by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump are set to discuss a number of “very complex” issues, including the situation in Syria, the Kremlin said on Friday.
“A rather detailed discussion on Syria is anticipated,” Xinhua quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying.
He said “serious preparations” are being made for the summit slated for July 16 in Helsinki.
Peskov said Moscow is ready to follow the path of normalizing Russia-U.S. relations to the extent Washington is ready to do.
On Thursday, the CNN quoted unnamed sources as saying that Trump believes he can strike a deal with Putin on a so-called exclusion zone in southwest Syria that will allow the United States to “get out ASAP”.
Peskov said Moscow is unaware of Trump’s plans.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Vladimir Putin
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin tasked the newly formed government to develop an efficient mechanism to implement the decree on Russia’s goals of strategic development until 2024 signed earlier this month, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
“The government must promptly draft and approve the main guidelines for its activities and key projects in accordance with the May 2018 Executive Order on National Goals and Strategic Objectives of the Russian Federation through to 2014,” Xinhua quoted a Kremlin statement as saying.
On May 7, Putin signed a decree for Russia’s roadmap of strategic development that sets targets of the national development in a wide range of spheres up to 2024, including improving economic growth and speeding up technology development.
Putin signed decrees appointing members of the new government on May 18.
The President demanded that the government develop a “clear and understandable mechanism” to carry out plans outlined in the decree by October 1, 2018, according to the statement.
In order to ensure the implementation of the development plans, Putin underlined that the cabinet should establish close coordination with regional management teams, civil society entities and political parties.
It should also adhere to “maximum openness” so that the public can understand the actions of the government, which will in turn contribute to the success of the latter, he added.
The decrees on Russia’s six-year plans for top priorities of national development are also known as the “May decrees”, as the last such decree was also signed by Putin in May six years ago at the start of his previous presidential term.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
President Vladimir Putin at a joint interview by several major international media outlets on May 25, in St. Petersburg.
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is developing at the best level in history and the prospect is very good.
“There is no need to re-define Russian-Chinese relations. In fact, Russia and China have established a fairly good strategic partnership,” said Putin in response to a question by Xinhua news agency during a joint interview by several major international media outlets in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Putin spoke highly of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress, which he said had created more favourable conditions for further development of bilateral ties in the long run.
“The latest decisions of the Congress had made our relations more stable and predictable not only in the medium period but in the distant future,” he said.
Putin said with China’s active efforts to push forward denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and its vital role in resolving related issues, the situation on the peninsula has improved noticeably.
On the economic front, Putin expressed his satisfaction with the current momentum of bilateral trade relations.
“China is our largest trading partner and we have over $86 billion trade value each year. We are very satisfied with this,” said Putin, adding that bilateral trade volume is expected to expand to as many as $100 billion in a year.
Noting that Russia increased export of engineering products to the Chinese market last year, Putin hailed the diversification and improvement in the trade structure as “encouraging”.
Putin mentioned oil and gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy, machinery manufacture, space technology, aircraft building, chemical industry and agriculture as the major fields where the two countries can carry out cooperation in the near future.
Noting that this year marks the China-Russia year of local cooperation, Putin stressed that vibrant communication at local level has offered even greater impetus for bilateral ties.
“More and more infrastructure, roads and bridges are under joint construction by our two countries. People from different regions of Russia and China has made even closer contacts in recent years,” Putin said.
“All this progress shows our relations enjoy very good prospects,” said Putin, adding that Russia will work closely with China to push forward bilateral ties in the future.
Putin on Friday was jointly interviewed by major international media outlets on the sidelines of the ongoing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum which was kicked off on Thursday.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Vladimir Putin
London : The UK has been accused of turning a “blind eye” to Russia’s “dirty money”, putting national security at risk. A British parliamentarian body said London is being used to hide Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal assets, media reports said.
The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said it was “business as usual” for the UK despite the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter as the UK was being used to stash “corrupt assets” of Putin and his allies, the BBC reported.
A report, named Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK, points out that Russian gas giant Gazprom was able to trade bonds in London “days after the attempted murders” of Skripal and his daughter.
This undermined the UK’s efforts to confront the full spectrum of Putin’s offensive measures, it added.
Business between the UK and Russia had resumed so swiftly following the incident that it had prompted the Russian embassy in London to tweet: “Business as usual?”
