УКРОПИ

Ailing and silenced in prison, Belarus activist symbolizes the nation’s repression

TALLINN, Estonia — The last time any of Maria Kolesnikova’s family had contact with the imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist was more than 18 months ago. Fellow inmates at the penal colony reported hearing her plead for medical help from inside her tiny, smelly cell.

Her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, told The Associated Press by phone from Minsk that he knows she’s seriously ill and tried to visit her several months ago at the facility near Gomel, where she is serving an 11-year sentence, but has failed whenever he goes there.

On his last attempt, he said the warden told him, “If she doesn’t call or doesn’t write, that means she doesn’t want to.”

The 42-year-old musician-turned-activist is known to have been hospitalized in Gomel in May or June, but the outcome was unclear, said a former prisoner who identified herself only as Natalya because she feared retaliation from authorities.

“I can only pray to God that she is still alive,” Kolesnikov said in an interview. “The authorities are ignoring my requests for a meeting and for letters — it is a terrible feeling of impotence for a father.”

Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the widely disputed August 2020 election gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. With her close-cropped hair, broad smile and a gesture of forming her outstretched hands into the shape of a heart, she often was seen at the front of the demonstrations.

She became an even greater symbol of defiance in September of that year when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces in the neutral zone at the frontier and tore up her passport, then walked back into Belarus. She was convicted a year later of charges including conspiracy to seize power.

Natalya, whose cell was next to Kolesnikova’s before being released in August, said she had not heard her talking to guards for six months. Other inmates heard Kolesnikova’s pleas for medical assistance, she said, but reported that doctors did not come for “a very long time.”

In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to undergo surgery for a perforated ulcer. Other prisoners become aware of her movements because “it feels like martial law has been declared” in the cellblock, Natalya said. “Other prisoners are strictly forbidden not only to talk, but even to exchange glances with Maria.”

Her sister, Tatiana Khomich, said she was told by former inmates that the 5 feet, 9 inches Kolesnikova weighed only about 45 kilograms (100 pounds).

“They are slowly killing Maria, and I consider that this is a critical period because no one can survive in such conditions,” said Khomich, who lives outside Belarus.

The last time Kolesnikova wrote from prison was in February 2023. Letters to her “are ripped up before her eyes by prison personnel,” her sister said, relaying accounts from other former inmates.

Kolesnikova, who before the 2020 protests was a classical flutist who was especially knowledgeable about baroque music, is one of several major Lukashenko opponents to disappear behind bars.

The prisons department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry refused to comment on Kolesnikova’s case.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly demanded Belarusian authorities take “urgent protective measures” in relation to Kolesnikova and other political prisoners held incommunicado. In September, the European Parliament demanded that Belarus release all political prisoners.

Former inmates say Kolesnikova wore a yellow tag that indicates a political prisoner. That marks them for additional abuse by guards and officials, rights advocates say.

The human rights group Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. At least six have died behind bars.

“It was too late to save Alexei Navalny (from prison in Russia), and it was too late for six people in Belarus. We and the Western world don’t have much time to save Maria’s life,” Khomich said.

Amnesty International has begun a campaign to raise awareness about Kolesnikova’s fate, urging people to take up her plight with Western officials and politicians.

Other prominent opposition figures who are imprisoned and have not been heard from in a year or more include Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election but was imprisoned; his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place on the ballot and was forced to leave the country the day after the vote.

Aspiring opposition candidate Viktar Babaryka also was imprisoned before the election as his popularity among prospective voters soared. Kolesnikova was his campaign manager but then joined forces with Tsikhanouskaya. Prominent opposition figure Mikola Statkevich and Kolesnikova’s lawyer, Maxim Znak, are imprisoned and have not contacted the outside world since the winter of 2023.

Lukashenko denies Belarus has any political prisoners. At the same time, in recent months he has unexpectedly released 115 prisoners whose cases had political elements; those released had health problems, wrote petitions for pardons and repented.

Belarus is deeply integrated with Russia, and some observers believe Lukashenko is concerned about the extent of his dependence on Moscow, hoping to restore some ties with the European Union by releasing political prisoners ahead of a presidential election next year.

