LONDON: Days after gunmen killed 145 concert-goers at a venue near Moscow in March, as allegations emerged that the assailants had been recruited on Telegram, the Kremlin issued a stern warning to its founder.
“We would expect more attention from Pavel Durov, because this unique and phenomenal resource ... is increasingly becoming a tool in the hands of terrorists,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Five months later, as French prosecutors pursue an investigation into Telegram founder and boss Durov over the use of the messaging app for fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering and other forms of organized crime, Moscow has changed its public stance on the tech entrepreneur.
With some Russians now hailing Durov as a hero of free speech, Peskov said on Thursday that the case against him should “not turn into political persecution.”
Briefing reporters, he added: “We know that the president of France (Emmanuel Macron) has denied any connection with politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being made. We will see what happens next.”
Some Russian lawmakers have alleged, without providing evidence, that the case against Durov has been orchestrated by Washington. A source at the Paris prosecutor’s office said the probe had no connection to the United States and Macron had been given no prior warning of the arrest.
“Pavel Durov remains a hostage of the ‘dictatorship of democracy’ of the collective West,” Leonid Slutsky, the leader of a pro-Kremlin parliamentary party, wrote on Telegram.
The furor has provided Russia with an opportunity to pursue a favored line of attack: that the West, while claiming to uphold values such as free speech, is really driven by a vengeful desire to undermine Russia.
Ksenia Ermoshina, a researcher at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and the Center for Internet and Society at French institute CNRS, said Russia’s strong reaction also reflects security concerns because of the widespread use of Telegram in military communications.
“Telegram has become a tool for Russian defense to communicate internally,” she said.
“If Durov is accused by the French government and he is in the hands of French justice, they are afraid that he might give access to his servers and, because there is no internal encryption by default in Telegram, this will enable potential access to sensitive information from the Russian army.”
A lawyer for Durov said on Thursday it was “absurd” to suggest the head of a social network was responsible for any criminal acts committed on the platform. Telegram has said it abides by European Union laws.
Durov, 39, has not always been able to count on vocal defenders in Russia, where his troubled relationship with the authorities goes back more than a decade.
His first big tech venture — a Russian version of Facebook called VKontakte (VK) — permitted forums for opposition activists to organize protests against President Vladimir Putin, and Durov refused to comply with demands to shut down late opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption blog.
In 2013, Russia’s FSB security service requested the VK data of Ukrainians protesting against the pro-Russian president who was then in power in Kyiv.
“I refused to comply with these demands, because it would have meant a betrayal of our Ukrainian users,” Durov said in March 2022. “After that, I was fired from the company I founded and was forced to leave Russia.”
Durov launched Telegram, now used by almost 1 billion people, in 2013. Before long, Russia came after that platform, too.
The FSB said militants had used Telegram to carry out a suicide bombing on the St. Petersburg metro in 2017, and state communications regulator Roskomnadzor demanded that Durov “hand over the keys” to information on the app.
Durov said those demands violated Russians’ constitutional right to keep their correspondence secret.
For two years from May 2018, Roskomnadzor sought to block Telegram, efforts that were thwarted by rotating proxy servers, hiding traffic and other anti-censorship tools.
Since then, the platform has continued to grow in popularity, becoming an indispensable tool for everyone from dissidents to bloggers on the war in Ukraine.
On the streets of Moscow on Thursday, people interviewed by Reuters said they were following the case of Durov, who has French as well as Russian citizenship.
Irina, a middle-aged woman who declined to give her last name, alluded to the fact that the businessman had been invited in the past to dine with Macron.
“Of course, this is alarming, this is a very unpleasant thing,” she said of Durov’s arrest. “If this is such a set-up on the part of the head of France, Macron, then this is beyond the pale.”
Mark, a young man in a white hoodie, said the case was easily explained.
“This is politics. They’ve arrested a Russian billionaire in France. Why not? It’s beneficial for them, it’s a blow to Russia.”
