Greek parliament passes suspension of asylum claims despite international criticism
The measure suspends asylum application processing for those arriving by sea from North Africa, following a dramatic surge in Mediterranean crossings that has overwhelmed reception facilities on the island of Crete.
The suspension passed by a vote of 177-74 despite fierce opposition from left-wing parties, which unsuccessfully challenged the amendment as unconstitutional.
Thanos Plevris, the migration affairs minister, told lawmakers up to 1,000 migrants were arriving daily and described the situation as resembling an 'invasion.'
Authorities are continuing efforts to intercept boats south of Crete and take migrants directly to mainland facilities.
The emergency measures drew sharp criticism from international human rights organizations. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed 'deep concern.' While acknowledging Greece's right to manage borders, UNHCR said border control 'must be in line with international and European law.'
Michael O'Flaherty, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, also condemned Athens' response, arguing it 'would legalize returning people to face a risk of torture and other serious violations, in breach of (Greece's international) obligations.'
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The Hill
22 minutes ago
- The Hill
Russia sanctions still expected Friday after Putin-Witkoff meeting: US official
A senior U.S. official said sanctions on Russia's key trading partners are still expected to go into effect on Friday, after President Trump's special mission envoy Steve Witkoff's Wednesday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said Wednesday afternoon that Witkoff and Putin had a 'highly productive' meeting, claiming that 'great progress' was made. The senior official said the talks between Witkoff and Putin in Moscow, their fifth meeting since Trump came back into office, 'went well' and lasted about three hours. ' The Russians are eager to continue engaging with the United States. The secondary sanctions are still expected to be implemented on Friday,' the official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic talks. Trump said in mid-July that Russia could face 'severe' tariffs if it did not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine within the next two months. The president said at the time he would slap a 100 percent 'secondary' tariff on countries that do business with the Kremlin, including buying Russian oil and gas. Trump shortened the deadline to Friday, adding he was unsure if the sanctions would deal a great blow to the Russian economy. 'I don't know that sanctions bother him [Putin]. You know? They know about sanctions. I know better than anybody about sanctions, and tariffs and everything else. I don't know if that has any effect. But we're going to do it,' Trump said on July 31. The president's Wednesday post about the Putin-Witkoff meeting did not mention sanctions or tariffs. 'Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,' the president wrote Wednesday. The president penned an executive order Wednesday increasing tariffs on India by 25 percent due to its purchases of Russian oil. The new import tax total is at 50 percent. The levy is set to go into effect in three weeks. 'They're buying Russian oil, they're fueling the war machine,' Trump said during a Tuesday interview with CNBC. India has pushed back, saying that buying Russian oil was a 'necessity' to stabilize energy costs in the country. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have spearheaded a major sanctions bill against Russia, garnering more than 85 co-sponsors in the Senate. The bill would institute a 500 percent tariff on imports from nations that buy Russian oil, gas and uranium. Senators left for the August recess without advancing the legislation. 'We propose in our bill 500 percent. If it's 250 percent, I could live with it. Even if it's 100 percent, possibly. But you ought to impose bone-crushing sanctions that will stop them from fueling Russia's war machine,' Blumenthal said last week. Putin's envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, said Witkoff's meeting with Russian officials was 'constructive,' adding the U.S.-Russia dialogue would continue and is 'critical for global security and peace.' 'Our side has forwarded some signals, in particular on the Ukrainian issue and corresponding signals were received from President Trump,' Putin's foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said after the meeting, according to Russian state media. Trump, who has long called for the nearly three-and-a-half-year war in Eastern Europe to end, has been expressing his frustration with Putin in recent weeks, demanding the Russian leader halt the attacks, often on civilian areas. Overnight, Russia's military struck a recreational center in the Zaporizhzhia region, where at least two people have been confirmed dead, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. 'No matter what the Kremlin says, they will only genuinely seek to end the war once they feel adequate pressure. And right now, it is very important to strengthen all the levers in the arsenal of the United States, Europe, and the G7 so that a ceasefire truly comes into effect immediately,' Zelensky, who talked to Trump on Tuesday, said on social media.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
New plan to limit Russian energy, protect US trade
President Trump has become increasingly angry with Russian President Vladimir Putin. For about two months he has been threatening the Kremlin with 'secondary' sanctions, which would impose high duties on imports from the nations which continue to purchase Russian energy resources. The Russians seem unfazed by Trump's warnings (as well as by Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) recent remarks), citing their resilience to sanctions. Several authoritative sources argue that the U.S. simply cannot afford to impose even 100 percent duties on China, India or Turkey. If all of Russia's energy trading partners were subjected to new tariffs, the U.S. would hijack a significant part of its foreign trade and ruin its trade relationships with at least 26 countries. I agree with those who believe the new tariffs cannot be put in place by Trump's updated deadline for Russia. We have seen that 125 percent duties on China lasted less than a month, and in