MOSCOW: The Kremlin has never made any deals with Telegram boss Pavel Durov, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, adding that he was not aware of any meetings between the tech entrepreneur and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A French judge put Russian-born Durov under formal investigation on Wednesday for suspected complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud.
Durov’s lawyer said on Thursday it was “absurd” to suggest he should be held responsible for any crimes committed on the app.
“There were no negotiations between Durov and the Kremlin,” Peskov told reporters. “And the fact that he visited Russia, well, he is a Russian citizen, he moves freely, so naturally he visited Russia.
“There were no deals between the Kremlin and Durov,” Peskov said in response to further questions.
Peskov said that as far as he was aware, Putin and Durov had never met.
Russia, after years of pressure on Durov and his tech ventures, has rallied behind him, with Peskov this week saying that the case against him should not become political persecution.
Moscow tried and failed to block Telegram, which has almost 1 billion users, in 2018, and has demanded the platform hand over data in the past, something Durov says he refused to do.
The case has plunged Franco-Russian relations to new lows, according to Moscow, where some pro-Kremlin figures have accused Washington of being behind the detention of Durov, something Paris has denied.
Kremlin says it made no deals with Telegram boss Durov
https://arab.news/jw69v
Kremlin says it made no deals with Telegram boss Durov
- Durov under formal French investigation for suspected complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud
Australia PM hits back at Musk after ‘fascists’ quip
- Australia introduced a ‘combating misinformation’ bill earlier this week
- Bill includes sweeping powers to fine tech giants up to five percent of their annual turnover for breaching online safety obligations
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hit back at Elon Musk on Saturday after the tech mogul called his government “fascists” for proposing laws that would fine social media giants for spreading misinformation.
Australia introduced a “combating misinformation” bill earlier this week, which includes sweeping powers to fine tech giants up to five percent of their annual turnover for breaching online safety obligations.
“Fascists,” Musk posted Thursday on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
But Albanese fired back at Musk on Saturday, saying social media “has a social responsibility.”
“If Mr.Musk doesn’t understand that, that says more about him than it does about my government,” he told reporters Saturday.
The exchange between Musk and Australian officials is the latest in a long-running spat with the Australian government over social media regulation.
Australia’s government is exploring a raft of new measures that would see social media companies take greater accountability for the content on their platforms — including a ban for those under 16 years old.
The country’s online watchdog took Musk’s company to court earlier this year, alleging it had failed to remove “extremely violent” videos that showed a Sydney preacher being stabbed.
But it abruptly dropped its attempt to force a global takedown order on X after Musk scored a legal victory in a preliminary hearing, a move he celebrated as a free speech triumph.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has clashed with politicians and digital rights groups worldwide, including in the European Union, which could decide within months to take action against X with possible fines.
In Brazil, where X has effectively been suspended after it ignored a series of court directives, Musk has responded by blasting the judge as an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.”
Blinken denounces ‘covert’ activities by Russia’s RT media
WASHINGTON: Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Friday accused Russian media outlet RT of being a “de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.”
“We know that RT possess cyber capabilities and engaged in covert information influence operations and military procurement,” the secretary of state told reporters.
Earlier this month, US authorities announced a battery of measures including sanctions and potential prosecution targeting Russian media over alleged attempts to interfere in this year’s American elections.
The State Department at that time imposed visa restrictions affecting a media group that includes RT, Rossia Segodnia, as well as others of its affiliates.
On Friday, Washington emphasized that the group’s efforts at destabilization extend far beyond the United States.
It said the Russian government this spring “embedded within RT an entity with cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence.”
It added: “This cyber entity has focused primarily on influence and intelligence operations all over the world.”
Advocacy groups urge UN to investigate killing of Reuters video journalist in Lebanon
- Issam Abdallah was killed by Israeli tank shells while filming cross-border exchange in south Lebanon in October
- Letter demands UN Commission to investigate possible war crimes, ensure accountability
LONDON: Advocacy groups have urged UN officials to investigate the death of Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed in southern Lebanon in October.
In a letter signed by 11 organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and the Lebanese Center for Human Rights, the group requested the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, to examine the circumstances surrounding Israel’s Oct. 13 attack.
They also urged the commission to investigate potential war crimes committed against journalists since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.
Abdallah, a 37-year-old video journalist, was killed by Israeli tank shells while filming a cross-border exchange.
Six other journalists were injured in the attack, including AFP photographer Christina Assi, who had her leg amputated.
Independent investigations by Reuters, AFP, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and RSF concluded that the attack was “deliberately” launched by Israeli forces on “clearly visible media members.”
The organizations condemned the attack as a violation of international law and called for a war crimes investigation.
A sixth investigation conducted by UNIFIL similarly concluded, according to a Reuters report published in March, that “an Israeli tank killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon by firing two 120 mm rounds at a group of ‘clearly identifiable journalists’ in violation of international law.”
#Lebanon: CPJ joined a letter to the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on IOPT to investigate and provide accountability for the murder of journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed by Israeli forces in south Lebanon on October 13, 2023.https://t.co/BNIIzLA0oX
— CPJ MENA (@CPJMENA) September 13, 2024
The letter asked the UN to publicly identify the military unit responsible for the attack and criticized Israeli authorities for failing to hold the perpetrators accountable.
