УКРОПИ

BRICS meeting highlights geopolitical aspirations, rivalries with West

NEW DELHI — While U.S. officials express the view that the BRICS grouping meeting in the Russian city of Kazan is not evolving into a geopolitical rival, analysts say BRICS members are working on issues that could further decouple them from Western influences.

Among the topics discussed between members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are ways to establish an alternative payment system that would not be dependent on the U.S. dollar, a BRICS digital currency and an alternative to Western financial institutions like the International Monetary fund. 

China, Russia and Iran – countries that face severe trade restrictions imposed by the United States – have been particularly keen about advancing BRICS’ stated goals and circumventing what they regard as illegal sanctions.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated at the BRICS meeting that he was equally interested. “We welcome efforts to increase financial integration among BRICS countries. Trade in local currencies and smooth cross-border payments will strengthen our economic cooperation,” Modi said.

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyachaslav Volodin, writing ahead of the two-day meeting on the cloud-based messaging app Telegram, said the BRICS’ priorities reflect the divide between the West and the South. “The time of the hegemony of Washington and Brussels is passing. Countries choose the path of equal dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of people, and not to please the US and its minions,” he said.

U.S. officials say they are not concerned.

“We’re not looking at BRICS evolving into some kind of geopolitical rival. That’s not how we look at it … to the U.S. or anyone else,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday at a press briefing.

Meanwhile, India’s Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting, signaling a thaw in relations between the two sometimes-adversarial nations that some analysts suggest could have geopolitical implications.

Two days before the BRICS meeting, Indian and Chinese officials agreed to resolve the vexing issue of their militaries patrolling along the India-China border. The goal is to ensure that both sides pull back troops from advanced positions in disputed areas and return to the situation that existed before the last border conflict in 2020.

“We welcome the consensus reached on the issues that have arisen in the last 4 years along the border. It should be our priority to ensure there is peace and stability along our border,” Modi told Xi during the initial minutes of the meeting, which was telecast live. Xi responded saying that the rapprochement was “in the fundamental interests of both countries.”

Analysts are trying to gauge what prompted India to seek rapprochement with Beijing when it is closely tied to U.S.-led arrangements meant to counter China’s influence. 

India plays a key role in the United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy and the Washington-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) involving Japan, India, Australia and the United States. China views the QUAD, which regularly holds exercises among the militaries of the four member countries, as a group bent on hurting its interests. 

“Being a part of the QUAD is not helping India, which needs support in countering China’s military challenge in the Himalayan Mountain region. Besides, the U.S. is developing a relationship with Pakistan, which is against India’s interest,” P. Stobdan, former Indian diplomat and author, told VOA. 

The Chinese media quoted Lin Minwang, a professor at the Institute of Strategic Studies and International Security in Fudan University, as saying that India is seeking reconciliation with China because the United States has not supported its efforts to develop its manufacturing sector. 

“India’s policy that aims at decoupling from China has failed to attract meaningful support from the US-led West to help ‘Made in India’ and the country’s modernization and industrialization,” Lin said. “This proves that India can’t profit from being hostile to or decoupling from China, and it is even making it difficult for India to realize its own development,” he added. 

Some experts believe the United States would not be surprised at the turn of events.  

“The U.S. knew all along that India and China would connect at some point. There are strong political and economic reasons for them to engage with each other,” said Manoranjan Mohanty, a China expert based in New Delhi.
…

New evidence China, Russia and Iran targeting US elections

WASHINGTON — There is new evidence China, Iran and Russia are aggressively expanding their efforts to influence American voters to potentially sway the result of the upcoming U.S. elections.

Two threat intelligence reports Wednesday, one from software giant Microsoft and the other from the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, detail growing activity by cyber actors linked to each country — all aiming to impact U.S. public perceptions with less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.

The biggest change, according to Microsoft, comes from Chinese-linked actors known to researchers as Spamouflage or Taizi Flood.

“Chinese influence operations have recently taken a new turn, shifting focus to several down-ballot candidates and members of Congress,” Microsoft said, noting that starting in September, China has targeted at least four prominent Republican lawmakers, all of whom are known critics of the government in Beijing.

