УКРОПИ

German stabbing suspect is 26-year-old Syrian man who admitted to the crime

FRANKFURT, Germany — The suspect in custody for a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight is a 26-year-old Syrian man, authorities said early Sunday.

The suspect turned himself in and admitted to the crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement.

“The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” they said.

The attack, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, occurred Friday evening in the Fronhof, a market square where live bands were playing at a festival to celebrate Solingen’s 650-year history. Mourners have made a makeshift memorial near the scene.

The arrest of the suspect threatens to stoke fears ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, which the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning.

The suspect came from a home for refugees in Solingen that was searched on Saturday, said North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul.

Der Spiegel, citing unidentified security sources, reported that the man moved to Germany late in 2022 and sought asylum, and that his clothes had been smeared with blood.

The police declined to comment on the Spiegel report.

Meanwhile, German federal prosecutors have taken over the case and are investigating whether the suspect was a member of Islamic State, a spokesperson for the prosecutors said.

The group described the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a statement on its Telegram account on Saturday: “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

It did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion, and it was not clear how close any relationship between the attacker and Islamic State was.

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, on Saturday described the attack as an act of terror.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has counted around a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks since 2000.

One of the biggest was in 2016, when a Tunisian drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring dozens.

“The risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high. The Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target of terrorist organizations,” the BKA said in the report earlier this year.
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EU: Maduro has not shown evidence to declare victory in Venezuela elections

MEXICO CITY — The European Union’s top diplomat on Saturday said that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has still “not provided the necessary public evidence” to prove he was the winner of July’s elections, days after the country’s Supreme Court backed the government’s disputed claims of victory.

The bloc joined a slate of other Latin American countries and the United States in rejecting the Venezuelan high court’s certification. Authorities repeated calls for Maduro to release the election’s official tally sheets, considered the one verifiable vote count in Venezuela as they are almost impossible to replicate.

“Only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognized,” Josep Borrell, the high representative of the EU, said in a statement.

Borrell’s comments came as the leaders of Brazil and Colombia also demanded the release of the tallies, saying on Saturday the “credibility of the electoral process can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data.”

The joint statement from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro didn’t go as far as to reject the court certification. Many had been waiting to see how the two leftist leaders would respond to the court because both are close allies of Maduro and have been working to facilitate talks with both sides.

Maduro claims that he won the presidential vote, but so far has refused to release the tallies. Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition has accused Maduro of trying to steal the vote.

Opposition volunteers managed to collect copies of voting tallies from 80% of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide that show former opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The Supreme Court and other government entities alleged those tallies were forged.

The Venezuelan government rejected Borrell’s statements, calling them “interventionist.” Its Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the “continued disrespect” to Venezuela’s sovereignty by the EU could “considerably affect diplomatic, political and economic relations.”

Lula and Petro said they “take note” of the court’s ruling, but added they are still awaiting release of the tallies.

The Brazilian and Colombian leaders also called on actors in Venezuela to “avoid resorting to acts of violence and repression” as security forces arrested more than 2,000 people and cracked down on demonstrations that erupted spontaneously throughout the country protesting the results. But the two leaders didn’t directly accuse the Maduro government of carrying out the violence.

The arrests have again spread fear in a country that has seen other government crackdowns during previous times of political turmoil.

At the same time, key opposition figure Maria Corina Machado has since gone into hiding and the government said Friday it will order González to provide sworn testimony in an ongoing investigation, claiming he was part of an effort to spread panic by contesting the results of the election.

Both Lula and Petro have previously been criticized for what some say have been lenient policies toward Maduro’s government, but their tone has grown more stern in recent months, especially in the wake of the election fallout.

Their two countries are neighbors to Venezuela and their governments were to witness agreements struck between Maduro and the opposition that aimed to chart the path to free and fair elections, which the opposition and other observers accused Maduro of violating. The two leaders reiterated their willingness to facilitate dialogue between the government and the opposition.

“The political normalization of Venezuela requires the recognition that there is no lasting alternative to peaceful dialogue and democratic coexistence,” the statement read. 
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Ukraine shelling kills 5 civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region, governor says

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CEO of Telegram messaging app arrested in France, say French media

paris — Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources. 

Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. It aims to hit 1 billion users in the next year.  

Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold. 

Durov was traveling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation. 

TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app. 

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment. 

App becomes popular during wartime

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered — and sometimes graphic and misleading — content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict. 

