Ukraine: the Chinese ambassador to France denies the sovereignty of the countries of the former USSR, Paris dismayed

2023-04-23 17:00:49

Saturday evening, Paris displayed its “dismay” in reaction to the remarks of the Chinese ambassador to France: the latter denied the sovereignty of the countries resulting from the Soviet Union while questioning the membership of Crimea in Ukraine. .

It was on Friday, on LCI, that the diplomat Lu Shaye set fire to the powder. He considered that the countries of the former USSR had “no effective status in international law because there is no international agreement to concretize their status as sovereign countries”. He also called for people to stop “quibbling” over the issue of post-Soviet borders. “Now the most urgent thing is to stop, to achieve the ceasefire” between kyiv and Moscow.

He also mentioned the specific case of Crimea. Lu Shaye questions the idea that Crimea can be a Ukrainian territory, yet internationally recognized since 1991: “It depends on how we perceive this problem. There is History. Crimea was at the very beginning in Russia. It was Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union.”

The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had “learned with dismay” of these remarks, asking China “to say (if they) reflect its position, which we hope not to be the case”.

Russia announces expulsion of 20 German diplomats

A pass of arms opens between Moscow and Berlin. The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, announced the Zvezda television channel on Saturday the expulsion of “more than twenty” German diplomats, in retaliation for what the Kremlin presents as a similar measure taken by the authorities. German. “We strongly condemn these actions by Berlin, which continues to destroy […] the full range of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension”, justified Russian diplomacy. For its part, the German Foreign Ministry reported “a flight” on Saturday from Berlin with ” members of the Russian embassy on board, without specifying whether they were expelled diplomats.

Cyprus announces tough measures against violations of sanctions against Russia

Cypriot Finance Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou told state broadcaster CyBC on Saturday night that he had frozen the assets of people and entities accused by the US and UK of helping Russian oligarchs evade sanctions imposed on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine. In this sense, the main bank of the island “informed 4,000 customers with a Russian passport and not residing in an EU country that their accounts were going to be closed”.

Cyprus has for several years been a haven of peace for particularly wealthy Russian nationals, especially on the south coast, in Limassol. Cypriot government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis claimed this week that President Nikos Christodoulides had contacted Washington and London to obtain evidence against those involved so they could be investigated. “In recent years, the authorities have also closed 43,000 fictitious companies and 123,000 “suspicious” bank accounts, added the governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, Constantinos Herodotou.

The United Kingdom and the United States announced on April 12 sanctions against relatives of Russian oligarchs, including members of the entourage of Roman Abramovich and Alicher Usmanov, accused of having helped the latter to conceal their assets. Among the targets of these new British sanctions are Demetris Ioannides and Christodoulos Vassiliades, two Cypriot nationals.

The six Leopard tanks promised by Spain on their way to Ukraine

They should reach their destination in the next few days. The six Leopard tanks promised by Spain to kyiv left by sea on Friday evening, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced on Saturday. “The Leopards […] as well as about twenty transport vehicles, have embarked in the port of Santander and are heading for Ukraine, where they will arrive in five to six days,” the minister said. “There are four other Leopards in repair and when this is done, they will also go to Ukraine”, she added. This shipment is part of the aid of European countries engaged against the Russian offensive.

Pope urges not to forget Ukrainians ahead of trip to Hungary

Pope Francis called on Sunday not to forget Ukrainians facing war before he leaves next Friday for Hungary, a central European country led by nationalist and Russophile Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “I ask you all to accompany me with your prayers on this journey” to “the center of Europe, on which the icy winds of war continue to beat down, while the movements of so many people put the agenda of urgent humanitarian issues,” he said after his traditional Sunday prayer in public in St. Peter’s Square.

“Let’s not forget our Ukrainian brothers and sisters still afflicted by this war,” he added. The pope also addressed himself directly and “with affection” to the Hungarian faithful: “I know that you are preparing my visit with great zeal and I thank you with all my heart”.

No visas for Russian journalists accompanying Lavrov to the UN: Moscow “will not forgive”

Moscow “will not forgive” the United States for refusing to issue visas to Russian journalists accompanying the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, Monday and Tuesday at the UN, said Sunday the minister before his departure for New York. “We will not forget,” he warned the press, denouncing a “cowardly” decision by Washington.

Russia holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month, in the midst of a military offensive in Ukraine for which it has been banned from world nations. “A country that claims to be the smartest, the strongest, the freest, the fairest ‘chickened off’ and even did something stupid,” Sergei Lavrov lamented, ironically that the United States United, by refusing to give visas to Russian journalists, had shown, according to him, “what (their) statements on freedom of expression are worth”. His Deputy Minister Sergei Riabkov had indicated earlier, this Sunday, that despite “contacts on several occasions in recent days” at the initiative of Moscow, Washington “did not issue visas” to “journalists supposed to accompany Mr. Lavrov in his move”.