Frankfurt, Paris (14/4 – 40)

Relations between Russia and NATO have reached boiling point due the recent event: the claim that Serbia and Russia want to refight Kosovo; the closure of the border by Finland; and the statement by the President of France, Emanuel Macron, on March, 14. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, in a series of posts on social media, claimed that NATO, the EU, and the US government were targeting Kosovo and Serbia and destroying the relationship. Never mind a coalition with Italy and Russia, this is just another pipedream of Radio Moscow.

In recent days, rumours of an impending Balkan war have become more widespread, but experienced Balkan parties are calling for a cool head to prevail. Radio Moscow plays up the usual rubbish of war drums. “People forget that this alliance does not like to use force, but…,” a NATO Air Command spokesman warned.

According to Lavrov, the Kosovo police have long discredited themselves through systematic punitive measures against the Serb community. “They have tried to push the Serbs out of Kosovo through the deployment of heavily armed special forces in non-Albanian areas. There is an immediate threat of a return to the ethnic cleansing carried out by Kosovo Albanian extremists.”

Meanwhile, President Macron said that Europe must be ready for war if it wants peace. He called President Putin would not stop at Ukraine if he succeeded in defeating Kyiv forces in the conflict that has been going on for two years.

President Macron sparked controversy last month after saying he could not link the possibility of ground troops to Ukraine in the future. Many state leaders avoided this, while several other leaders, especially in the Eastern European region, supported the statement. “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be destroyed,” Macron said in a television interview.

However, President Putin stated that anything is possible in the modern world. “I have said and it is clear to everyone that this (possible direct conflict with NATO) would be one more step towards a full-scale third world war. I think almost no one is interested in this increasing chaos.” 

He added that French troops would perform secondary functions, training military personnel in Ukraine, explaining how to use heavy equipment, and performing several other similar functions. “Today, it is not much different from what was done by the mercenaries and later armed military personnel of the NATO countries present there,” President Putin said in speech after winning the election. 

Meanwhile, President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia’s relations with NATO had reached the level of direct confrontation. “The relationship has now descended to the level of direct confrontation. NATO not only continues to escalate but is also directly involved in the conflict around Ukraine. NATO continues its advance towards our borders,” he said.

Even so, President Putin is open to dialogue with NATO. According to Peskov, President Putin often holds international dialogue with countries that show interest in developing relations with Russia, “President Putin is open to dialogue to solve complex global and regional problems.”

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London (28/11 – 58)

Tajikistan’s human rights record continues to deteriorate amid an increased crackdown on freedom of expression and the political opposition, as well as the targeting of independent lawyers, journalists, and family members of opposition activists abroad. Freedom of assembly is severely curtailed with any local protests, such as a series of protests in the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region (GBAO), violently quashed. 

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Programme Office in Dushanbe, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, and the Permanent Representation of France to the OSCE organized a study visit to Paris for government officials from Tajikistan, familiarizing them with France’s approach to the protection of soft targets from terrorist attacks.

The study visit serves as a basis for further OSCE capacity-building and technical support to Tajikistan on soft targets protection, with a focus on preventing terrorist threats while upholding respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The study visit takes place alongside recent OSCE and partner activities in the field of soft targets protection, including the 2023 Workshop to Raise Awareness and Launch the Republic of Tajikistan’s Roadmap on Countering Terrorist Threats against Vulnerable Targets and a 2022 Central Asia-focused regional workshop on vulnerable targets protection from terrorist attacks. The study is within the framework of the OSCE Dushanbe’s office unified budget project “Supporting Tajikistan’s National Strategy and Action Plan on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism for 2021-2025”, which seeks to assist in implementing its counter-terrorism commitments in line with pertinent OSCE standards and principles.

