MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a “difficult” time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions.
The former KGB agent is set to extend his rule by another six years this weekend in a presidential election the Kremlin says will show that the country is fully behind his assault on Ukraine.
Ahead of the vote, Kyiv has ramped up its aerial bombardment of Russian regions just across their shared border.
At least two people were killed and nine wounded in the Russian region of Belgorod Thursday, and the Russian national guard said it was fighting off attacks from pro-Ukrainian militias in Kursk — the latest in a string of border clashes.
“I am convinced: you realize what a difficult period our country is going through, what complex challenges we are facing in almost all areas,” Putin said in an address to Russians on the eve of the vote.
“And in order to continue to respond to them with dignity and successfully overcome difficulties, we need to continue to be united and self-confident,” he added.
All of Putin’s major critics are dead, in prison or exile and authorities blocked the few genuine competitors who tried to stand in the March 15-17 contest.
Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most high-profile opponent over the last decade, died February in an Arctic prison colony.
He was serving 19 years for “extremism” — charges widely seen as retribution for his campaigning against the Kremlin leader.
Kyiv has this week launched some of its most significant aerial attacks since the start of the two-year conflict.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Thursday one person had been killed in an overnight drone attack.
A second aerial attack killed another woman and injured several more, he said in a post on social media, without specifying what weapons had been deployed.
Pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries also claimed to be escalating attacks and incursions in Russian border regions.
In a joint statement Thursday, three pro-Kyiv volunteer groups — claiming to consist of Russians who oppose the Kremlin and have taken up arms for Ukraine — called on authorities to evacuate civilians from the regions of Belgorod and Kursk.
“Civilians should not suffer from the war and any casualties in the process of fighting will be on the conscience of Starovoit and Gladkov,” they added, referring to the regions’ governors.
Russia has rejected the militias’ claims to have gained ground.
The national guard said Thursday its units had beaten back “an attack by enemy diversion groups near the village of Tyotkino in the Kursk region.”
The defense ministry said it had fended off another attack by Ukrainian forces trying to enter the Belgorod region via the village of Spodariushino, without saying when the clash had taken place.
It published video showing a series of air strikes on what it said was a Ukrainian sabotage group.
The fighting come just hours ahead of polls opening in Russia’s Far East for the March 15-17 presidential election.
In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, Putin has ushered in a sweeping crackdown of domestic dissent and an aggressive foreign policy
Victory will allow him stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
He called on Russians to use the election to show their unity behind his leadership.
“We have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia,” he said in a video message, flanked by flags of the Russian tricolor and the president’s state insignia.
“Today it is critically important not to stray from this path,” he said.
Early voting is already underway in occupied territories of Ukraine, and the vote will also take place in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Kyiv says staging the election on Ukrainian territory is illegal.
In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol — under the control of Russian forces — election officials on Thursday opened pop-up polling stations at small tables in the street and on the hoods of cars.
Banners were unfurled sporting a red, white and blue ‘V’ logo — an army symbol used as a sign of support for the military offensive.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday dismissed the vote as a “farce” and called on the international community not to recognize the results.
Russia’s opposition has called for anti-Putin protests at midday on Sunday, the final day of voting.
Ukraine steps up border attacks as Putin urges Russians to vote
https://arab.news/94xut
Ukraine steps up border attacks as Putin urges Russians to vote
- Ahead of the vote, Kyiv has ramped up its aerial bombardment of Russian regions just across their shared border
- At least two people were killed and nine wounded in the Russian region of Belgorod Thursday
US military aircraft flies over sensitive Taiwan Strait
The United States and its allies regularly cross through the 180-kilometer (112-mile) Taiwan Strait, either by ship or aircraft, angering Beijing.
China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the body of water separating the two.
To assert its claims, Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island, while opposing transits by military ships and aircraft belonging to the United States and its allies.
“A US Navy P-8A Poseidon transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace on Nov. 26, 2024 (local time),” the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement.
“The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
China on Tuesday said it had monitored the aircraft and condemned the flight for being “openly hyped.”
“US remarks distort legal principles, confuse the public and mislead international perception,” said Cao Jun, a senior colonel and spokesman for China’s Eastern Theatre Air Force, in a statement.
