The BBC said Sunday that it has suspended a leading presenter who is alleged to have paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos.

As senior British politicians urged a rapid investigation, the broadcaster said it was working to establish the facts of “a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances.”

The U.K.’s publicly funded national broadcaster was scrambling to head off a worsening crisis after The Sun newspaper reported allegations that the male presenter gave a youth $45,000 starting in 2020 when the young person was 17.

Neither the star nor the youth was identified. Amid speculation on social media about the identity of the presenter, several of the BBC’s best-known stars spoke up to say it wasn’t them.

Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it’s a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18. 

The Sun said the young person’s mother had complained to the BBC in May but that the presenter had remained on the air.

The BBC said in a statement on Sunday that it “first became aware of a complaint in May,” but that “new allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature.”

The broadcaster said “the BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.” It said the corporation had also been in touch with “external authorities,” but did not specify whether that was the police.

“This is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps,” the BBC said.

“We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended.” 

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer held crisis talks with the broadcaster’s director-general about what she called “deeply concerning” allegations. She said Director General Tim Davie had assured her the BBC was “investigating swiftly and sensitively.”

Given the nature of the allegations, it is important that the BBC is now given the space to conduct its investigation, establish the facts and take appropriate action. I will be kept updated,” she wrote on social media.

Rachel Reeves, economy spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said the BBC needed to “speed up their processes” and “get their house in order.”

Commercial U.K. broadcaster ITV recently faced its own scandal after Phillip Schofield, a long-time host on the channel’s popular morning show, quit in May, admitting he had lied about an affair with a much younger colleague.

ITV executives were summoned to Parliament to answer questions about whether the broadcaster had a “toxic” work culture and had covered up misconduct by stars.

The BBC faces greater scrutiny than other broadcasters because it is taxpayer-funded and committed to remaining impartial in its news coverage. It was engulfed in a storm over free speech and political bias in March when its leading sports presenter, former England soccer player Gary Lineker, criticized the government’s immigration policy on social media.

Lineker was suspended — and then restored after other sports presenters, analysts and Premier League players boycotted the BBC airwaves in solidarity.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden departed Sunday on a five-day trip to Europe, heading first to Britain. He then travels to Lithuania for a NATO summit in Vilnius, before making a final stop in Finland to meet with Nordic leaders.

In London, Biden will have meetings with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles to discuss various bilateral issues and climate financing for developing nations.

Just a month ago, in Washington, Biden and Sunak agreed to an “Atlantic Declaration” and committed to collaborating on advanced technologies, clean energy, and critical minerals. Biden hosted Sunak at the White House.

At the NATO summit, Western leaders will discuss their latest efforts to bolster Ukraine’s fight against Russia along with Sweden’s bid to join the West’s main military alliance. Twenty-nine NATO nations support the bid over the objections of members Hungary and Turkey. Efforts by Ukraine to join the bloc will also be on the agenda.

In an interview taped last week, Biden told CNN he thinks it is premature to call for a vote on Ukraine joining NATO.

“I don’t think it’s ready for membership in NATO,” Biden said. “I don’t think there’s unanimity in NATO now …in the middle of a war. If the war is going on [and Ukraine was a NATO member], then we’re all in the war. We’re at war with Russia,” since NATO’s charter calls for all its members to defend any individual country when it is attacked.

As it stands, leaders of the NATO countries will discuss the state of Ukraine’s slow-moving counteroffensive to recapture territory in the southeastern part of the country that Russia took in the earliest stages of 16 months of fighting.

NATO countries, led by the United States, have sent billions of dollars in armaments to Ukraine, but Russian aerial bombardments have continued to kill dozens of Ukrainian civilians even as Kyiv’s forces have shot down hundreds of incoming missiles. The ones that landed have killed people and destroyed residential buildings.

After the NATO summit, Biden heads to Helsinki, the Finnish capital, to commemorate Finland recently joining the military alliance created in the aftermath of World War II, and to meet with Nordic leaders.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with Biden at the White House last month, days after Biden hosted Britain’s Sunak. Biden and Stoltenberg pledged their continued support of Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“The NATO allies have never been more united. We both worked like hell to make sure that happened. And so far, so good,” Biden said as he sat alongside Stoltenberg, whose term as NATO leader has been extended for a year.

Finland joined NATO in April, effectively doubling the length of Russia’s border with the world’s biggest security alliance. Biden has characterized the strengthened NATO alliance as a sign of Moscow’s declining influence.

Sweden is also seeking entry into NATO, although alliance members Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the move. Biden last week hosted Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the White House as a show of support for Sweden’s bid.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Sweden is too lax on Kurdish terrorist groups and security threats, while Stoltenberg has said Sweden has met its obligations for NATO membership by toughening anti-terrorist laws and other measures. Hungary’s reasons for opposing Sweden have been less defined, with officials in Budapest complaining about Sweden’s criticism of democratic backsliding and the erosion of the rule of law. Hungary, however, has said it will approve Sweden’s NATO membership bid if Turkey assents.

All NATO nations have to ratify the entry of new member countries.

 
…

Two controversial laws signed by the Bosnian Serb president, which Washington says undermine the peace deal that ended Bosnia’s 1990s war, entered into force on Sunday.

Kremlin ally President Milorad Dodik had on Friday signed legislation into law that effectively allow the Bosnian Serb entity to bypass or ignore decisions made by the top international envoy to Bosnia.

The latter, currently German diplomat Christian Schmidt, oversees the civilian aspects of the Dayton peace deal that ended the 1992-1995 war.

The international envoy has important executive powers notably to sack elected officials and impose laws.

A second piece of legislation signed into law by Dodik on Friday suspends the Bosnian Serb entity’s recognition of rulings made by Bosnia’s constitutional court.

On Sunday, both bills, that were approved by Bosnian Serb lawmakers last month, officially entered into force with their publication in the official gazette of Republika Srpska (RS).

The RS along with the Muslim-Croat Federation makes up post-war Bosnia.

The two semi-autonomous entities are linked by a weak central government.

