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March
Cambodia PM condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and echoed calls for an immediate ceasefire made by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Cambodia currently chairs.
Russia launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine just over a month ago, sparking the worst geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War Two. The countries are engaged in peace talks in Turkey. read more
Hun Sen invoked Cambodia's own history of occupation by Vietnam and cast doubt on Russia's ability to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
"I still stand in solidarity with Ukrainian people against the invasion," he said on the sidelines of a hospital inauguration event.
In statements issued by Cambodia as chair of ASEAN, the bloc has urged restraint and dialogue, but made no mention of Russia's role in the invasion.
Of ASEAN's 10 member countries, only Singapore has announced its own sanctions against Russia, targeting banks and electronics exports - a rare move for the city-state. Others like Indonesia, which holds the G20 presidency this year and has said it will remain neutral, have raised concerns about the invasion but stopped short of condemning it.
Vietnam joined 34 other countries in abstaining from a recent vote on a United Nations resolution to denounce Russia. (Reuters)
March
Turkey faces risks acting as sanctions 'safe haven' for Russians
Written by Nur Yasmin
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked a flurry of Western sanctions on Moscow, at least one oligarch and thousands of other Russians have arrived in Turkey, seen as a safe place to stay, invest and hold assets despite its NATO membership.
Acting as a safe haven raises risks for Turkey's government, banks and businesses that could face tough decisions and penalties if the United States and others ramp up pressure on Moscow with broader "secondary" sanctions.
Here is what is at stake:
WHY IS TURKEY ATTRACTIVE TO RUSSIANS?
Turkey has said Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine is unacceptable but opposes the sanctions on principle and is not enforcing them.
Turkey's economy, already battered by a currency crisis and soaring inflation, relies heavily on Russian oil, gas, trade and tourism.
Some 14,000 Russians have reportedly arrived in Turkey since the war began on Feb. 24, many carrying wads of cash due to blocks on their U.S. credit cards and challenges in doing basic banking. Realtors say many are using cash and converted crypto currencies to buy property as a safe investment. read more
Roman Abramovich, one of several Russian oligarchs blacklisted by the West, has also visited Turkey and two of his superyachts worth a combined $1.2 billion docked at Turkish resorts last week. Oligarchs could invest more, sources familiar with private talks have told Reuters.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday Russian oligarchs and citizens were "of course" welcome and could do business in Turkey according to international law.
CAN THE SAFE HAVEN LAST?
Western governments have already seized some oligarchs' assets, have frozen Russia's reserves and ousted it from the SWIFT banking system, and they could press Ankara to tighten loop holes. Analysts say they could impose secondary sanctions on those doing business with the main target, Russia.
"If the humanitarian tragedy persists and Putin has no intention of backing down, I think secondary sanctions are inevitable," said Hakan Akbas, founding partner of Istanbul-based Strategic Advisory Services, which deals with sanctions.
"The West will pay more attention to any potential loop-hole countries so they don't become safe havens," he said. "Ankara's hands would be tied... and it would inevitably have to take a tougher stance against Russia."
This could send a chill through Turkish banks and companies dealing with Russian clients or doing business abroad. In 2020, the U.S. Treasury applied secondary sanctions on Turkey's Defence Industry Directorate, its chief and others over Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 missiles. read more
Yet given Turkey's efforts to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv, it could avoid the sanctions crossfire. Another round of peace talks is due to take place in Istanbul this week. read more
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has welcomed Ankara's diplomatic role, while adding "we would very much like Turkey to implement all the sanctions".
HOW ARE BANKS AND COMPANIES PREPARING?
Faced with a flood of new Russian customers, Turkish banks have resisted some deposit and transfer requests and ramped up compliance checks for fear of contravening sanctions.
This has frustrated some Russians. But it reflects caution across the sector that seeks to avoid a repetition of the years-long U.S. prosecution of Turkish state lender Halkbank, which is accused of having helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions. read more
The BDDK bank regulator said it has given no instruction to limit citizens of any country. But a senior banking source said the sanctions were nonetheless "perceived as a new risk" and firms had met several times to discuss it since the war began.
