Latest news with #anti-Russia
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putin's peace talks negotiator claimed Russians have extra chromosome
Vladimir Putin's chief delegate at peace talks with Ukraine is a historian who once claimed that Russians have an extra chromosome due to their superiority. Having refused to attend the negotiations himself or even to send any of his senior officials, Putin has sent a low-level delegation to peace talks in Istanbul led by Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's former culture minister. Mr Medinsky's presence at the head of a Russian team lacking any Kremlin heavyweights has earned derision from Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, who called the delegation 'decorative' and argued that it was evidence of Putin's insincerity. The historian also led Russian negotiators during fruitless talks in 2022 and adopted such a hardline position by demanding Ukraine's capitulation, disarmament and future neutrality that the negotiations promptly collapsed. With Donald Trump, the US president, dismissing the likelihood of any breakthrough in Istanbul until he has met with Putin, Mr Medinsky and his team, drawn from Russia's diplomatic corps and military intelligence, seem to be in Istanbul largely as placeholders. But Mr Medinsky can also be trusted not to deviate from the script. An ultranationalist populist historian, he is alleged to have ghostwritten a number of the Russian president's 'academic' articles, including his famous essay of 2021 that provided the rationale for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the following year. It questioned Ukraine's right to exist as a separate entity, arguing that Ukrainians and Russians were one people and that the US had turned Ukraine into an anti-Russia. He also co-authored a history textbook now in use in all Russian schools that claimed Ukraine was an 'ultranationalist state' where 'opposition is forbidden' and that the West had used it as a 'battering ram' to destroy Russia. The book also presents Joseph Stalin as a wise leader who improved the lives of ordinary people and justified the deaths of the millions of Russians and Ukrainians who fell foul of him, saying they got what was coming to them for their lack of patriotism. Mr Medinsky also earned widespread ridicule after arguing that Russians were particularly heroic and able to survive hardship because they 'have one extra chromosome'. While it is likely that he was attempting to speak figuratively, the assertion, made in 2012, prompted scorn even within Russia, with critics pointing out that having an extra chromosome is associated less with genetic superiority than with conditions such as Down's syndrome. A former advertising mogul who reportedly lobbied on behalf of the tobacco and casino industries, Mr Medinsky caught Putin's eye with a series of popular histories that exonerated Russia for everything bad that had happened in its history, choosing to blame outsiders instead. Putin rewarded him by making him culture minister in 2012, despite Mr Medinsky's self-confessed loathing of art. He is not a professional historian and has defended himself from the criticism of academics, writing in one of his books: 'Facts don't matter very much. Everything begins not with facts, but with interpretations. If you love your homeland, your people, then the story you write will always be positive.' Claims that Mr Medinsky ghostwrote some of Putin's texts were made by Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of the now exiled Russian television station TV Rain, who was a student of his at the Moscow Institute of International Relations. 'From the shadows, [Medinsky] has helped construct the ideological and historical edifice on which much of Mr Putin's rule rests,' Mr Zygar wrote in a piece for the New York Times in 2023. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Hill
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Poland orders the Russian Consulate in Krakow closed after Moscow was blamed for a 2024 arson attack
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's foreign minister said Monday that he was ordering the closure of the Russian Consulate in the southern city of Krakow, after authorities blamed Moscow for a fire that destroyed a shopping center in Warsaw last year. The national prosecutor's office also said Monday that it had pressed charges against two Ukrainian citizens who cooperated with the people who carried out the arson, identifying them only as Daniil B. and Oleksander V. The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping center that housed around 1,400 shops and service points, a budget marketplace in a warehouse-like structure in a northern district of Warsaw. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw's Vietnamese community. 'This was a huge fire of a shopping mall in Warsaw in which, just by sheer luck, nobody was hurt. This is completely unacceptable,' Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said. 'So the Russian Consulate will have to leave. And if these attacks continue, we'll take further action.' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the accusations as being groundless and rooted in anti-Russia sentiment. He also said that Warsaw's decision to close the consulate would damage bilateral relations between Russia and Poland, which Peskov described as already being in 'a deplorable state.' 'Poland is choosing hostility against us,' he told journalists on Monday. Last year, Sikorski already ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in Poznan, one of three at the time in Poland, in response to acts of sabotage, including arson attacks that he said were sponsored by Moscow. This leaves only one Russian Consulate in Poland, in the city of Gdansk. There are rising concerns in Europe over Russian attempts to destabilize the region through covert operations. Countries along NATO's eastern flank, like Poland and the Baltic states, feel especially vulnerable. In March, Lithuania accused Russia of carrying out an arson attack at an IKEA store in the capital, Vilnius, last year.
