of "reciprocal transparency measures ... including on offensive weapons systems in Ukraine, as well as measures to increase confidence regarding military exercises and manoeuvers in Europe". 

He said the size of Russia's build-up near Ukraine would allow an invasion with little warning, and urged it to pull back its forces.

"It's the equivalent of if you and I were having a discussion or a negotiation. If I put a gun on the table and say that I come in peace, that's threatening," Sullivan said.

Russia has dismissed calls to withdraw, saying it can deploy troops as it sees fit on its own territory.

The head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency told Reuters that Russia was prepared to attack Ukraine but added: "I believe that the decision to attack has not yet been made".

The Kremlin said Putin would spend a "lot of time" discussing European security issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visits Beijing next week for the opening of the Winter Olympics.

Putin also plans a meeting with German business people, following talks with Italian executives on Wednesday at which he underlined the importance of energy ties between Russia and Italy//CNA

FIUILE PHOTO: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends the launch of a joint investigation into alleged violations of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law committed by all parties to the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, November 3, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - 

China has agreed that the UN human rights chief can visit Xinjiang after the Beijing Olympics, the South China Morning Post said, citing unidentified sources, but activists and a Western diplomat expressed doubt after years of stalled talks.

Rights groups have accused China of widescale abuses against Uyghurs and other minority groups in its far western region of Xinjiang, including mass detention, torture and forced labour. The United States has accused China of genocide.

Beijing denies all allegations of abuse of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims and has described its policies as necessary to combat religious extremism.

The newspaper said approval for the visit by Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, after the Games conclude on Feb 20, was granted on condition that it should be "friendly" and not framed as an investigation.

Beijing had asked Bachelet's office not to publish a report on the situation in Xinjiang, the paper said on Thursday (Jan 27).

Bachelet's spokesperson said: "It is important that such a visit be meaningful, with unsupervised access to a wide range of civil society actors and locations as well as high-level engagement with government officials. As the high commissioner has said, meaningful, unfettered access to the Xinjiang region is crucial." 

A Western diplomat cast doubt on the SCMP report, saying China and Bachelet had been discussing a visit for years but had yet to agree the terms of reference, which, on Bachelet's side, include free and unfettered access to people of her choice.

A spokesman of China's foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, said Bachelet had been invited to visit Xinjiang a long time ago for the purpose of exchange and cooperation, and added that China opposed any "political manipulation" based on the visit.

With the UN Human Rights Council's five-week session set to start on Feb 28, activists and diplomats say the diplomatic window is closing for Bachelet to publish the report, expected to be based on her office's own research and interviews with alleged victims and witnesses in and out of Xinjiang and China.

US lawmakers had urged the UN human rights office to release its assessment before the Olympics.

Activists have voiced frustration for months about the delay in publishing the report. In December, Bachelet's spokesperson told a UN briefing in Geneva that her office was finalising its assessment of the situation.

As in 2008, the Olympics have again cast a spotlight on China's human rights record, which critics say has worsened since, leading Washington to call Beijing's treatment of Uyghur Muslims genocide and prompting a diplomatic boycott by the United States and other countries.

"No one, especially the world's leading human rights diplomat, should be fooled by the Chinese government's efforts to distract attention away from its crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities," Sophie Richardson, the China director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, told Reuters in an email on Friday//CNA

Logo of Bank Indonesia. (Antara) - 

Bank Indonesia (BI) has revealed that there was a foreign capital outflow from the domestic financial market of Rp5.34 trillion during the period from January 24 to January 27, 2022.

Foreign capital outflows were recorded in the state securities (SBN) market (Rp5.32 trillion) and stock market (Rp0.02 trillion), BI communications head Erwin Haryono said in an official statement released in Jakarta on Friday.

Overall, there was a net foreign capital outflow of Rp2.34 trillion in the SBN market during the period from January 1 to January 27, he informed. For the same period, there was a net foreign capital inflow of Rp5.72 trillion in the stock market, he added.

The investment risk premium, also known as the 5-year Indonesian investment risk perception index or Credit Default Swap (CDS) index, rose to 88.81 basis points (bps) on January 27 from 86.60 bps on January 21, Haryono said.

In addition, Indonesia's 10-year government bond yield rose from 6.44 percent on Thursday (January 27) to 6.46 percent at market opening on Friday morning, he added.

The yield is still more attractive when compared to the 10-year tenor United States (US) bond yield, which rose to 1.799 percent, he informed.

Meanwhile, the rupiah weakened slightly on Friday morning from the level of Rp14,385 per US dollar to Rp14,360 per US dollar, the central bank noted. Meanwhile, the US dollar index (DXY) strengthened to a level of 97.26, it added//ANT

Bank Indonesia logo - 

Inflation will reach 0.53 percent in January this year compared to the previous month (month to month/mtm), according to Bank Indonesia’s latest Price Monitoring Survey for the fourth week of the month.

Meanwhile, the estimated inflation in January 2022, on a calendar year basis, will be 0.53 percent (year to date/ytd) and 2.15 percent on an annual basis (year on year/yoy).

Inflation has remained at a controlled level, head of BI's communication department, Erwin Haryono, said in an official statement released in Jakarta on Friday.

The main contributors to inflation in January 2022 until the fourth week have been household fuel commodities (0.12 percent mtm), broiler meat (0.09 percent mtm), and tomatoes and rice at (0.05 percent mtm), he informed.

Furthermore, inflation has also been contributed by broiler eggs, powdered/liquid detergent soap, and filtered cigarettes (0.03 percent mtm each), red onions (0.02 percent mtm), and cayenne pepper, cooking oil, oranges, dry instant noodles, garlic, kale, granulated sugar, and gold jewelry (0.01 percent mtm each), he said.

Meanwhile, commodities that have recorded deflation include red chilies (0.05 percent mtm) and air transportation fares (0.02 percent mtm), he added.

BI will continue to strengthen coordination with the government and relevant authorities to closely monitor the dynamics of the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on the Indonesian economy from time to time, Haryono said.

Follow-up policy coordination steps that need to be taken will also be observed to maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability, as well as to support Indonesia's economic growth so that it remains sound and resilient, he added.

According to Bank Indonesia (BI), the national economy will likely grow at a faster pace this year compared to 2021.

It has made this projection in the Indonesian Economic Report, published along with Bank Indonesia's Annual Report and Indonesia Sharia Economic and Financial Report 2021.

"Under the Indonesian Economic Report, we convey our optimism in 2022 in detail. InsyaAllah (God Willing), the economy will perform better within the range of 4.7 percent to 5.4 percent," BI Governor Perry Warjiyo stated earlier.

Warjiyo forecast that inflation will increase in 2022, but will remain under control, to achieve the target of three percent, give or take one percent.

“The exchange rate will come under pressure this year. However, we have committed ourselves to maintaining the stability of the exchange rate in coordination with the Finance Ministry," he remarked.

The BI governor further urged the banking industry to increase the number of loans extended to the public.

Warjiyo forecast credit growth in 2022 will cross seven to nine percent.

"Let us increase the amount of credit and financing to help economic and business recovery that constitutes the power of our synergy, national economic policy synergy. Vaccination is a prerequisite," he remarked.

He expressed gratitude to the government for the expedited vaccination drive.

"InsyaAllah (God Willing), we will get the booster vaccination soon, so that the economic sector, fiscal and monetary stimuli, financing and reform in the real and financial sectors will soon open," he remarked//ANT