Committee Chairman and Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat wrote in the Sunday Times, ahead of the publication of the report that the UK’s “lethargic response is being taken as proof that we do not dare stop them… London’s markets are enabling the Kremlin’s efforts”.
Security and Economic Crime Minister Ben Wallace said he had not been called to give evidence to the Committee: “I fear such an omission weakens the foundation of the report,” he said.
Wallace said the UK was “determined to drive dirty money and the money launderers out”.
“(We) will use all the powers we have, including the new powers in the Criminal Finance Act, to clamp down on those that threaten our security,” he added.
Tungendhat said ministers should investigate “gaps” in the sanctions regime which allows the Russian government and individuals linked to Putin to continue to raise funds in the city.
“The scale of damage that this ‘dirty money’ can do to the UK foreign policy interests dwarfs the benefit of Russian transactions in the city.
“The UK must be clear that the corruption stemming from the Kremlin is no longer welcome in our markets and we will act,” the BBC quoted Tugendhat as saying.
The committee’s report urges the government to show “stronger political leadership” on the issue by taking a number of actions, including: further sanctions against “Kremlin-connected individuals”; closing loopholes in the existing sanctions regime and speeding up plans to disclose transparent corporate ownership.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Palestinian protesters wave Syrian and Palestinian flags (file photo of PTI)
Washington/Damascus/Moscow/London : The US, Britain and France launched coordinated strikes against Syria’s research, storage and military targets to “punish” the Bashar al-Assad regime for an apparent chemical attack in Douma that killed over 70 people. The military action was denounced by Damascus and its ally Moscow as a “failure” and “an act of aggression”.
Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons were used again. The strikes on Friday night was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called “persistent violations of international law”.
US President Donald Trump via a tweet hailed the overnight military strike as “perfectly executed”, adding: “Mission Accomplished”.
The strikes targeted three facilities associated with Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, including a scientific research facility around Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility around Homs alleged to be used for sarin gas and a nearby command post, said the Pentagon.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Army’s 4th Division and Republican Guard were among the targets. US aircraft including B-1 bombers, naval vessels and about 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles were used in the attack, the Pentagon said.
“The nations of Britain, France and the US have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality,” Trump said in an address after the strike.
“The purpose of our actions is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons…The wave of strikes is the most significant attack against Assad’s government by Western powers in seven years of Syria’s civil war,” he said.
“We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” he added.
In Syria, the Foreign Ministry described the missile strikes as “barbaric aggression”. Assad said that it reflected the “failure” of Western powers to achieve their goals in Syria after the defeat of the foreign-backed militants.
The Syrian military claimed that its air defences shot down a majority of the 110 missiles launched at dawn by the Western allies and claimed only the research facility in Damascus had been damaged. Russia said that Syrian forces used older Soviet-made air defence systems to intercept incoming missiles.
Civilians and soldiers gathered in Ummayad Square in Damascus for a show of support, waving Syrian flags and dancing to songs that praised the Army.
Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the US and its allies, saying that Washington was “increasingly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria” and called for an immediate UN Security Council meeting to discuss the “an act of aggression”.
He said the US used a “staged chemical attack” against civilians to carry out the latest strike, adding that Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine gas or other poisonous substances in Douma.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “the action against Syria came precisely at the moment when the country received a chance for a peaceful future”.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the attack a “crime” but gave no indication of any planned Iranian response. Iran and its main proxy force in the region, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are both key allies of Syria.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed their countries’ involvement in the action with the former saying that “Syria had left the allies no choice”.
Macron, talking about the Douma chemical attack, said: “Dozens of men, women and children were massacred with chemical weapons. The red line had been crossed.”
“France and its partners will today resume their efforts at the UN to enable the creation of an international mechanism to establish responsibility, prevent impunity and obstruct any temptation on the part of the Syrian regime to repeat these acts.”
Nato Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg tweeted that those who use chemical weapons “must be held accountable”.
The EU said it “was supportive of all efforts aimed at preventing the use of chemical weapons”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who had ruled out joining the military action — said she supported the strikes as “necessary and appropriate”.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned UN members of their responsibilities. “I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances.”
China’s Foreign Ministry urged negotiation and called for a “comprehensive and impartial” investigation into the allegation that chemical weapons were used.
Meanwhile, a fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was to begin investigating the episode on Saturday in Douma, which had been held by rebels before the suspected attack.
—IANS
