Ukraine: How did the meeting between Trump, Zelensky and European leaders go?
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Euronews
a minute ago
- Euronews
Russian dissidents face limbo as Germany halts humanitarian visas
ADVERTISEMENT Bright sun, Ukrainian flag, a woman's hand gesture shielding from Russian drones and warplanes, and the slogan: "No to Putin, no to war". The drawing by Russian sixth-grader Masha Moskalyova was widely shared around the world — and it was the one thing she and her father took with them "first and foremost" when they left their homeland. Today, Masha, now 15, and her father are together, but the past years have come at a significant cost: Alexey Moskalyov spent almost two years in prison for "discrediting the Russian army" — a harsh consequence of his daughter's drawing. It was also the direct result of the Kremlin's intensified repression against those straying from the official narrative. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has expanded the legal tools it uses to silence practically anyone it wants to. After Moskalyov's release, the two managed to cross the border and settle in Armenia, and then tried to leave for a place where the Russian authorities would be unable to reach them. Yet, the fate of the single father and his daughter remains in limbo. Just recently, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) rejected the Moskalyovs' applications for a humanitarian visa. Armenians, for their part, have been quite welcoming. "Good-natured people, a beautiful city," Alexey Moskalyov told Euronews. Yerevan residents sometimes recognise the two in stores, he said, "say words of support, are glad that we are now in a safer place than in Russia." At the same time, concerns over their safety persist as threats to Russians with anti-war sentiments in this republic of the South Caucasus remain. "There is a Russian military base in Armenia," he explained. "There have been repeated attempts to kidnap unwanted people, Russian oppositionists, those who oppose the Putin regime, those who did not want to be cannon fodder." "There were attempts to kidnap and then transfer them to Russia. And then - it's criminal cases and imprisonment all over again," Moskalyov said. The detention of Russian citizen Dmitry Setrakov, who left for Armenia over objecting to mobilisation back home, carried out by Russian security forces from the military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri, was previously reported by the Vanadzor branch of the human rights organisation Helsinki Citizens' Assembly. This was not an isolated case. According to Armenian domestic media, there were at least four similar cases since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 — to the point where Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan criticised the Kremlin's actions and called Setrakov's detention a "kidnapping". Dissidents who find themselves in transit countries even with barely lingering links to the Kremlin also often fear possible extradition to Russia. This is why, hoping to start a new life, the Moskalyovs applied for a so-called "humanitarian visa" in Germany. Unlike political asylum, this type of permit would allow them to work immediately and pay taxes, an argument in favour of their further integration. 'Admissions are mostly suspended' Upon request, a German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) spokesperson told Euronews that, despite not commenting on individual cases, they can confirm that the current government aims to "end voluntary federal admission programmes as much as possible". The spokesperson elaborated, saying that, "until a decision is made, admissions under § 22 sentence 2 of the Residence Act, which allows entry for political reasons, are mostly suspended." This means that, in general, no new admissions are being granted, and no visas are being issued. Urgent cases, however, may still be approved, but there are no fixed rules for what counts as an exception. The decision, however, rests entirely with the ministry. Moskalyov says he was shocked when he learned that Germany had stopped issuing and approving humanitarian visas. "We turned to a country that associates itself with democracy, freedom of speech. We turned not so much for help as for protection from the tyranny that is happening in my country, from the dictatorial regime, from the repression that is persecuting me and my daughter," he emphasised. Marco Fieber, Director of Germany's Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights, an NGO committed to the protection of human rights in Belarus and Ukraine, called the ministry's statement sent to Euronews "absurd". "The BMI's reasoning that exceptions are only made in 'special individual cases' is absurd in view of the procedure applied to date for those affected from Belarus," he told Euronews. "In the past, these were always individual case decisions, in which we were in close contact with the German authorities. Nevertheless, in the two cases we are currently handling, nothing has actually happened for months – apparently due to intervention by the BMI", Fieber explained. "There is no way for Russians to obtain other protection in Germany, as they cannot legally apply for political asylum in Germany, which means that by closing paragraph 22.2 for Russians, Germany is closing off any possibility for them to obtain any kind of protection," a coordinator at the German-based human rights initiative inTransit told Euronews. Despite the suspension of humanitarian admissions under § 22.2, Russian nationals retain the fundamental right to seek asylum in Germany, as guaranteed by the country's Basic Law. The process for seeking asylum can be complex and may involve challenges such as lengthy waiting periods, limited access to employment during the application process, and potential difficulties in proving the grounds for persecution. 