After years of pressure on Durov, Russia suddenly rallies behind him
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After years of pressure on Durov, Russia suddenly rallies behind him
- Furor has provided Russia with an opportunity to pursue a favored line: that the West, while claiming to uphold values such as free speech, is driven by a vengeful desire to undermine Russia
- First tech venture VKontakte (VK) permitted forums for opposition activists to organize protests against Putin, and Durov refused to comply with demands to shut down Alexei Navalny’s blog
Trump plans to assemble investigative teams to look into 2020 election, Washington Post reports
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump plans to assemble investigative teams at the Department of Justice to search for evidence in battleground states that fraud tainted the 2020 election, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing a source.
Trump, who won the 2024 election but lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, has falsely claimed that he lost the 2020 election due to extensive voter fraud, a view shared by millions of his supporters.
Trump was indicted last year on federal charges for his attempts to overturn the election. The charges stemmed from an investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The Washington Post, citing two people close to Trump’s transition team, reported that Trump plans to fire the entire team that worked with Smith.
Dutch court weighs a lawsuit against arms sales to Israel
- Opening the case at the court in The Hague, Judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: “It is important to underline that the Dutch State does not contest the gravity of the situation in Gaza, nor is the status of the West Bank”
THE HAGUE: Pro-Palestinian groups took the Dutch state to court on Friday, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a genocide in Gaza.
The NGOs argued that Israel is breaking international law in Gaza and the West Bank, invoking, among others, the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
“Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid” and “is using Dutch weapons to wage war,” said Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the NGOs.
“Dutch weapons are killing children every day in Palestine, including my family,” said Ahmed Abofoul, a legal adviser to Al-Haq, one of the groups involved in the suit. Israel furiously denies accusations of genocide as it presses on with the offensive in Gaza.
Opening the case at the court in The Hague, Judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: “It is important to underline that the Dutch State does not contest the gravity of the situation in Gaza, nor is the status of the West Bank.”
“Today is about finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected of the state if the state can be expected to do more or act differently than it is currently acting,” she added.
She acknowledged this was a “sensitive case,” saying: “It’s a whole legal debate.”
The lawyer for the Dutch State, Reimer Veldhuis, said the Netherlands has been applying European laws in force for arms exports.
Veldhuis argued the case should be tossed out.
“It is unlikely that the minister responsible will grant an arms export license to Israel that would contribute to the Israeli army’s activities in Gaza or the West Bank,” said Veldhuis.
The case comes one day after another court based in The Hague, the International Criminal Court, issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister.
How COP29 outcome may impact countries most affected by climate change
- UN Climate Change Conference in Baku brought together policymakers, researchers and environmentalists from 200 countries
- Discussions covered energy transition, climate finance, loss and damage funding and environmental cost of geopolitical tensions
BAKU, Azerbaijan: The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference concluded in the capital of Azerbaijan on Friday with climate activists, world leaders and investors reflecting on climate change’s global impacts and the urgent need for actionable solutions.
This year’s event emphasized financing mechanisms, particularly to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable nations, and especially the developing countries most affected by climate change.
COP29 — the 29th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations climate organization UNFCCC — ran from Nov. 11 to 22 and brought together policymakers, researchers, and environmentalists from 200 countries.
A dominant theme was energy transition, as fossil fuel emissions remain the biggest driver of global warming.
The UN reports that burning coal, oil, and gas accounts for more than 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and roughly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.
Policymakers argued that reducing reliance on traditional fuels and adopting modern energy solutions could significantly shrink the global carbon footprint and bring the world closer to net-zero targets.
The University of Exeter’s Global Carbon Budget recently projected total CO2 emissions to rise from 40.6 billion metric tons in 2023 to 41.6 billion in 2024.
Sharing his perspective on the COP29 negotiations and the change he hopes to see, climate activist Philip McMaster, known on social media as SustainaClaus, told Arab News he is campaigning for a a healthier environment for children.