Beijing had “organized naval and air forces to monitor and guard the trajectory of the US aircraft and effectively responded and dealt with it,” Cao added.
During a previous transit by a US P-8A Poseidon in September, the Chinese military tailed the aircraft.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important security partner, but like most other countries it does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight
KYIV: Russia staged a record number of drone attacks overnight over Ukraine, damaging buildings and “critical infrastructure” in several regions, the air force said Tuesday.
“During the night attack, the enemy launched a record number of Shahed strike unmanned aerial vehicles and unidentified drones,” the air force said, referring to Iranian-designed drones and putting the figure at 188.
President of Chile denies sexual harassment complaint
- Chilean President Gabriel Boric denies claims he sexually harassed a woman over a decade ago
Santiago: Chilean President Gabriel Boric was accused in a criminal complaint of sexually harassing a woman over a decade ago, an allegation he “categorically” denies, a lawyer said Monday.
“The president ... rejects and categorically denies the complaint,” attorney Jonatan Valenzuela said in a statement, referring to an alleged event in 2013.
The complaint was filed on September 6 in the local prosecutor’s office of Magallanes, in the far south of Chile where Boric is from.
Cristian Crisosto, who heads the Magallanes prosecutor’s office, confirmed “there is a criminal case related to the facts listed,” adding that there was a special team at the agency investigating the complaint.
According to Valenzuela, the complaint was filed by a woman who at the time sent Boric 25 emails that were “unsolicited and non-consensual,” including one with explicit images.
More than 10 years later, the woman “filed a complaint without any basis whatsoever against now-president Gabriel Boric.”
Boric, now 38, was 27 at the time and had just completed his law degree.
“My client never had an emotional relationship or friendship with her and they have not communicated since July 2014,” Valenzuela added.
The accusation against Boric comes as his administration is dealing with a separate scandal over sexual abuse after former crime czar and ex-deputy interior minister Manuel Monsalve was arrested this month on suspicion of raping his subordinate.
Boric, who is ineligible to run for reelection after his four-year presidential term ends in 2026, has special immunity and must first be subject to an impeachment trial by the justice department to be formally investigated.
South Korea holds memorial for forced laborers in Japan after boycotting Japanese event
- South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it had decided not to attend the Japan-organized memorial largely because the contents of the government speech
- Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Monday that Japan held the ceremony in line with its pledge at the UNESCO World Heritage committee meeting
SADO, Japan: South Korea commemorated wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado gold mines in a ceremony Monday, a day after boycotting a similar event organized by Japan, as tensions over historical atrocities continue to strain relations between the two sides.
Monday’s ceremony at a former dormitory near the mines on Sado Island, which date to the 16th century and were listed this year as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was organized by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and attended by nine family members of Korean wartime laborers, the country’s ambassador to Japan and other officials.
Japan on Sunday held a memorial service for all workers at the Sado mines, including Koreans. It thanked them for their contributions at the mines but did not acknowledge their forced labor or issue an apology.
At the Korean-sponsored memorial on Monday, participants in dark suits observed a moment of silence and offered white chrysanthemums in honor of the South Korean laborers, along with offerings such as dried fish, sliced apple and pears.
In a short speech, South Korea’s Ambassador to Japan Park Choel-hee offered his condolences to the forced laborers and their families, expressing hopes that the memorial would bring comfort to families. He said South Korea and Japan should both make efforts to ensure that the painful wartime history is remembered.
“We will never forget the tears and sacrifices of the Korean workers behind the history of the Sado mines,” Park said.
“I sincerely hope that today will be a day of remembrance for all the Korean workers who suffered indescribable pain under harsh conditions, and that this memorial service will bring comfort to the souls of the deceased Korean workers and their bereaved families,” Park added.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Monday that Japan held the ceremony in line with its pledge at the UNESCO World Heritage committee meeting after thoroughly communicating with South Korea. “It is disappointing that South Korea did not participate,” Hayashi said.
About 1,500 Koreans were forced to labor under abusive and brutal conditions at the mines during World War II, historians say.