The app has become preferred means of communications for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officials. The Kremlin and the Russian government also use it to disseminate their news. It has also become one of the few places where Russians can access news about the war.

TF1 said Durov had been traveling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 18:00 GMT.  

Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app, which has now 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.” 

The Russia Embassy in France told the Russian state TASS news agency that it was not contacted by Durov’s team after the reports of the arrest, but it was taking “immediate” steps to clarify the situation.  

Bloggers encourage protesting French embassies

Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, and several other Russian politicians were quick to accuse France of acting as a dictatorship. 

“Some naive persons still don’t understand that if they play [a] more or less visible role in [the] international information space it is not safe for them to visit countries which move towards much more totalitarian societies,” Ulyanov wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

Several Russian bloggers called for protests at French embassies throughout the world at noon Sunday. 
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French authorities arrest suspect behind synagogue explosion that injured officer

NICE, France — French police apprehended and detained the suspect behind the arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town that injured a police officer, the country’s acting interior minister said early Sunday.

Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Saturday, the National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Saturday.

“The alleged perpetrator of the arson attack on the synagogue has been arrested,” Gerald Darmanin, the acting interior minister, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He visited the site Saturday afternoon along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and met with local officials and the synagogue staff.

Darmanin also hailed the “professional conduct” of police forces and its elite intervention unit “despite the gunfire” during the operation. He did not provide further information.

Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank in one of the vehicles exploded, the prosecutor’s statement said.

Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it added.

Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group and destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with an intent to cause harm, the statement said.

After the attack Saturday, Darmanin ordered police reinforcements to protect Jewish places of worship following what was “clearly a criminal act.”

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens of my full support and say that at the request of President Emmanuel Macron all means are being mobilized to find the perpetrator,” Darmanin posted on X. He ordered more police officers deployed at Jewish places of worship around the country following a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

La Grande Motte Mayor Stéphan Rossignol said that investigators were reviewing the city’s surveillance videos and said that a lone suspect was spotted at the site of the attack.

“The individual in question did not manage to get inside the synagogue, even though that was clearly his objective.” Rossignol said in an interview with broadcaster France Info.

Prosecutors said a male suspect spotted in surveillance videos fleeing the site was carrying a Palestinian flag and a weapon. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations amid an ongoing investigation.

President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and assured that “everything is being done to find (the) perpetrator.”

“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on X.

Attal, the acting prime minister, said the synagogue was targeted in the “antisemitic attack,” a “shocking and appalling” act of violence.

“Once again, French Jews have been targeted and attacked because of their beliefs,” Attal said after meetings in La Grand Motte. “We are outraged and repulsed.”

At least 200 police officers and other security personnel were deployed to apprehend the perpetrator, Attal added.

The assailant who hit the synagogue on the Shabbat morning was “very determined” to cause damage and casualties, Attal said and added that preliminary evidence collected by investigators shows that “we have narrowly avoided a tragedy.” 
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Hungary’s foreign minister accuses EU of disrupting oil supplies from Russia

BUDAPEST, hungary — Hungary’s foreign minister said Saturday the European Commission’s decision not to mediate in a dispute over a blockage of oil supplies from Russia via Ukraine into his country suggested that Brussels was behind the stoppage. 

Hungary and its neighbor Slovakia have been protesting since Ukraine put Russian oil producer Lukoil on a sanctions list in June, stopping that company’s oil from passing through Ukrainian territory to Slovak and Hungarian refineries. 

The assertion from Hungary’s Peter Szijjarto, which he made without providing evidence, came a day after the European Commission declined a request from Hungary and Slovakia for it to mediate between them and Ukraine over the sanctions. 

“The fact that the European Commission declared that it was unwilling to help to secure the energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia suggests that the order was sent from Brussels to Kyiv to cause challenges and problems in the energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia,” Szijjarto said at a conservative political festival. 

A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on Szijjarto’s remarks. 

The Commission, which has been supportive of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, has repeatedly urged EU countries to end their dependency on energy supplies from Moscow. The EU has imposed sanctions on most Russian oil imports. 

On Friday, a Commission spokesperson said there were no indications that Ukraine’s sanctions had endangered European energy supplies, as Russian oil continued to flow through the separate Druzhba pipeline, which also connects Russia to Slovakia and Hungary via Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Hungarian statement Saturday. 

