Tag: Russia

  • UEFA On Verge Of Suspending Russian Teams From All Competitions

    UEFA On Verge Of Suspending Russian Teams From All Competitions

    UEFA is set to suspend Russian teams from all competitions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, according to a report Monday by German sports agency SID, an AFP subsidiary.

    The first Russian team affected would be Spartak Moscow, who face RB Leipzig away in a Europa League last 16, first-leg tie on March 10.

    The Russian women’s national team would also be excluded from the European Championship due to be hosted by England this July.

    According to SID, the decision to suspend Russia is supported by several national federations, including the powerful German and English associations.

    “I can’t imagine that there will be matches against Russia. There cannot – and must not – be,” Peter Peters, a candidate for the German FA presidency, told SID.

    “It is about war. You have to take a clear stance on that.”

    AFP

  • Russia-Ukraine Crisis: 256 Nigerians Have Been Received In Poland, Hungary, Romania – FG

    Russia-Ukraine Crisis: 256 Nigerians Have Been Received In Poland, Hungary, Romania – FG

    The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said 130 Nigerians have been received by the country’s embassy in Romania.

    In a statement, the ministry explained that it has also provided accommodation for them while arrangements are being made to take them back home.

    “Also, officials at Budapest, Hungary have received and accommodated 74 Nigerians safely, where they are being documented for subsequent travel arrangements back to Nigeria,” the statement, signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, read.

    According to him, another batch of about 200 Nigerians is expected in Budapest later in the day. He also said 52 persons have been received in Warsaw, Poland. Of the number, 23 are being processed at the Polish Government Reception Point at Hala Kijowska.

    “The camp is well organised with beds and beddings, food, heating, clothing, and medicals for evacuees,” the statement added.

    “We assure Nigerians that all hands are on deck and arrangements are being put in place to effectively evacuate our citizens, in safety and dignity.”

    The Federal Government’s recent move was a sequel to the Russian invasion of Ukraine about five days ago. On Sunday, the ministry said the Hungarian and Romanian governments have approved visa-free access to Nigerians coming from the Eastern European nation.

    “For now, movement to the Hungarian Zahony border and Romanian Suceava, Tulcea, Satu Mare County & Maramures borders is advised, as they have approved visa-free access to all Nigerians coming from Ukraine and arrangements for accommodation and feeding before evacuation is arranged,” Aduda said.

    Right To Safe Passage

    On the same day, the presidency described reports of Nigerians being barred from exiting Ukraine as “unfortunate”. It said the government is concerned about the safety and human rights of all Nigerians.

    “We understand the pain and fear that is confronting all people who find themselves in this terrifying place,” presidential aide, Garba Shehu, said in a statement.

    “We also appreciate that those in official positions in security and border management will in most cases be experiencing impossible expectations in a situation they never expected. But, for that reason, it is paramount that everyone is treated with dignity and without favour.

    “All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under UN Convention and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference.”

  • Trump Blames NATO, Biden for Russia-Ukraine war

    Trump Blames NATO, Biden for Russia-Ukraine war

    Donald Trump has blamed US President, Joe Biden and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, over the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Trump speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, blamed Putin’s invasion on Biden’s “weakness”.

    He hailed President Vladimir Putin’s intellect, describing him as smart and not the real problem.

    Massive explosions hit Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Saturday as many scrambled for help in Poland, Romania.

    “As everyone understands, this horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged,” Trump said.

    Trump blasted NATO for hitting Russia with sanctions rather than hitting them psychologically.

    NATO, Trump said, was “looking the opposite of smart” for hitting Russia with sanctions rather than resolving to “blow (Russia) to pieces at least psychologically.”

    “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are so dumb,” the former US President said.

  • Ukraine: Russia threatens Finland, Sweden over plans to join NATO

    Ukraine: Russia threatens Finland, Sweden over plans to join NATO

    Amid the military operations in Ukraine, Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO.

    The spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova said there would be severe military and political consequences if Finland and Sweden opt to join NATO.

    Both countries share borders with Russia in the Arctic Circle.

    Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Zakharova warned that mooting the idea of NATO would be detrimental to both countries.

    “Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries and their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and face some military and political consequences.

    “We regard the Finnish government’s commitment to a military non-alignment policy as an important factor in ensuring security and stability in northern Europe,” Zakharova said.

    The decision of Ukraine to join NATO is believed to be responsible for Russia’s attack.

    Russian President, Vladimir Putin is against Ukraine joining NATO.

  • Russia vs Ukraine: Putin Ready To Negotiate Ukraine

    Russia vs Ukraine: Putin Ready To Negotiate Ukraine

    The Russian President, Vladimir Putin has expressed his readiness to negotiate with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    Putin said he is ready to send Russian delegations to the Belarusian capital of Minsk to talk with Ukraine.