Most recently, the Chinese-linked accounts targeted Texas Republican Michael McCaul, accusing the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of “abusing power for personal gain.” 

Late last month, other Spamouflage began going after Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Microsoft said. And earlier this month, the same effort began promoting Blackburn’s opponent in the November 5 election.

Other targets include Alabama Republican Representative Barry Moore, who was subjected to content criticizing his support for Israel, and the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Marco Rubio, who was accused of corruption.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations in the Microsoft report.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told VOA Wednesday, echoing previous Chinese denials. 

“Such allegations are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes,” he added.

U.S. lawmakers, however, said they were not surprised by the uptick in malign activity.

“The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] cannot stand anyone who supports and gives a voice to those they oppress; their response is to sanction and attack,” McCaul said in a statement to VOA. 

“I consider it a badge of honor when the CCP — a leading abuser of human rights, censor of free speech, and oppressor of its own people — takes issue with my work,” he said. 

Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for the Chinese influence efforts to “be taken very seriously.”

“China is becoming increasingly more aggressive,” Rubio said in a statement to VOA. “China’s goal is to shape American opinion on critical issues and target specific candidates, especially those they view as anti-China.”

Growing threats

The reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future warn Beijing is not alone.

Specifically, the reports caution the Russian-linked cyber actors, known to researchers as Storm-1679 or Operation Overload, have increased their pace of operations over the past month and a half and are showing signs that more influence operations are on the way.

“Operation Overload is very likely to ramp up its activities,” said the Recorded Future report.

Recorded Future said many of the Russian efforts, of late, have sought to provoke anger toward the LGBTQ+ community “using disinformation to perpetuate discriminatory beliefs around transgender individuals, perceived behavioral issues, gender transition and reassignment surgeries, and pharmaceutical treatments.”

Other influence operations, the report said, are making use of AI-generated voiceovers to emulate the style of U.S. broadcast journalists.

Microsoft said the Russian cyber actors also have found ways to reach additional U.S. voters by shifting much of the content from the Telegram social media platform to X.

“Storm-1679 videos posted to X received higher levels of engagement,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft researchers also warned there are signs Iran is also ramping up its election interference efforts.

The Microsoft report says that in one instance, less than two weeks ago, “an online persona operated by Iran began falsely posing as an American and called on Americans to boycott the elections due to both candidates’ support for Israel’s military operations.”

Russia and Iran, like China, have repeatedly denied any involvement in efforts to meddle with the U.S. election.

But the new findings from Microsoft and Recorded Future align with assessments from U.S. intelligence officials.

“Foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests,” according to a declassified assessment issued Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

U.S. intelligence officials have previously said Russia has been working to boost the chances of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, while Iran has been working to hurt Trump’s reelection bid and instead buoy the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

And while there is little evidence to suggest China has sought to affect the U.S. presidential race, intelligence officials have said Beijing has been focusing its efforts on congressional and state and local candidates perceived to be promoting policies detrimental to Beijing’s interests.
…

China backs Russia-proposed BRICS payment system

WASHINGTON — Gathered Wednesday at a summit in the Russian city of Kazan, the members of BRICS adopted a joint declaration calling for the creation of an independent payment system based on their national currencies, a move in response to what they regard as illegal sanctions that are damaging the global economy.

BRICS member countries, which account for about 35% of the global economy, issued the Kazan Declaration, which calls for the “elimination” of “unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions that are contrary to international law.”

The BRICS membership includes the initial five — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and expanded when several countries joined this year, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates.

Expressing concerns over “unilateral coercive” sanctions that have “disruptive effects” on the world economy, the BRICS members agreed to examine the “establishment of an independent cross-border settlement and depository infrastructure, BRICS Clear.”

In supporting “inclusive cross-border payment instruments,” they encouraged the “use of local currencies in financial transactions between BRICS countries and their trading partners.”

Edward Fishman, senior research scholar at Columbia University and author of the forthcoming book “Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare,” said, “The BRICS have finally found a unifying mission: circumventing American financial dominance.”

“For BRICS members under U.S. sanctions, namely Russia and Iran, this mission is already a top national priority,” he said. “Others such as China see it as a handy way to insulate themselves from potential sanctions in the future.”

