Russian ambassador to Japan: ‘G7 misinterprets Russia’s goals’

Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin. (ANJ Photo)
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Updated 18 April 2022
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Russian ambassador to Japan: ‘G7 misinterprets Russia’s goals’

  • In an interview with Arab News Japan, Galuzin said that the cooperation between the two nations has been “very valuable and mutually beneficial for decades”

TOKYO: Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin believes the current and future relationship between the two countries should have “no connection to what is happening in and around Ukraine.”

In an interview with Arab News Japan, Galuzin said that the cooperation between the two nations has been “very valuable and mutually beneficial for decades.” However, he criticized Japan for “incorrectly applying wide sanctions.”

Galuzin also warned against Japan forming nuclear alliances with others. “As Japan is the only country that has suffered from a nuclear bombing, it should fight to eliminate nuclear weapons. Sharing nuclear missions within the NATO member states headed by the US (takes) Japan closer to nuclear weapons.”

Galuzin accused the US of committing nuclear proliferation by establishing the AUKUS framework, a trilateral security pact with Australia and the UK, to create Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

He also warned against involving NATO in East Asia. “We think the policy of the US and its allies, including Japan, to involve NATO in the Asia-Pacific region issues is very dangerous because, wherever NATO was involved, there is no peace, no stability and no prosperity. Look at what happened in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Yugoslavia was destroyed and divided.”

Galuzin said that Asian-centered mechanisms for peace, security and stability, like the East Asian Summit, were positive; and criticized America’s strategy in the region.

“Instead of Asian groupings, the US tries to create a group of US-centered coalitions like AUKUS, Quad, US-Japan, US-(South) Korea and US-Australia military alliances. They are closed structures that divide the region, not consolidate it. We recommend that Asian countries consider whether it is good for the region’s future to welcome NATO here,” he said.

On current Japan-Russia relations and future prospects, the ambassador said Russia sees Japan, the G7 and other European countries’ positions as based on “double standards” because they did not previously speak out against the US’ “past aggression” against countries in the Middle East.

“For instance, the American aggression against Iraq was based on allegations that Iraq had arms of mass destruction, which turned out to be a lie. However, they attacked and destroyed Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed, which led to the Middle East becoming a hub for … widespread international terrorism,” he said.

“The G7 countries, including the Japanese leadership, misinterpreted the goals and tasks of our (Russian) special military operation in Ukraine and completely ignored an obvious fact that a huge and very real threat was coming from the Ukrainian government policy toward Russia,” he told Arab News Japan.

“After the 2014 bloody coup d’état, which led to an illegal regime change in Ukraine, the society there has been educated to hate all things related to Russia, including language, culture, traditions, common history and relations, destroying millions of ties between people,” he said.

Moreover, he claimed that radical Ukrainian forces, whom he labeled as Nazis, had seized power and declared war on everything related to Russia, especially in what is known as the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. These breakaway groups had rejected the coup not only because they considered it illegal, but as a result of the regime prohibiting the Russian language in Ukraine, ousting all Russians from Crimea, and cutting all ties with Russia, he added.

“That regime of Ukrainian Nazis also received a huge amount of lethal arms from NATO to attack the population, mainly of Russian origin, killing 14,000 people and injuring hundreds, including children. They caused widespread devastation in that region. It has been ongoing genocide for the last eight years that nobody has paid attention to except Russia,” according to Galuzin.

“The Kyiv regime had rejected the Minsk agreements on peaceful settlement in the eastern part of Ukraine.”

Galuzin said that the Russian government believed a possible dangerous nuclear war could be ignited if Kyiv joined NATO, which had several nations armed with these weapons.

Galuzin claimed that Russia found documents showing the Ukrainian regime, in cooperation with the US, preparing for “the production of biological weaponry, relying on more than 30 military biological facilities located in Ukraine and controlled by the Pentagon.”

* This article originally appeard on Arab News Japan, click here to read it.


Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’

Updated 05 June 2025
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Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’

  • Question prompts public criticism from party’s chairman

LONDON: A row has erupted within the right-wing British party Reform UK after its newest member of Parliament, Sarah Pochin, used her maiden question during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to call for a nationwide ban on the burqa, it was reported on Thursday.

The question prompted public criticism from Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s chairman, who rebuked the move, calling it a “dumb” question.

Pochin, who recently won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer whether the UK would follow European nations such as France, Belgium, and Denmark in banning the burqa “in the interests of public safety.”

Her remarks were met with audible disapproval from some MPs, with cries of “shame” heard in the chamber of the House of Commons.

Lee Anderson, Reform UK’s chief whip, expressed support for Pochin’s suggestion, saying: “Ban the burqa? Yes we should. No one should be allowed to hide their identity in public.”

However, Yusuf was less than supportive, writing on X: “Nothing to do with me. Had no idea about the question, nor that it wasn’t policy. I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do.”

