WASHINGTON — Analysts warn that Apple’s removal of two apps from an independent media site from its Russian App Store sets a “dangerous precedent.”

The affected apps are for Current Time, a Russian-language network produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, in cooperation with VOA, and a Kyrgyz-language news app.

RFE/RL and VOA are independent media outlets funded by the U.S. Congress.

In a letter to RFE/RL, Apple said the action was in response to content that is deemed illegal in Russia. Apple added that in Russia, RFE/RL is labeled an “undesirable” organization.

RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said he is concerned about Apple’s compliance with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulatory agency.

“We hope this decision — which is part of a trend to deny people in authoritarian countries access to uncensored information — will be reversed,” Capus said in a statement shared with VOA.

Digital rights experts condemned the move.

“These trends set a dangerous precedent in which tech companies could inadvertently aid state-sponsored information censorship,” Matt Mahmoudi of Amnesty Tech told VOA.

When tech companies comply with foreign government requests, it could be because they “place profit margins over their obligations under international law,” according to Mahmoudi. These bans violate the U.N. right to free expression, he said.

Apple did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, called on Apple to reinstate the apps.

Such bans “restrict access to vital information and embolden authoritarian regimes seeking to silence independent media in countries like Russia,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, analysts have documented how Moscow has used internet blocks along with laws around false information about the war and so-called “undesirable” organizations to block independent media.

Access to independent news is limited, with websites, including RFE/RL and VOA, blocked. In February, Russia also designated RFE/RL an “undesirable organization.” The designation means that an entity is seen as a threat to national security. These organizations and their audiences can face penalties as a result.

Separately, Russia experienced a mass YouTube outage in August. The platform is one of the few remaining sites where audiences can access independent information.

The country has long experienced slow playback speeds, making video-watching nearly impossible.

Russia at the time blamed YouTube’s parent company Google. But investigative reporters found Russia’s state regulator responsible. YouTube also rejected claims that it was responsible for the slowdown.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.

To circumvent censorship, audiences often rely on Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, to access banned apps, according to Anastasia Zhyrmont of the digital civil rights group Access Now.

Last month, Apple was criticized after it banned 98 VPN services from its Russian App Store. The media regulator in July had publicly requested 25 be removed.

“The trend is very concerning,” Zhyrmont told VOA. “VPNs are essential for users in restrictive environments, especially in Russia.”

Some media sites that Russia has banned use technologies embedded in apps to circumvent the firewalls and bans. The news website Meduza, which is blocked inside Russia, uses data obfuscation technology to reach Russian audiences without a VPN, according to a representative from their tech team.

“It is cat-mice game — they’re trying to block our tech, and we’re trying to come up with something new,” the representative, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told VOA in an email.

Zhyrmont wants Apple to offer transparency on its decision to remove the news apps from the Russian market and on what Roskomnadzor’s requests looked like.

Until then, she said, “There’s an agreement between digital rights experts and human rights defenders that all that is happening is an act of censorship.”

Russia scores 20 out of 100 on the Freedom on the Net index, where 0 shows the most restrictive digital environments.
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Russian missile strikes killed three people including a child in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro while a teenager and another person died in attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, officials said Saturday.

Overnight strikes on Dnipro wounded 19 others and damaged multiple buildings, said Sergiy Lysak, the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

A two-story residential building was destroyed, he said.

Images shared by Lysak showed rescuers working in a pile of rubble, while another showed what appeared to be a hospital room with its windows blown out.

“Three people were killed in Dnipro, including a child. Nineteen were injured, four of them children. Eight are hospitalized,” Lysak said.

Separate night attacks on the capital Kyiv and surrounding region left two people dead, including a teenage girl who was killed in a drone strike, according to regional authorities.

Ukrainian cities including Kyiv have been subjected to deadly drone and missile attacks throughout Russia’s invasion.

Kyiv has been asking for more air defenses from its allies ahead of what is likely to be its toughest winter yet, as Moscow ramps up strikes on energy infrastructure. 
…

Georgians headed to the polls Saturday in a ballot many citizens see as a make-or-break vote on the opportunity to join the European Union.

The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people has been dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign. Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the ruling party, Georgian Dream, while the opposition accused the party of carrying out a “hybrid war” against its citizens. 

Ahead of the parliamentary election, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who set up Georgian Dream and made his fortune in Russia — vowed again to ban opposition parties should his party win. 

Georgian Dream will hold opposition parties “fully accountable under the full force of the law” for “war crimes” committed against the people of Georgia, Ivanishvili said at a pro-government rally in the capital Tbilisi Wednesday. He did not explain what crimes he believes the opposition has committed. 

Georgians will elect 150 lawmakers from 18 parties. If no party wins the 76 seats required to form a government for a four-year term, the president will invite the largest party to form a coalition.

Many believe the election may be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes; it will determine whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and falls into Russia’s orbit. 

“It’s an existential election,” Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said.