“The message of SustainaClaus is ‘Make childhood great again.’ Why? Because we all had a childhood before,” he said on the sidelines of the conference. “It was either great or not, but it was a very important period of time, and that is what these negotiations should be about: how we make the world a better place for the next generations.”
He added: “I hope to see global change.”
DID YOUKNOW?
• In the first week of COP29, as a step to foster sustainable energy, Saudi Arabia signed an executive program with Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to strengthen collaboration on renewable energy development.
• The COP29 agenda included energy transition, finance, urbanization and Article 6.
• Climate finance was the main topic discussed in Baku, along with the need to raise funds for vulnerable nations.
Military activity also emerged as a significant environmental threat. Olga Lermak, communications lead at Greencubator, a Ukraine-based cleantech accelerator, noted the ecological devastation caused by war.
“War creates a climate crisis not just where it happens; it pollutes air, water, and land,” she said.
Ukraine accounts for 35 percent of Europe’s biodiversity, including 70,000 plant and animal species, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Among its endangered animals are the sandy blind mole-rat, the Russian desman, and the saker falcon.
The country’s ongoing conflict with Russia has caused significant damage to that biodiversity, according to Lermak.
“I hope that the negotiations held here bring great solutions, something that will help us to move forward,” she said. “I hope it is not just conversations, not just talking, but real action after this.”
Opinion
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Another key issue debated at COP29 was loss and damage funding — addressing “unavoided” damage caused by climate change in the most vulnerable countries as well as “unavoidable” damage such as that caused by rising sea levels. Investment in emissions reduction was one of the key solutions put forward for dealing with unavoided damage.
Researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change estimate that the loss and damage needs of vulnerable countries will amount to between $130 billion and $940 billion in 2025 alone.
Gloria Bulus, team lead at Nigeria’s Bridge that Gap Initiative, emphasized that beyond highlighting loss and damage, there must also be a focus on delivering investment and implementing concrete solutions.
“We are expecting a lot to be (invested) in terms of the loss and damage, so that it goes beyond the speeches,” she said.
Highlighting some of the pressing environmental challenges her country is facing, Bulus expressed her hope for “fair” negotiations.
“Negotiations have been very slow for us,” she said. “What we want is action. What we want is an outcome that favors people, where we have renewable energy transition.”
Among other steps, COP29 promised to secure “the highest ambition outcome possible,” proposing that wealthier countries contribute $250 billion annually to developing nations to support their efforts in tackling climate change.
UK car wash owners trafficked thousands of people from Middle East to Europe
- Migrants from Syria, Iraq, Iran offered different tiers of service
- Dilshad Shamo and Ali Khdir trafficked 100 people per week in trucks, ships and by plane
LONDON: Thousands of people from the Middle East were trafficked into Europe through a vast people smuggling network based out of a British car wash.
In an operation that at times resembled a travel agency, people from Syria, Iraq and Iran were offered different tiers of service to be smuggled into Europe by various routes.
Two men pleaded guilty in a UK court on Friday to charges related to their roles in the people smuggling ring.
The UK’s National Crime Agency said Dilshad Shamo, 41, and Ali Khdir, 40, operated from the unlikely location of a car wash in Caerphilly, a town in Wales.
They were arrested in April 2023 after they had been placed under surveillance as part of an investigation that found they were trafficking about 100 people a week over a period of two years, the BBC reported.
The men used messaging and social media apps to advertise their services with videos from people who had made the journeys.
One video shows a man hidden in the back of a truck with other migrants.
“Lorry route agreement, crossing agreement with the knowledge of driver,” he says. “Here we have men, women and children. Thank God the route was easy and good.”
Another video shows a family traveling by plane. “We are very happy … this is the visa, may God bless him, we are really happy,” the migrant says.
Shamo and Khdir offered three tiers of service, the lowest being smuggling people into Europe by foot or vehicle; the next by cargo ships or yachts; and the highest level arranged travel by plane.
The smuggling routes went through Turkiye, Belarus, Moldova and Bosnia and ended in Italy, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Germany and France. The NCA said many of the migrants continued to the UK.