Sunday’s ceremony, which was supposed to further mend wounds, renewed tensions between the two sides. South Korea announced Saturday its decision to not attend the Japanese-organized ceremony, citing unspecified disagreements with Tokyo over the event.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it had decided not to attend the Japan-organized memorial largely because the contents of the government speech at the event were expected to fall short of the agreement between the two sides over the Sado mines’ World Heritage site listing.
Holding a separate memorial ceremony was an expression of “our government’s firm resolve not to make a compromise with Japan on history issues,” it said.
There was speculation that South Korea boycotted the event over the Japanese government’s representative, whom a since-withdrawn report had linked to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
Japanese lawmaker and former entertainer Akiko Ikuina is controversial among Japan’s neighbors in part because of a Kyodo News report — later withdrawn as erroneous — that she visited the shrine, which commemorates 2.5 million war dead including war criminals, after she was elected. China and Korea view Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
Ikuina has denied visiting Yasukuni since her term began, and Kyodo News on Monday published an apology saying it had erroneously reported Ikuina was among some 20 lawmakers who visited Yasukuni on Aug. 15, 2022, a report widely quoted by Japanese and South Korean media and noted by the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
Hayashi on Tuesday criticized Kyodo over the erroneous story and for causing confusion over the Sado ceremony, adding that the government plans to seek further explanation from Kyodo. He said “there was no problem” with the government’s decision to send Ikuina, who is tasked with culture and public affairs.
Hayashi, noting the importance of cooperation between the two countries in the current security environment, said, “Though there are difficult problems between Japan and South Korea, we plan to continue our close communication.”
The Sado mines were registered as a UNESCO cultural heritage site in July after Japan agreed to include an exhibit on the conditions of Korean forced laborers and to hold a memorial service annually, after repeated protests from the South Korean government.
Signs, including one at the site where South Koreans held their ceremony, have been erected indicating former sites of Korean laborers’ dormitories. A city-operated museum in the area also added a section about Korean laborers, but a private museum attached to the main UNESCO site doesn’t mention them at all.
The site of South Korea’s memorial was the former Fourth Souai Dormitory, one of four dorms for Korean laborers without families. A newly erected sign there reads, “Workers from the Korean Peninsula lived here during the wartime.”
On Saturday, the families visited a former housing site where Korean laborers lived. They also briefly saw the city-run museum and an exhibit on the Korean laborers as they listened to explanations through a translator.
Indonesia digs out as flooding, landslide death toll hits 20
JAKARTA: Rescue workers in western Indonesia used heavy equipment on Tuesday to dig out from weekend flooding and landslides that have killed at least 20 people, the national disaster agency said.
In North Sumatra, the bodies of five people listed as missing had been pulled from under a mountain of mud and debris, agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
“All victims have been found dead,” he said Tuesday, adding that 10 people in all had been killed in a Karo district landslide.
Beginning Saturday, heavy rain pounded four districts across northern Sumatra, producing the deadly floods and landslides.
Juspri Nadeak, disaster chief in hardest-hit Karo district, said the discovery of victims not yet reported missing to authorities remained a possibility.
“The landslide area provides access to hot springs, so there’s a possibility that tourists were hit by it,” he told AFP Tuesday.
“We are still cleaning up the mud and debris from the landslide while anticipating the possibility of discovering more victims.”
In a village in Deli Serdang district, where four people have been found dead and two more were missing, piles of mud, logs and rocks were scattered around the village where a rescue operation was underway.
“The electricity was cut off and there is no cellphone reception, making it difficult for us rescuers to communicate,” Iman Sitorus, a local search and rescue agency spokesman, told AFP.
Authorities also have deployed heavy equipment to clean up the debris, he said.
Indonesia has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely by climate change.
In May, at least 67 people died after a mixture of ash, sand and pebbles carried down from the eruption of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra washed into residential areas, causing flash floods.
The disaster agency on Monday revised downward its tally to 15 dead and seven missing following an earlier report that listed one more killed.
The death toll climbed to 20 on Tuesday following the discovery of the five bodies in Karo district.
The rest of the victims were found in South Tapanuli, Padang Lawas and Deli Serdang districts.