“We submit this request in the hope that the work of the Commission may contribute to ensuring accountability for the killing of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, who lost his life in that attack, and for the six other journalists injured alongside him: Agence France Presse (AFP) journalists Christina Assi and Dylan Collins; Al Jazeera journalists Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya; and Reuters journalists Maher Nazih and Thaer Al-Soudani,” the letter read.
“Over 10 months have passed since this potential war crime was committed, but no tangible steps have been taken by any judicial body to secure justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators.”
It added: “We believe this to be of crucial importance to ensure redress for all victims, as well as to end impunity for crimes committed against journalists since 7 October 2023, including the ongoing targeting of journalists in Gaza, where more than 100 media employees have been killed by Israeli forces.”
Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats
- Desicion was taken after receiving ‘significant threats to festival operations and public safety’
- Film features a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine in February 2022
OTTAWA: The Toronto International Film Festival said Thursday it was pausing all upcoming screenings of controversial documentary “Russians at War” after receiving “significant threats.”
“We have been made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety,” festival organizers said in a statement, pointing to reports they received “indicating potential activity in the coming days that pose significant risk.”
“This is an unprecedented move for TIFF,” read the statement.
“Given the severity of these concerns, we cannot proceed as planned.”
Anastasia Trofimova first presented “Russians at War” at the Venice Film Festival.
In the film, she embedded with a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine after Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.
It was to have its North American premiere in Toronto on Friday, followed by additional screenings on Saturday and Sunday.
Both in Venice and Toronto it has sparked outrage in Ukrainian cultural and political circles against what many consider a pro-Kremlin film that seeks to whitewash and justify Moscow’s assault on its neighbor.
Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he felt the festival should have dropped the film.
“The threat is Russian propaganda,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that the film should be “banned.”
Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, criticized the planned screening in Toronto.
“There can be no moral equivalency in our understanding of this conflict,” she said.
Canadian public broadcaster TVO, which had helped fund the documentary, pulled its support for the film and said it would not be airing it.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s state film agency appealed to TIFF to drop the film, which it said was “a dangerous tool for public opinion manipulation.”
Trofimova has rejected the criticisms, telling AFP the Canada-France production was “an anti-war film” that showed “ordinary guys” who were fighting for Russia.
The soldiers depicted appear to have little idea of why they have been sent to the front, and are shown struggling to make Soviet-era weapons serviceable.
Others chain-smoke cigarettes and down shots of alcohol amid the deaths and wounds of their comrades.
Producer Sean Farnel said on X that the decision to cancel the screenings was “heartbreaking.”
He blamed officials’ public criticisms for having “incited the violent hate that has led to TIFF’s painful decision to pause its presentation of ‘Russians at War.’“
Investigation casts doubt on Israeli forces’ account of US-Turkish activist’s death
- Washington Post investigation suggests Aysenur Ezgi Eygi’s was the result of a ‘mischaracterization’ of events by soldiers
- Reconstruction of events reveals Eygi was shot about 20 minutes after protesters had retreated
LONDON: Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi’s death was the result of a “mischaracterization” of events by Israeli forces, raising fresh doubts about the official account, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.
Eygi was fatally shot in the head in early September while participating in a protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Although Israeli authorities initially described her death as likely “indirect and unintentional,” the Post’s investigation, based on 13 eyewitness testimonies and over 50 videos and photos provided by the International Solidarity Movement, paints a different picture.
The report indicates that the protests had largely subsided before Israeli soldiers opened fire.
Eygi was shot roughly 30 minutes after the height of confrontations, and about 20 minutes after protesters had retreated down the main road, some 200 yards (183 meters) away from Israeli forces.
Eygi herself had withdrawn to an olive grove far from the soldiers, approximately 180 meters away, before being struck by a bullet.
Witnesses claimed that a Palestinian teenager standing about 18 meters away from Eygi may have been the intended target of Israeli fire.
The Israeli army declined to comment on the investigation.
According to one of her colleagues, Eygi had explicitly decided beforehand she did not want to be “near any action.”
The report described chaotic scenes of violence following Friday prayers in the town of Beita, near Nablus, in the West Bank.
After young Palestinians erected barricades and threw rocks, Israeli soldiers responded with teargas and live ammunition.
Eygi, however, had moved to an olive grove far from the confrontation when she was hit by the fatal bullet.
The Post’s findings cast doubt on the justification for using live fire in this case, highlighting concerns about the broader use of excessive force by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
Israeli rights groups have noted that soldiers are often given broad discretion to open fire, even based on perceived future threats from suspects.
The incident has prompted international criticism, including from US President Joe Biden, who expressed sadness and anger over the death, though he echoed the Israeli account that the shooting was accidental.
Eygi’s family, however, has rejected this explanation, accusing the US government of accepting Israel’s narrative without independent investigation.
“President Biden is still calling her killing an accident based only on the Israeli military’s story. This is not only insensitive and false, it is complicit in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American,” the family said in a statement earlier this week.
Tensions between the US and Israel have grown more strained in recent months, particularly as violence in the West Bank has surged since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks.
At least 634 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during this period, according to the UN.