The Bosnian Serb entity’s initiatives had provoked strong reactions particularly from Bosnian Muslim leaders, and have also been criticized by Washington, Paris and Berlin.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday tweeted that Dodik’s signing of a law rejecting the international envoy authority “violates the Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution and undermines the Dayton Accords.”

Dodik signed the bills just days after Schmidt tried to head off the controversial moves by passing an executive order that deems them illegal and prevents their implementation.

Schmidt made the ruling last weekend when he also passed a new measure that would allow Bosnia’s judiciary to prosecute politicians who oppose his orders and those of the constitutional court — with punishments running up to five years in jail.

Dodik has refused to recognize Schmidt’s authority since the position lost the backing of the United Nations thanks to an intervention by Russia and Beijing.

Dodik — who remains a Moscow ally — has held enormous sway over the Bosnian Serb entity for years, repeatedly stoking ethnic tensions with his secessionist threats.

Earlier this week, Dodik vowed to continue to oppose the envoy.
…

Two weeks ahead of Spain’s election, the conservative People’s Party (PP) opened up its lead over the ruling Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) but would still need the help of the far-right Vox party to govern, according to an opinion poll published by a newspaper on Sunday.   

A poll carried out by Ipsos for La Vanguardia newspaper between July 3 and July 6 interviewed 2,000 people and showed the opposition PP with 35% of the votes and the PSOE on 28%.  

The far-left Sumar party would win 13%, just ahead of Vox with 12.6%, the poll found ahead of the election on July 23.   

Voting forecasts would give the PP between 138 and 147 seats in the 350-member lower house, with the PSOE winning between 102 and 112 seats.  

Vox — the PP’s most likely coalition ally — would win between 32 and 39 seats. Sumar was forecast to win between 31 and 39 seats.   

If the results of the poll are correct, it means that a right-wing coalition of the PP and Vox would together win up to 180 seats, enough for an absolute majority.   

Alternatively, the PP and Vox together could win up to 170 seats which would give them more than a left-wing alliance of the PSOE and Sumar which the poll forecast would win no more than 150 seats.   

The national election was called by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after a disastrous showing in regional elections in May.   

All polls have so far predicted that the PP would win the most votes in the elections. 

 
…

NEZUK, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA — A solemn peace march started on Saturday through the forests in eastern Bosnia in memory of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since World War II.

The annual 100-kilometer march retraces a route taken by thousands of men and boys from the Bosniak ethnic group, made up primarily of Muslims, who were slaughtered as they tried to flee Srebrenica after it was captured by Bosnian Serb forces late in the 1992-95 war.

The march is part of several events preceding the commemorations on the actual date of the massacre on July 11.

Nearly 4,000 people joined this year’s march, according to organizers. The event comes as ethnic tensions still persist, with Bosnian Serbs continuing to push for more independence and their open calls for separation.

“I come here to remember my brother and my friends, war comrades, who perished here,” said Resid Dervisevic, who was among those who took this route back in 1995. “I believe it is my obligation, our obligation to do this, to nurture and guard (our memories).”

Osman Salkic, another Srebrenica survivor, said, “Feelings are mixed when you come here, to this place, when you know how people were lying (dead) here in 1995 and what the situation is like today.”

The war in Bosnia erupted in 1992 after the former Yugoslavia broke up and Bosnian Serbs launched a rebellion and a land grab to form their own state and join Serbia. More than 100,000 people died before the war ended in 1995 in a U.S.-brokered peace agreement.

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak males were separated by Serb troops from their wives, mothers and sisters, chased through woods around Srebrenica and killed. Bosnian Serb soldiers dumped the victims’ bodies in numerous mass graves scattered around the eastern town in an attempt to hide the evidence of the crime.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Bosnia’s carnage was considered the worst in Europe since WWII. There have been fears that the separatist policies of pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik could fuel further instability as the war rages in Ukraine.

Despite rulings from two U.N. courts, Dodik has denied that genocide took place in Srebrenica, even as the remains of newly identified victims are continuously being unearthed from mass graves. They are reburied each year on July 11, the day the killing began in 1995.

A U.N. war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands, has sentenced to life in prison both the wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and the ex-military commander Ratko Mladic for orchestrating the genocide.

So far, the remains of more than 6,600 people have been found and buried at a vast and ever-expanding memorial cemetery outside Srebrenica. The remains of 30 more victims will be laid to rest there Tuesday.
…

STOCKHOLM – Surrounded by emotional fans from around the globe, Elton John hailed them as his “lifeblood” as he gave his final farewell concert in Stockholm after more than 50 years of live performances.

“You know how much I like to play live. It’s been my lifeblood to play for you guys, and you’ve been absolutely magnificent,” he told the delighted audience at the arena in the Swedish capital.

Wearing a tailcoat accented with rhinestones and a red pair of his trademark large glasses, the 76-year-old pop superstar sat down at the piano shortly after 8 p.m. local time to cheers to open his farewell show with one of his most popular songs, Bennie and the Jets.

Playing for more than two hours, John interspersed the songs with moments when he would leave the piano to thank not only his fans but also his band and his crew, some of whom have been with him for more than 40 years.

“I want to pay tribute to these musicians. … They’re really incredible, they’ve been with me so long, some of them. And they are the best, I tell you, the best,” he said.

Shortly after a rendition of Border Song which he dedicated to Aretha Franklin, John’s I’m Still Standing brought the 30,000 fans at the Tele2 Arena to their feet.

Before he took his encore, John screened a message from Coldplay, who were playing in the western Swedish city of Gothenburg, in which singer Chris Martin thanked him for his career and commitment.

“It was amazing. I have no words right now because I haven’t processed all the show, but it was amazing,” said Anton Pohjonen, a 25-year-old bank worker from Finland.

“You almost start tearing up on his account. But then it feels great to be here,” added Swedish teacher Conny Johansson, who bought tickets for the show four years ago.

Excited fans were looking forward to an emotional end to the superstar’s glittering live career even before the curtain went up.

“It’s going to be very emotional tonight,” said Kate Bugaj, 25, a Polish student who admitted she had delayed her master’s exams to follow her musical hero’s tour.