“Minsk is returning to the practice of bargaining with the West to try to soften sanctions and achieve at least partial recognition of the results of the upcoming presidential election,” said Belarusian analyst Alexander Friedman. “Lukashenko’s regime is interested in not becoming part of Russia and therefore wants at least some communication with the West, offering to talk about political prisoners.”

Lukashenko’s critics and human rights activists say they see no real change in government policy since all leading pro-democracy figures are still behind bars and authorities have seized three times as many opposition activists to refill the prisons.

“It is difficult to consider these pardons as a real thaw since the repressions continue, but the West should encourage Lukashenko to continue releasing political prisoners,” Khomich said. “The regime is sending clear signals to Western countries about its readiness to release people, and it’s very important that [the signal] is heard, and the opportunity is seized.”

 
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Europe’s water security under threat, environment agency warns   

Copenhagen, Denmark — Pollution, habitat degradation, climate change and overuse of freshwater resources are putting a strain on Europe, with only a third of its surface water in good health, the European Environment Agency warned  Tuesday.

“The health of Europe’s waters is not good. Our waters face an unprecedented set of challenges that threatens Europe’s water security,” EEA executive director Leena Yla-Mononen said in a statement.

Only 37% of Europe’s surface water bodies achieved “good” or “high” ecological status, a measure of aquatic ecosystem health, the EEA report said.

Meanwhile, only 29% of surface waters achieved “good” chemical status over the 2015-21 period, according to data reported by EU member states.

Europe’s groundwaters — the source of most drinking water on the continent — fared better, with 77% enjoying “good” chemical status.

Good chemical status means the water is free of excessive pollution from chemical nutrients and toxic substances like PFAS and microplastics.

Surface water is threatened by air pollution — such as coal burning and car emissions — as well as the agriculture industry, whose dumped waste contaminates the soil.

“European agriculture needs to increase its use of more sustainable organic and agro-ecological practices, accompanied by incentives and a change in our food and dietary habits,” the report said.

The European agency analyzed 120,000 surface water bodies and 3.8 million square kilometers (1.5 million square miles) of groundwater body areas in 19 EU countries and Norway.

It called on EEA member states to halve their use of pesticides by 2030.

“We need to redouble our efforts to restore the health of our valued rivers, lakes, coastal waters and other water bodies, and to make sure this vital resource is resilient and secure for generations to come,” Yla-Mononen said. 

Climate change effects, including extreme droughts and flooding, and the overuse of freshwater resources are putting a strain on Europe’s lakes, rivers, coastal waters and groundwaters “like never before,” the EEA said.

Governments must prioritize reducing water consumption and restoring ecosystems, it said.
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Britain to allow drones to inspect power lines, wind turbines

london — Britain’s aviation regulator said Tuesday that it would allow drones to inspect infrastructure such as power lines and wind turbines, a move the authority has described as a significant milestone. 

The U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had said earlier this year that it wanted to permit more drone flying for such activities as well as for deliveries and emergency services. It selected in August six projects to test it. 

Drones inspecting infrastructure will now be able to fly distances beyond remote flyers’ ability to see them. 

“While some drones have been flying beyond visual line of sight in the U.K. for several years, these flights are primarily trials under strict restrictions,” the CAA said. 

Under the CAA’s new policy, some drones will be able to remain at low heights close to infrastructure where there is little or no potential for any other aircraft to operate. It will also reduce costs, the CAA said. 

Drones will inspect power lines for damage, carry out maintenance checks of wind turbines and even be used as “flying guard dogs” for site security. 

The CAA will work with several operators to test and evaluate the policy, which according to the regulator’s director, Sophie O’Sullivan, “paves the way for new ways drones will improve everyday life.” 
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Italy sends 1st migrant ship to Albania, rights groups warn of ‘dangerous precedent’

ROME — Italy is transferring the first group of migrants to Albania, the Interior Ministry said Monday, as part of a contentious plan to process thousands of asylum-seekers outside its borders. 

A naval ship departed from the island of Lampedusa with 16 men — 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt — who were rescued at sea after departing from Libya. The ship is expected to arrive Wednesday morning, a ministry spokesman said. 

Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government formally opened the two centers in Albania Friday where Italy plans to process thousands of male migrants requesting asylum after being intercepted in international waters while trying to cross to Europe. 

The centers can accommodate up to 400 migrants at first, with that expected to increase to 880 in a few weeks, according to Italian officials. 

Women, children, older people and those who are ill or victims of torture will be accommodated in Italy. Families will not be separated. 

The five-year deal was endorsed last year by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” in tackling the migration issue, but human rights groups say it sets a dangerous precedent. 

A spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency, which has expressed serious concerns, said Monday that one of its teams was conducting an “independent mission” on board the ship to monitor the screening process. 

The agency, also known as UNHCR, has agreed to supervise the first three months to help “safeguard the rights and dignity of those subject to it.” 

The agreement, signed last year, calls for Albania to house up to 3,000 male migrants while Italy fast-tracks their asylum claims. The migrants will retain their right under international and EU law to apply for asylum in Italy and have their claims processed there. 

The two centers will cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years. The facilities will be run by Italy and are under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards will provide external security. 

Meloni and her right-wing allies have long demanded that European countries share more of the migration burden.
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Paris Motor Show opens during brewing EV trade war between EU, China

Paris — The Auto manufacturers competing to persuade drivers to go electric are rolling out cheaper, more tech-rich models at the Paris Motor Show, targeting everyone from luxury clients to students yet to receive their driving licenses. 

The biennial show has long been a major industry showcase, tracing its history to 1898. 

Chinese manufacturers are attending in force, despite European Union threats to punitively tax imports of their electric vehicles in a brewing trade war with Beijing. Long-established European manufacturers are fighting back with new efforts to win consumers who have balked at high-priced EVs. 

Here’s a look at the show’s opening day on Monday. 

More new models from China 

Chinese EV startups Leapmotor and XPeng showcased models they said incorporate artificial intelligence technology. 

Leapmotor, founded in 2015, unveiled a compact electric-powered SUV, the B10. It will be manufactured in Poland for European buyers, said Leapmotor’s head of product planning, Zhong Tianyue. Leapmotor didn’t announce a price for the B10 that will launch next year. 

Leapmotor also said a smaller electric commuter car it showcased in Paris, the T03, will retail from a competitive 18,900 euros ($20,620). Those sold in France will be imported from China but assembled in Poland, Zhong said. 

Leapmotor also announced a starting price of 36,400 euros ($39,700) in Europe for its larger family car, the C10. 

Sales outside of China are through a joint venture with Stellantis, the world’s fourth largest carmaker. Leapmotor said European sales started in September. 

Xpeng braces for tariff hit 

Attending the Paris show for the first time, the decade-old Chinese EV manufacturer XPeng unveiled a sleek sedan, the P7+. 

CEO He Xiaopeng said XPeng aims to deliver in Europe from next year. Intended European prices for the P7+ weren’t given, but the CEO said they will start in China at 209,800 yuan, the equivalent of 27,100 euros, or $29,600. 

XPeng’s president, Brian Gu, said the EU’s threatened import duties could complicate the company’s expansion plans if Brussels and Beijing don’t find an amicable solution to their trade dispute before an end-of-October deadline. 

Brussels says subsidies help Chinese companies to unfairly undercut EU industry prices, with Chinese-built electric cars jumping from 3.9% of the EV market in 2020 to 25% by September 2023. 

“The tariff will put a lot of pressure on our business model. It’s a direct hit on our margin, which is already not very high,” Gu said. 

Vehicles for young teens 

Manufacturers of small electric vehicles that can be driven in Europe without a license are finding a growing market among teens as young as 14 and their parents who, for safety reasons, prefer that they zip around on four wheels than on motorbikes. 

Several manufacturers of the two-seaters are showcasing in Paris, including France’s Citroen. The starting price for its Ami, or “Friend,” is just under 8,000 euros ($8,720). Launched in France in 2020, the plastic-shelled vehicle is now also sold in other European markets and in Turkey, Morocco and South America. 