'We will not give you peace for the rest of your life' Returning to Russia is out of the question for Moskalyov and his daughter. During Moskalyov's last interrogation while at the penal colony, an FSB officer told him that he "would not be left alone" after his release. "You will now be on our radar for the rest of your life. We will come to you, visit you often, we will call you in for questioning, we will monitor you on the Internet, your accounts, and who you correspond with... We will not give you peace for the rest of your life," Moskalyov recalled. After leaving prison, he did not think of leaving Russia right away. However, the next day, a neighbour called him and said that the police had tried to break into his and Masha's house while the two were out to the supermarket, and he realised that the threats had come true. Human rights activists he knew gave Moskalyov clear advice: "You and Masha need to leave the country immediately." 'This is not how you fight dictatorships' The coordinator at the German-based human rights initiative inTransit also expressed "deep shock" at the programme's closure for Russians and Belarusians. "This is not how you fight dictatorships," they said, adding that "closing this program is a catastrophe" due to people having to wait for about two years for a visa. During that time, they will be detained and imprisoned, the coordinator told Euronews. "We are advocating for the resumption of the Paragraph 22.2 program for the Moskalyov family and for all others currently in the process who meet the program's criteria," they continued, emphasising the numbers: since June 2022, only 2,600 people - including children and spouses - have been accepted, averaging no more than 1,000 per year. The coordinator argues that the criteria could be made even stricter, adding that "in recent years they have already been made so restrictive that obtaining German protection was like passing through the eye of a needle". InTransit confirmed that around 300 applications are currently in limbo. "If Germany closes this program, The political goals declared by German politicians regarding present-day Russia and opposing the war in Ukraine will lose much of their meaning", the inTransit-coordinator concluded. The French alternative For now, the organisation inTransit, which is working on assisting the Moskalyovs, is not going to look for another host country for Alexei and Masha, "because we do not believe Germany can simply shift all responsibility for protecting persecuted Russians onto another country, such as France." InTransit cited the possibility of the French alternative programme's closure, or waiting times that "could stretch to two years," among further reasons for this decision. While activists working in different countries welcome the fact that France is accepting Russian dissidents, Paris is simultaneously tightening its general migration policy and, like other European countries, is wary of Kremlin interference. According to Le Monde, France has turned down around 1,200 visa and accreditation requests from Russians since early 2022, citing espionage fears. Those whose applications were rejected include diplomats, businessmen, conference participants, visitors to cultural events, and those who applied as journalists — a category under intense scrutiny over concerns of possible Kremlin-instigated propaganda and disinformation campaigns. The French authorities are also aware that, due to a shortage of experienced personnel, Moscow is increasingly relying on "illegals", agents who are not protected by diplomatic immunity and who work abroad under false names on long-term assignments. While the number of asylum requests in France has fallen by 44% in 2024 compared to 2023, the demand for humanitarian visas has not decreased. "People who have not been able to legalise (their status) in other countries, such as Serbia, Georgia or Spain, during the entire period of full-scale invasion and repression in Russia, are now turning to France, where the chances of legalisation are higher," Olga Prokopyeva, director of the French human rights group Russie-Libertés, told Euronews. Prokopyeva explained that one of the main reasons why Russians seek political asylum in France is desertion or conscientious objection to military service. "Perhaps this is also related to the rather low percentage of approvals, because these are complex cases," the human rights activist noted. "As far as we know, many are forced to appeal the decisions of the French authorities through the courts," she added. Punished because she 'couldn't lie' to children Natalia Taranushenko, a teacher from the Moscow region, received a French humanitarian visa. She was convicted in absentia after telling eighth-graders the truth about the mass murders committed by the Russian army in Bucha during a so-called "lesson of kindness," a mandatory class in today's Russia. Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have repeatedly called the Bucha massacre a "fake attack" staged by the West or Ukrainian authorities, despite never providing evidence to back their claims. Investigations, including those by the United Nations, have documented mass killings during Russia's occupation of the Kyiv suburb in the early days of the full-scale invasion. As many as 458 residents were killed, many executed at close range, tortured, maimed, raped or burned, often in so-called "cleansing" operations. Taranushenko knew her students might report her to the authorities, but she said she "couldn't lie to eighth-graders." Two parents of schoolchildren wrote denunciations against the teacher. She was charged last year and, like the Moskalyovs, fled to Armenia. She was detained at the airport when she tried to leave the country for Montenegro. After several NGOs took up her case and got Armenia to refuse extradition, she was able to leave for France, where she now lives. "I feel pain and shame for my country. And my profession is also a thing of the past: now I am among human rights defenders and I am very proud of it," Taranushenko told Euronews. Despite Taranushenko's positive experience, "immigration )is perceived by EU citizens and authorities) extremely negatively," Dmitry Zakhvatov from the NGO Action4life told Euronews. "The only guarantee of stopping this flow is the restoration of democracy, both in Belarus and in Russia," he explained. Otherwise, "this confrontation will intensify," Zakhvatov said, referring to the fact that the Russian regime builds its foreign policy exclusively on confrontation with its immediate neighbours and other countries. "Confrontation is the only way for this regime to survive. It simply does not know how to survive any other way," Zakhvatov concluded.