Describing herself as a “huge fan,” she said it all began the first time she watched The Lion King, the 1994 Walt Disney film which gave John one of his two Oscar music wins.

Fifty-year-old Jeanie Kincer traveled from Kentucky in the United States for the show.

“I wanted to be here for the end because I was too young to be here in the beginning,” she said.

The star has been winding down his decades-long live career with a global farewell tour.

He played his last concerts in the United States in May and brought the curtain down on Britain’s annual Glastonbury Festival last month.

Saturday’s farewell concert was the second consecutive evening the Stockholm stadium hosted the legendary British singer-songwriter for the last leg of his final tour, which began five years ago and was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and a hip operation in 2021.

On his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, John will have given 330 concerts, crisscrossing Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and Britain, before closing in Stockholm.

Overall, the tour has seen him perform in front of 6.25 million fans. 
…

PARIS – About 2,000 people defied a ban Saturday to join a memorial rally in central Paris for a young Black man who died in police custody, while marches took place throughout France to denounce police brutality, as tensions remain high after days of rioting engulfed the country.

Nationwide, around 5,900 people took to the streets, according to the interior ministry.

Seven years after the death of Adama Traore, his sister had planned to lead an annual commemorative march north of Paris in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise.

But fearful of reigniting recent unrest sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. at a traffic stop near Paris, a court ruled the chance of public disturbance was too high to allow the march to proceed.

In a video posted on Twitter, Assa Traore, Adama’s older sister, denounced the decision.

“The government has decided to add fuel to the fire” and “not to respect the death of my little brother,” she said.

She instead attended a rally in central Paris’s Place de la Republique to tell “the whole world that our dead have the right to exist, even in death.

“We are marching for the youth to denounce police violence. They want to hide our deaths,” she said at the rally, also attended by several lawmakers.

“They authorize marches by neo-Nazis, but they don’t allow us to march. France cannot give us moral lessons. Its police is racist and violent,” she said.

The Paris rally had also been banned on the grounds that it could disrupt public order and a legal case has been opened against Assa Traore for organizing the event, police said.

Youssouf Traore, another of Assa Tarore’s brothers, was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of violence against a person holding public authority, public prosecutors told AFP.

“The march went off peacefully, it was a success, we don’t understand his arrest,” Assa Traore said.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the outspoken head of the radical leftist France Unbowed party, castigated the government on Twitter.

“From prohibition to repression … the leader is taking France to a regime we have already seen. Danger. Danger,” he tweeted, referring to the World War II regime of Vichy leader Philippe Petain who collaborated with the Nazis.

Many at the rally shouted “Justice for Nahel” before calmly dispersing later in the afternoon.

Around 30 demonstrations against police violence also took place across France, including in the southern port city of Marseille and in Strasbourg in the east. Authorities in Lille banned a gathering.

Several trade unions, political parties and associations had called on supporters to join the march for Traore as France reels from allegations of institutionalized racism in its police ranks following Nahel M.’s shooting.

Traore, who was 24 years old, died shortly after his arrest in 2016, sparking several nights of unrest that played out similarly to the weeklong rioting that erupted across the country in the wake of the point-blank shooting of Nahel.

The teenager’s death on June 27 rekindled long-standing accusations of systemic racism among security forces, and a U.N. committee urged France to ban racial profiling.

The foreign ministry on Saturday disputed what it called excessive and unfounded remarks by the panel.

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination — 18 independent experts — on Friday asked France to pass legislation defining and banning racial profiling and questioned “excessive use of force by law enforcement.”

“Any ethnic profiling by law enforcement is banned in France,” the ministry responded, adding that “the struggle against excesses in racial profiling has intensified.”

Far-right parties have linked the most intense and widespread riots France has seen since 2005 to mass migration and have demanded curbs on new arrivals.

More than 3,700 people have been taken into police custody in connection with the protests since Nahel’s death, including at least 1,160 minors, according to official figures. 
…

TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN – Confidence in the reform agenda of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is at a low ebb in Uzbekistan ahead of an election Sunday in which the incumbent faces no real opposition and is expected to be returned to power with a huge majority.

With his limited steps toward greater openness and accountability, Mirziyoyev is still seen as an improvement over his post-Soviet predecessor, the autocratic Islam Karimov. But his 2021 pledge to keep the country “on a democratic path” was followed by constitutional changes that opened the door to Sunday’s snap election – and the formerly term-limited president’s eligibility for two more seven-year terms.

“People realize what is happening,” said Umidjon Mamarasulov, a blogger in Andijan. “But they seem too preoccupied with economic worries to do anything. Very little trust in elections in general, as the means for positive change.”

In pre-election interviews with VOA, many Uzbeks shared the sense that the ruling elite is unwilling to allow genuine political competition, and they have little hope the elections will be free or fair — something Uzbekistan has not witnessed since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“To date, the campaign has been low-key, mirroring lack of opposition to the incumbent,” said a June 26 statement from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It said the campaign has been focused on the economy, health care, education, water and the environment.

“We deserve better but who dares resist the leadership? This is where we’re stuck for now,” said Khatam, a voter in Tashkent. A cabdriver, he sees the public as “quite concerned about the future” but also fearful that opposition to the president would lead to social tension.

Selling homemade savories in Chorsu Bazaar, Nilufar Rashidova argued that if allowed, Uzbeks “can totally handle pluralism, and everything else that comes with more freedom.” She said she appreciated Mirziyoyev’s reforms but wished that “we had some real candidates in this election trying to win our trust and vote.”

Standing against Mirziyoyev are candidates representing three parliamentary factions: the Ecological Party’s Abdushukur Khamzayev, the People’s Democratic Party’s Ulugbek Inoyatov, and Robakhon Makhmudova from the “Adolat” Social Democratic Party.

But no one who spoke with VOA viewed any of them as a genuine rival to Mirziyoyev, who was nominated by the Liberal Democratic and the National Revival Democratic parties. None of the three has challenged the president or urged voters to choose himself or herself over Mirziyoyev.