“It’s not a car. It’s a mobility object,” said Citroen’s product chief for the Ami, Alain Le Gouguec. 

European legislation allows teenagers without a full license to drive the Ami and similar buggies from age 14 after an eight-hour training course. They’re limited to a top speed of 45 kilometers per hour (28 mph). 

The vehicles are also finding markets among adults who lost their license for driving infractions or who never got a full license, and outside cities in areas with poor transport. 

Renault subsidiary Mobilize said that even in winter’s energy-sapping cold its two-seater, no-license, plastic-shelled Duo can go 100 kilometers (over 60 miles) between charges. A phone app acts as its door and ignition key. 

Another French manufacturer, Ligier, sells its no-license two-seaters in both diesel and electric versions.
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Polish leader Tusk defends decision to suspend asylum law

Warsaw — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday defended a plan to temporarily suspend the right to asylum as human rights and civil society organizations express concerns about the move.  

Poland has struggled since 2021 with migration pressures on its border with Belarus — which is also part of the European Union’s external border.  

“It is our right and our duty to protect the Polish and European border,” Tusk said Monday on X. “Its security will not be negotiated.”  

Successive Polish governments have accused Belarus and Russia of organizing the mass transfer of migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the EU’s eastern borders to destabilize the West. They view it as part of a hybrid war that they accuse Moscow of waging against the West as it continues its nearly three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  

Some migrants have applied for asylum in Poland, but before the requests are processed, they travel across the EU’s border-free travel zone to reach Germany or other countries in Western Europe. Germany, where security fears are rising after a spate of extremist attacks, has recently responded by expanding border controls at all of its borders to fight irregular migration. Tusk called Germany’s move “unacceptable.”  

Tusk announced his plan to temporarily suspend the right for migrants to seek asylum at a convention of his Civic Coalition on Saturday. It will be part of a strategy that will be presented to a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.  

Dozens of nongovernmental organizations urged Tusk in an open letter to respect the right to asylum guaranteed by international conventions, which Poland signed, including the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and Poland’s own constitution.  

They argued that fundamental rights and freedoms must be respected.  

“It is thanks to them that thousands of Polish women and men found shelter abroad in the difficult times of communist totalitarianism, and we have become one of the greatest beneficiaries of these rights,” the letter said.  

It was signed by Amnesty International and 45 other organizations that represent a range of humanitarian, legal and civic causes.  

Tusk argued that Finland also suspended accepting asylum applications after facing migration pressure on its border with Russia.  

“The right to asylum is used instrumentally in this war and has nothing to do with human rights,” Tusk said on X on Sunday.  

A spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, acknowledged the challenge posed by Belarus, but also Russia, and didn’t explicitly criticize Tusk’s approach.  

“It is important and imperative that the union is protecting the external borders, and in particular from Russia and Belarus, both countries that have put in the past three years, a lot of pressure on the external borders,” Anitta Hipper said during a briefing Monday. “This is something that is undermining the security of the EU member states and of the union as a whole.”  

But she also underlined that EU member countries are legally obliged to allow people to apply for international protection.  

Hipper noted that the commission intends to “work on ensuring that the member states have the necessary tools to respond to these types of hybrid attacks.” 
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EU targets Iran officials, airlines for supplying drones, missiles to Russia 

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Iran’s deputy defense minister, senior members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and three airlines over allegations that they supplied drones, missiles and other equipment to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. 

Deputy Defense Minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari is one of seven senior officials now banned from traveling in Europe and whose assets in the bloc were frozen. The EU said he “is involved in the development of Iran’s [drone] and missile program,” given his high-level defense role. 

Iran Air, Mahan Air and Saha Airlines had their assets frozen. The EU said their planes were “used repeatedly to transfer Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles and related technologies to Russia, which have been used in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” 

EU foreign ministers endorsed the sanctions at a meeting in Luxembourg. 

In March, the bloc had warned that “were Iran to transfer ballistic missiles and related technology to Russia for use against Ukraine, the EU would be prepared to respond swiftly, including with new and significant restrictive measures.” 