A Reform spokesperson later clarified that Yusuf had not been criticizing Pochin personally, but highlighting the inconsistency of raising a proposal not endorsed by the party.

The spokesperson reiterated that a burqa ban was not official Reform UK policy but acknowledged it was an issue that “deserves national debate.”

Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s leader, speaking on GB News, was more cautious and distanced himself from an outright endorsement, but suggested public discomfort around face coverings warranted discussion.

He said: “I don’t think face coverings in public places make sense, and I think we do deserve a debate about that, of which I see the burqa as being a part.”

Pochin, a former Conservative councillor, later suggested her question had been sourced from public suggestions submitted online. “Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for the prime minister,” she posted.

The incident has reignited concerns about internal divisions within Reform UK. It comes just months after former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe was expelled from the party following a falling out with both Yusuf and Farage.

Lowe, who has expressed hardline views on immigration and has backed calls to ban the burqa, now sits as an independent.

Reform has also been plagued by tension at the grassroots level. Following the recent local elections, Donna Edmunds, a Shropshire councillor, resigned from the party in protest, describing Farage as a “terrible leader” and warning that he “must never be prime minister.”

Amid the latest fallout, a Labour spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage could fit all of his MPs in the back of a cab, yet he can’t stop them fighting among themselves.”

Reform UK and Sarah Pochin were approached by the BBC, The Guardian, and The Independent for further comment.


Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention

Updated 05 June 2025
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Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention

  • Unveiling its road map to protect Europe’s seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September
  • The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world’s largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land

HELSINKI: Decades of pollution and climate change have caused fish to disappear from the Baltic Sea at an alarming rate, with the European Union on Thursday vowing to make the sea an “urgent priority.”

Unveiling its road map to protect Europe’s seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September.

The semi-enclosed sea is surrounded by industrial and agricultural nations Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the three Baltic states.

Connected to the Atlantic only by the narrow waters of the Danish straits, the Baltic is known for its shallow, low-salinity waters, which are highly sensitive to the climate and environmental changes that have accumulated over the years.

“Today, the once massive Baltic cod stocks have collapsed, herring stocks in several sub-basins are balancing on critical levels, sprat recruitment is at a record low and wild salmon stocks are in decline,” Swedish European MP Isabella Lovin, rapporteur for the EU Committee of Fishing, warned in a report, calling the situation “critical.”

The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world’s largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land — a challenge the sea has long grappled with.

The runoff has primarily been phosphorus and nitrogen from waste water and fertilizers used in agriculture, as well as other activities such as forestry.

It causes vast algae blooms in summer, a process known as eutrophication that removes oxygen from the water, leaving behind dead seabeds and marine habitats and threatening species living in the Baltic.

Today, agriculture is the biggest source of nutrient pollution.

Marine biodiversity in the relatively small sea has also deteriorated due to pollution from hazardous substances, land use, extraction of resources and climate change, according to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM).

“The state of the Baltic Sea is not good,” Maria Laamanen, a senior adviser at the Finnish environment ministry, told AFP.

Climate change poses “a massive additional challenge” for the marine environment, she said.

Of the world’s coastal seas, the Baltic Sea is warming the fastest.

A 2024 study said sea surface and sea floor temperatures have increased by 1.8 and 1.3 degrees Celsius respectively in the Finnish archipelago in the northern Baltic Sea, in the period from 1927 to 2020.

The consequences of rising temperatures already affect species, while increased rainfall has led to more runoff from land to sea.

Better waste water treatment and gypsum treatment of agricultural soil, as well as an expansion of protected marine areas in Finland, have had a positive effect on the maritime environment, according to Laamanen, who said environmental engagement had grown in recent years.

“The situation would be much worse without the measures already implemented,” she said.

In her report, Lovin called for an ambitious reform of fisheries, with stronger attention paid to environmental and climate change impacts.

The report also questioned whether the Baltic could continue to sustain industrial-scale trawling, and suggested giving “priority access to low-impact fisheries and fishing for human consumption.”

The head of the Finnish Fishermen’s Association (SAKL) Kim Jordas said eutrophication was to blame for the declining fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, not overfishing.

“Looking at cod for example, it is entirely due to the state of the Baltic Sea and the poor oxygen situation,” Jordas told AFP.

In Finland, the number of commercial fishermen has been declining, with a total of around 400 active today.


Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

Updated 05 June 2025
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Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

  • UNAMA confirmed that UN staff had been threatened
  • “Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats,” it said

KABUL: Afghan women working for the United Nations in Kabul have been threatened by unidentified men because of their jobs, the organization and several women told AFP on Thursday.

Multiple women working for various UN agencies told AFP on condition of anonymity they had been threatened on the street and over the phone by men warning them to “stay home.”

UN staffer Huda — not her real name — said that for weeks she has been bombarded with messages abusing her for “working with foreigners.”