Payment was made using informal “hawala” money transfers through brokers based in Iraq and Istanbul.
Once a deposit was made, Shamo and Khdir would receive a message and arrange for the migrants to be transported by their specified route or timeframe. The two men used WhatsApp to communicate with people smugglers across Europe.
The NCA said they were part of a larger organized crime group and could have made hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds that is unlikely to be recovered, the BBC reported.
“Ali Khdir and Dilshad Shamo were leading a double life,” NCA Branch Commander Derek Evans said. “While on the surface they seemed to be operating a successful car wash, they were actually part of a prolific people smuggling group moving migrants across Europe and taking thousands in payment.
“We worked painstakingly to piece together their movements to prove their important roles in a group, from advertising their services through videos to boasting of successful trips on messaging groups.”
The UK’s Minister for Border Security and Asylum Angela Eagle said criminals like Khdir and Shamo put countless lives at risk by smuggling vulnerable people in a “shameless attempt to make cash.”
She added: “We are taking action against the people smuggling gangs and will stop at nothing to dismantle their networks and bring justice to the system.”
Shamo and Khdir pleaded guilty 10 days into their trial at Cardiff Crown Court and will be sentenced at a later date.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer made smashing people smuggling gangs a key pledge of his election campaign earlier this year.
He has vowed to treat traffickers like terrorists and announced a new Border Security Command with additional powers to track human traffickers and shut down their bank accounts.
Politicians in the EU are battling to stem public anger at rising immigration with more than 380,000 illegal border crossings made into the EU in 2023.
Many fear that if conflicts in the Middle East escalate, Europe could face a steep rise in illegal migration similar to 2015 at the height of the Syrian Civil War.
Putin says Russia will keep testing new missile in combat
- The Kremlin leader described the missile’s first use as a successful test, and said more would follow
- “We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and the nature of the security threats that are created for Russia,” he said
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would keep testing its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile in combat and had a stock ready for use.
Putin was speaking a day after Russia fired the new intermediate-range weapon into Ukraine for the first time, a step he said was prompted by Ukraine’s use of US ballistic missiles and British cruise missiles to hit Russia.
The Kremlin leader described the missile’s first use as a successful test, and said more would follow.
“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and the nature of the security threats that are created for Russia,” he said in televised comments to defense officials and missile developers.
“Moreover, we have a stock of such products, a stock of such systems ready for use.”
A US official, however, said the weapon Russia used was an experimental one. The official said Russia has a limited number of them and that this is not a capability that Russia is able to regularly deploy on the battlefield.
Intermediate missiles have a range of 3,000-5,500 km (1,860-3,415 miles), which would enable them to strike anywhere in Europe or the western United States from Russia.
Security experts said the novel feature of the Oreshnik missile was that it carried multiple warheads capable of simultaneously striking different targets — something usually associated with longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.
Ukraine said the missile reached a top speed of more than 13,000 kph (8,000 mph) and took about 15 minutes to reach its target from its launch.
The firing of the missile was part of a sharp rise in tensions this week as both Ukraine and Russia have struck each other’s territory with increasingly potent weapons.
Moscow says that by giving the green light for Ukraine to fire Western missiles deep inside Russia, the US and its allies are entering into direct conflict with Russia. On Tuesday, Putin approved policy changes that lowered the threshold for Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to an attack with conventional weapons.
SEVERE ESCALATION
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s use of the new missile amounted to “a clear and severe escalation” in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation. He said Ukraine was working on developing new types of air defense to counter “new risks.”
The Kremlin said the firing of the Oreshnik was a warning to the West against taking further “reckless” actions and decisions in support of Ukraine.
The Oreshnik was fired with conventional, not nuclear warheads. Putin said it was not a strategic nuclear weapon but its striking power and accuracy meant that its impact would be comparable, “especially when used in a massive group and in combination with other high-precision long-range systems.”
He said the missile was incapable of being shot down by an enemy.
“I will add that there is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasize once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production,” he said.
