2023-12-20 20:32:36
Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Between the strong declarations, the advances on the front and the results of the battles, here are the essentials of the day.
The fact of the day
No new American funds for Ukraine in 2023. The leaders of the United States Senate noted on Tuesday that Congress would end the year without validating the envelope of 61 billion dollars insisted on by kyiv and the House -White. Republican and Democratic negotiators have not reached an agreement, despite repeated pressure from Joe Biden and calls from his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. The leaders of the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Mitch McConnell, said they hoped to be able to vote on this aid “early next year”.
This is a severe snub for Joe Biden, who has made support for Ukraine and the strengthening of the Atlantic alliance two major markers of his foreign policy. To illustrate this commitment, the Democratic leader, candidate for re-election in 2024, even went to kyiv in February – the first trip by an American president to a territory at war not controlled by the United States. But almost two years after the start of a war which is getting bogged down – and more than 110 billion dollars already released by Congress – the question of the continuity of this support, “as long as it takes”, to Ukraine, arises with more and more insistence.
Sentence of the day
“Attempts by foreign special services to destabilize the political and social situation in Russia must be brought to a severe halt. »
Vladimir Putin reacted on Tuesday to the numerous sabotages on railway tracks in Russia and drone attacks attributed to the Ukrainian regime. “The Kiev regime, with the direct support of foreign special services, has taken the path of terrorist methods, practically state terrorism,” the Russian president said. These are acts of sabotage against civilian sites, transport and energy infrastructure. »
The number of the day
720. This is in millions of euros the amount of frozen Russian assets that Germany wants to seize. The Attorney General indicated in a press release published on Wednesday that he had initiated proceedings before a Frankfurt court requesting an “independent confiscation procedure”. The funds in question belong to the Moscow Stock Exchange and are deposited with the German subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase, according to the weekly The mirror. German authorities launched the move after the Russian stock exchange attempted to recover the funds, which has been banned since it was sanctioned in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Today’s trend
Lots of candidates, but no suspense. The Russian Electoral Commission has so far received 16 candidacies for the presidential election in mid-March, including that of Vladimir Putin. Candidates have until December 27 to file an initial application for registration with the Election Commission, according to the official timetable.
In the event of a favorable decision by the Commission, any independent candidate (not supported by a party represented in the Duma) must then collect 300,000 signatures of support and submit them at least 45 days before the election to the Electoral Commission, which then makes a final decision. within 10 days. But the outcome is in no doubt, the opposition to Vladimir Putin being the subject of fierce repression and the other candidates having no other ambition than to make up the numbers. Thus, having just been nominated as a candidate on Tuesday, the nationalist and Kremlin loyalist Leonid Sloutsky assured from the outset that he “would not remove
#American #aid #Christmas #falsely #contested #presidential #election