Georgians want “European integration, want to move forward and want policies which will bring us a better, more stable, future,” Qristine Tordia, 29, told The Associated Press shortly after voting in the capital, Tbilisi.

Around 80% of Georgians favor joining the EU according to polls and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to pursue membership in that bloc and NATO.

But Brussels put Georgia’s bid for entry to the EU on hold indefinitely after the ruling party passed a “Russian law” cracking down on freedom of speech in June. Many Georgians fear the party is dragging the country towards authoritarianism and killing off hopes it could join the EU.

The opposition parties have ignored Zourabichvili’s request to unite into a single party but have signed up to her “charter” to carry out the reforms required by the EU to join. 

Zourabichvili told the AP on Thursday she believed most Georgians would mobilize to vote “despite some instances of intimidation, despite the use of state resources … and the use of financial resources” by the government.

Georgian Dream took out billboards across the country contrasting black-and-white images of destruction in Ukraine with colorful images of life in Georgia alongside the slogan, “Say no to war — choose peace.”

The governing and opposition parties told voters they would pursue EU membership even though laws passed by Georgian Dream have put that hope on hold.

“The EU decided to stop Georgia’s integration process unilaterally,” said Vakhtang Asanidze, who spoke to AP at a pro-government rally in Tbilisi. He said he saw no reason why Georgia could not join the EU in spite of the laws. 

At the EU summit last week, EU leaders said they have “serious concerns regarding the course of action taken by the Georgian government.”

While Georgian Dream has adopted laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on its critics, voters at the pro-government rally said they did not view the election as a choice between Russia or Europe.

“We remember everything about Russia, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” said Latavra Dashniani at the rally, referring to Russia’s occupation of 20% of Georgian territory after the two countries fought a short war in 2008. 

Voting for the ruling party, she said, would ensure Georgia enters Europe “with dignity,” alluding to its conservative values, including opposition to rights for LGBTQ+ people.

Polls opened in the parliamentary election at 8 a.m. local time and will close 12 hours later. 

Georgian Dream stands against three coalitions: the Unity National Movement, the Coalition for Changes Lelo, and Strong Georgia.

The Gakharia for Georgia party, set up by former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia, said it will not go into an alliance with anyone but will support the opposition to form a government. 
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A Kurdish militant group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack on a major state-run defense company in Turkey’s capital, an action that analysts say could complicate prospects for renewed peace talks between the Turkish government and the country’s Kurdish minority.

Two assailants set off explosives and opened fire Wednesday at the aerospace and defense company TUSAS in Ankara, killing five people and wounding 22, Turkey’s interior ministry said.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, said in a statement Friday that the attack on the defense firm was for its role in producing weapons used in attacks against Kurdish civilians.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The Kurdish militant group has engaged in a four-decade armed conflict with the Turkish government for greater Kurdish rights in Turkey.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, designed and assembled by TUSAS, have been instrumental in Turkey’s fight against Kurdish militants.

Wednesday’s attack came a day after Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party and a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested the possibility of granting parole to PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, if the Kurdish group laid down its arms.

A peace process between the two sides that started in 2013 collapsed in 2015.

Yerevan Saeed, director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University in Washington, said the attack in Ankara represented a significant strategic blunder for the PKK.

“This incident highlights a concerning lack of strategic vision at this important time,” he told VOA. “While the Turkish government’s initiative to restart peace talks could be seen as a tactical maneuver, the Kurdish armed group must avoid providing the state with any justification to abandon the dialogue, which could in turn diminish international sympathy for the Kurdish cause.”

Shortly after the Ankara attack, Turkey’s military struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria that Turkish officials said belonged to offshoots of the PKK. The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency said Friday that 120 targets had been struck in Iraq and Syria since Wednesday.

Erdogan, on a flight back from the BRICS summit in Russia, told reporters Friday that the perpetrators of the Ankara attack had infiltrated from Syria, and he vowed to continue efforts to combat terrorism.

In Kurdish-controlled Syria, some of the strikes hit power grids and water pump stations, causing outages of water and electricity in several cities in northeast Syria. Reporters for VOA Kurdish in the region visited several sites that had been damaged in the strikes.

Sinan Ciddi, a Turkey expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said Turkish citizens would demand “a strong military response” from the government for the Ankara bombing.

He told VOA that “the terror attack also reduces the chances for renewed negotiations between Erdogan and the PKK for a peace process.”

‘No military solution’

Amy Austin Holmes, a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, said in every peace process there are spoilers who want to sabotage it.

“There is no military solution to what is an inherently political and social issue of equal citizenship. President Erdogan and the Kurdish movement both recognize this,” she told VOA. “In order for the dialogue process not to be derailed by the PKK’s attack in Ankara, and Turkey’s bombardment of northern Syria and Iraq, cooler heads need to prevail.”

Henri Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, said the PKK-claimed attack made no sense.