Slovakia and Hungary are both EU countries that have opposed Western allies’ military aid to Ukraine as it fights the invasion that Russia launched in February 2022. 

The pipeline’s southern branch runs through Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, and has served as their refineries’ primary supply source for years. 

Last month, Szijjarto made similar comments when he accused the European Commission of blackmail in the oil dispute and said that maybe it was “Brussels, not Kyiv, that invented the whole thing.” 

A Hungarian government official said Thursday that Hungarian oil company MOL was in the final stages of discussions to establish a scheme to ensure crude oil flows from Russia. 
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Islamic State claims responsibility for knife attack in Germany

SOLINGEN, Germany — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a knife attack in the German city of Solingen that killed three people and wounded eight others.  

Police have detained a 15-year-old and were investigating whether this person was linked to the attacker. The perpetrator was still at large on Saturday.  

Describing the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State,” the militant group said in a statement on its Telegram account: “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”  

The statement did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion, and it was not clear how close any relationship between the attacker and Islamic State was. 

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, described Friday evening’s attack during a festival in the city as an act of terror.  

“This attack has struck at the heart of our country,” Wuest told reporters.

Before the IS claim, Markus Caspers, an official with the public prosecutor’s office in Duesseldorf, said authorities were treating the attack as a possible terrorist incident because there was no other known motive and the victims seemed unrelated.  

The attack took place in the Fronhof, a market square in the western German city where live bands were playing as part of a festival marking its 650th anniversary. 

A police official, Thorsten Fleiss, said the assailant appeared to aim for his victims’ throats. 

“The perpetrator must be quickly caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a post on X. 

Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers. 

“We are full of shock and grief,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach told journalists. 

Authorities canceled the remainder of the weekend festival. 

Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany. The government said earlier this month it wanted to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the maximum length allowed. 

In June, a 29-year-old policeman was fatally stabbed in Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration. A stabbing attack on a train in 2021 injured several people. 

Solingen, well known for its knife manufacturing industry, is a city of some 165,000 people.  

The episode comes ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, in which the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning. 

Though the motive and identity of the assailant were not known, a top AfD candidate for one of the state elections, Bjoern Hoecke, seized on Friday’s attack, posting on X: “Do you really want to get used to this? Free yourselves and end this insanity of forced multiculturalism.” 
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German police scour city for knife attacker who killed 3 at festival

SOLINGEN, Germany — Special police units on Saturday joined the search for an unknown man who carried out a stabbing attack at a crowded festival in the western German city of Solingen, killing three people and wounding at least eight others, five of them seriously.

“The police are currently conducting a large-scale search for the perpetrator,” police said in a statement. “Both victims and witnesses are currently being questioned.”

Police did not indicate that they had yet established the identity of the attacker and warned people to stay vigilant even as well-wishers started to leave flowers at the scene. Police established an online portal where witnesses could upload video and any other information relevant to the attack.

People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday to an unknown attacker having wounded several people with a knife on a central square, the Fronhof. Police said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker and gave no information about the identities of the victims.

“Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep,” the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, said, speaking to reporters on Saturday near the scene of the attack.

The “Festival of Diversity,” marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours after the attack, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square.

One of the festival organizers, Philipp Muller, appeared on stage on Friday and asked festivalgoers to “go calmly; please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught.” Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.

The rest of the festival was canceled.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that the perpetrator of the attack must be caught quickly and punished with the full force of the law.

“The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand by their families,” Scholz said on social media platform X.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to the mayor Saturday morning.

“The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn those killed and worry about those injured, and I wish them strength and a speedy recovery from all my heart,” Steinmeier said in a statement on Saturday.

“The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice. Let’s stand together — against hatred and violence.”

There has been concern about increased knife violence in Germany. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters (almost 2½ inches) to be carried in public, rather than the 12 centimeters currently allowed.
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Italy opens manslaughter probe in superyacht sinking

ROME — Prosecutors in Italy said Saturday they have opened an investigation into culpable shipwreck and multiple manslaughter after a superyacht capsized during a storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people onboard. They include British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his daughter.

Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed the investigation has been launched but said no suspect has been identified.

“We are only in the initial phase of the investigation. We can’t exclude any sort of development at present,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Cartosio said his team will carefully consider each possible element of responsibility, including those of the ship’s captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision, the shipbuilder and others.

“For me, it is probable that offenses were committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate,” he said.

The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.