Akbas said big Turkish companies and conglomerates have more than $10 billion in assets in Russia, and Moscow is now pressing them to continue operations and pay workers or risk bankruptcy.
Many of them do far more business in the West and may have to make a "binary decision" whether to leave Russia as several big U.S. and European brands have done, he said. read more
Any sanctions fallout could further bruise Turkey's reputation among foreign investors after years of unorthodox monetary policy and outflows.
That reputation took another hit last year when an international watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, downgraded Turkey to a so-called grey list for failing to head off money laundering and terrorist financing. (Reuters)
March
Britain's Truss says Russian peace talks can't 'sell out' Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Ukraine must not be sold short in peace talks with Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be seen to benefit from the invasion, British foreign minister Liz Truss said on Monday.
"We need to ensure that any future talks don't end up selling Ukraine out, or repeating the mistakes of the past," Truss told lawmakers.
"We remember the uneasy settlement of 2014 which failed to give Ukraine lasting security. Putin just came back for more. That is why we cannot allow him to win from this appalling aggression." (Reuters)
March
Ukraine intelligence publishes names of 620 alleged Russian agents
Written by Nur Yasmin
Ukraine's military intelligence on Monday published the names and contact details of 620 people it alleged were officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) involved in "criminal activities" in Europe.
Reuters could not verify the information. Russia did not immediately comment on the list of names.
In a post in Russian on its official website, the intelligence arm of the Ukrainian defence ministry listed people it said were FSB employees registered at the agency's headquarters in Moscow.
"Employees of the FSB of Russia involved in the criminal activities of the aggressor-state in Europe," it said, without sharing further details on the alleged crimes.
It provided the names under a photo of the Moscow headquarters of the FSB, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB security police. (Reuters)
March
Canada's Trudeau secures national childcare legacy with Ontario deal
Written by Nur Yasmin
Canada's Liberal government on Monday signed a C$13.2 billion ($10.5 billion) childcare deal with Ontario that will see fees in the province cut in half by the end of 2022 and create a national daycare system.
Ontario, the country's most populous province, was the last one to sign on to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's C$10-a-day daycare strategy. The Liberals last April earmarked C$30 billion over five years for a national childcare program.
The federal investment of C$13.2 billion in Ontario would be spread over six years, with an initial C$10.2 billion to reduce childcare costs to C$10 per day, on average, within four years.
Trudeau, announcing the deal alongside Ontario's Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, said it would also create 86,000 new daycare spaces by the end of 2026.
"Accessible, high-quality childcare is key to building a stronger future, a more resilient economy and growing the middle class," Trudeau said.
The dire need for affordable, reliable childcare in Canada was laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic, as daycare and school closures forced many parents, mostly women, to cut back work hours or leave jobs to care for children, hurting productivity.
Parents in Ontario currently pay on average C$46 a day for childcare, the federal government said. The agreement aims to reduce licensed childcare fees for children under six by 25% as of April 1, with another reduction by the end of 2022.
"In total, fees for families will be reduced in 2022, on average, by 50%, relieving parents of C$1.1 billion in childcare costs," Ontario said in a statement. (Reuters)
March
Japan to begin work on relief package to counter rising fuel, food costs
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan's prime minister will order the government on Tuesday to put together a fresh relief package by the end of April to cushion the economic blow from rising fuel and food costs, fanned by the Ukraine crisis.
The order will likely intensify debate within the government and the ruling coalition over the scale of spending and source of funding, with some lawmakers calling for a package of around 10 trillion yen ($80.61 billion).
"We must respond flexibly to counter the impact on corporate activity and people's livelihood" from the Ukraine war-driven spike in raw material prices, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told parliament on Monday, announcing his plan to make the order.
Kishida is under pressure, including from his party's ruling coalition partner Komeito, to compile an extra budget, instead of relying solely on reserves set aside to cope with pandemic-related spending.
"We haven't told the prime minister the extra budget must pass through the current parliament session, though that is what we have in mind," Komeito executive Keiichi Ishii told reporters after a meeting with Kishida.