Khidirnazar Allakulov has led the Truth, Development and Unity opposition movement for the last four years. He said he saw Khamzayev, Makhmudova and Inoyatov as “string puppets” who would not even debate among themselves, let alone against Mirziyoyev.

“They are the faces of this crooked establishment, tasked to validate its reforms, which are empty promises,” he said. “Uzbekistan needs a real party reflecting the nation’s aspirations for freedom, integrity and prosperity.”

Allakulov’s group has twice been rejected registration by the Justice Ministry, which said the applicant failed to collect the required 20,000 signatures.

“We won’t give up,” said Allakulov. “Our countrywide network, led by women, is engaging the public, gathering support. No pressure, no harassment will stop us. We are taking this effort to ensure our children’s future. They must live in a better Uzbekistan.”

President’s pledges

Mirziyoyev claims he is governing a “New Uzbekistan.” Campaigning region by region, he has pledged to create jobs, ease labor migration, build schools and hospitals, boost business and attract more investment. He vows to keep Uzbekistan open to the world and maintain balanced relationships with major powers and neighbors.

He also says he is committed to developing Karakalpakstan, an autonomous western region where at least 21 people were killed last July during protests over proposed changes to the constitution. A year later, Mirziyoyev has kept his promise not to change the republic’s “sovereign” status, but Tashkent notably ignored the anniversary of the killings.

Sixty-one Karakalpaks were convicted in connection with the protests this past year, after trials that rights groups criticized for lack of due process. No officers have been held accountable for killing protesters, and a report by a parliamentary commission — which authorities heralded as independent — remains unreleased.

Sources told VOA that following these elections, authorities plan to introduce another round of parliamentary elections, citing the new constitution as the reason.

Despite some improvements in society, Oybek Alijonov, a migrant worker-turned-blogger in Jizzakh, observed “continuous backsliding, eroding trust and deep cynicism towards the political system. People are not as optimistic as they seemed three, four years ago. I sense growing fear and corruption seems to be expanding day by day.”

Some say the Mirziyoyev of 2023 is not as democratically minded as he initially seemed. Others underscore that he is “the best option” Uzbekistan has.

Those who support Allakulov see Sunday’s vote as mere theater, predicting a manipulated turnout in which the president will be reelected by an overwhelming majority.

“I have never seen a free and fair election in Uzbekistan, and I’m over 80. We have never democratically elected any leader. I feel sorry for our people, but at same time, I question all of us for tolerating this for so long,” said Yuldash, who chose not to reveal his last name.

Better than predecessor

Still, many told VOA they vastly preferred Mirziyoyev to his predecessor, crediting the incumbent for caring about Uzbekistan’s future, even though, they said, the system he runs remains profoundly authoritarian and nepotistic.

Mothers from the Ferghana Valley, from where millions migrated to Russia and elsewhere over the years, said they wanted Mirziyoyev to improve the economy.

“Our kids should work at home, have opportunities for well-paid jobs here,” said Dilkhumor Kuchkarova, who has worked as a teacher for 40 years. Her sister Gulbahor Kuchkarova agreed, urging the authorities to serve the population’s needs.

Engineering student Renat Abdirayimov, 21, insisted that Uzbekistan was advancing despite enormous challenges.

“As a society, we are slowly yet steadily becoming more critical and demanding. … The nature of governance and elections will improve as we become more assertive and responsible as citizens,” Abdirayimov told VOA.

“This is not the same Uzbekistan I grew up in. We must enable ourselves to tackle our problems, instead of expecting others to solve them for us.” 
…

WHITE HOUSE – President Joe Biden remains the most reluctant among NATO allies to grant Ukraine a quick pathway to join the alliance, setting up a contentious debate at the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week with eastern flank members who are eager for the war-torn country to join as soon as its conflict with Russia ends.

Publicly, Biden says Ukraine must make additional reforms to qualify for NATO membership, saying in June that he was “not going to make it easier” for Kyiv. But his aides have also signaled that Biden believes a fast-track membership for Kyiv is an invitation for conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, rather than a deterrent.

“We are not seeking to start World War III,” said Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, in response to VOA’s question during Friday’s White House press briefing.

Biden’s reluctance is puzzling to some observers.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, who is now senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, criticized the administration for “not leading on this critical issue.”

“This is an historic juncture,” Herbst told VOA. “The administration has obviously made a major commitment to ensure Ukraine does not lose. Why is it dawdling in ensuring that Ukraine emerges successfully from this crisis?”

A key consideration is the potential for the alliance to be dragged into a conflict with Russia. As a pillar of NATO, the U.S. would have to send many of its troops to do the fighting, something that Biden has repeatedly promised he would not do.

From Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea to its current military invasion, Washington has shown it is not willing to commit American forces to fight Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, said George Beebe, director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank that advocates a restrained U.S. foreign policy.

“Nor should we take on such a commitment, because avoiding a direct war with nuclear-armed Russia is far more important to U.S. security than defending Ukraine,” he told VOA.

While the administration is holding firm on Ukraine’s NATO bid, Sullivan reiterated it would support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and provide it with “an exceptional quantity of arms and capabilities.”

Those capabilities now include a cluster munitions package, weapons that can kill over a wide area and are banned by more than 100 countries, which Kyiv has been requesting for months amid its artillery shortage. The weapons contain multiple explosive bomblets that can spread widely and stay undetonated on the ground for years.

Responding to criticism for sending such indiscriminate weaponry, Sullivan argued that the risk of letting Russia take more territory outweighs the risk of civilian harm from unexploded bomblets.

Compromise for Kyiv

Days before the summit in Vilnius, NATO’s 31 members are still negotiating the final wording of a compromise communique that will signal that Kyiv is moving closer to membership without promises of a quick accession.

“I expect allied leaders will reaffirm that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and unite on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference in Brussels on Friday.

A key agenda item will be whether the allies will agree to allow Kyiv to bypass the Membership Action Plan, a NATO program to assist countries wishing to join the alliance.

A second track that allies are hoping to secure is a deal to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces “for as long as it takes,” including its postwar needs, through a series of long-term commitments or security guarantees made by individual allies outside the NATO framework.