Prosecutors said the event was “extremely rapid” and information they gained seemed to point to a “downburst,” a localized, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly upon hitting the ground.

Initially, civil protection officials said they believe the yacht, which featured a distinctive 75-meter (246-feet) aluminum mast, was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout.

Investigators were also asked why the crew was almost entirely saved, except for the chef, while six passengers remained trapped in the hull.

Local officials confirmed that most of the bodies recovered were found in the same part of the ship, close to the exit, suggesting that passengers had tried to get out.

Deputy Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said it was likely that the passengers were asleep, adding that one focus of the investigation is to ascertain whether anyone alerted them.

Cammarano confirmed that one person was on watch in the cockpit.

Rescuers on Friday brought ashore the last of seven bodies from the sinking of The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht that went down in a storm near the Mediterranean island in southern Italy early Monday. The boat was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers.

The seventh victim was Hannah Lynch, 18, the daughter of Mike Lynch, whose body was recovered Thursday. He had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with his family and the people who had defended him at trial in the United States. His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors.

Rescuers struggled for four days to find all the bodies, making slow headway through the interior of the wreck lying on the seabed 50 meters (164 feet) below the surface.

The other five victims are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, and his wife, Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife, Judy; and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.
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Moscow, Kyiv exchange attacks as Ukraine marks Independence Day

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone, missile and artillery attacks on Saturday as Kyiv marked its third Independence Day since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

A woman was killed and a man wounded when Russian forces shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the capital of the partially occupied Kherson region, according to the regional prosecutor.

Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted and destroyed seven drones over the country’s south. Russian long-range bombers also attacked the area of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island with four cruise missiles, while the wider Kherson region was also struck by aerial bombs.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said Saturday that air defenses had shot down seven drones overnight.

Five drones were downed over the southwestern Voronezh region bordering Ukraine, wounding two people, regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev said. News outlet Astra published videos appearing to show explosions at an ammunition depot after being hit by a drone. The videos could not be independently verified.

Two people were wounded in a drone attack in the Belgorod region, also bordering Ukraine, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Local authorities did not report any casualties in the Bryansk region, where the fifth drone was intercepted.

In the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched their surprise offensive into Russia two weeks ago, regional Governor Alexei Smirnov said Saturday that three missiles were shot down overnight and another four on Saturday morning.

Russian air defenses shot down two more drones on Saturday morning, Russia’s Defense Ministry said — one over the Kursk region and one over the Bryansk region.
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Analysts: China-Russia financial cooperation raises red flag

Washington — China and Russia agreed to expand their economic cooperation using a planned banking system, which analysts say is aimed at supporting their militaries and undermining U.S.-led global order.

The two countries issued a joint communiqué agreeing “to strengthen and develop the payment and settlement infrastructure,” including “opening corresponding accounts and establishing branches and subsidiary banks in two countries” to facilitate “smooth” payment in trade.

The communiqué was issued when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian news agency Tass reported the following day.

At the meeting, Mishustin said, “Western countries are imposing illegitimate sanctions under far-fetched pretext, or, to put it simply, engaging in unfair competition,” according to a Russian government transcript.

Mishustin also noted the use of their national currencies “has also expanded, with the share of roubles and RMB in mutual payments exceeding 95%,” as the two have strengthened cooperation on investment, economy and trade.

Li and Mishustin signed more than a dozen agreements on Tuesday on economic, investment and transport cooperation. Li was making a state visit to Moscow at the invitation of Mishustin.

David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said, “This meeting between the Russians and the Chinese is important because it’s getting into a much widening aperture of cooperation” that would have “a bigger military dimension,” threatening U.S. national security.

Asher added that their bilateral cooperation could lead to “Russia’s assistance to China in the Pacific and the South China Sea” in return for Beijing’s support for Moscow’s economy and industry that aid Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, “in defiance of the U.S.”

A spokesperson for the State Department told VOA Korean on Thursday that the U.S. is “concerned about PRC [People’s Republic of China] support for rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial base, particularly the provision of dual-use goods like tools, microelectronics and other equipment.”

The spokesperson continued: “The PRC cannot claim to be a neutral party while at the same time rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial base and contributing to the greatest threat to European security.”

“China is Putin’s only lifeline,” said Edward Fishman, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs who helped the State Department design international sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

“Chinese firms have taken advantage of Russia’s weak bargaining position and cut a slew of favorable deals,” Fishman said. “But these deals have more than just commercial significance. They keep Putin’s war machine going.”