“The only thing I can think of is that operations such as this one take months to prepare, so these guys had orders and it was never called off because they may have been under a blanket-of-communication order,” he said.

“This is bad for the PKK given that a process is supposed to start and that they could not prevent it from happening,” he added. “The other half of the explanation is that there may be divisions in the organization and the group in charge of this chose not to stop it.”

But other analysts, like Brussels-based Kurdish affairs researcher Hosheng Ose, believe that regardless of the attack in Ankara and the strikes on Iraq and Syria, there seems to be a decision within the Turkish political establishment to reach a settlement with the country’s Kurds.

“There are elements within both the Turkish state and the PKK that oppose any prospects for peace, but I don’t believe that will have any effect on what the Turkish government wants to achieve,” he told VOA. 

“Turkey is really concerned with the recent developments across the Middle East, and it wants to ensure that no Kurdish group would play a role that could threaten Turkey’s long-term objectives,” said Ose.

This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish Service.
…

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of major government contractor SpaceX and a key ally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the last two years, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, confirmed to The Associated Press that Musk and Putin have had contact through calls. The person didn’t provide additional details about the frequency of the calls, when they occurred or their content.

Musk, the world’s richest person who also owns Tesla and the social media platform X, has emerged as a leading voice on the American right. He’s poured millions of dollars into Trump’s presidential bid and turned the platform once known as Twitter into a site popular with Trump supporters, as well as conspiracy theorists, extremists and Russian propagandists.

Musk’s contacts with Putin raise national security questions, given his companies’ work for the government, and highlight concerns about Russian influence in American politics.

Here’s what to know:

What they talked about

Musk and Putin have spoken repeatedly about personal matters, business and geopolitics, The Journal reported Thursday, citing multiple current and former officials in the United States, Europe and Russia.

During one talk, Putin asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite system over Taiwan as a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose ties to Putin have grown closer, The Journal reported. Putin and Xi have met more than 40 times since 2013. 

Russia has denied the conversations took place. In 2022, Musk said he’d spoken to Putin only once, in a call 18 months earlier focused on space.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday that it was “not aware of the specifics” of any requests made by Putin on China’s behalf.

There was no immediate response to messages left with X and Tesla seeking Musk’s comment.

What the talks mean for national security

Musk’s relationship with Putin raises national security questions given the billions of dollars in government contracts awarded to SpaceX, a critical partner to NASA and government satellite programs.

Trump also has vowed to give Musk a role in his administration if he wins next month.

The head of any large defense contractor would face similar questions if they held private talks with one of America’s greatest adversaries, said Bradley Bowman, a former West Point assistant professor and Senate national security adviser who now serves as senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based defense think tank.

Bowman said the timing of the calls as reported by The Journal and Musk’s changing views on Ukraine was a “disturbing coincidence.”

“The policy of the U.S. government is to try to isolate Vladimir Putin, and Elon Musk is directly undercutting that,” Bowman said. “What is Putin doing with Musk? Putin is trying to reduce his international isolation and impact American foreign policy.”

The request from Putin on Starlink as a favor to China is also likely to get attention, given U.S. support for Taiwan and concerns about the growing partnership between the Kremlin and Beijing.

Musk, whose Tesla operates Gigafactory Shanghai, has developed a close relationship with China’s top leaders. His remarks about China have been friendly, and he has suggested Taiwan cede some control to Beijing by becoming a special administrative region.

Moscow has growing ties to other American adversaries. The U.S. has accused Russia of sending ballistic missiles to Iran and said North Korea sent troops to Russia, possibly for combat in Ukraine.

On Ukraine, Musk’s views have shifted since he initially supported Kyiv following Russia’s invasion in 2022 and provided it with his Starlink system for communications.

Musk then refused to allow Ukraine in 2023 to use Starlink for a surprise attack on Russian soldiers in Crimea.

He also floated a proposal to end the war that would have required Ukraine to drop its plans for NATO membership and given Russia permanent control of Crimea, which it seized in 2014. The plan infuriated Ukrainian leaders.

One person familiar with the talks between Musk and Putin told The Journal that there is no evidence the contact between Musk and Putin represents a security problem for the U.S.

Asked about Musk’s contacts with Putin, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday that he had no information to share.

The CIA, Pentagon and National Security Agency had no comment. The State Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Musk’s close ties to Trump

Musk recently appeared at a Trump rally, sporting a Make America Great Again hat and delivered an ominous warning that if Trump lost the race, “this will be the last election.”

Last year, Musk mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for aid for his country with a meme and said in February that the U.S. should cut its assistance because Ukraine couldn’t win.

Trump, who has praised Putin’s leadership and criticized the NATO alliance and U.S. aid for Ukraine, has raised questions about what he would be willing to concede if he’s elected in a negotiation over Ukraine’s future.

U.S. intelligence officials and private tech analysts have concluded that Russia is working to covertly support Trump with disinformation and propaganda targeting his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Since he took over X, it has become a leading online source of Russian propaganda and disinformation aimed at Americans.