    Reports gathered that Putin’s decision follows a request made by Zelenskyy.

    A statement by Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “Following Zelensky’s proposal to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine, Putin can send representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Ministry and his administration to negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation.”

    The statement said Minsk was chosen as the venue for the proposed talk.

    Russia has been attacking some towns in Ukraine since Thursday.

  • UEFA Strips Russia Of Hosting Right, Move Champions League Final to France

    UEFA Strips Russia Of Hosting Right, Move Champions League Final to France

    UEFA has moved this year’s Champions League final to France after it withdrew the right from Russia for invading Ukraine.

    Originally billed to hold at St. Petersburg stadium, it will not hold at the Stade de France, UEFA announced on Friday.

    The decision was reached after an extraordinary meeting held by the Executive Committee resulting from the escalation of the security situation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Among the decisions taken was the change of venues for national team and clubs football engagements for both countries. World Cup qualifying matches will now be played at neutral venues until further notice.

    A statement to this effect on UEFA’s website reads, “The UEFA Executive Committee today held an extraordinary meeting following the grave escalation of the security situation in Europe.

    “The UEFA Executive Committee decided to relocate the final of the 2021/22 UEFA Men’s Champions League from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 21:00 CET.

    “UEFA wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to French Republic President Emmanuel Macron for his personal support and commitment to have European club football’s most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis. Together with the French government, UEFA will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement.

    “At today’s meeting, the UEFA Executive Committee also decided that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams competing in UEFA competitions will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.

    “The UEFA Executive Committee further determined to remain on standby to convene further extraordinary meetings, on a regular ongoing basis where required, to reassess the legal and factual situation as it evolves and adopt further decisions as necessary.”

  • Zelensky Accuses Russian Forces Of Targeting Ukraine Civilians

    Zelensky Accuses Russian Forces Of Targeting Ukraine Civilians

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that invading Russian forces are targeting civilian areas, praising his countrymen for their “heroism” and assuring Kyiv is doing “everything possible” to protect them.

    He spoke as Moscow’s forces reached the capital, with explosions heard in the city that the government described as “horrific rocket strikes.”

    “They say that civilian objects are not a target for them. But this is another lie of theirs. In reality, they do not distinguish between areas in which they operate,” Zelensky said in a video.

    “Ukrainian air defence systems are defending our skies,” he said. “Ukrainians are demonstrating heroism”.

    “All our forces are doing everything possible” to protect people, he added.

    The Ukrainian leader called on people to show “solidarity” and help the elderly find shelter and “access to real information.”

    Zelensky also said that Russia will have to eventually talk to Kyiv to end their war.

    “Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later. Talk about how to end the fighting and stop this invasion. The sooner the conversation begins, the less losses there will be for Russia itself,” he said.

    Switching into Russian in his address, Zelensky acknowledged Russian street protests against Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine that ended with mass arrests Thursday.

    “To the citizens of the Russian Federation that are coming out to protest, we see you. And this means that you have heard us. This means that you believe us. Fight for us. Fight against war.”

    Russian police detained more than 1,700 people at anti-war protests across dozens of cities Thursday night.

    Moscow was asleep when Putin ordered an air and ground assault on Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday.

  • Ukraine ‘Left Alone’ To Fight Russia, Says President Zelensky

    Ukraine ‘Left Alone’ To Fight Russia, Says President Zelensky

    Ukraine’s president said Friday his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion that killed 130 Ukrainians on the first day.

    “We have been left alone to defend our state,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to the nation after midnight.

    “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid,” he added.

    Zelensky said that 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, had been killed since the start of the attack early Thursday.

    Another 316 had been wounded, he said.

    Zelensky also said that Russian “sabotage groups” had entered the capital Kyiv, and urged the city’s citizens to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.

    The president added that he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one”.

    “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state,” Zelensky said.

  • UK Imposes Sanctions On Russian Banks And Oligarchs

    UK Imposes Sanctions On Russian Banks And Oligarchs

    Britain on Tuesday slapped sanctions on five Russian banks and three billionaires, in what Prime Minister Boris Johnson called “the first barrage” of measures in response to the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine.

    Addressing the UK parliament hours after Russia ordered troops into two Moscow-backed Ukrainian rebel regions, Johnson described the move as “a renewed invasion” of its western neighbour and “pretext for a full-scale offensive”.

    “The UK and our allies will begin to impose the sanctions on Russia that we have already prepared… to sanction Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin,” he told MPs.

    The five banks targeted — Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank — and three people sanctioned will see any UK assets frozen.

    The individuals concerned — Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg — will be barred from entering Britain and all UK individuals and entities will be banned from dealing with them and the banks.