“I don’t want to talk about specific platforms or systems, just that there will be a more robust discussion about what long-term defense needs Ukraine is going to need,” said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, in an interview Thursday with VOA.

Security guarantees

The security guarantees will fall short of NATO’s Article 5 collective defense principle, that an attack on one ally is an attack on all. Some observers find such guarantees insubstantial, referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, wherein the United States, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation pledged to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and to refrain from the threat or use of military force. In return, Kyiv relinquished the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which it had inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union.

Russia breached the memorandum with its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Battle-worn after 16 months of Moscow’s invasion, Kyiv is skeptical of the value of such assurances. However, they would be useful in the interim, said William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now vice president for Europe and Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

“Until Ukraine gets into NATO, it needs some way to ensure that it has that military capability to deter Russia,” Taylor told VOA.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to attend the two-day Vilnius summit to make the case that his country should join when the conflict ends. He said the indecision is threatening the strength of the alliance and global security.

“I think there is not enough unity on this,” Zelenskyy said Friday in a press conference during his visit to Slovakia, reiterating his request for “concrete steps” on Kyiv’s movement toward membership.

Sweden’s accession

Another unresolved issue ahead of the Vilnius summit is Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, which has not been ratified by Turkey or Hungary, in a process that must be unanimous among all current members.

Last-minute negotiations continue between Stoltenberg and the leaders of Turkey and Sweden aimed at overcoming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections to the Nordic country joining NATO. Ankara has accused Sweden of being too lenient toward militant Kurdish organizations that Turkey considers terrorist groups.

Observers say those concerns deflect the real issue, which is Ankara’s long-delayed request to purchase F-16 fighter jets made by the U.S. company Lockheed Martin. The sale is held up in the U.S. Congress, which has authority to block major weapons sales, as leading senators from both parties insist Ankara must first drop its objections to Sweden’s accession.

Iuliia Iarmolenko and Tatiana Vorozhko contributed to this report.
…

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he was pressing Russia to extend a Black Sea grain deal by at least three months and announced a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin in August. 

He was speaking at a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two leaders met to discuss the fate of an arrangement, brokered last year by Turkey and the United Nations, to allow for the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports via the Black Sea despite the war. 

Zelenskyy’s visit followed stops in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, part of a tour of some NATO capitals aimed at encouraging them to take concrete steps during a summit next week toward granting Kyiv membership in the alliance, which Erdogan said Ukraine deserved.  

Erdogan said work was under way on extending the Black Sea grain deal beyond its expiration date of July 17 and for longer periods beyond that. The deal would be one of the most important issues on the agenda for his meeting with Putin in Turkey next month, he said. 

“Our hope is that it will be extended at least once every three months, not every two months. We will make an effort in this regard and try to increase the duration of it to two years,” he said at the news conference with Zelenskyy. 

Both men said they had also discussed another key question for Erdogan’s talks with Putin — the question of prisoner exchanges, which Zelenskyy said had been the first thing on their agenda. “I hope we will get a result from this soon,” Erdogan said. 

Zelenskyy said he would wait for a result to comment but made clear the discussion had gone into specifics on returning all captives, including children deported to Russia and other groups.  

“We are working on the return of our captives, political prisoners, Crimean Tatars,” he said, referring to members of Ukraine’s Muslim community in the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. “Our partners have all the lists. We are really working on this.”  

Erdogan said the issue could also come up in his contacts with the Russian leader before his visit. “If we make some phone calls before that, we will discuss it on the call as well,” he said.  

The Kremlin said it would be watching the talks closely, saying Putin has highly appreciated the mediation of Erdogan in attempting to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. 

“As for forthcoming contacts between Putin and Erdogan, we do not rule them out in the foreseeable future,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters ahead of the Istanbul talks between Erdogan and Zelensky, which began Friday. 

Russia, angry about aspects of the grain deal’s implementation, has threatened not to allow its further extension beyond July 17. 

Turkey, a NATO member, has managed to retain cordial relations with both Russia and Ukraine over the past 16 months of the war and last year it helped to broker prisoner exchanges.  

Turkey has not joined its Western allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, but has also supplied arms to Ukraine and called for its sovereignty to be respected.
…

Russia launched a missile attack on an apartment building in Lviv early Thursday, leaving at least 10 people dead and 42 wounded. Rescuers are still searching for people in the rubble. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story.
…

With Russia’s war in Ukraine in its sixteenth month, the conflict is exacting an emotional and physical toll on the local journalists covering it.

More than a dozen journalists have been killed while on assignment since the full invasion began in February 2022. The latest victim: Victoria Amelina.

The award-winning writer who had switched to documenting war crimes, died from her injuries a week after a Russian missile strike in the city of Kramatorsk hit a restaurant that was a popular gathering place for journalists and aid workers.

Early in the conflict, media organizations set up centers offering hostile environment training and safety equipment. But many are now offering ways to try to grant temporary relief to reporters who woke to find themselves in a war zone.

The International Press Institute or IPI in Vienna last month announced a program to offer grants to help Ukrainian reporters travel temporarily to other parts of Europe to work on projects or gain new skills.

The idea, says IPI deputy director Scott Griffen is, “to give journalists a break, but also give them a chance to develop stories or participate in international forums.”

“We hope it will be just one additional contribution to our efforts to support independent media in Ukraine as they continue to do their incredible work under extremely difficult circumstances,” Griffen told VOA.

Studies show that continued exposure to traumatic events through covering conflict or violence can take a toll on the mental and physical health of journalists.

Newsrooms are seeing a move toward more trauma support for staff, said Hannah Storm.

The media specialist is founder and director of the Headlines Network, an organization that provides newsroom support and training.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that mental health and mental safety and wellbeing is the other side of the coin from physical safety and physical health,” Storm told VOA. “We can’t have one without the other.”

But the exchange goes both ways, according to Leif Lonsmann, a board member of the Nordic Journalism Center.

The nonprofit offers training for journalists from the Baltics and Nordic regions and for exiled Russian reporters.

Lonsmann told VOA that while such programs offer a refresher in journalistic skills and a retreat for Ukrainian reporters, they also allow media elsewhere in Europe to learn from reporters who have been on the front lines.