Kishida offered few clues on whether an extra budget would be considered, saying that the priority was to tap money from COVID-19 reserves.
Komeito presented Kishida with a proposal on the package that called for expanding subsidies to industries hit by rising fuel costs, cutting the gasoline tax as well as steps to mitigate the impact of rising grain prices.
Rising fuel and raw material prices have dealt an additional blow to Japan's economy, which has lagged other countries in making a sustained recovery from the impact of the pandemic.
While a weak yen has historically benefited the export-reliant economy, the Japanese currency's plunge to six-year lows against the dollar is now seen as a risk to recovery by inflating rising import costs.
Political pressure for big fiscal spending is expected to heighten ahead of an upper house election in the summer, which Kishida must win to solidify his grip of power within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party. (Reuters)
March
U.S concerned for democracy in Tunisia, calls for respect of freedoms
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United States is concerned about the state of democracy in Tunisia, a senior U.S. official said on Monday, calling on authorities in the North African country to respect freedom of expression and halt civilian military trials.
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Uzra Zeya stressed in a statement following a visit to Tunisia the importance of an inclusive political and economic reform process, in coordination with political parties, unions and civil society.
The U.S. comments add to pressure on President Kais Saied, who critics say is seeking to cement one-man rule since he suspended parliament and assumed executive power last summer, before saying he would rule by decree.
His opponents say this amounted to a coup.
Saied says his actions were needed to save Tunisia from what he describes as a corrupt, self-serving elite and a political system that brought a decade of paralysis and stagnation in the wake of the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy.
But critics say his actions, which also include replacing the body that guaranteed judicial independence and threatening to stop foreign funding for civil society organizations, show little tolerance for dissent.
Tunisian state media will go on strike on April 2 to protest at the president's "attempts to control public media", the main journalists union said, amid fears for the right to free speech.
Saied, a former constitutional professor, has shown little appetite for compromise since his landslide second-round election victory in 2019.
He has already held an online consultation, with very low turnout, to canvas public opinion about the new constitution, and has promised to name a panel of Law professors to draft it and put it to a referendum in July.
But Saied's roadmap was rejected by most of the parties who say he is seeking to consolidate his own political project. (reuters)
March
EU countries look to share effort of hosting Ukrainian refugees
Written by Nur Yasmin
Germany called on Monday for a more even distribution of Ukrainian refugees in the European Union, after some 3.8 million people fled Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on their country and crossed into the 27-nation bloc.
Since Russia invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24 the fighting has displaced more than 10 million people and forced nearly 4 million to flee Ukraine in Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War Two, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Most have arrived in Poland, which says it has welcomed 2.3 million people so far. Ukraine's other EU neighbours Romania, Slovakia and Hungary have also seen high arrivals of Ukrainian refugees, the vast majority of whom are women and children.
"We need to more actively distribute refugees within the EU and show solidarity by taking in refugees," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters in Brussels, where interior ministers of all EU countries met to discuss the situation.
Poland, with population of 38 million people, Austria and the Czech Republic are under the biggest pressure, according to an index prepared by the EU's executive based on the number of refugees as well as the size of population.
Germany - with more than 80 million people, the biggest EU country - says it has registered more than 270,000 Ukrainian refugees, compared with some 30,000 who have entered France, the bloc's second-biggest member.
Spain has taken some 25,000 people, while the much smaller Austria and Lithuania have received 35,000 each. Some 13,500 have filed documents in Ireland. The Czech Republic has received some 300,000 Ukrainians, almost 3% of its population.
"The wave is huge, and we have to anticipate that it's not over yet. Now we are counting on the solidarity of other EU countries," said Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, warning his country was running out of appropriate reception sites.
The ministers discussed sharing information and synchronising databases, as well as transporting refugees further west in the EU, a bloc of 450 million people.
Warsaw, Prague and Vilnius called for financial aid, while other EU countries stressed refugees must be properly registered on arriving in the EU for states to be able to prepare the necessary housing and schools, as well as for safety reasons.