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on more than 400 entities and individuals that support Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, including Chinese firms that it said were helping Moscow evade Western sanctions by shipping machine tools and microelectronics.

In response to a China-Russia plan to set up a financial system to facilitate trade, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told the Financial Times that Washington “will go after the branch they’re setting up” and the countries that let them.

Analysts said China and Russia could increasingly turn to alternative methods of payments to evade sanctions.

Russia in June suspended trading in dollars and euros in the Moscow Exchange, in response to a round of sanctions the U.S. had issued targeting Russia’s largest stock exchange. The move by Russia prohibits banks, companies and investors from trading in either currency through a central exchange.

Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. cut big Russian banks off from the U.S. dollar, the preferred currency in global business transactions.

“There is clearly a desire in both Moscow and Beijing to build financial and trade connections that operate beyond the reach of U.S.-led sanctions,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Center for Finance and Security at the London-based Royal United Service Institute.

“This includes the development of non-U.S. dollar payment and settlement mechanisms and a wider ‘insulated’ payment system that allows other countries in their orbit to avoid U.S. sanctions,” he continued.

Other possible methods of payments could involve central bank digital currencies as well as cryptocurrencies and stable coins, Keatinge added.

The Chinese yuan replaced the dollar as Russia’s most traded currency in 2023, when the U.S. imposed sanctions on a few banks in Russia that could still trade across the border in dollars, according to Maia Nikoladze, an associate director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, in a June report.

Nikoladze told VOA that transactions made in renminbi and in rubles allowed Moscow to mitigate the effects of sanctions until Washington in December 2023 created an authority to apply secondary sanctions on foreign banks that transacted with Russian entities.

“Since then, Russia has struggled to collect oil payments from China,” with some transactions delayed “up to six months,” even as Moscow found a way to process transactions through Russian bank branches in China, Nikoladze said.

According to an article this month from Newsweek, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that as many as 98% of Chinese banks are refusing Chinese yuan payments from Russia.

Hudson Institute’s Asher said even more critical than the Russian use of yuan is the use of U.S. dollars in Beijing-Moscow transactions through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Clearinghouse Automated Transfer Settlement System (CHATS), a payment system used by banks such as HSBC that trade “hundreds of billions of dollars a year.”

“It can settle transactions in a way that is not visible to the U.S. government,” Asher said. “I’m talking about U.S. dollar reserves that are not in the United States, that are not controlled by the U.S. government, that we don’t have good visibility on, and Hong Kong is providing that financial service.”

The Hong Kong government has said it does not implement unilateral sanctions but enforces U.N. sanctions at the urging of China, according to Reuters.

William Pomeranz, an expert on Russian political and economic developments at the Wilson Center, said that despite Beijing’s and Moscow’s talk this week about financial and economic cooperation, “China does not want to get onto the bad side of European and American markets” and will not risk its economic ties with the West “just to help Russia in a problem that, quite frankly, is of Russia’s own making.”
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Attack at German festival kills 3, seriously wounds at least 5

SOLINGEN, Germany — An attacker with a knife killed three people and seriously wounded at least five late on Friday at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, authorities said.

Witnesses alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time to an unknown perpetrator who had wounded several people indiscriminately with a knife on a central square. Police said have no one in custody and had little information on the man.

They said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.

One of the festival organizers, Philipp Müller, appeared on stage and asked festivalgoers to “go calmly; please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught.”

He said many people had been wounded by “a knifeman.”

At least one helicopter was seen in the air, while many police and emergency vehicles with flashing blue lights were on the road and several streets were closed off.

Police put the number of seriously injured at five. The region’s top security official, Herbert Reul, gave a figure of six as he visited the scene in the early hours of Saturday.

“None of us knows why” the attack took place, said Reul, who is the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

“I can’t say anything about the motive now” and it isn’t clear who the assailant was, he said, adding that the attacker had left the scene “relatively quickly.”

The “Festival of Diversity,” marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

The city canceled the rest of the festival after the attack. Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near Cologne and Duesseldorf.

There has been concern about an increase in knife violence in Germany recently.

In May, a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant on members of a group that describes itself as opposing “political Islam” left a police officer dead.

Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, this month proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12 centimeters that is allowed now. 
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FBI raids home of Russian state TV commentator in election-meddling probe 

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