Latest news with #Russia-allied
Washington Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump should build a wall between Russia and Ukraine
President Donald Trump believes in border walls. 'Walls work,' he has said, and he remains determined to finish his wall on the U.S. southern border that Democrats obstructed in his first term. In the meantime, here's an idea: Trump should build a wall between Russia and Ukraine. Right now, Poland is building one across its entire 400-mile frontier with Russia and Russia-allied Belarus. Polish officials went to school on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and came up with a border barrier specifically designed to stop the Russian army. The project, dubbed 'East Shield,' began construction in October and will combine old-school physical barriers with high-tech surveillance systems.
Forbes
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Poland Suspends Right To Asylum Amid EU Clash With Belarus Over Border
Poland's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk on March 28, 2024. (Photo by) A controversial legislative bill has been signed into law by Poland's president, officially suspending the right for people to claim asylum within its territory. The move has been condemned by human rights groups and NGOs, but is in keeping with other Western European countries who have made similar moves in recent times. The bill, first announced by Poland's centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk in late 2024 comes amid a perceived crisis over irregular migration in Europe. 'Our right and our duty is to protect the Polish and European border,' wrote Tusk at the time, '(our) security will not be subject to negotiation.' The bill was eventually passed - by a very large majority - by the Polish parliament in February 2025, and was signed into law by president Andrzej Duda in late March. The context for the bill is the alleged 'instrumentalization' of irregular migrants by Belarus in recent years. Put more simply, the Russia-allied country on the EU's eastern flank is accused of deliberately shepherding - sometimes outright forcing - people to cross the border into the EU. This, it is alleged, is a form of 'hybrid warfare' in which Belarus is attempting to destabilise the EU by overwhelming its infrastructure and encouraging political discontent across the bloc. Poland, for its part, is currently accused in the European Court of Human Rights of violently forcing people back across the border to Belarus, in violation of EU and international refugee law. Prime Minister Tusk has argued that the 'instrumentalization' of migrants has created a state of emergency, justifying the pushbacks as well as this new law suspending asylum. Aside from the tensions with Belarus, Poland has also long been at odds with the EU's leadership over the issue of refugees and asylum across the bloc. Under previous governments, the country argued that the presence of many Ukrainian refugees (even before the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022) meant Poland should not be obliged to resettle refugees from the Middle East and Africa. The more liberal Tusk has adopted similar lines, recently announcing the country would not comply with the important EU 'Dublin Regulation' on returning asylum seekers to the EU country of initial registration. Poland is by far not the only EU country looking to limit or end asylum applications on its territory. In 2024, Germany effectively closed its borders and announced it would seek to prevent people entering its territory in order to seek shelter, something that provoked widespread criticism from NGOS, civil society groups and Donald Tusk himself. At the same time, the new governing coalition in Austria has ann0unced its intentions to limit the amount of people claiming asylum there. More broadly, the EU itself has long relied on agreements with countries of origin and transit such as Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia to have them prevent people arriving in Europe at all. The EU's executive arm also recently announced changes to EU law to allow so-called 'return hubs' in foreign countries to be set up, where people could be deported and detained outside EU territory.
National News
26-03-2025
- Politics
- National News
Armenia parliament votes for starting EU accession bid
NNA - Armenia's parliament on March 26 passed a bill launching Yerevan's bid for European Union membership, as the historically Russia-allied country drifts further away from Moscow's orbit. The landlocked Caucasus nation has in recent years grown increasingly close to the West, frustrated by what it says was Moscow's failure to protect it from arch-foe Azerbaijan. Adopted in final reading with 64 votes in favour -- all from lawmakers of the ruling Civil Contract party -- and seven opposition MPs voting against, the bill calls on the Armenian government to initiate the process of EU accession. "The Republic of Armenia... is announcing the launch of the process of the accession of the Republic of Armenia into the European Union," the text reads. Ties between Yerevan and Moscow plummeted dramatically following Azerbaijan's 2023 lightning offensive that routed Armenian-backed separatists in Baku's Karabakh region. Armenia accused Russia, which had almost 2,000 troops stationed in the region, of doing nothing to prevent the fighting and the subsequent exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians from the region. Four days after the offensive, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the nation in a televised address that Yerevan's current security alliances were "ineffective" and "insufficient". In February 2024, he froze Armenia's participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a defence grouping of several ex-Soviet states similar to NATO. Yerevan also joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), against Moscow's wishes -- a move that obliges the country to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin should he visit Armenia. It launched visa liberalisation talks with the European Union in September 2024 and deepened its defence ties with France. In July 2024, it held military drills with US troops. Moscow has reacted with dismay to the moves, accusing Yerevan of trying to rupture ties. Russia announced it was pulling its peacekeepers from Karabakh last year and removing some troops and border guards from the Caucasus state.--AFP
