Tag: RUSSIA UKRAINE

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No Plans to Capture city of Kharkiv, Says Putin

Putin said the buffer zone around Kharkiv is needed because the Belgorod region was being massively bombarded with drones and missiles from Kharkiv….reports Asian Lite News

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that at the moment he has no plans to capture the city of Kharkiv, but that Russian forces were establishing a buffer zone in the area because of attacks from Kharkiv on the Russian region of Belgorod.

He made his comments in response to a question from Russian state media reporters at the end of his visit to China in the city of Harbin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the heavily attacked Kharkiv region on Thursday and said the situation had stabilised. The area has come under heavy Russian attack recently.

Putin said the buffer zone around Kharkiv is needed because the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, was being massively bombarded with drones and missiles from Kharkiv.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently deputy head of the National Security Council, described Zelensky’s trip to Kharkiv as a farewell visit.

Russian leaders repeatedly refer to Kharkiv as a Russian city, leading many experts to assume that the Kremlin wants to annex the region. Putin’s denial, at least for the time being, is the first time he has stated that there are no current plans to do so.

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War to halve Ukraine’s economy

Ukraine’s economy is expected to shrink by an estimated 45.1 per cent this year, “although the magnitude of the contraction will depend on the duration and intensity” of the conflict…reports Asian Lite News

As a result of Moscow’s ongoing war on Kiev, Ukraine’s economy is expected to shrink by 45.1 per cent this year, and Russia’s economy is projected to contract by 11.2 per cent, the World Bank has projected.

The war and the subsequent sanctions on Russia are hitting economies around the globe, with emerging markets and developing countries in the Europe and Central Asia region expected to bear the brunt, Xinhua news agency reported citing the newly-released World Bank’s Economic Update for the region.

The economy in the region’s emerging markets and developing countries is now forecast to shrink by 4.1 per cent this year, compared with the pre-conflict forecast of a 3 per cent growth as the economic shocks from the conflict compound the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the update revealed, noting that the contraction is twice as large as the pandemic-induced contraction in 2020.

Ukraine’s economy is expected to shrink by an estimated 45.1 per cent this year, “although the magnitude of the contraction will depend on the duration and intensity” of the conflict, it noted.

Hit by unprecedented sanctions, Russia’s economy has already plunged into a “deep recession” with output projected to contract by 11.2 per cent in 2022, according to the update.

In addition to Russia and Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan are projected to fall into recession this year, while growth projections have been downgraded in all economies due to spillovers from the conflict, weaker-than-expected growth in the euro area, and commodity, trade and financing shocks.

The Ukraine crisis and the pandemic “have once again shown that crises can cause widespread economic damage and set back years of per capita income and development gains”, said Asli Demirguc-Kunt, World Bank chief economist for Europe and Central Asia.

She urged governments in the region to fortify their macroeconomic buffers and credibility of their policies to contain risks and deal with potential fragmentation of trade and investment channels, strengthen their social safety nets to protect the most vulnerable, including the refugees, and not to lose focus on improving energy efficiency to ensure a sustainable future.

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Chelsea owner reportedly suffers alleged poisoning during Kiev talks

Following the meeting in Kiev, Abramovich, as well as two senior members of the Ukrainian team, developed symptoms that included red eyes, painful tearing as well as peeling skin on their faces and hands…reports Asian Lite News

Roman Abramovich had suffered a suspected poisoning along with Ukraine peace negotiators earlier this month, Daily Mail reported.

The Chelsea Football Club owner was reportedly poisoned just weeks ago after a meeting in Kiev while he acted as a ‘peacemaker’ in the Russian war in Ukraine, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Following the meeting in Kiev, Abramovich, as well as two senior members of the Ukrainian team, developed symptoms that included red eyes, painful tearing as well as peeling skin on their faces and hands, sources told the newspaper.

Analysts at Bellingcat confirmed that three members of the delegation — including Abramovich — attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on March 3 experienced “symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons”, Daily Mail reported.

Abramovich, another Russian entrepreneur and Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov had been taking part in the negotiations, with the talks lasting until about 10 pm, investigative news site Bellingcat said.

The three members of the delegation left the talks on March 3 to an apartment in Kiev later that night.

While there, they were all suffering from eye and skin inflammation and piercing pain in their eyes until the next morning.

Sources told WSJ they blamed the suspected poisoning attack on hard-liners in Moscow who wanted to ruin talks to end the war.

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UN tourism body to suspend Russia’s membership

Pic credits @UNWTO

This was the first time in the history of UNWTO that the Executive Council met to address a request to consider suspending a member from the organisation…reports Asian Lite News

World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will vote to temporarily suspend Russia’s membership in the organisation over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“At today’s emergency session of the UNWTO Executive Council our Members decided to call for an extraordinary session of the General Assembly to consider the suspension of Russia’s membership,” Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of UNWTO, said in a statement.

“Together we uphold the values of peace and solidarity and respect for human rights,” he added.

This was the first time in the history of UNWTO that the Executive Council met to address a request to consider suspending a member from the organisation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

“War is never a solution! Not now, and not ever. But it is evident that not everybody is committed to this ideal,” said Pololikashvili.

He added: “For this reason, UNWTO – and me as the voice of the Organization – must be loud and clear: If you are a Member, then you commit to our rules. And you must embrace our values. So, when Members go against our goals, there must be consequences.”

In accordance with its Statutes, the UNWTO General Assembly alone has the sovereign responsibility to decide on the suspension of membership of any Member State, if it found that the Member persists in a policy contrary to the fundamental aims of the Organization, as enshrined in article 3 of its Statutes, the tourism body said in a statement.

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