France 24
29 minutes ago
- France 24
How a fake story about Russia capturing British officers circulated in 13 countries
The photo is "the first concrete proof that NATO is actively carrying out a war against Russia,' claimed reseauinternational[.]net, a website that has been identified as a disseminator of false information, on August 3. During a raid on a Ukrainian command centre in Ochakiv, a town in southern Ukraine, Russian special forces allegedly captured two British colonels, Richard Carroll and Edward Blake, as well as an unidentified agent from MI6, the United Kingdom's intelligence services. When the British officers were captured, they were in full uniform and were carrying both secret military documents and diplomatic passports, reported Eurasia Daily, a Russian news agency that frequently shares the Kremlin's propaganda. As proof, the media outlet posted a photo of the capture that was also widely shared on social media. The media outlet reported that the British government at first denied that the officers had been captured, then claimed that they were tourists. Soon, however, they were purportedly trying to negotiate a prisoner exchange, which the Russians refused. Images generated by AI However, the supposed proof of the officers' arrest is actually fake. If you take a closer look at the photo, you'll see that the words on the prisoner's passports are actually illegible, which suggests that the images were AI-generated. The crest on the front of the passport is also scrambled and doesn't look like one that appears on authentic passports. Another photo also circulated online, this one said to show the officers in prison. But this image, too, was generated by AI. The first clue is that the officers who appear in the second photo look nothing like the officers in the first image. The next clue is that the badges on their shoulders are scrambled. In the British Army, the insignia for a colonel is two stars under a crown. But in the photo, there is no crown to be seen. In fact, one of the supposed colonels is actually wearing the insignia for a sergeant. Finally, there has been no official communication about the colonels from the British government and no mention of their capture in British media outlets. A fake news item disseminated in at least 13 countries Where did this disinformation come from? The fake news was shared in France by Pravda-fr. Viginum, the French government organisation tasked with fighting foreign digital interference, has identified this site as part of the Russian disinformation network Portal Kombat. This disinformation was also spread by the Russian news agency Tass, which reported on the capture of the British military officers on August 6. In a wire story in Russian, the agency claimed that the information came from Steigan, a pro-Russian Norwegian news site known to share conspiracy theories. However, the Norwegian outlet actually deleted its article on August 4 about the capture of British officers, saying that the information hadn't been sufficiently verified. Steigan said that the source of its story was the Hal Turner Radio Show, a US-based radio programme run by Harold Charles "Hal" Turner, an American political commentator who has both pro-Russian and anti-Semitic views. The fake news story about the capture of the British officers did the rounds across a series of sites that feed into one another, including media outlets affiliated to Russia like Pravda, Tass and Eurasia Daily and the international "Russosphere", which includes pro-Russia sites like reseauinternational[.]net in France. This disinformation was also picked up by several traditional media outlets: on August 5, AL24, an Algerian television channel, hosted a 24-minute debate about the soldiers' capture.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Dressed for diplomacy, Zelenskyy's style wins praise in Trump meeting
ADVERTISEMENT When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in February, his wartime attire became a flashpoint in a disastrous session. But for Monday's latest meeting between the two leaders, Zelenskyy arrived at the White House dressed to impress. He swapped the long-sleeved polo shirt featuring the Ukrainian trident donned in February for a more formal black suit-style jacket and dress shirt. It proved to be a shrewd move in fashion diplomacy. During the meeting, a reporter who in February had taken Zelenskyy to task for not wearing a suit, complimented Ukraine's leader for his sartorial choices this time around. "President Zelenskyy, you look fabulous in that suit," said Brian Glenn, the White House correspondent for right-wing media outlet Real America's Voice. Trump chimed in immediately: "I said the same thing." Pointing at Glenn, the US president told Zelenskyy: "And he's the one who attacked you last time". In the February meeting, Glenn asked Zelenskyy why he didn't wear a suit, and claimed that a lot of Americans took issue with him "not respecting the dignity" of the Oval Office. That criticism followed a sarcastic dig by Trump, who told reporters that his Ukrainian counterpart was "all dressed up today" when he first welcomed him into the West Wing. But it was all smiles this time around, with Zelenskyy on Monday delivering a light-hearted dig to Glenn in response to his praise. "You're wearing the same suit," he told the journalist, drawing laughter. "I changed." 'Visual diplomacy of a new kind' Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Zelenskyy has mainly worn the same military-style outfit — a green or black t-shirt with matching fatigue-like trousers and combat boots — as an act of solidarity with the country's troops. However, following the acrimonious exchange with Trump at the White House earlier this year, Ukraine's leader has adopted a smarter appearance at recent events ranging from the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome to the dinner before the NATO Summit at The Hague. The wardrobe change has been described by the Ukrainian edition of ELLE magazine as "visual diplomacy of a new kind." Viktor Anisimov, the designer of Zelenskyy's new outfit, has said that he was "gradually a more civilian style, while still preserving the military reference." "It's not about the suit — it's about what happens to Ukraine," he told Womenswear Daily. In that sense, Monday's meeting between the two presidents was a marked improvement from their last encounter in the Oval Office. Trump told Zelenskyy that Ukraine would receive security guarantees as part of any deal to end Russia's war, though he did not specify what Kyiv might have to give in exchange. "Europe is the first line of defence," Trump said, adding "but we will help, we will be involved" as he did not reject the idea of US peacekeepers on the ground in Ukraine. After Trump and Zelenskyy's bilateral meeting, they met with seven European leaders who travelled to Washington to show support for Ukraine and Trump's peace efforts. Later on Monday, Trump said in a social media post that he had called Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Alaska last week, to start arranging a meeting between him and Zelenskyy. After a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy takes place, the three leaders will hold a trilateral summit, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