Fishman said the United States should take BRICS initiatives “seriously and move to further solidify the dollar’s advantages” as they “could well bear fruit over the next decade,” although “it’s unlikely that any of these initiatives will make a dent in the dollar’s global role in the near future.”

Circumventing US dollar

In his speech at the summit Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said “the reform of the international financial architecture” is “pressing,” and he called for “the connectivity” of financial infrastructure among BRICS members and the expansion of the New Development Bank, or NDB. 

Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB was established by the initial five BRICS members in 2015. It serves as an alternative financial institution to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. 

Tom Keatinge, the founding director of the Center for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute, said China would be inclined to join the new financial system that Russia is advocating.

He said Beijing’s reasons are twofold: “to influence its design to ensure it can benefit” and “to add to its desire to provide counterbalance to the historically unipolar financial system dominated by the United States.”

Keatinge added, however, that the new infrastructure would not be able to easily replicate “the stability, liquidity and convertibility of the U.S. dollar” that a number of other existing bilateral and multilateral payment systems experience.

VOA asked the Chinese Embassy in Washington whether and why Beijing is interested in joining and using the proposed BRICS financial system but did not get a reply.

Citing unnamed experts, China’s state-run Global Times on October 17 said an alternative payment system “may help reduce excessive reliance on the U.S. dollar.”

Sanctions evasion

BRICS’ efforts to increase the use of local currencies are seen as a bid to challenge the global financial system dominated by the U.S. dollar, which accounts for 90% of all currency trading and more than half of international payments. 

At the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “The dollar is being used as a weapon.” He also said the increased use of BRICS national currencies for transactions will “minimize geopolitical risks.”

During a meeting with Putin at the summit on Tuesday, NDB President Dilma Rousseff said the bank was committed to financing the countries of the Global South in their national currencies.

Russian state development corporation and investment company VER.RF signed agreements with China and South Africa to extend credit lines in national currencies, Russian news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

BRICS Clear, the international payment and deposit platform to ensure increased circulation of national currencies, was proposed by Russia ahead of the summit.

The Russian Financial Ministry, central bank and consulting firm Yakov and Partners earlier in October issued a document proposing BRICS Clear as a platform that would utilize national depository systems “independent of third-party influence.”

Also ahead of the summit, a new cross-border payment system called BRICS Pay was introduced at the BRICS Business Forum held in Moscow on October 17 and 18.

A statement released Tuesday by the American Action Forum, citing an analysis by Jacob Jensen, a data analyst at the think tank, said there are concerns that BRICS Pay would allow participating countries to “circumvent USD as a payment intermediary by replacing it with blockchain technology and an alternative to the SWIFT financial payment system.”

Several Russian banks were banned from the SWIFT messaging system that facilitates global financial transfers shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskovsaid on Wednesday that the BRICS is not trying to create a system as an alternative to SWIFT, according to Russian TASS. 

Despite BRICS’ efforts, no country using an alternative system like BRICS Pay will be immune from sanctions, as such a payment system can be subject to sanctions, said David Asher, a Hudson Institute senior fellow who advised the U.S. government over several years on sanctions evasion schemes.

Ultimately, Asher said, national and digital currencies will end up being swapped into U.S. dollars at the Clearing House Automated Transfer System based in Hong Kong, which he believes should be sanctioned.
…

Commonwealth nations to discuss slavery reparations, climate change

APIA, SAMOA — The leaders of the Commonwealth group of nations will meet at a welcome banquet in Samoa in the South Pacific on Thursday, with climate change and reparations for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade on the agenda of summit discussions.

Leaders and officials from 56 countries with roots in Britain’s empire, as well as Britain’s King Charles, are in the small island nation and attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which began Monday. The countries’ foreign ministers also began a day of discussions on Thursday.

More than half of the Commonwealth’s members are small states, many of which are low-lying island nations at risk from rising sea levels due to climate change.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said ocean temperatures are rising in the Pacific Islands at three times the rate worldwide, and its population is “uniquely exposed” to the impact of rising sea levels.

“Climate change is an existential threat. It is the number one national security threat. It is the number one economic threat to the peoples of the Pacific and to many members of the Commonwealth,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a news conference after a meeting with counterparts.

