The Polish Senate just declared Russia as “a terrorist regime”.
This thread will provide the main points of the resolution.
🧵 (1/?)
“Ukraine today defends democracy and freedom. Russian invaders terrorize residents of Ukrainian cities by bombing civilian objects: kindergartens, schools, theaters, and housing estates.”
(2/?)
“Bandits in Russian uniforms torture and kill prisoners of war and civilians in the occupied territories. Ukrainian children are kidnapped in order to be raise in a Janissary regime. Ukrainian citizens are deported, relocated and sent to remote regions of Russia.”
1) Russia's aggression on the Ukraine is stress-testing the EU's climate policy.
Across 2022 (41 weeks YTD), coal-fired power generation in Germany has gone up by 15% compared to 2021.
At the same time, Poland has seen a 3% drop y/y.
2) The additional 17 TWh of coal-fired generation in Germany across 2022 mean that ~15.7 million tonnes of CO2 have been emitted into the air.
Poland - with 3 TWh less from coal than in 2021 - has avoided emitting ~2.4 million tonnes of CO2.
3) Despite more output from renewables (PV, offshore and onshore wind), a massive drop in output from nuclear sources (-25 TWh, or -49%) as well as gas supply issues from Russia have pushed Germany to resort to coal.
New reports indicate that some of the Tajiks who killed up to 30 Russian soldiers in Belgorod were economic migrants without Russian citizenship who were kidnapped and forcibly mobilized by the Russian Army.
This is Ehson Aminzoda, kidnapped on October 10th.
(1/3)
Aminzoda had been working in a Moscow restaurant for a few months to save up money for his upcoming wedding in Tajikistan.
The Tajik radio station Ozodil has talked to his relatives, who say that he was detained by Russian police near Lyublino metro station on October 10.
(2/3)
Aminzoda was one of the two Tajiks killed in the shootout. A 3rd escaped and survived.
Aminzoda’s fate is a case of “dragooning”, and old Russian tradition of kidnapping citizens of conquered countries and forcing them to fight in the Russian Army, often against their own people
Finland will not join the regional ban on issuing tourist visas to Russians created by the Baltic States and Poland.
The Chief Consular Officer at the Finnish Foreign Affairs Ministry, Jussi Tanner, says its not possible under the EU’s current legal framework.
Tanner says “such a ban would require a proposal from the Commission & a decision by the Council & Parliament to change the Schengen system”.
He considers such a change unlikely in the current situation
It means 🇫🇮 will be the only country with a land border to 🇷🇺 issuing visas
Kristi Raik, Director of the Estonian Institute of Foreign Policy, isn’t buying it.
“I don’t get why 🇫🇮 doesn’t join the Baltic States & Poland in their entry ban on Russian tourists with Schengen visas issued by other EU states. 🇫🇮 cites legal reasons. I find it implausible”
This is an excellent moment for Ukraine to officially tell the Russians that they are willing to show mercy and establish a humanitarian corridor of evacuation for Russian soldiers stuck in the Izyum Pocket, just like Russia did to Ukraine in Ilovaisk in 2014.
Seems like many people don’t remember what happened in Ilovaisk.
We aren’t saying 🇺🇦 should do exactly what 🇷🇺 did at Ilovaisk, but it’s an excellent opportunity to put out a sarcastic statement to remind both the world & people in 🇷🇺 about what the Russians did in Ilovaisk.
Those who are 18 now were 10 in 2014 and don’t know about Ilovaisk.