EU sanctions Belarusian economy: 1. Prohibition to directly or indirectly sell, supply, transfer or export equipment, technology or software intended primarily for use in the monitoring or interception of the internet and of telephone communications. consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press…
2. Trade in petroleum products, potassium chloride ('potash'), and goods used for the production or
manufacturing of tobacco products is restricted.
3. Access to EU capital markets is restricted, and providing insurance and re-insurance to the Belarusian government and Belarusian public bodies and agencies is prohibited.
4. The EIB will stop any disbursement or payment to projects in the public sector, and any existing Technical Assistance Service Contracts. Member states will be required to limit the involvement in Belarus of multilateral development banks. (=World Bank & EBRD)
Since October 2020, the EU has sanctioned a total of 166 persons and 15 entities in Belarus.
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1. "On June 22...the Nazis, having conquered practically the whole of Europe, attacked the USSR. For the Soviet people the Great Patriotic War...began." Well, the USSR attacked Poland on 9/17/1939 & Finland on 11/30/1939, that is, parts of World War II.
2. "We hoped that the end of the Cold War would be a common victory for Europe...the logic of building a Greater Europe united by common values and interests..." So, Putin has abolished the rule of law, freedom & democracy in Russia & attacked countries! What common values?
3. "the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance...eastwards – which...that turned into the main reason for the rapid increase in mutual mistrust in Europe." No, the reason for mistrust & NATO expansion was Russia's energy & military aggression against neighbors.
Putin's victory day march & speech are interesting in many ways. 1. It looks so obsolete. Everybody is old & so is the style & military equipment. 2. The only foreign leader present is Tajikistan's Soviet-style dictator Emomali Rahmon.
3. The allies are not even mentioned. The USSR did it all alone (news). 4. Putin carefully avoids falling into Russian ethnic or religious nationalism, clarifying: "People of all ethnicities and faiths fought for every inch of our soil." His nationalism is imperial.
5. A novelty is an implicit parallel between the Nazis & the West. Putin: "An enemy attacked our country and invaded our land to kill and to spread death and pain, horror and immeasurable suffering." en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
How pathetic! Kremlin-loyal Russian daily Kommersant reports on Biden under the heading: "Joe Biden got 100 days older." What a disgrace!
Please write your next headline: Putin has exhausted the Russian people for 20 years. kommersant.ru/doc/4791287?fr…
Kommersant's Kremlin propagandists continue: "Joe Biden is unpopular." That is their interpretation of 52% supporting him in the ABC/Washington Post poll, to compare with 42% for Trump at this time in 2017.
What cheap propaganda!
Amidst this, these propagandists claim that Biden wants to meet Putin in Europe June 15-16. If everything else is wrong, why should we believe them? A fair assumption is that this is a Kremlin provocation to force the White House to offer an early meeting.
I think that @JoeBiden's commitment to a summit of democracies is a great idea, drawing on Madeleine Albright's community of democracies, but the conditions & aims need to be clear. For 15 years democracies have lost against authoritarians. This summit could turn the tide.
1. The aim should be to establish a certain set of minimal rules for a democracy. Multiple excellent political scientists can do that: @McFaul@LarryDiamond@FukuyamaFrancis@vjb23@timothymfrye
This should lead to the creating of an international organization of democracy.
2. Similarly, there is no international organization for the development of the rule of law. The summit should intend to set up such an organization as well, but it should be separate from the organization of democracy, because it requires lawyers, not political scientists.
If the Russian government labels Navalny's Anti-corruption Foundation extremist, i.e. terrorist, that should be the final nail in Western treatment of Russian state & judiciary authorities. They should no longer be respected. atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-resea…
1. The West should no longer pay any attention to Russian Red Notices. @Billbrowder 2. Should the democratic West set up an alternative Interpol only for countries that respect the rule of law? This could be part of Biden's summit of democracies.
3. Russian state agencies should not be given a voice in Western court processes, simply discarded as illegitimate. 4. In particular, Russian state agencies should have no right to raise discovery cases in the US, often used by the Russian state to go after political refugees.
When meeting Lukashenka, Putin attacked Ukraine viciously: "the current Ukrainian leadership took many steps that are destroying Russian-Ukrainian relations...It includes their attitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church and attempts to destroy it."
"This applies to their attitude towards the Russian language and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine and Russian citizens living in Ukraine."
All this is qualified nonsense. en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Putin continues "if President Zelensky wants to start restoring these relations, we will only welcome this....what would we discuss at this meeting? If the discussion concerns the problems of Donbass, the Ukrainian leaders must, first of all, meet with the heads of the republics"