Trump has faced scrutiny over his own recent contacts with Putin, outlined in a new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward.

Woodward quoted an unnamed Trump aide who said the former president and Putin may have had as many as seven conversations since Trump lost reelection in 2020.

Before one of the calls, the aide said they were asked to leave Trump’s office to give the two privacy.

The Trump campaign and the Kremlin have denied those calls occurred.

In response to questions about Musk and Putin, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the billionaire “a once-in-a-generation industry leader” whose ideas could benefit “our broken federal bureaucracy.”

“As for Putin, there’s only one candidate in the race that he did not invade another country under, and it’s President Trump,” Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump has long said that he will re-establish his peace through strength foreign policy to deter Russia’s aggression and end the war in Ukraine.”

Russia confirms one conversation

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday rejected The Journal’s report as “absolutely false information.”

Peskov said Putin and Musk once held a “medium-length phone conversation” prior to 2022 that was “as more of an introductory nature” and that the two talked about “visionary technologies, technological solutions for the future.”

“After that, Musk had no contacts with Putin,” Peskov said, dismissing The Journal’s article as political.

“The election has entered its home stretch, and of course the opponents stop at nothing,” Peskov said. “Remember that a week ago they were saying that Putin allegedly talks to Trump all day long. Now he allegedly talks to Musk all the time. It’s all untrue.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence told the AP that they would “refrain from commenting” about communication between Putin and Musk.
…

Tbilisi, Georgia — Just ahead of Georgia’s parliamentary elections on Saturday, a Bloomberg investigation has revealed a yearslong Russian hacking campaign targeting Georgia’s government, major companies and critical infrastructure. 

Analysts see the large-scale cyberattack, which gave Moscow access to sensitive intelligence and the ability to disrupt essential systems, as part of Russia’s efforts to undermine Georgia’s pro-Western aspirations. 

“One of the most shocking revelations was that the [Georgian] Ministry of Foreign Affairs was hacked 114 times, with information gathered from embassies and even high-level officials,” Giorgi Iashvili, a Tbilisi-based cybersecurity expert, told Voice of America’s Georgian service. 

“It shows just how deeply the Russian cyber campaigns have penetrated our systems. Not only public institutions were affected, but also the private sector — telecom operators, key energy infrastructure and service providers.”  

Between 2017 and 2020, Bloomberg reported, Russia’s GRU and FSB intelligence agencies successfully infiltrated key Georgian ministries as well as the country’s energy sector and telecommunications networks. They accessed Georgia’s central bank, election commission and oil terminals, exposing the country’s vulnerabilities.  

“What the Russians are now trying to do here is to identify the weaknesses for potential sabotage, to identify where and how they can intervene in Georgia’s domestic politics, more clearly and more aggressively if the need arises, and thirdly, build a network of agents of influence,” said former Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili.  

The Georgian government, widely seen as tilting toward Moscow, dismisses those concerns. 

In an interview with VOA, Archil Talakvadze, a member of parliament from the ruling Georgian Dream party, said: “In the field of cybersecurity, we now have stronger systems in place. The State Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is better prepared to address this threat.” 

Others, however, are not convinced. 

Giga Bokeria, a former secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council and now the chairman of the opposition Federalists party, argues that Russian actions go beyond hacking and espionage efforts in Georgia.  

“We have the government which is allowing, embracing and even financing Russian infiltration into our political life, economic sphere and the security services because they are natural allies. And we have overwhelming evidence of that,” he told VOA.  

Last month, U.S. officials told VOA that Washington has readied sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire Georgian Dream founder and former prime minister, accusing him of acting under Russia’s direction. Ivanishvili is widely seen as the power broker behind Georgia’s government. 

Bokeria pointed to the shielding of an Ivanishvili associate, Otar Partskhaladze, from U.S. sanctions as evidence of the government’s alignment with Russia. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Partskhaladze, a former Georgian chief prosecutor, for allegedly advancing Russian interests and assisting Russia’s intelligence services.  

“This is a man who is very close associate of our de facto ruler, oligarch [Bidzina Ivanishvili],” Bokeria said. “We know it from his own confessions. When he was sanctioned, the whole Georgian government and the state apparatus behaved embarrassingly, to accommodate him, to clean out his bank accounts, to give him time [before] the sanctions could create any discomfort to him.” 

Utiashvili noted that during the last 12 years, not a single Russian spy has been arrested in Georgia.  

“There’s no way one can believe that Russian intelligence does not work here. So no, there are [these] multitude of examples that show that Russians enjoy complete safety,” he said.  

Safety, however, is not guaranteed for Georgia’s own security officers. In 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was assassinated in Berlin, in broad daylight.  

Khangoshvili, an ethnic Chechen, was a former Georgian security operative who joined the Chechen militants fighting Russia in the first Chechen war, which made him a target of Russian intelligence. While he later helped Georgia’s security services identify Islamists in the country, Georgian authorities failed to protect Khangoshvili, prompting him to leave the country. 