“The mutuality seen from our point of view is that it’s a gift to any journalist and any media house,” the senior media adviser added.

A visit from a Ukrainian journalist, “adds to the reporting with eyewitness reports and sources as seen from inside,” he said. “It’s like a mutually beneficial solution.”

Griffen said that since the IPI started offering its grants two weeks ago, it has received more than 2,000 applications.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
…

A senior U.N. official said Friday that despite discouraging remarks from Moscow, the United Nations is continuing to pursue an extension of the deal that allows the safe export of grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea. 

“We hear repeated statements from the Russian Federation, saying that there’s been no advantage to them and time’s up,” U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters of the grain deal. “But of course, as the [U.N.] Secretary-General has made clear, this doesn’t deter us from doing everything we can to work for renewal.” 

The Black Sea Grain Initiative is due for renewal on July 18. Moscow has said repeatedly during the lead-up to previous extension deadlines that it is not benefiting enough under the deal. 

A parallel memorandum of understanding between Moscow and the United Nations has sought to remove obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizer. While food and fertilizer are not sanctioned by the West, efforts have been made to ease concerns of anxious banks, insurers, shippers and other private sector actors about doing business with Russia. 

Since the grain deal was signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, nearly 33 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs have been exported to global markets, helping to ease food prices, which spiked at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. 

“The world has seen the value of the Black Sea initiative,” Griffiths said. “This isn’t something you chuck away.” 

But exports have slowed significantly since May, as ship inspections and registrations dropped dramatically. Diplomats have previously blamed Russia for slowing inspections and registrations. 

The U.N. said last week that no new ships have been registered to transit the Black Sea since June 26 at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which oversees the deal. Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. have representatives at the JCC. 

“It’s very clear that there has been a complete slowdown. It’s not hidden,” Griffiths said. “It’s about in the JCC in Istanbul, one party saying that we cannot in all conscience start processing ships into this, if we don’t know that they will get out of it before the 18th of July, and that’s the reason for it.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Turkey on Friday, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the two discussed the grain deal, among other issues. Erdogan was instrumental in achieving the deal nearly a year ago. 

Damaged pipeline

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for damage caused to a section of an ammonia pipeline last month in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. The pipeline runs from the Russian city of Tolyatti to the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Griffiths said the pipeline is damaged in three places and that the U.N. has offered to send a technical team to assess what repairs are needed but has not received the guarantees it needs to do so.

“It’s a very active war zone, and that’s why it was damaged, in our opinion,” he said of the pipeline. “To get to those three places to assess damage already requires a certain amount of agreement between the parties to provide a safe ‘window of silence’ to allow you to get there.”

With the clock ticking on the grain deal and harvest season around the corner, Griffiths says he is eager to sit down with the parties in Istanbul next week, and his colleague, U.N. trade chief Rebeca Grynspan, would like to go to Moscow where she has led negotiations.

Pressed by reporters about whether the deal will end if Russia refuses a renewal, Griffiths said it is not for him to say but that he would expect active support from the United States and European Union, which is critical to removing impediments to Russian exports, to quickly fade if Moscow ends its participation. 
…

An overnight fire in a retirement home in Milan killed six people and injured around 80, including three who are in a critical condition, Italian authorities said on Friday.

The fire started in a first-floor room of the facility. It was put out quickly and did not spread to the rest of the building, yet produced a vast quantity of toxic fumes.

Two residents burned to death in their room, while four others died from intoxication, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said, speaking to reporters on the scene.

“It could have been (even) worse. Having said that, six dead is a very heavy death toll,” Sala said, indicating that the facility housed 167 people.

Firefighters’ spokesman Luca Cari said the cause of the fire was under investigation, but added that it was likely accidental.

Firefighters intervened at the “Home of the Spouses” residential facility in the south-eastern Corvetto neighborhood shortly after 1 a.m. (2300 GMT).

They evacuated about 80 people, including many in wheelchairs, while another 80 or so were taken to hospital, local firefighters’ chief Nicola Miceli told RAI public television.

He described rescue operations as “particularly complicated” due to heavy smoke, which limited visibility, and the fact that many residents could not stand without aid.

Lucia, a local resident, said she saw some of them “gasping for air” at their windows, holding rags over their faces to protect themselves from the fumes.

She said rescuers “were wonderful” as they helped everybody. “Those who could walk, they walked them out, those who could not, I think they were carried out in their bed sheets.”
…

WASHINGTON — Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers, the Air Force said.

It was the second time in 24 hours that Russia has harassed U.S. drones there.

“We urge Russian forces in Syria to cease this reckless behavior and adhere to the standards of behavior expected of a professional air force so we can resume our focus on the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, head of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said in a statement.

Colonel Michael Andrews, Air Forces Central Command spokesperson, said “the Russian harassment, including close fly-bys, by one SU-34 and one SU-35 and deploying flares directly into the MQ-9, lasted almost an hour. So it wasn’t a quick fly-by, but much more of a sustained and unprofessional interaction.”

U.S. Air Forces Central released videos of the two separate incidents that took place Wednesday and Thursday. In the first incident, which took place about 10:40 a.m. local time Wednesday in Northwest Syria, Russian SU-35 fighters closed in on a Reaper, and one of the Russian pilots moved their aircraft in front of a drone and engaged the SU-35’s afterburner, which greatly increases its speed and air pressure.

The jet blast from the afterburner can potentially damage the Reaper’s electronics, and Grynkewich said it reduced the drone operator’s ability to safely operate the aircraft.

Later a number of the so-called parachute flares moved into the drone’s flight path. The flares are attached to parachutes.

In the second incident, which took place over Northwest Syria around 9:30 a.m. Thursday local time, “Russian aircraft dropped flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close, endangering the safety of all aircraft involved,” Grynkewich said.

The drones were not armed with weapons and are commonly used for reconnaissance missions.

Army General Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement that Russia’s violation of ongoing efforts to clear the airspace over Syria “increases the risk of escalation or miscalculation.”

