Politics

Ramaphosa defends S Africa’s neutral stance on Russia’s war

Bloomberg President Cyril Ramaphosa defended South Africa’s neutral stance towards Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying it placed him in a stronger position to help mediate an end to the conflict. “Neutrality can cost and fortunately we’re not alone in all this, there are many others that have chosen the same path,” Ramaphosa said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on ...

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Biden takes tough-on-Putin message to fractious allies

Bloomberg President Joe Biden faces a crucial test of his ability to project power and reassurance amid the biggest European security crisis in decades, as he seeks to rally US allies around harder-hitting sanctions to punish Russia for invading Ukraine. Biden will join back-to-back summits Thursday with Nato, the Group of Seven and the European Union in Brussels, where the ...

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Poland expels 45 Russian diplomats suspected of spying

Bloomberg Poland expelled 45 Russian diplomats after arresting a low-level civil servant on suspicion of spying, joining a counter-espionage crackdown taking places across the EU’s east following Moscow’s attack of Ukraine. The diplomats, which Polish intelligence identified as officers of the Russian special services and their associates, will have to leave the country in the next five days, Foreign Ministry ...

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Finland impounds 21 yachts ‘owned’ by Russian tycoons

  Bloomberg Finland has taken legal custody of 21 yachts while it investigates whether their owners are sanctioned following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The luxury boats sit in winter storage and cannot be transferred while Finnish Customs looks into their beneficial owners, Sami Rakshit, head of the enforcement department, said by phone on Wednesday. Asked to describe the boats, Rakshit ...

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Zelenskiy urges Japan to help with ‘tsunami’ of Russian invasion

Bloomberg Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Japanese lawmakers to expand their already unprecedented sanctions regime against Russia, saying he needed more help to turn back the “tsunami of brutal invasion.” In a speech on Wednesday to the Japanese Diet, Zelenskiy reiterated his call for a trade embargo against Russia. The video address — like his other appeals to supportive parliaments ...

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US, Philippines to hold largest military drill in decades

  Bloomberg The US and Philippines will hold their biggest military drills in three decades as tensions grow with China, injecting new life into a defense alliance that had languished in recent years. Some 5,100 American soldiers and 3,800 Philippine military members will train in the Southeast Asian nation from March 28 to April 8, the US Embassy in Manila ...

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Putin foe Navalny slams Ukraine war after new 9-year sentence

  Bloomberg A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison in a ruling that will keep President Vladimir Putin’s top critic sidelined amid a harsh crackdown on the opposition. Navalny, who is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence that the European Court of Human Rights called politically motivated, in a ...

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Russia cancels WWII peace talks with Japan after Ukraine sanctions

Bloomberg Russia’s cancellation of talks to resolve a decades-old territorial dispute with Japan, which the Kremlin dismissed as a “ritual,” exposed a deepening rift between the two neighbors over Ukraine. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who’s now deputy head of the country’s Security Council, delivered his terse assessment of the talks on his Telegram channel on Tuesday. Medvedev said ...

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US threat to sanction China spooking other Asian nations

  Bloomberg US President Joe Biden’s warning of unspecified consequences if China supports Russia has smaller Asian nations worried they’ll be subject to similar penalties for maintaining neutrality over Vladimir Putin’s war. Southeast Asia will host two meetings later this year — the Group of 20 summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or Apec — that would normally bring ...

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Serbia denounces threat for not joining EU sanctions

  Bloomberg Serbia angrily disputed a suggestion from European Union member Lithuania that the Balkan state may be punished for refusing to join sanctions against Russia even as Belgrade seeks to join the bloc. Serbia has been balancing its EU entry aspirations with keeping close ties with traditional ally Russia, which provides energy supplies and political support in feuds with ...

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