During the study visit, held from 20 to 22 November 2023, officials from Tajikistan met with representatives of the city of Paris and the national Government. They discussed the design of emergency plans in public spaces, including schools, hospitals, religious sites and shopping centres. They also discussed threat analysis procedures, the evolution of legislative frameworks on terrorism prevention, human rights-compliant approaches to the protection of public spaces and public engagement.

“France’s experience in the fight against terrorism in general, and in particular on protecting vulnerable targets in a terrorism context can be very beneficial for further enhancing our national efforts in this area. It was a fruitful and informative study visit,” said Zafar Safaralizoda, Deputy Head of the Directorate on Human Rights Guarantees under the Presidential Office and Head of the delegation of Tajikistan on this study visit.

“One of the OSCE’s greatest strengths is the expertise and experience of its participating States and their willingness to share with one another. We thank the Government of France for welcoming the delegation of Tajikistan in their country and making available the expertise necessary to truly grasp how schools, public spaces, houses of worship and other soft targets are protected from terrorist attacks,” said Jukka Tuononen, Head of the Politico-Military Department and Officer-in-Charge of the OSCE Programme in Dushanbe.

Tajikistan government continue to repress and violate human rights within in the country, especially in the GBAO. Authorities’ use of prison and torture to obtain confessions remains a serious concern. The government blocks access to various websites that post information critical of the government and harasses human rights groups.

Freedom of religion and belief is severely limited. Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people are subjected to wide-ranging discrimination and homophobia. Domestic violence against women is a serious problem, despite the adoption of a law in 2013 that provided some human rights protections in this area. Border conflicts with Kyrgyzstan have resulted in many deaths and serious human rights violations.

The confrontation between the residents of GBAO, who are Pamiris, and the official authorities of Tajikistan has been ongoing since 2012. In 2018, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon authorized the use of the regular army to suppress protests in the autonomy. Since then, acts of civil disobedience have periodically occurred in Gorno-Badakhshan, which the security forces have harshly suppressed.

The latest clash between GBAO residents and security forces occurred after rallies in Khorog on May 14 and 16, 2022. On May 18, in the Rushan district of the region, where, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 200 people blocked the Dushanbe-Khorog highway to prevent the arrival of a large convoy of security forces to the administrative center of Gorno-Badakhshan. After this, the anti-terrorist operation began. As a result, more than 40 local residents died. Dozens of people were detained, many of them were convicted.

Eight United Nations experts are awaiting a response from Tajik authorities to a letter expressing concern about the fate of convicted journalists and civil activists. UN experts and special rapporteurs in their letter demanded an explanation from Dushanbe regarding reports of gross violations of the rights of nine convicted journalists and bloggers, as well as civil activists. The letter dated 12 May 2023, is published here. UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor has visited Tajikistan earlier to address the human rights violations in the country.

Tajikistan also announced the detention of five Pamiris in June of this year, presenting them as “leaders of an organized criminal group in the city of Khorog”. Among those convicted are Tolib Ayombekov, Nazhmiddin Sherchonov, Imumnazar Shoishirinov, Munavvar Shanbiev and Niyozsho Gulobov.

Source

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Undefeated in 17 games in the last 15 months, Ireland has beaten every rugby union world champion, three of them twice – just for humiliation. Historically, the Irish never got past the last eight of a Rugby World Cup. In this year’s tournament they are on fire: fans have faith that Ireland will finally seize The Webb Ellis Cup on 28 October, final day of the struggle.

Low-scoring but epic: a 13-8 win over the defending champion South Africa in Pool B of the 2023 Rugby World Cup on Saturday – a brutal statement from the Irish. Poor flummoxed South Africa never knew what hit them: they had only conceded 3 points from their previous two games in Pool B (creaming Scotland and Romania). Not only did the Springboks not concede tries in those two games – in fact, they only conceded two tries in their last eight Rugby World Cup games.

Ireland managed to breach that defense with Mack Hansen’s try, the second time in the last 15 months that Ireland has walloped South Africa: a 19-16 win when the two sides met in Dublin on 5 November 2022, with tries from Josh van der Flier and Hansen.