A number of African countries, including Zambia, warned the meeting about the escalating impacts of climate change, including the effects on food security, she added.

On Thursday, Charles will be shown the impact of rising sea levels that are forcing people to move inland, a Samoan chief said.

Island leaders are expected to issue a declaration on ocean protection at the summit, with climate change being a central topic of discussion.

Reparations push

Also on the agenda is a push for Britain to pay reparations for transatlantic slavery, a long-standing issue that has recently been gaining momentum worldwide, particularly those part of the Caribbean Community and more recently the African Union.

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer said on Monday the UK will not bring the issue of reparations for historical transatlantic slavery to the table at the summit, but is open to engage with leaders who want to discuss it.

CARICOM has set up a commission to seek reparations from former colonial powers such as the UK, France and Portugal.

Those opposed to paying reparations say countries shouldn’t be held responsible for historical wrongs, while those in favor say the legacy of slavery has resulted in persistent and vast racial inequalities today.

A CARICOM source familiar with the matter told Reuters CHOGM presents an “important opportunity” for dialogue on reparations and the region will be tabling the issue there.

“It is a priority for many of the Commonwealth’s member countries and whenever those affected by atrocities ask to talk, there should always be a willingness to sit down and listen,” said Kingsley Abbott, director of the University of London’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies, who is attending the summit.

From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported by European ships and merchants and sold into slavery. Those who survived the brutal voyage ended up toiling on plantations under inhumane conditions in the Americas, mostly in Brazil and the Caribbean, while others profited from their labor.
…

Humanitarian aid workers face ‘increasingly difficult’ conditions  

The president of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has announced the establishment of the Red Family Fund to honor humanitarian aid workers who have died in the line of duty.

Kate Forbes told the organization’s general assembly in Geneva that aid workers find themselves working under “increasingly difficult” conditions that include not only an escalation in conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere but also a decrease in observance of international law.

“Global conflicts have escalated, endangering civilians and our volunteers, making it even more difficult to deliver humanitarian aid,” Forbes said.

So far this year, 30 of the group’s 16 million humanitarian aid workers worldwide have died in the line of duty, she said.

“The surge in violence against humanitarian workers underscores a decline in the adherence to international humanitarian law and poses a direct threat to our mission,” the IFRC president said. She described each loss as a deep wound but said the deaths would not weaken the organization’s “resolve to directly address these crises.”

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the gathering that humanitarian workers find themselves doing their jobs across the globe amid a world shaped by “armed conflicts and political turmoil.”

The Red Family Fund, according to the IFRC’s website, honors volunteers and staff from the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies “who die in the line of duty and provides a mechanism for one-time financial assistance to the families they leave behind.”

“This is a tangible step that demonstrates our commitment to honor those who care for others,” Forbes said. 

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
…

US says there is evidence of North Korean troops in Russia

The United States said there is evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had learned that two North Korean military units were training in Russia for potential combat in Ukraine. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb reports.
…

G7 allies move ahead with $50 billion loan for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian funds

Washington — Ukraine will receive $50 billion in loans, backed by frozen Russian assets, from Group of Seven allies, the White House said Wednesday. Distribution of the money will begin by year’s end, according to American officials who said the United States is providing $20 billion of the total.

Leaders of the wealthy democracies agreed earlier this year to engineer the mammoth loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival after Russia’s invasion. Interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets would be used as collateral.

“To be clear, nothing like this has ever been done before,” said Daleep Singh, the deputy national security adviser on international economics.

“Never before has a multilateral coalition frozen the assets of an aggressor country and then harnessed the value of those assets to fund the defense of the aggrieved party all while respecting the rule of law and maintaining solidarity.”

At a ceremony Wednesday in Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Ukraine’s finance minister, Sergii Marchenko, planned to put in writing assurances that the U.S. loan will be paid for by the windfall proceeds of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets, not by American taxpayer dollars.

“Russia is paying for this support,” Yellen said at a news conference Monday where she said the loan package was close to being finalized.

Singh said the Biden administration intends to divide the U.S. share of $20 billion between aiding Ukraine’s economy and military. It will require congressional action to send military aid, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that weapons and equipment being promised now can take weeks or months to get to Ukraine.