EU member countries, except for Hungary, have been supplying weapons and ammunition as well as economic and other support to Ukraine worth some 118 billion euros ($129 billion) since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.  
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International Wine Organization calls for ‘sustainable development’ of vines

dijon, France — The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), a sort of “U.N. of wine” which brings together experts from the sector, called for “sustainable development” of the vine Sunday, following a ministerial meeting in France.

“The effects of climate change amplify” the challenges facing the vine, stressed 37 members out of 50 participating in the meeting at the OIV headquarters in Dijon.

The signatories encourage “biodiversity reservoirs, such as grape varieties and the entire ecosystem that surrounds them, by limiting soil erosion, capturing carbon … and reducing waste,” adds the ministerial declaration, the first in the history of the organization which is celebrating its centenary this year.

The OIV has set itself the “objectives” of “supporting innovation, ambitious, resilient and sustainable cultural and oenological practices … as well as biodiversity such as the conservation and use of diversity in the vine, the exploitation of new vine varieties and efficient water management.”

The “sustainability” of vines and wine also applies to “economic and social” matters, explained the director general of the OIV, New Zealander John Barker, at a news conference, stressing the need for the sector to adapt to the decline in wine consumption.

Created on November 29, 1924, by eight countries (Spain, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Tunisia), the OIV today brings together 50 countries, covering 88% of world wine production, with the notable absence of the United States, which slammed the door in 2001, after the failure of its candidate for its presidency.

China will become the 51st member state in November.

The organization is not political but brings together technical and scientific experts who exchange information on the sector and try to harmonize standards at the international level.
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Time with horses is helping some Ukrainian kids deal with war

Since May 2024, heavy fighting has been going on near the village of Hlyboke, some 30 kilometers from Kharkiv, and animals are the victims of active fighting just as much as locals. Volunteers recently rescued four ponies from Hlyboke, and now these horses are giving back… in their own way. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.
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Macron calls on Iran’s president to back Mideast ‘de-escalation’

Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron called on Iran’s leader Masoud Pezeshkian to support a “general de-escalation” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in a telephone conversation Sunday, his office said.

Macron stressed “the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and to use its influence in this direction with the destabilizing actors that enjoy its support.” Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters are fighting Israeli troops in Lebanon.

The Iranian presidential website said that in his conversation with Macron, Pezeshkian had called for an end to “crimes” in Lebanon and Gaza.

They discussed ways to secure a “cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel,” a statement on the website said.

Pezeshkian “asked the French president to work together with other European countries to force the Zionist regime to stop the genocide and crimes in Gaza and Lebanon,” the statement added.

The Israeli army is engaged in close combat with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon this Sunday, where it announced for the first time the capture of an enemy fighter. It is also intensifying its airstrikes against the pro-Iranian formation.

For its part, the Lebanese Islamist movement said it was fighting Israeli soldiers at the end of the afternoon “with automatic weapons” and “rockets” in at least four villages bordering Israel, with the Israeli army doing “face to face combat.”  

After having weakened the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, Israel moved the front of the war to Lebanon, saying it wanted to allow the return to northern Israel of some 60,000 inhabitants, displaced by the rocket attacks carried out for a year by Hezbollah in support for Hamas.
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Thousands march in Spain to demand affordable housing

Madrid — Thousands protested Sunday in Madrid to demand more affordable housing amid rising anger from Spaniards who feel they are being priced out of the market.

Under the slogan “Housing is a right, not a business,” residents marched in the Spanish capital to demand lower housing rental prices and better living conditions.

Twelve thousand people took to the streets, according to the Spanish government.

“Spaniards cannot live in their own cities. They are forcing us out of the cities. The government has to regulate prices, regulate housing,” said nurse Blanca Prieto, 33.

In July, Spain’s government announced a crackdown on short-term and seasonal holiday lettings. It plans to investigate listings on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com to verify if they have licenses.

Spain is struggling to balance promoting tourism, a key driver of its economy, and addressing citizens’ concerns over unaffordable high rents due to gentrification and landlords shifting to more lucrative tourist rentals.

In a separate demonstration in Barcelona on Sunday against the America’s Cup yachting race, protesters blamed the international sporting event for pushing up rental prices and bringing more tourists into an overcrowded city.