Hansen succinctly declared what the win to his team means: “They are the defending champions and they know exactly what it takes to win this World Cup”. “To get a win over them is as good as it can get really. It gives us a lot of strength and a lot of belief.”

Ireland has every right to assume this year’s tournament will be theirs: hey, they are the current world number one, on a burning winning streak since July 2022. What a campaign: Ireland shellacked every rugby union world champion, three of them twice. Johnny Sexton and Co. whomped New Zealand 23-12 and 32-22 on July 2022.

In November 2022, Ireland snatched a 19-16 win over South Africa, a feat that they repeated last Saturday. In the same month, Ireland was triumphant 13-10 in a match against Australia. This year, Andy Farrell and his team managed to defeat England twice: 29-16 on 18 March at the 2023 Six Nations Championship and 29-10 on 19 August, for good measure.

The victory over South Africa leaves Ireland clear at the top of Pool B, aiming them at host France or New Zealand in the quarterfinal. Ireland already did the job on France at a humiliating 32-19 last February, at the 2023 Six Nations Championship.

Ireland glows with an aura of invincibility – but they’re on their guard. “It doesn’t get any easier at all. We’ll take this win and enjoy it for now, then it is straight on to the next,” said Hansen, pointing out that his side will switch their focus to Scotland on 7 October, to ensure their place in the knockout stages. “We have a tough week against a really good Scotland side and if we get the win there, and everything goes well, it’s either France or New Zealand.”

“We are glad to keep rolling and get another four points on the board, but we have to dust ourselves off now and remain focused on Scotland in two weeks’ time,” added Farrell. “As the competition goes on we’ll need to be better,” he concluded.

Yeah, win the battle but don’t lose the war.

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In Kazakhstan, Ablyazov was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for murder, another sentence related to the creation of a criminal community, embezzlement and money laundering. In Russia, the ex-banker was sentenced to 15 years for embezzlement of almost 60 billion rubles.

The French authorities demanded that the former head of the Kazakh BTA Bank, Mukhtar Ablyazov, leave the country within 30 days. He announced this on his Facebook page (owned by Meta, whose activities in Russia are recognized as extremist and banned). Ablyazov’s extradition is simultaneously sought by Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. The former banker has been in Europe for more than ten years.

Former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, Mukhtar Ablyazov has received an order from the French authorities to leave the country within 30 days. He announced this on his Facebook page.

“I was given 30 days to leave France. I am suing,” Ablyazov wrote.

The ex-banker also posted a video message on his page in which he stated that he had previously received political asylum in France (Le Figaro wrote last December that the refugee status was revoked by the decision of the French court), and now he has neither a visa nor a passport. In addition, Ablyazov said that court hearings against him in France would resume in the near future, and for this time he should not leave the country. The proceedings in a French court on episodes of his abuse of power and money laundering decided to resume at the end of May.

Ablyazov left Kazakhstan in 2009 after his former head of BTA Bank was declared bankrupt and nationalized. First, in Kazakhstan, the ex-banker was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison on the case of creating a criminal community, embezzlement of other people’s property, legalization of proceeds from crime, abuse of power, and was given a life sentence on charges of murdering the former head of the bank, Yerzhan Tatishev .

At the end of 2020, the Tagansky Court of Moscow sentenced Ablyazov in absentia to 15 years in prison in the case of embezzlement of almost 60 billion rubles. In Ukraine, the ex-banker is accused of embezzling $400 million. Kazakhstan does not have an extradition agreement with France, while at the same time, the French side has such an agreement with Russia and Ukraine.

Back in 2015, the then Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, signed the decision to extradite Ablyazov to Russia, but later the State Council of the country cancelled this decision, seeing in the request “the pursuit of political goals.” The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia then stated that Paris violated the “principle of the inevitability of punishment for crimes committed.”

Source

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