The additional $30 billion will come from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan, among others.

The idea of using Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine faced resistance at first from European officials who cited legal and financial stability concerns.

The move gained momentum after more than a year of negotiations between finance officials and after President Joe Biden in April signed legislation that let the government seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian state assets in the U.S.

The G7 announced in June that most of the loan would be backed by profits being earned on roughly $260 billion in immobilized Russian assets. The vast majority of that money is held in EU nations. 

The U.S. and its allies immediately froze whatever Russian central bank assets they had access to when Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The timing of the loan’s disbursement has been called into question, coming about two weeks before the presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. The candidates have taken opposing views on the threat from Russia.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed suggestions that military aid to Ukraine approved by the Biden administration now could be negated by any new team in power.

“I think we’re pretty sure that these materials will continue to flow,” Austin said, adding that he is confident it all will be delivered “on the timeline that we’ve outlined.”

The World Bank’s latest damage assessment of Ukraine, released in February, estimates that costs for reconstruction and recovery of the nation stand at $486 billion over the next 10 years.
…

Attack at Turkey aviation site leaves some dead, injured

Ankara — A deadly attack was carried out at the Turkish Aerospace Industries’ headquarters near Ankara on Wednesday, the government said, as broadcasters showed footage of several armed assailants entering the building amid reports of gunfire and a loud explosion.

“A terrorist attack was carried out against the TUSAS facilities in Kahramankazan, Ankara. Unfortunately, we have martyrs and injured people,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media X, referring to the Aerospace Industries.

The cause and perpetrators of the blast and subsequent gunfire remained unclear. Some media reports claimed a suicide attack had occurred and that there were hostages inside the building. Officials have not confirmed this.

Witnesses told Reuters that employees inside the building were taken by authorities to shelters and no one was permitted to leave. They said bombings may have taken place at different exits as employees were leaving work for the day.

The state-owned Anadolu Agency said emergency services were dispatched to the site, while television images showed a damaged gate and an exchange of gunfire in a parking lot. The images showed the attackers carrying assault rifles and backpacks as they entered the building.

Anadolu also said prosecutors had launched an investigation into the attack.

TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defense and aviation companies. It produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects, and has over 10,000 employees. 
…

Greek PM deplores worst climate conditions in 4 decades

Athens — Wildfire-plagued Greece has suffered its worst year in terms of climate conditions in four decades in 2024, its prime minister told parliament on Wednesday.

The already sun-baked Mediterranean region has been designated by scientists as a climate change “hotspot”, with warming higher than the global average, according to United Nations reports. 

Greece has been perennially struck by scorching heatwaves and destructive wildfires every summer, with conditions worsening in recent years.

“We were expecting a very difficult year in terms of climate, it was objectively the most difficult in the past 40 years according to data by all scientists, including those from the national climate monitor,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament.

He pointed to “temperatures constantly higher than average”, “prolonged drought”, “strong winds”, adding that Greece needed to face the consequences of climate change.

The number of wildfires so far this year has reached 9,101, up from 7,163 last year, with 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres) burnt, the premier said during a parliamentary debate on the matter.  

Forest blazes began earlier than normal this year, with one igniting at the end of March in the country’s north.

Greece experienced its hottest summer ever, Athens’s climate monitor said in September, with premature heatwaves in June, and record-high summer temperatures.

June and July were the warmest months since records began in 1960, while August was the second hottest after August 2021, the observatory said on its meteo.gr website.

More than 20 people died in Greek forest fires last year, with a massive blaze in Dadia national park dubbed the most destructive ever recorded in the European Union.

Rising temperatures are leading to extended wildfire seasons and increasing the area burnt by the blazes, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 
…

Britain Prime Minister Starmer plays down Trump team claims of interference 

London — Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday played down allegations made by Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump’s team of “blatant foreign interference” by his Labour Party in the U.S. election, saying it was normal for its volunteers to campaign.   

Starmer also insisted that he maintained “a good relationship” with Trump, having met him for talks last month.   

The former president’s legal team filed a complaint to the U.S. Federal Election Commission alleging the “British Labour Party made, and the [Kamala] Harris campaign accepted, illegal foreign national contributions.”   