“The government has not yet answered the question, why did it leave its own citizen defenseless in face of the Russians?” Utiashvili said.  

The Georgian government remained silent after Khangoshvili’s death and never raised the issue publicly. In a recent prisoner swap, Russian President Vladimir Putin went to great lengths to secure the release of Khangoshvili’s killer, Vadim Krasikov.   

“We know how important it was for Vladimir Putin to release Khangoshvili’s murderer,” Utiashvili said. “He pretty much let most of the high-level political prisoners go in exchange for the killer. That gives you an idea of how high level this murder was planned and how important it was for the Russian regime.” 

Referring to the Georgian authorities, Utiashvili added: “When you force such a citizen to go, that means that you don’t want to intervene. You only don’t want it to happen on your territory. But, you’re basically signing a death warrant.” 

Kakhaber Kemoklidze, a former Georgian security service official under the Georgian Dream government, blames Georgia’s political leadership for failing to counter Russian influence, which, he said, has reached into the government’s high ranks. 

“They are really implementing Russian intelligence services goals,” he told VOA.   

The influx of Russian emigres into Georgia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has only heightened espionage risks.  

“There might be a big-scale infiltration within the different segments of the Georgian society or businesses,” Kemoklidze said. 

Western countries, including the United States, have spent millions to help Georgia defend itself from Russian hybrid tactics, including espionage and hacking, and to secure its information space. In 2020, NATO, funded by the United Kingdom, launched a project aimed at countering Russian hybrid threats in Georgia.  

However, as New Lines magazine reported in May, the Georgian government misused this initiative to spread anti-Western messages and target critics on social media. 

The oversight team for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said this abuse led to the removal of fake accounts linked to the Georgian government.  

“The Western governments, the Americans, the Brits, the Europeans, have been helping the Georgian government to become resilient in the fight against the enemy propaganda and any disinformation,” Utiashvili said. 

“However, the units that were set up in the Georgian government with the help of donors’ money were used not to fight the Russian propaganda, but to enhance it, because, again, Georgian Dream and Russia share their propaganda assets in Georgia.” 

From shielding Russian allies to failing to protect its own operatives and using Western funds to spread Russian narratives, Georgia’s government is helping Moscow fulfill its strategic objectives, analysts say. 

“Russian intelligence officers on a senior level would be very much happy seeing what the current Georgian government is doing,” former Georgian security service official Kemoklidze said.  

According to Bokeria of the opposition Federalists party, Russia’s goal is to ensure Georgia and other neighbors remain under Kremlin control.  

“A successful statehood on its borders for Russia means that it is becoming a part of the free world, regardless of NATO or EU enlargement,” he said. “And that is unacceptable for them.”  
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia is expected to deploy North Korean soldiers to combat as early as Sunday. 

In a statement posted to his official X social media account, Zelenskyy said the prediction is based on military intelligence he received in a Friday briefing from armed forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. 

Zelenskyy called the move a “clear escalation by Russia,” adding that “the world can clearly see Russia’s true intentions: to continue the war.” 

Calling for a “principled and strong response” from global leaders, Zelenskyy said, “North Korea’s actual involvement in combat should not be met with indifference or uncertain commentary, but with tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang, to uphold the U.N. Charter and to hold them accountable for this escalation.” 

Responding Thursday to a Ukraine intelligence report that the North Korean troops were in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was up to Moscow to decide how they might be deployed, including possibly sending them to fight on the front lines against Ukraine. He did not deny a U.S. claim that North Korea has dispatched some 3,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces. 

On Friday, North Korean state broadcaster KCNA carried a statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu, who would not comment directly on reports of the deployment, but said if there were such a thing, “I think it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law.” 

Ukraine has argued North Korean participation in the war violates international law; U.S. officials earlier this week called such a deployment a major escalation. But Putin argued the West had escalated the war in Ukraine by sending NATO officers and instructors to help Kyiv defend itself against Russian aggression. 

Meanwhile, in an interview with Russian television Friday, Putin spoke about possible cease-fire negotiations with Ukraine, saying Russia was ready to seek compromises. He said Turkey had presented a number of peace initiatives to both Russia and Ukraine, which he claimed Ukraine has rejected. 

Regarding possible compromises, Putin said: “Any outcome must be in Russia’s favor. … This outcome should be based upon the realities which are taking shape on the battlefield. Without any doubt, we are not going to make any concessions. There will be no exchange [of territory], whatsoever.” 

Putin blamed Ukraine for what he described as “irrational behavior” in negotiations, saying, “It is not possible to build any plans on this basis.” 

Bio lab construction 

In an exclusive report Friday, The Washington Post said satellite images from the past two years have shown substantial construction at a site-restricted military facility northeast of Moscow that was once a major research center for biological weapons.  