    “We cannot tell what will happen in the days ahead,” Johnson added in the House of Commons, amid cross-party condemnation of Moscow’s actions.

    “But… we should steel ourselves for a protracted crisis.”

    The announcement came after Russia’s ambassador to Britain was called into the foreign ministry in London “to explain” its action, the ministry said.

    “We made clear to the Russian Ambassador that Russia would pay the price for its actions through further sanctions if it did not withdraw its troops,” a ministry spokesperson added.

    – ‘Need to do better’ –

    Earlier Tuesday, Johnson chaired a meeting with security chiefs, after which he vowed measures to hit Moscow “very hard”.

    Weeks ago, he also pledged sanctions will “come down like a steel trap in the event of the first Russian toecap crossing into more sovereign Ukrainian territory”.

    However numerous British lawmakers, including from within his ruling Conservative party, were left underwhelmed by the steps outlined, and urged him to go further.

    Labour MP Ben Bradshaw noted the three oligarchs had been sanctioned in the United States four years ago.

    “We need to do better than that, prime minister,” Bradshaw said, urging more use of so-called unexplained wealth orders against Russians in Britain as well as reviews of high-net-worth UK visas granted to them.

    Johnson insisted further sanctions were “at readiness to be deployed” if the Kremlin continued its aggression.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognised the independence of the rebel-held Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine and instructed the defence ministry to assume “the function of peacekeeping” in the separatist-held regions.

    Its foreign ministry insisted Tuesday it was not planning to send troops to other parts of eastern Ukraine beyond the separatist areas “for now”.

    However, Monday’s move ratcheted up weeks of tensions and punctured Western diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation, after a massive build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border.

    Britain’s relations with the Kremlin have been frosty since the radiation poisoning death of a former Russian spy in London in 2006, and the attempted murder of another double agent in the southwestern city of Salisbury in 2018.

    Successive governments in London, however, have faced sustained pressure to act against illicit Russian money circulating through the city’s financial markets in recent decades.

    AFP

  • Ukraine Vows To Keep Airspace Open Despite Russia Threat

    Ukraine Vows To Keep Airspace Open Despite Russia Threat

    Ukraine on Sunday vowed to keep its airspace open to international travel despite Western warnings that Russian troops conducting drills near its borders could invade at any point.

    The Dutch carrier KLM on Saturday became the first major airline to indefinitely suspend flights to the former Soviet republic because of the rising risks.

    Ukraine’s budget airline SkyUp said on Sunday that its flight from Portugal to Kyiv was forced to land in Moldova because the plane’s Irish leasing company had revoked permission for it to cross into Ukraine.

    SkyUP added that European leasing companies were demanding that Ukrainian airlines return their planes to EU airspace within 48 hours.

    Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry responded by holding an emergency meeting aimed at maintaining foreign travel and keeping the country from becoming more isolated in the heat of the crisis.

    “The airspace over Ukraine remains open and the state is working on preempting risks for airlines,” the ministry said after the meeting.

    Industry analysts believe other international airlines may soon also ban flights into Ukraine because of the growing cost to travel insurers.

    The travel industry is still haunted by the memory of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 being shot down while flying near eastern Ukraine’s conflict zone in July 2014.

    All 298 passengers aboard the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight died.

    Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry acknowledged that “some carriers are facing difficulties linked to fluctuations on the insurance market”.

    “For its part, the state is prepared to support airlines and provide them with additional financial guarantees in order to support the market,” it said.

    – Foreigners fleeing –

    The worries about air travel come with a growing number of Western governments winding down their diplomatic missions in Kyiv and advising citizens to get out of Ukraine as soon as they can.

    The US State Department on Saturday ordered all non-emergency embassy staff out of Ukraine.

    Russia cited fears of “possible provocations from the Kyiv regime” as it also began pulling out some embassy staff.

    The drawdown has touched the staff of the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) monitoring mission in Ukraine.

    The OSCE has served as the world’s eyes and ears for the eight-year conflict across Ukraine’s Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.

    But images on social media showed convoys of its white SUVs leaving various parts of the conflict zone because of the staff’s need to comply with their respective governments’ travel advisories.

    Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the mission’s partial withdrawal caused “serious concern” in Moscow because the move further ramped up tensions.

    The Ukrainian government has been trying to preempt the flood of foreigners leaving the country by calling for calm and criticising US warnings of war breaking out “any day”.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that “all this information is only provoking panic and not helping us”.

    Zelensky’s office stressed on Sunday that “the sky over Ukraine remains open”.

    “The European Union Aviation Safety Agency also has not issued any recommendations to limit flights over Ukrainian airspace,” Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko wrote on Facebook.

    “Ukraine is ready to support airlines,” he added. “The government will adopt the required measures soon”.