“The messages keep coming and they are always harassing us... saying, ‘Don’t let me see you again, or else’,” the young woman told AFP.

She said her office had advised her to work from home until further notice.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that UN staff had been threatened.

“Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats by unidentified individuals related to their work with the UN,” it said in a statement.

Considering the threats “extremely serious,” the UN has taken “interim” measures “to ensure the safety and security of staff members,” it added.

The Taliban government, accused by the UN of imposing a “gender apartheid” against women since returning to power in 2021, has denied any involvement.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said such threats were a “crime” and that police would take action.

UNAMA said the authorities had opened an investigation.

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have severely restricted Afghan women from working and it is the only country in the world where women are banned from education beyond primary school.

The government in 2022 banned women from working for domestic and international NGOs, which was extended to include the UN’s offices in the country the following year.

The policy has some exceptions including for women working in health care and education, and has not been consistently enforced.

The UN has previously called the policy “deeply discriminatory.”

Selsela, in her 30s, said while returning from the office last week she was approached by unknown men who told her she should be “ashamed” and that she must “stay home.”

“They said, ‘We told you nicely this time, but next time you’ll have another thing coming’,” she told AFP.

“I was very scared,” she said, explaining how she struggles to work efficiently from home in a country where electricity and Internet are unreliable.

“The situation for women is getting worse every day.”

Another woman, Rahila, said she and two other women colleagues were stopped by men while traveling home in a UN vehicle and told not to go to the office anymore.

“They said, ‘Don’t you know that you are not allowed?’,” Rahila said, adding that she has also received threatening messages from unknown numbers.

“I am very worried, I need my job and my salary,” she said.

Three-quarters of Afghanistan’s population of some 45 million people struggle to meet their daily needs, according to the UN, with the country facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.


New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

Updated 05 June 2025
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New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

  • Ban hits nationals of 12 countries, including Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen
  • 25,000 Afghans approved for relocation to the US are stranded in Pakistan

KABUL: A new US travel ban, which lists Afghans among nationals of 12 affected countries, has put on hold the lives of thousands of refugees who fled Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American-led troops in 2021.

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the country — part of a broader immigration crackdown launched by his administration earlier this year at the start of his second term.

The move has placed in a state of indefinite waiting some 25,000 Afghans who have been approved for relocation to the US and are awaiting departure in Pakistan.

One of them, Mohammad Iqbal, a 35-year-old former government employee, told Arab News that his refugee resettlement application has been active for the past two years. Having completed two interviews with the UN refugee agency and the necessary medical check-ups, he was waiting for his final visa appointment.

He is not allowed to work in Pakistan, and he also cannot go back to Afghanistan — both for safety reasons and since that would halt the refugee process.

“I am running out of money and there is no work for Afghans here in Pakistan. We are also facing an increasing risk of deportation. My passport will expire if I don’t make it to the US in a few months. It will be very difficult to go back to Afghanistan. I won’t be safe there,” Iqbal said.

“I have done my master’s degree abroad and worked in some highly technical positions before 2021 ... The current decision by the US president is very unfair and is against the promises made to us by the US government.”

Besides those in Pakistan, thousands more Afghans are in the same situation stranded in Qatar and in the UAE, and another few hundred have been kept waiting at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo — the largest US military base in the Balkans.

The US travel ban will be in effect from June 9, according to a presidential proclamation released by the White House, which said that it was needed to protect the US from “from terrorist attacks and other national security or public-safety threats.”

Justifying the decision on Afghanistan, Trump cited its lack of a “competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents” and screening and vetting capabilities. Another reason was that the Taliban, “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group,” controls Afghanistan.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, when its Western-backed administration collapsed as American-led international forces withdrew after two decades of occupation that started with the US invasion of the country in 2001.

The troop withdrawal was followed by an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Afghans — many of whom had worked as translators or local staff for foreign governments, organizations or for the previous administration, and feared potential retribution by the Taliban.

“The US played a direct role in creating this situation. As a result of the 20-year US occupation, Afghan society was divided into hostile groups that turned against each other,” said Nasir Ahmad Nawidy, political science professor at Salam University in Kabul.

“Because of the improper policy of the US — without an agreement and peace being reached — the country collapsed, and the systems and order were destroyed. As a result, many people who were prominent figures or experts in the previous regime, or other people who had held important positions in this country, were forced to leave Afghanistan.”

He was still hopeful that the US justice system would challenge Trump’s decision.

“The US has a commitment to these people,” he said. “They have been promised it, and their visas are in process. Ignoring these commitments and halting or delaying ongoing processes is against all humanitarian laws.”


German foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart to allow more aid into Gaza

Updated 05 June 2025
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German foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart to allow more aid into Gaza

  • Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel

BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip at a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Berlin on Thursday, again calling for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.

Wadephul also decried the Israeli government’s announcement that it would allow 22 more settlements in the West Bank.

Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel, he added, saying the country needed to defend itself.