The report said the site has a history of experiments that included viruses that cause smallpox, Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers. 

The satellite imagery of the Russian site, called Sergiev Posad-6, shows construction vehicles renovating the Soviet-era laboratory and breaking ground on 10 new buildings, totaling more than 250,000 square feet, with several of them bearing hallmarks of biological labs designed to handle extremely dangerous pathogens. 

The report said there has been no sign such weapons are being used in the Ukraine conflict, but the construction is being closely watched by U.S. intelligence agencies and bioweapons experts. 

Ukraine’s Kyiv Independent reported Friday the apparent deployment of North Korean troops could be at least in part a result of Russia’s losses on the battlefield. 

In a report on its Facebook social media account, the Ukraine General Staff of the armed forces reported Russia has lost 685,910 troops since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. This includes, the general staff report said, 1,630 casualties over a 24-hour period ending Friday. 

Ukraine has closely guarded its battlefield troop casualties, even from Western allies, but a U.S. official in September estimated Ukraine has likely seen an estimated 57,500 troops killed and 250,000 wounded, according to a report by The New York Times. 

Battlefield casualties are difficult to verify, and Russia has made claims that Ukrainian casualties are much higher than those indicated by Ukrainian and U.S. estimates. 

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to deepen defense ties with New Delhi and bring the two countries’ militaries closer, he said on Friday, after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Germany has not traditionally had close defense ties with India, but is now pitching to join the latter’s effort to wean its arms base from decades of dependence on Russia, at a time when the West seeks to counter China’s growing influence.

“Our overall message is clear, we need more co-operation, not less,” Scholz said.

“At our inter-governmental consultations with India, we also want to deepen co-operation in defense and agree to bring our militaries together.”

Scholz, accompanied by most of his cabinet, is leading a high-level delegation to New Delhi, betting that greater access to the vast Indian market can reduce Germany’s reliance on China.

German Thyssenkrupp is one of two bidders to have partnered with Indian firms to build six conventional submarines in India, in a deal estimated to be worth $5 billion.

The Indian Navy is expected to pick between the German company or Spain’s Navantia soon.

New Delhi and Berlin are working on renewable energy projects, Modi said, among many possible investments in transport infrastructure.

“India is completely transforming its physical infrastructure,” Modi told the Asia-Pacific conference of German business in the Indian capital, attended by Scholz.

“Record investments are being made. This offers many possibilities for German and Indo-Pacific region companies.”

In 2022 Germany pledged 10 billion euros to help India achieve its climate goals.

German state lender KfW’s unit DEG, which focuses on the private sector, plans to more than double investment in India to $1 billion over the next few years, focusing on renewable energy and infrastructure, an official, Jochen von Frowein, has said.

India-EU FTA

Scholz reiterated his economy minister’s push for swift progress on talks for a free-trade pact between India and the European Union.

“I am sure that if we work on this together, prime minister, this could happen in months rather than years,” Scholz said.

Earlier, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal warned that India would be unable to strike such a deal if the bloc insisted on getting access to the Asian giant’s dairy industry.

A trade deal could be swiftly reached if sensitivities were respected on both sides, Goyal told the conference, following Thursday’s comments by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck that agriculture was the talks’ “most problematic” area, and suggesting that they first tackle the industrial sector.

Progress has been slow on the talks, initially targeted to be wrapped up by the end of 2023, with India blaming the EU for what it called “irrational” standards, as one reason.
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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday promised support for Bosnia as the troubled Balkan country struggles with reform needed to advance toward membership in the European Union.  

Von der Leyen was in Bosnia as part of a trip this week to aspiring EU member states in the Western Balkans to assure them that EU enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc. From Bosnia, von der Leyen went on to neighboring Serbia.  

The Western Balkans countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for EU membership. The countries have been frustrated by the slow pace of the process, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has propelled European leaders to push the six to join the bloc.   

Bosnia gained candidate status in 2022 while EU leaders in March agreed in principle to open membership negotiations, though Bosnia must still do a lot of work.  

“We share the same vision for the future, a future where Bosnia-Herzegovina is a full-fledged member of the European Union,” said von der Leyen at a joint press conference with Bosnian Prime Minister Bojana Kristo. “So, I would say, let’s continue working on that. We’ve gone a long way already, we still have a way ahead of us but I am confident that you’ll make it.”  

Last year EU officials offered a 6-billion-euro (about $6.5 billion) growth plan to the Western Balkan countries in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to join the bloc. That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.   

The Commission on Wednesday approved the reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia following a green light from EU member states. That was a key step to allow payments under the growth plan upon completion of agreed reform steps.   

“The accession process is, as you know, merit-based … we do not look at a rigid data but we look at the merits, the progress that a country is making,” said von der Leyen. “The important thing is that we have an ambitious reform agenda, like the other five Western Balkan countries also have. We stand ready to help you to move forward.”  