About 900 U.S. forces are deployed to Syria to work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces battling the Islamic State militants there. No other details about the drone operation were provided.
…

WHITE HOUSE – As the war on Ukraine rages, Russia remains the biggest and most immediate threat for NATO. However, as allied leaders meet for their summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week, a key agenda item will be to implement the Strategic Concept adopted during the Madrid summit in 2022, where the alliance recognized security challenges emanating from China.

NATO’s strategic concept states that the alliance faces “systemic competition” from Beijing’s “ambitions and coercive policies” that challenge members’ “interests, security and values.”

While allies may agree that the China challenge is real, they differ in how to address it. Many European countries rely heavily on Chinese investment and trade. China makes up almost 10% of Europe’s exports and about 20% of its imports.

In Vilnius, those differences will need to be hammered out and leaders will need to forge a common approach in dealing with the China threat, said Anca Agachi, associate director and resident fellow for Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council.

“The big question that exists right now within the transatlantic community is what is NATO’s role when it comes to China, and how far exactly should the alliance go,” she told VOA.

Ukraine-Taiwan

NATO leaders have warned that what is happening in Europe today can happen in Asia tomorrow.

“If [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin wins in Ukraine, this would send the message that authoritarian regimes can achieve their goals through brute force,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Tokyo earlier this year. “This is dangerous. Beijing is watching closely, and learning lessons, which may influence its future decisions.”

Stoltenberg was referring to Beijing’s future decisions on Taiwan, a self-governing island Beijing considers its wayward province.

U.S. President Joe Biden has on several occasions said that American forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. That would create a risk of NATO allies and other U.S. partners being drawn into the conflict – a contingency plan the alliance would need to plan for.

Such war is “neither inevitable nor imminent,” Army General Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in March.

Hybrid and cyber operations

Beyond Taiwan and freedom of navigation concerns, NATO is anxious about other potential threats, including what it calls Beijing’s “malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation.”

The alliance views China as seeking to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure such as 5G, and strategic materials and supply chains. It accuses Beijing of using economic leverage to “create strategic dependencies and enhance its influence.”

“More generally, Chinese political influence in Europe is, of course, a growing concern,” Agachi added, particularly considering Beijing’s growing partnership with Russia.

Beijing insists that it “stands on the side of peace” on Ukraine. It has hit back on NATO, including on floated plans to establish a NATO office in Japan.

“Asia lies beyond the geographical scope of the North Atlantic and has no need for a replica of NATO. However, we have seen NATO bent on going east into this region, interfering in regional affairs and inciting bloc confrontation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said last month. “What is NATO really up to? This calls for high vigilance among countries in the world, particularly in Asia.”

Indo-Pacific partners

Indo-Pacific partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea attended the NATO summit last year and will again participate in Vilnius.

“These Indo-Pacific countries, they have a unique experience engaging with the PRC and can bring some valuable perspective to that discussion,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with VOA on Thursday.

NATO has said it remains “open to constructive engagement” with Beijing.
…

The United States, France and Britain have accused Iran and Russia of violating a U.N. Security Council resolution over Tehran’s transfer of drones to Moscow, which its military then used to repeatedly attack Ukrainian cities.

The three powers said Thursday that Tehran and Moscow violated obligations under U.N. Resolution 2231, which enshrined the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in international law; and by conducting the drone transfers without advance approval from the U.N. Security Council, they had violated the resolution.

They urged the U.N. to address the alleged violations during the semiannual meeting about implementation of the resolution.

“Specifically, the U.N. secretariat should, without any further delay, send a team of investigators to Kyiv to examine the debris from these weapons used by Russia against Ukraine,” said U.S. envoy Robert Wood, adding that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should update the council on his assessment about the Iranian drones recovered in Ukraine within the next 30 days.

So far, Guterres has resisted calls to send a team of experts, saying his office is continuing to examine the available information.

Russia’s envoy said that under Resolution 2231 the U.N. chief has no authority to send experts. Vassily Nebenzia said the United Nations should refrain from “non-consensual visits and arbitrary inspections.”

“The secretary-general is perfectly aware of our position about this,” he added.

Last month, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Moscow had received hundreds of Iranian drones and was working with Iran to begin producing them in Russia, possibly by early next year.

“This is a flagrant violation of Resolution 2231,” Wood told council members of those plans. “We should not be shy about condemning this destabilizing and dangerous behavior.”

Nebenzia dismissed alleged Western evidence as “comical in nature” and said his U.S. counterpart’s remarks were an attempt to “detract attention from the endless flows of weapons provided by Washington to the Kyiv regime.” But he did not directly address whether Moscow had received the drones from Iran.

The meeting was contentious from the start. Russia sought to block Ukraine’s participation in the session, as it is neither a party to the Iran nuclear deal nor a council member. However, 12 of the 15 council members voted in favor of Ukraine participating in the session under a procedural rule that allows countries whose direct interests are affected to do so.

Ukraine’s ambassador said as of Thursday, more than 1,000 Iranian drones had been launched at Ukrainian cities, and debris that had been collected was thoroughly studied.

“Ukrainian investigators and independent international experts identified evidence confirming the Iranian origin of the UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] used by the Russian Federation against Ukraine,” said Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya.

He asked the Russian ambassador if he finds the evidence against Moscow to be fake, why oppose a U.N. inspection to corroborate their position.

Iran’s envoy also rejected the allegations and said he would not recognize the Ukrainian envoy’s presence in the meeting.

“Iran categorically rejects the unfounded allegation made by Ukraine,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said. “Iran maintains its impartial stance to the Ukrainian conflict. We’ve patiently awaited the alleged evidence from Ukraine following the preliminary meeting between Iranian and Ukrainian experts.”

In addition to the drone issue, several council members expressed concern about Iran’s growing stockpile of enriched uranium, which is now 21 times the amount permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal.
…

LONDON – Britain said on Thursday that it would create a new sanctions regime for Iran, giving the U.K. greater powers to target decision-makers, including those involved in weapons proliferation and threats against British nationals. 

Britain’s current sanctions regime against Iran focuses on human rights, but the proposals would widen the scope of criteria that the government could cite in bringing new designations in the future. 