The filing cited media reports that Labour officials, including the prime minister’s new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, traveled to the United States to advise the Harris campaign.   

Trump’s team also submitted a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour director of operations Sofia Patel calling for volunteers to travel to North Carolina, saying “we will sort out your housing.”   

Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer in U.S. elections but may not be compensated.   

Starmer told media traveling with him to a Commonwealth meeting on the Pacific island of Samoa that his party had done nothing wrong, and that the volunteers had paid for themselves.   

“The Labour party has volunteers, who have gone over pretty much every election,” he said.   

“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying, I think, with other volunteers over there.”   

“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward.”   

He also denied suggestions that it could damage relations with Britain’s most important ally should Republican party candidate Trump beat Democrat Harris and secure a return to the White House.   

Starmer said he had “established a good relationship” with the former president, having met him last month for a two-hour dinner at the former real estate tycoon’s Trump Tower residence in New York.   

Adding to the dispute, Trump surrogate Elon Musk wrote on his X site on Tuesday that “this is war” after leaked documents from campaign group Center for Countering Digital Hate appeared to show that one of its objectives was to “kill Musk’s Twitter,” X’s former name.   

The campaign group and think-tank is led by a former Labour adviser and McSweeney is a former director. 
…

Incoming EU foreign policy chief Kallas warns against Russia and China

The European Union’s next foreign policy chief has told lawmakers that strengthening security must be a priority, warning that Europe must be prepared as Russia and “partly China” exploit the continent’s open societies.

“European security is deeply personal to me as a native of a country that has long told others that Russia’s imperialistic dream never died,” Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, said in written replies to members of the European Parliament published late on Tuesday.

“My short-term priority must be to address the pressing global concerns: Russia’s war against Ukraine and strengthening the EU’s security and defense,” she wrote.

Kallas, nominated by European leaders in June to serve as the bloc’s new high representative for foreign affairs, is set to succeed incumbent Josep Borrell.

The European Parliament will hold hearings in November for members of the next European Commission.

In 21 pages of answers to questions posed by the lawmakers ahead of the hearings, the Estonian politician outlined her vision for Europe’s foreign policy at a time when the bloc faces an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.

The EU must stay at “the forefront of humanitarian efforts” in the Middle East,” Kallas said, and work “with all actors to support the pursuit of a just and comprehensive peace” while also pointing to challenges such as China’s support for Russia.

“Actors such as Russia, Iran, North Korea, and partly China, aim at weaponizing interdependencies and exploiting the openness of our societies against us,” she added. “For this, we must be prepared.”
…

Russia, Ukraine trade drone attacks

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed 14 Ukrainian aerial drones in areas along the Ukraine-Russia border as well as four uncrewed Ukrainian boats in the Black Sea.

The ministry said Russian air defenses destroyed 10 drones over Russia-occupied Crimea, and another four over the Rostov region.

Russian forces carried out a second consecutive night of heavy drone attacks targeting the Sumy region in southern Ukraine.

The Sumy regional military administration said Wednesday that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 19 Russian drones, a night after Ukraine downed 25 drones in the same area.

Officials in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions also reported drones being shot down overnight.

North Korean involvement

Ukraine has “information that two units of military personnel from North Korea are being trained — potentially even two brigades of 6,000 people each” — for combat in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday. 

“This is a challenge,” the president said in his daily address. “But we know how to respond to this challenge. And it is important that our partners do not shy away from this challenge, as well.” 

“If North Korea can intervene in the war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely not strong enough,” Zelenskyy said. “And if Russia is still able to expand and prolong this war, it means that everyone in the world who is still not helping to force Russia into peace is actually helping Putin to wage war.” 

“We expect a firm, concrete response from the world,” he added. “Hopefully, not only in words.” 

Also Tuesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement that Russia is playing with lives beyond Ukraine. 

“Russia’s indiscriminate strikes on ports in the Black Sea underscore that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is willing to gamble on global food security in his attempts to force Ukraine into submission. … In doing so, he is harming millions of vulnerable people across Africa, Asia and the Middle East to try and gain the upper hand in his barbaric war.”  

Starmer said Russia’s conduct in the conflict has shown “no respect for human life or the consequences of their invasion across the world.”

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