Long after a 1992-95 ethnic war that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless, Bosnia remains ethnically divided and politically deadlocked. An ethnic Serb entity — one of Bosnia’s two equal parts joined by a common government — has sought to gain as much independence as possible.  

Upon arrival in Bosnia, von der Leyen on Thursday first went to Donja Jablanica, a village in central Bosnia that was devastated in recent floods and landslides. The disaster in early October claimed 27 lives and the small village was virtually buried in rocks from a quarry located on a hill above.  

Von der Leyen said the EU is sending an immediate aid package of 20 million euros ($21 million) and will also provide support for reconstruction later on. 
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The Biden administration continues to push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In Europe, the administration has revealed intelligence that North Korean troops are being trained in Russia to help its war efforts.

VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara spoke with White House national security communications adviser John Kirby on the latest developments in the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: [U.S.] Secretary [of State] Antony Blinken today warned Israel against a protracted campaign in Lebanon. He warned Israel to avoid civilian casualties, not to endanger U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army. The only way Israel can do that is by operating a targeted campaign. Is it operating a targeted campaign?

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby: We would like to see no civilian casualties and no damage to civilian infrastructure to the maximum extent possible. We have told the Israelis that we don’t support near daily strikes in densely populated areas, and that’s part of the message that [Blinken] delivered when he was there. We believe that there’s still a diplomatic path to be found here to bring this conflict with Hezbollah and Lebanon to a close. That was one of the reasons that Secretary Blinken traveled there.

VOA: Do you support Israeli demands for an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force to include north of the Litani River?

Kirby: I’m not going to get into any specific proposals one way or the other. I don’t think we’re at that point right now. … What we support is de-escalation. What we support is minimization of civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. We also continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself.

VOA: What about Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon? How far can you accept the cost of that?

Kirby: Look, they have done an extraordinary amount of work towards already dismantling Hezbollah’s capability, including the killing of [Hassan Nasrallah], their leader. Hezbollah is not Hamas. They are in many ways superior in terms of military capability and resources. So, it’s a different kind of a fight. It’s a different kind of enemy that they face.

And I would remind that even just in the last 24 hours, more than 100 rockets and drones [were] launched by Hezbollah towards Israeli citizens who are just trying to live their lives on that side of the Blue Line, as well. So, it remains a viable threat to the Israeli people, and we’re going to continue to talk to the Israelis about how they go after that threat, because how they do that matters significantly.

VOA: Ten days ago, the administration set a 30-day deadline for Israel to improve Palestinian access to aid. Can you update us on the progress?

Kirby: There has been some progress, and as you heard Secretary Blinken say during his travels, more needs to be done. But there has been an increase of trucks flowing into North Gaza; specifically, the Erez Crossing is back open. We want to see more.

VOA: Israel announced that Mossad chief David Barnea will meet with CIA Director Bill Burns and the Qatari prime minister in Doha. Is there anything about that meeting that you can tell us?

Kirby: Without talking to the CIA director’s travel or meetings, I won’t do that. But you saw the prime minister already announced that there’s another meeting in Doha of negotiators, and we’re grateful to see this progress continue. We’re grateful to see yet another meeting here, and we’re hopeful that now, with Mr. Sinwar gone, Hamas might be more willing to sit down and negotiate in good faith and come up with a solution that gets a cease-fire of at least some duration, and gets those hostages home with their families where they belong, as well as to your earlier question, gives us a pause in the fighting that can help us all work towards a more dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance.

I’m not suggesting that more can’t be done now. Even while Gaza remains an active combat zone, more can be done, more should be done. But if you can end the fighting, then you can definitely make it easier to get humanitarian assistance.

VOA: Does the administration see [Yahya Sinwar’s brother] Mohamed Sinwar as somebody with influence on the negotiations?

Kirby: I think it’s unclear right now where the leadership of Hamas goes, and I would just say that we’re watching this very, very closely, as you might imagine, monitoring it.

Regardless of how Hamas tries to fill the vacuum left by Sinwar, they have an opportunity before them right now to help end this war, to get those hostages home and to do the right thing.

VOA: Let’s move on to North Korea and Russia. [Russian President] Vladimir Putin appears to have implicitly acknowledged what you laid out yesterday, that North Korean troops are in Russia to help their war efforts. How do you see this?

Kirby: We see it the same way as we laid out yesterday. We know that there are at least several thousand North Korean soldiers in three military training bases in eastern Russia. Now, exactly what they’re being trained to do, we don’t know. Whether and how they’ll be deployed in this war against Ukraine, we don’t know that either. But it is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that, I would remind you, Russia themselves signed up to. The procurement of arms and ammunition from North Korea is a violation of U.N. Security Council existing resolutions that Russia signed up to. We’re going to watch this very, very closely.

VOA: What is the geopolitical implication for Kim Jong Un now that he’s willing to send his troops to die for Putin? Are you concerned that in return, Russia could help North Korea improve the reach of their ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] to hit American cities, for example?

