War in Ukraine: Macron denounces the “type of language” used by the Chinese ambassador

2023-04-24 17:44:22

Emmanuel Macron denounced, this Monday, April 24, “the type of language” used by the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, who had questioned Friday “the status of sovereign country” of the territories of the former USSR . “I think it is not the place of a diplomat to hold this type of language”, declared the French president on the sidelines of a summit on offshore wind energy organized in Ostend in Belgium. “So, full solidarity with the countries that have been attacked in the reading of their history and their borders,” he added.

At the same time, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the Chinese ambassador in Paris on Monday to call on him “to make use of his public speech which is in accordance with the official positions of his country”, he said. he said in a statement.

“Parrot” of “Russian propaganda”: the controversial remarks of the Chinese ambassador, questioned about the Ukrainian province of Crimea, annexed since 2014 by Moscow, provoked an outcry. “It is strange to hear an absurd version of the history of Crimea from a representative of a scrupulous country about its thousand-year-old history,” Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, tweeted. “All the countries of the former USSR have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law,” he continued, before ironically: “If you want to be a major political player, don’t repeat like a parrot Russian propaganda.”

Questioned on Friday evening on the French channel LCI, the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, had indicated about Crimea: “It depends on how we perceive this problem. There is History. Crimea was at the very beginning to Russia. It was Khrushchev who offered Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union.” He continued his argument, believing that the countries of the former USSR “do not have effective status in international law because there is no international agreement to concretize their status as sovereign countries”.

In response, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia summoned Chinese ambassadors to their respective capitals on Monday. For its part, China has ensured that it respects the “sovereign state status” of the countries of the former USSR.

In front of Lavrov, the UN chief denounces the “devastation” caused by the invasion of Ukraine

The UN Secretary General denounced, on Monday, during a Security Council chaired by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the “devastation” of Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion “in violation” of international law.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, is causing massive suffering and devastation to the country and its people, adding to the global economic upheaval caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “, declared Antonio Guterres in front of Sergei Lavrov, who chaired a meeting of the Council on the “defence of the principles” of the Charter of the United Nations.

“The multilateral system is under greater tension than at any other time since the creation of the United Nations”, underlined Antonio Guterres, underlining “the tensions at the highest” between “the great powers”. “We are facing unprecedented interlocking crises,” he added, warning against “the risks of conflict, through misadventure or misjudgment.”

300 ex-correspondents demand ‘immediate’ release of Evan Gershkovich

More than 300 journalists who have worked as correspondents in Russia have signed a petition asking the Russian authorities to “immediately release” the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, detained on espionage charges which he rejects.

“We are shocked and dismayed by the arrest of our colleague Evan Gershkovich”, with “a long and impressive journalistic career”, say the 301 signatories. “We have no doubt that the sole purpose and intention of his work was to inform his readers of the current reality in Russia,” they continue.

But the quest for information, “even if it must thwart political interests, does not make Evan a criminal or a spy, but a journalist. Journalism is not a crime”. The Russian security services (FSB) arrested at the end of March Evan Gershkovich, 31, correspondent for the prestigious American daily Wall Street Journalfor “espionage” while on assignment in Ekaterinburg, in the Urals.

Sevastopol targeted by attack, says Russia

“An attempted attack on Sevastopol was repelled from 3:30 a.m.,” Russian-appointed Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvojayev said on Telegram. “A surface drone (naval) was destroyed by the anti-sabotage forces, the second (drone) exploded on its own,” he added, adding that the attack had been repelled in a roadstead outside. outside the port and that “no infrastructure” had been damaged.

Naval surface drones are craft that operate on the surface of the water, without a crew. “Currently, everything is calm in the city. But all forces and services are in combat readiness,” Mikhail Razvojayev added.

Sevastopol is the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Since the launch of the offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has repeatedly been the target of aerial and naval drone attacks.

Europe’s military spending at an all-time high

Military spending in Europe will rise again in 2022 to its level at the end of the Cold War, with a record increase for more than three decades boosted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a benchmark report published on Monday. Across continents, military spending hit a new high of $2.24 trillion last year, or 2.2% of global GDP, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). .

“They are pulled by the war in Ukraine, which is pushing up European budgets, but also by the unresolved and growing tensions in East Asia” between China on the one hand and, on the other, the United States and their Asian allies, underlines to AFP the researcher Nan Tian, ​​one of the co-authors of the study.

Ukraine alone increased its spending sevenfold, which jumped to $44 billion – a third of its GDP. And this without counting several tens of billions of armament donations from abroad, specifies the Sipri. Russian spending has increased by 9.2%, according to his estimates.

Medvedev threatens G7 to end grain deal

Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday threatened to end the deal on grain exports from Black Sea ports if the G7 decided to drastically restrict its exports to Russia. Japan’s Kyodo news agency, citing Japanese government sources, reported this week that G7 countries are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the grain agreement concluded under the aegis of the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022, five months after the start of the war in Ukraine, and which is due to expire on May 18. The Russian government is calling on Westerners to lift their restrictions on fertilizer sales.