“The Iranian regime is oppressing its own people, exporting bloodshed in Ukraine and the Middle East, and threatening to kill and kidnap on U.K. soil,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement. 

“Today the U.K. has sent a clear message to the regime — we will not tolerate this malign behavior and we will hold you to account. Our new sanctions regime will help to ensure there can be no hiding place for those who seek to do us harm.” 

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d’affaires of the British Embassy in Tehran over the “destructive British statements and interference in our affairs,” Iran’s Arabic-language television network Al Alam reported on Thursday. 

Britain said that under the new regime, which will be legislated for later in the year, individuals and entities could also be sanctioned if they contributed to the undermining of peace and stability in the Middle East and internationally. 

It also said it had given evidence at the U.N. Security Council that Iran was continuing to send weapons to the Houthis in Yemen, and to Russia, to support its fighting in Ukraine. 

Under the new criteria, sanctions could also be targeted at those Britain says are involved in Iran’s undermining democracy and the rule of law in the U.K., and hostile activities aimed at British people or property, or Britain’s allies. 

Britain says Iran has made at least 15 attempts to kidnap or kill British nationals or individuals based in the United Kingdom since the start of last year. 

“What we have seen over the last 18 months is an unprecedented level of aggression from Iran against people here in the U.K., trying to silence dissenting voices,” Cleverly told reporters on Thursday. 

Britain has also announced new designations under its existing human rights sanctions regime for Iran.
…

Jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich on Friday marks his 100th day in detention in Russia on espionage accusations. 

The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested March 29 while on assignment in the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Russian authorities have accused the Moscow-based reporter of spying. 

Gershkovich, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny the espionage charges. 

Media watchdogs say his arrest marked a new low in Russia’s declining press freedom environment under President Vladimir Putin. 

“Evan’s detention marked a new escalation in Putin’s war on the free press, expanding his crackdown beyond Russia’s domestic media which has already been totally hollowed out,” Clayton Weimers, executive director of the U.S. office of Reporters Without Borders, told VOA.

“One hundred days in jail is 100 days too long to punish a journalist for simply doing journalism,” he said. 

The first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since the end of the Cold War, Gershkovich faces 20 years in a penal colony if convicted. 

“It is vital to keep Evan’s story front and center, particularly as we reflect on this difficult milestone,” The Wall Street Journal said in a statement.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Moscow and Washington have discussed a possible prisoner swap, in an apparent reference to the American journalist and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges. 

“We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, without naming any specific detainee. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.” 

Peskov added that “the lawful right to consular contacts must be ensured on both sides.” 

In response to a question Wednesday about a potential prisoner swap, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Sadly, we do not have any news to share.”

“What I can say is Evan, along with Paul Whelan, who are both wrongfully detained, as you know, should be home. They should be home with their families. I just don’t have anything to share at this time,” she added.

Whelan, a former U.S. marine, is also detained in Russia on espionage charges that the U.S. views as baseless. 

Russia’s Washington embassy did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Gershkovich’s detention has taken a toll on his friends and colleagues in the community of journalists who cover Russia.

“Knowing that it’s been 100 days that Evan has been in Lefortovo prison, an FSB-run prison that is very isolating, known for being really psychologically challenging for its inmates — it’s just really hard to know that Evan has been in those circumstances for so long already,” Financial Times reporter Polina Ivanova told VOA.

Ivanova has known Gershkovich since 2017, when they both started reporting jobs in Moscow — Gershkovich at the Moscow Times and Ivanova at Reuters.

“It’s a very tight-knit community, so we’ve always been good friends,” said Ivanova, now based in Berlin and still covering Russia and Ukraine.

Since Gershkovich’s arrest in March, the journalist has been granted only two consular visits.

The latest visit took place Monday, when U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was allowed to visit Gershkovich for the first time since April. 

“Ambassador Tracy reports that Mr. Gershkovich is in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances,” a State Department spokesperson said about the latest visit. “We expect Russian authorities to provide continued consular access.” 

In a statement about Gershkovich’s 100-day marker, the press freedom group the Committee to Protect journalists said it was concerned about the lack of due process and the denial of consular access to the journalist.

“One hundred days is obviously just incredibly difficult to get your head around — to imagine yourself in such a small space for so long with so little contact with the outside world,” Ivanova said. 

Gershkovich’s original pre-trial detention was set to expire on May 29, but a Russian court lengthened that period to August 30. 
…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced the expelling of nine Finnish diplomats and shutting down of Finland’s consulate in St. Petersburg in retaliation for Finland expelling nine Russian diplomats last month.

The ministry said in a lengthy statement that it summoned Finland’s ambassador to Russia, Antti Helantera, on Thursday, and relayed its “strong protest in connection with the confrontational anti-Russian policy pursued by the Finnish authorities.”

The statement also noted that “the parameters of Finland’s accession to NATO create a threat” to Russia’s security, and “encouraging the Kyiv regime to (go to) war and pumping it with Western weapons means clearly hostile actions against our country.” The statement concluded that “this line of the Finnish authorities cannot remain unanswered.”

It said nine Finnish diplomats would be expelled from Russia, and a permit allowing the Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg — the country’s second-largest city — to operate will be revoked starting from Oct. 1.

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, joined NATO in April as the military alliance’s 31st member. Interaction between Helsinki and Moscow has become restrained in recent months.

Finland’s veteran politician and then foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, announced in May that Russia has frozen the bank accounts of Finland’s diplomatic representations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, disrupting money flow and forcing the Nordic country’s missions to resort to cash payments.

In June, Finland expelled nine Russian diplomats, suspected of working in intelligence operations at Russia’s embassy in Helsinki.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto tweeted that he considered Moscow’s move on Thursday as “a tough and asymmetric” response to Helsinki’s decision to expel Russian diplomats.

Niinisto said the Finnish government was mulling counter-measures including a possible closure of Russia’s consulate in the western Finnish port city of Turku.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said on Twitter that Moscow’s move was “out of proportion” and that “Finland will react” to Russia’s decision.
…