Kirby: That’s what we’re watching closely to see. We don’t know exactly what Mr. Kim thinks he’s getting out of this arrangement. And it’s worrisome. As you heard the secretary of defense say the other day, this potential move here by the North Koreans to put soldiers on the ground, literally skin in the game when it comes to fighting Ukraine, is not only going to have implications in Ukraine and on that battlefield, but it’s going to have implications in the Indo-Pacific.

What we don’t know right now is exactly what that looks like. What does Kim think he’s getting out of this? It is possible that there could be some provision by Russia to enhance and improve North Korean military capabilities? Again, that would just further destabilize a very tense region.

VOA: You said these North Korean soldiers are legitimate military targets. But would you consider taking direct military action against them as the head of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mike Turner, suggested?

Kirby: The United States is not directly involved in combat operations in or around Ukraine. The president has been clear about that. We are providing Ukraine with the kinds of tools, capabilities and weapons that they need to defend themselves. And when we say they’re legitimate military targets, these North Korean soldiers, we mean they would become legitimate military targets of the Ukrainian Armed Forces should they be involved in operations against Ukraine.

VOA: China has said that they have no information on these North Korean troops. Do you believe them?

Kirby: I’ll let the Chinese speak to what they see or they don’t see. What I said yesterday stands today. We’re going to certainly be communicating with our PRC [People’s Republic of China] counterparts about this.

VOA: Last month you also confirmed that Iran transferred shipments of domestic missiles to Russia. Now we have these North Korean troops fighting for Russia. What is your assessment of this trilateral cooperation?

Kirby: Number one, it certainly shows Mr. Putin’s increasing desperation, and quite frankly, his weakness, that he has to reach out to the likes of Kim Jong Un and the supreme leader in Tehran for assistance to fight Ukraine. Clearly, he’s under a lot of military pressure. We know he’s losing 1,200 soldiers a day. He suffered more than 530,000 casualties in the time he’s been fighting in Ukraine. So, he’s clearly under pressure, and he’s not … being honest with the Russian people about what he’s doing and what he’s losing and how bloody and lethal this war has been on his own armed forces.

Number two, I think it certainly speaks to worrisome defense relationships between these countries that are now growing and deepening. They’re worrying not just because of what might be the effects in Ukraine, they’re worrying because of what might be the effects in other parts of the world. You and I were just talking about what Kim Jong Un might be getting out of this. Let’s talk about Iran, because Iran, certainly we know, is interested in advanced aviation capabilities, for instance, from Russia. Now, again, I don’t know that we’ve seen it all consummated yet, but Iran being able to benefit from Russian military technology is also not good for the Middle East region.
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kazan, russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin told BRICS leaders on Thursday that the Middle East was on the brink of a full-scale war after a sharp rise in tension between Israel and Iran, though the Kremlin chief also faced calls to end the war in Ukraine.

The BRICS summit, attended by more than 20 leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, has shown the depth of Russia’s relations beyond the Western world.

Much discussion at the summit in the Russian city of Kazan was dedicated to the war in Ukraine and the violence in the Middle East, though there were no sign that anything specific would be done to end either conflict.

“The degree of confrontation between Israel and Iran has sharply increased. All this resembles a chain reaction and puts the entire Middle East on the brink of a full-scale war,” Putin, sitting beside Chinese President Xi Jinping, said.

Xi, speaking after Putin, said that China wanted a political settlement in Ukraine, and suggested joint efforts by Beijing and Brasilia offered the best chance of peace.

“We need to work for an early de-escalation of the situation and pave the way for a political settlement,” Xi said.

On the Middle East, Xi said that there should be a comprehensive cease-fire in Gaza, a halt to the spread of war in Lebanon, and a return to the two-state solution under which states for both Israel and Palestine would be established.

Flames of war

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized international organizations, particularly the United Nations, for failing to end the conflict.

“The flames of war continue to rage in the Gaza Strip and cities of Lebanon, and international institutions, particularly the U.N. Security Council as a driver of international peace and security, lack the necessary effectiveness to extinguish the fire of this crisis,” Pezeshkian told the BRICS.

Putin said that unless Palestinians got their state, they would feel the burden of “historical injustice” and the region would remain in “an atmosphere of permanent crisis with inevitable relapses of large-scale violence.”

In their summit declaration, BRICS leaders called for the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian state within the borders of 1967. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attended the summit.

At one of the BRICS+ meetings on Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar sat in for Modi who also missed one of the group photographs. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he could not travel to Russia due to a head injury.

China, which together with India buys about 90% of Russia’s oil, supported more Global South countries joining the BRICS grouping in various formats, Xi said.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who was criticized by Kyiv for attending the meeting in Russia, said peace was needed in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine.

“We need peace in Ukraine,” Guterres told the BRICS+ meeting that was chaired by Putin. “A just peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law and U.N. General Assembly resolutions.”
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