Residents of the Canary Islands and Malaga have also staged protests this year against the rise in tourist rentals. Seasonal hospitality workers struggle to find accommodation in these tourism hot spots, with many resorting to sleeping in caravans or even their cars. 
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Tributes to Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian custody 

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Ukraine’s human rights envoy urges response to alleged killings of Ukrainian POWs in Kursk

Kyiv — Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman urged international organizations Sunday to respond to a claim that several Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv had launched an incursion in August.

DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site close to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said Russian troops shot and killed nine Ukrainian “drone operators and contractors” on Oct. 10 after they had surrendered. 

Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram that he sent letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the claim, calling it “another crime committed by the Russians.” 

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said Russian troops had killed 16 captured Ukrainian soldiers in the partially occupied Donetsk region. 

There was no immediate response from Russian officials. 

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said Sunday that its air defenses had shot down 31 of 68 drones launched at Ukraine by Russia overnight into Sunday in the regions of Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy and Cherkasy. A further 36 drones were “lost” over various areas, it said, likely having been electronically jammed. 

The air force added that ballistic missiles struck Odesa and Poltava while Chernihiv and Sumy came under attack by a guided air missile. Local authorities didn’t report any casualties or damage. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia had launched around 900 guided aerial bombs, more than 40 missiles and 400 drones against Ukraine over the past week. 

Zelenskyy appealed on social platform X to Ukraine’s allies to “provide the necessary quantity and quality of air defense systems” and “make decisions for our sufficient range”. Kyiv is still awaiting word from its Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons they provide to hit targets on Russian soil. 

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said that 13 Ukrainian drones were shot down over three regions of Russia: six each in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, and one in the Bryansk region, all of which border Ukraine.
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Ukrainian move to ban Moscow-linked church stirs anger in Russia

moscow — Speaking behind the thick white walls of Moscow’s ancient Danilov Monastery, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk is adamant: People must not be forbidden to pray in their chosen branch of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

He speaks calmly, but Yakimchuk is one of many Orthodox Christians in Russia who are angry about a law passed by Kyiv in August that targets a Russia-linked Orthodox church that long dominated religious life in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration accuses the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of spreading pro-Russian propaganda in time of war and of housing spies, charges it denies.

Under the law, the Russian Orthodox Church itself was banned on Ukrainian territory and a government commission was tasked with compiling a list of “affiliated” organizations – expected to include the UOC – whose activities will be outlawed, too.

“In the 21st century, in the center of Europe, millions of people are being deprived of their basic civil rights,” Yakimchuk, wearing a black cassock and a large Orthodox cross around his neck, told Reuters in an interview.

“Because what does it mean to ban a church, which is the largest religious denomination in Ukraine, no matter how much the current Ukrainian authorities would like to downplay its scale? Everyone understands perfectly well that it is impossible to forbid people to pray.”

Whether the UOC retains the following it once did is disputed. An independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) that was set up after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 to be fully independent of Moscow has seen its popularity grow rapidly since President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine in 2022.

Ukrainian authorities say the UOC is fair game. They have launched dozens of criminal proceedings, including treason charges, against dozens of its clergy. At least one has been sent to Russia as part of a prisoner swap.

Church divided

However, Yakimchuk’s denunciation of what he calls “absolute lawlessness” in Ukraine is a reflection of how the nearly 32-month war – which Moscow calls a “special military operation” – has divided Orthodox hierarchies in the two countries, even though they all adhere to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

The UOC tried to distance itself from Moscow once the war was underway, condemning Russia’s actions and removing references to the “Moscow Patriarchate” from its name.

But those attempts angered clerics in Moscow, who have thrown their weight behind what they cast as Russia’s “holy war” in Ukraine against the expanding influence of what they see as a decadent, godless West. The UOC’s efforts also failed to allay Kyiv’s concerns about the church’s activities and loyalties.

The process of shutting down UOC operations in Ukraine – something one Ukrainian lawmaker called “cleansing” – is likely to be lengthy and involve court battles, but the church’s days seem numbered. Some opinion polls suggest more than 80% of Ukrainians do not trust the UOC.