Russia Today
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukraine critic wins first round of Romanian presidential election rerun
George Simion, a critic of the EU who has been banned from entering Ukraine, won the first round of the rerun of the Romanian presidential election on Sunday. With more than 95% of the ballots counted, Simion, the leader of the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), received 40.52% of the votes, according to the news website G4 Media. Former senator Crin Antonescu and Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, both known for pro-EU views, each received a little over 20% of the votes. 'This is not just an electoral victory, it is a victory of Romanian dignity. It is the victory of those who have not lost hope, of those who still believe in Romania, a free, respected, sovereign country,' Simion said, according to Reuters. The vote took place after Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the results of the election held in November, in which independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu received 23% of the votes. The court cited 'irregularities' in Georgescu's campaign, as well as intelligence reports claiming Russian meddling. Moscow rejected the claims of interference as 'anti-Russia hysteria.' In March, Georgescu was barred by the Central Electoral Bureau from running again, citing his alleged 'anti-democratic' and 'extremist' stance, as well as a failure to comply with electoral procedures. On Sunday, Georgescu and Simion arrived at a polling station together. 'We are here with a single mission: to restore constitutional order and democracy,' Simion told reporters. In November 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that Simion had been blacklisted for his 'systematic anti-Ukrainian activities, which contradict the national interests of Ukraine and violate its state sovereignty and territorial integrity.' Simion argued that he was targeted because of his 'promotion of historical truth' among the Romanian minority in western Ukraine. He was also banned from entering neighboring Moldova, which he labeled 'an artificial country' that 'will never join the European Union.' Simion has opposed the delivery of weapons to Kiev. 'We will not send military aid to Ukraine, and that doesn't make us pro-Russian,' he told reporters last year. He also criticized EU bureaucrats. 'The EU is a remarkable project that brought peace to Europe after centuries of war, but Brussels has become a greedy and corrupt bubble,' Simion said.
Russia Today
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Anti-Ukraine politician wins first round of Romanian presidential election rerun
George Simion, a critic of the EU who has been banned from entering Ukraine, won the first round of the rerun of the Romanian presidential election on Sunday. With more than 93% of the ballots counted, Simion, the leader of the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), received 40.26% of the votes, according to the news website G4 Media. Former senator Crin Antonescu and Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, both known for pro-EU views, each received a little over 20% of the votes. The vote took place after Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the results of the election held in November, in which independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu received 23% of the votes. The court cited 'irregularities' in Georgescu's campaign, as well as intelligence reports claiming Russian meddling. Moscow rejected the claims of interference as 'anti-Russia hysteria.' In March, Georgescu was barred by the Central Electoral Bureau from running again, citing his alleged 'anti-democratic' and 'extremist' stance, as well as a failure to comply with electoral procedures. On Sunday, Georgescu and Simion arrived at a polling station together. 'We are here with a single mission: to restore constitutional order and democracy,' Simion told reporters. DETAILS TO FOLLOW
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Labor wins Australia's federal election, seen as major backlash against far-right
Labor has secured a federal election victory in Australia, in what was widely seen as a major domestic backlash against Donald Trump-style politics and the country's rightward drift under the conservative coalition. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a second term, becoming the first Australian leader to do so since John Howard in 2004. His party not only retained government but expanded its majority. 'Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values, for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all,' Albanese told cheering supporters in Sydney on May 3, as reported by the Guardian. The ABC projected Labor to win 86 seats, a clear majority, while the coalition got 39, down 18 from the previous election. Sixteen seats remained undecided. The Coalition leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat, calling the outcome 'obvious.' 'We did not do well enough during this campaign,' he told coalition supporters in Brisbane. Labor's campaign framed the election as a choice between steady leadership and chaos, drawing comparisons between the Coalition's policies and U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump's unpopular 10-percent tariff on Australian goods and the global financial instability caused by his trade policies raised concerns among voters, France 24 reported on May 3. Other key issues in the campaign included the rising cost of living, wage growth, and Coalition's proposals like restricting remote work for public servants. Peter Dutton's 'Trump-lite' policies, including plans to cut public service jobs in the name of government efficiency, alienated some voters, Henry Maher, a politics lecturer at the University of Sydney, told France 24. On foreign policy, his government has prioritized support for Ukraine, committing more than $1.3 billion in aid and backing international efforts to hold Russia accountable for its invasion. In July 2023, Albanese met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Australia has imposed sanctions on over 1,200 individuals and entities linked to Russia's war and has called on China to use its influence to help end the war. On April 22, when asked about reports that Russia had requested to build a military base in Indonesia, Albanese dismissed the claims as 'propaganda' and criticized the opposition for echoing them. 'I have no wish to help promote Russia's propaganda messages,' he said. 'I'm anti-Russia. I'm not sure that everyone is on that page, but I think that Russia has very different values under an authoritarian leader.' His comments appeared after Russia's ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov, amid concerns of Moscow increasing its military presence in the region claimed that Australia lacks the geopolitical weight to counter Russian military manoeuvres in the Indo-Pacific. Previously, there were unconfirmed reports of a potential Russian military base on Indonesia's Biak Island, an area located strategically close to northern Australia around 1,360 kilometers away. Read also: If authoritarians are scared of journalists, we must be doing something right We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