NO QUOTAS
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said police must also check and register scrupulously those picking up refugees to reduce the risk of human trafficking or sexual exploitation.
"What's really important now is that we acknowledge the risks with such a mass movement of people, risks around human trafficking, child exploitation but also criminality," echoed Ireland's Helen McEntee.
EU officials said there would be no obligatory quotas of refugees to be hosted per country, a fiercely contested policy at the time of the bloc's previous major immigration spike in 2015-16.
More than 1 million Syrians reached Europe then, leaving the 27 bitterly at odds over welcoming them. These feuds have led to the collapse of the bloc's joint asylum system and damaged EU unity, turning migration into a hot-button issue.
Johansson said some 50,000 Ukrainians were now arriving daily in the EU, down from as many as 100,000 earlier on. But there was no knowing how many more would come. read more
"If we end up with figures doubling or tripling, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and others won't be able to handle this anymore," said a senior EU diplomat. (Reuters)
March
Almost 5,000 killed in Mariupol since Russian siege began, mayor's office
Written by Nur Yasmin
Nearly 5,000 people, including about 210 children, have been killed in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol since Russian forces laid siege to it, a spokesperson for the mayor said on Monday.
It was not immediately clear how Mayor Vadym Boichenko had calculated the toll from a month of Russian bombardment that has devastated the city and trapped tens of thousands of residents without power and with few supplies.
Boichenko's office said 90% of Mariupol's buildings had been damaged and 40% destroyed, including hospitals, schools, kindergartens and factories.
About 140,000 people had fled the city on the Sea of Azov before the Russian siege began and 150,000 have exited since then, leaving 170,000 still there, according to its figures, which Reuters could not immediately verify.
Boichenko, who is no longer in Mariupol, said on national television earlier on Monday that about 160,000 civilians were still trapped in the city.
"People are beyond the line of humanitarian catastrophe," he said. "We need to completely evacuate Mariupol."
Ukraine said it was impossible to create any safe corridors on Monday, citing intelligence reports about possible Russian "provocations" along the routes.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, denies targeting civilians and blames Ukraine for repeated failures to agree on safe corridors for trapped residents.
"The Russian Federation is playing with us. We are in the hands of the invaders," Boichenko said.
The two sides are set to resume peace talks on Tuesday in Turkey. read more
STRATEGIC PRIZE
Mariupol is widely seen as a strategic prize as its capture could enable Russia to create a land bridge between Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine.
People who have fled Mariupol have been describing how tough it was living for weeks under almost constant bombardment.
"There is no food for the children, especially the infants. They delivered babies in basements because women had nowhere to go to give birth, all the maternity hospitals were destroyed," a grocery worker from Mariupol who gave her name only as Nataliia told Reuters after reaching nearby Zaporizhzhia.
"I also found out today that my son's classmate's parents were torn apart right in the yard before his eyes."
She said trapped residents had spent time looking for snow which they could melt to have water to wash their hands.
Valeriia, a 20-year-old student from Mariupol, said electricity, internet access, water and heating had been cut off on March 2. Soon afterwards, heavy fighting broke out nearby and part of his home was destroyed.
"Constant shooting, shelling. We were sitting in the corridor, we did not sleep or eat properly for several days. Because as soon as you get out of there, the shootings start, and you run back," she said.
She and her sister were given a ride out of the city by other residents who fled in a private car. They left their parents behind.
Sergiy, a metallurgy plant worker, recalled Grad rockets slamming into buildings and people being killed.
"There was a man walking by, this Grad, as cynical as it sounds, tore him to pieces, a corpse. I saw corpses lying around the city, you could see that a mine had exploded and shrapnel was hitting people," he said. (reuters)
March
S.Korea's president-elect says N.Korea has nothing to gain from provocation
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said North Korea has nothing to gain from provocation, a day after the nuclear-armed North test-fired its largest intercontinental ballistic missile ever.
Yoon, a conservative who was elected on March 9 and will take office in May, made the remarks in a Facebook post on Friday. (reuters)