recent days, President Trump has announced 50 percent tariffs against Brazil, 25 percent tariffs against India and 15 percent tariffs on the European Union. One hundred percent duties don't seem plausible. I would urge changing the overall approach to make the tariffs more affordable. The goal appears to be to cut Russia's energy supply to the world. Trump's plan should make Russian oil more expensive to the buyers (by the way, the European 'oil price cap' approach has failed. It resulted in discounts for the Russian oil, thus encouraging its smuggling and creation of Russia's 'shadow tanker fleet'). In this sense, Trump's position looks more effective — but the major problem lies in the numbers. The predecessor of Trump's strategy — the bill proposed by Sens. Graham and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) — calls for the duty to be applied to all imports coming to the U.S. from Russia's energy trading partners. I believe it is too radical and, frankly speaking, not very justified because of the lack of differentiation. A much better option would be to relate the tariffs to the actual amount of money countries pay to Moscow. For example, India sent $115 billion in its goods and services to the U.S. in 2024 and paid $49 billion for Russian oil that year. China exported $513 billion in goods to the U.S. in 2024 while it bought Russian oil, gas, and coal for up to $76 billion. The EU's figures stood at $939 billion and $34 billion, correspondingly. If the U.S. applies 100 percent tariffs linked to the Russian energy resources imported, it would fix additional duties for India this year at 42.6 percent of its exports to U.S., China's at 14.8 percent and Europe's at a mere 3.6 percent. These figures are not so astonishing. On the one hand, they seem manageable, and on the other hand, they still double the price of Russian oil for importing nations. If this strategy is taken as the principal one, the overall additional duties would equal the entire volume of Russia's energy exports, $261.9 billion for 2024. As the U.S. combined imports of goods and services amount to $4.11 trillion, the figure makes less than 6.5 percent in additional tariffs. It looks like a fair price for knocking Russia out as self-proclaimed 'energy superpower.' The measure would make Russia's 'shadow fleet' useless, since it doubles the price for Russia's energy for any country except those with zero exports to the U.S.. But these, if they exist, aren't significant oil importers that might be helpful to Moscow in substituting the vanishing demand for its oil and gas. I suggest amending Graham and Blumental's bill to impose the duty for goods or services imported into the U.S. to an amount that corresponds to each country's imports of Russian energy resources for the previous year. It would be a right recipe to destroy the Russian energy exports in two to three years and put Putin's economy on the brink of collapse without ruining America's trade ties to its major commercial partners. Should Trump adopt such a plan on Aug. 11, the chances of stopping Russia's aggression against Ukraine could rise significantly. Vladislav Inozemtsev is special adviser to the Middle East Media Research Institute's Russian Media Studies Project and is co-founder and senior fellow at the Center for Analysis and Strategies in Europe.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
US is auctioning a seized $325M Russian superyacht with 8 state rooms, a helipad, a gym and a spa
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is auctioning off the $325 million luxury superyacht Amadea, its first sale of a seized Russian superyacht since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The auction, which closes Sept. 10, comes as President Donald Trump seeks to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war. The U.S. has said it's working with allies to put pressure on Russian oligarchs, some of whom are close to Putin and have had their superyachts seized, to try to compel him to stop the war. The 348-foot-long (106-meter-long) yacht, seized three years ago and currently docked in San Diego, was custom built by the German company Lürssen in 2017. Designed by François Zuretti, the yacht features an interior with extensive marble work, eight state rooms, a beauty salon, a spa, a gym, a helipad, a swimming pool and an elevator. It accommodates 16 guests and 36 crew members. Determining the real ownership of the Amadea has been an issue of contention because of an opaque trail of trusts and shell companies. The superyacht is registered in the Cayman Islands and is owned by Millemarin Investments Ltd., also based in the Cayman Islands. The U.S. contends that Suleiman Kerimov, an economist and former Russian politician, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 for alleged money laundering, owns the yacht. Meanwhile, Eduard Khudainatov, a former chairman and chief executive of the state-controlled Russian oil and gas company Rosneft, who has not been sanctioned, claims to own it. U.S. prosecutors say Khudainatov is a straw owner of the yacht, intended to conceal the yacht's true owner, Kerimov. Litigation over the true ownership of the yacht is ongoing. A representative of Khudainatov said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the planned sale of the yacht is 'improper and premature' since Khudainatov is appealing a forfeiture ruling. 'We doubt it will attract any rational buyer at fair market price, because ownership can, and will, be challenged in courts outside the United States, exposing purchasers to years of costly, uncertain litigation,' said the representative, Adam Ford. The yacht has been virtually untouched since the National Maritime Services took custody of it in 2022. To submit a sealed bid on it, bidders must put in a 10 million euro deposit, the equivalent of roughly $11.6 million, to be considered. Ford said Khudainatov would go after any proceeds from the sale of the yacht, estimated to be worth $325 million. 'Should the government press ahead simply to staunch the mounting costs it is imposing on the American taxpayer, we will pursue the sale proceeds, and any shortfall from fair market value, once we prevail in court,' Ford said. A U.S. aid package for Ukraine signed into law in May 2024 gave the U.S. the ability to seize Russian state assets located in the U.S. and use them for the benefit of Kyiv, which was attacked by Russia in February 2022.
