#War #Ukraine #Developments
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– Russia a “direct threat” to NATO –
NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg says a NATO summit in Madrid will highlight the threat from Russia as the alliance launches the biggest overhaul of its defenses since the Cold War.
“We will state clearly that Russia poses a direct threat to our security,” Stoltenberg said ahead of what he calls a “historic and transformative” meeting.
The alliance is strengthening its deterrence capabilities and massively increasing its short-term deployment troops following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, it will also officially offer membership to Sweden and Finland, who ditched their decades-long non-aligned status to seek NATO protection in the face of the Ukraine war.
– NATO “destabilizes” the world: Russia –
Moscow says NATO is trying to contain Russia and that Finland and Sweden’s NATO bids will have a “destabilizing” effect on the world.
“The Madrid summit confirms and consolidates this bloc’s policy of aggressively containing Russia,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“We see the enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance as a purely destabilizing factor in international affairs,” he adds.
– $330 billion Russian assets frozen –
More than $330 billion in financial resources owned by the Russian elite and its central bank have been frozen by the West since Moscow was invaded, according to an international sanctions task force.
The Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force (REPO) says members, which include the US, Canada, Britain, leading EU members, Japan and other allies, are blocking $30 billion in Russian oligarchs and officials’ assets and 300 Dollars have immobilized billions owned by the Central Bank of Russia.
– Turkey supports Finland and Sweden’s NATO bid –
NATO member Turkey is dropping its opposition to Finland and Sweden joining after talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and leaders of the two Nordic countries in Madrid.
Turkey had threatened to veto their joining the club, accusing them of harboring Kurdish militants involved in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
Turkey says it will request the extradition of 33 “terrorist” suspects from Sweden and Finland in exchange for its support.
– Buses, trains connecting Crimea with southern Ukraine –
Authorities in Crimea announce the opening of bus and train services between the Moscow-annexed peninsula and Russian-occupied parts of southern Ukraine.
“As of July 1, regular bus and train services between Crimea and the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions will start for the first time in eight years,” says Sergei Aksyonov, the pro-Moscow head of Crimea.
Russia’s invasion aimed in part at ending Crimea’s isolation by seizing control of much of south-eastern Ukraine to create a land bridge between Russia and the peninsula captured by Moscow in 2014.
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