The Kremlin, which has forged close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, has described Ukraine’s new law as “an open attack on freedom of religion.”

One Russian Orthodox priest in St. Petersburg, Leonid Trofimuk, branded Ukraine’s action as “Satanism” and compared it to Soviet-era state repression of religion.

“The 20th century is behind us,” he said. “We saw the persecution of the church at that time, but we didn’t think that there would be this kind of persecution that is going on now in Ukraine.”

Ordinary Russian churchgoers interviewed by Reuters also expressed concern.

“There is a kind of total politicization of matters of faith going on,” said Sergei, a St. Petersburg resident. “I would like common sense to prevail and the international community to finally pay attention.”

His criticism of Kyiv’s moves was echoed by churchgoers leaving a golden onion-domed church more than 900 miles (1,448 km) away to the south, in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city seized by Russian forces in 2022 after a long siege.

“This is wrong – you shouldn’t do this kind of thing,” said Olga, a Mariupol resident who was wearing a headscarf. “How can he [Zelenskyy] interfere with faith in God? This is not a matter for the state.”
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Afghan man imprisoned in France, accused of planning ‘violent action’

paris — A 22-year-old Afghan was indicted and imprisoned in France on Saturday, accused of supporting the ideology of the Islamic State (IS) and of having “fomented” a “plan for violent action” in a football stadium or a shopping center.

His arrest, which took place Tuesday in Haute-Garonne, has “links” with the arrest of an Afghan living in the United States and charged Wednesday with planning an attack on the day of the U.S. elections, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (PNAT) said, confirming a source close to the case questioned by AFP.

This 27-year-old Afghan, living in the southern U.S. state of Oklahoma, was in contact on the Telegram messaging service with a person identified by the FBI as an IS recruiter, according to American judicial authorities.

According to the source close to the case, during their investigations, the American authorities transmitted information to the French authorities, triggering the opening of an investigation in Paris and leading to three arrests.

On Tuesday morning in the southwest of France, three men, aged 20 to 31, two of whom are brothers, were arrested in Toulouse and Fronton by investigators from the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), supported by the RAID, the police intervention unit, as part of a preliminary investigation opened on September 27 for “terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing one or more crimes against persons.”

“The investigations carried out have highlighted the existence of a plan for violent action targeting people in a football stadium or a shopping center fomented by one of them, aged 22, of Afghan nationality and holder of a resident card, several elements of which also establish radicalization and adherence to the ideology of the Islamic State,” the PNAT told AFP on Saturday.

His lawyer, Emanuel de Dinechin, did not wish to comment at this stage.

In accordance with the PNAT requisitions, he was charged with terrorist criminal association by an investigating judge, then placed in provisional detention.

According to a source close to the case, this young man comes from the Tajik community in Afghanistan and his project, which he reportedly spoke about on Telegram, remained rather vague and unfinished.

According to another source close to the investigation, he has been living in France for around three years.

The other two men were released after their police custody.

Reconfiguration

The last arrests for a plan for violent action in France date back to the end of July.

Two young men, aged 18 and originally from Gironde in the southwest, were indicted on July 27, suspected of having created a group on social networks “intended to recruit” people “motivated (to) perpetrate a violent action” during the Paris Olympic Games.

Three attacks were foiled during the Olympic period, according to the authorities. In addition to the two young people from Gironde, one of the plans targeted establishments, including bars, around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne (southeast), and the other came from a group that had planned attacks against institutions and representatives of Israel in Paris. Five people have been charged, including a minor teenager, in these cases.

The “jihadist threat represents 80% of the procedures” initiated by the PNAT, anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen recalled in mid-September. “In the first half of 2024, there were approximately three times more procedures” of this type than in the same period in 2023, he added.

According to him, this increase is explained by the “geopolitical context,” but also by “the reconfiguration, particularly in Afghanistan” of the Islamic State group.

In September, two attacks by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) group, the regional branch of IS in Afghanistan, killed around 20 people in that country.

The deadliest attack by ISIS left 145 dead in March at a concert hall in Moscow.
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