PARIS: A leading opponent of Vladimir Putin, freed in a prisoner swap last month, on Monday urged the West against allowing the Russian leader any “face-saving” way out of the war against Ukraine, saying the end of his quarter-century of rule was the only solution for peace.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, who had been serving a 25-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony on treason and other charges after denouncing the invasion of Ukraine, was one of 16 Russian dissidents and foreign nationals freed on August 1 in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse in Paris, Kara-Murza, 43, predicted he would be able to return to his homeland as the “regime” of Putin would not last.
Arriving in France after visits to countries including Germany, he acknowledged there was “fatigue” in Western societies over the war sparked by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine but insisted the “Putin regime must be defeated.”
“It is very important that Vladimir Putin is not allowed to win the war against Ukraine,” said Kara-Murza, who met with French President Emmanuel Macron later Monday.
“It is very important that Vladimir Putin is not allowed to have a face-saving exit from this war in Ukraine.”
The Cambridge-educated Kara-Murza lashed out at Western “realpolitik” in dealing with Russia under Putin, which he said had made the Russian leader “the monster he is today.”
“Enough of realpolitik,” he said.
“If, God forbid, the Putin regime is allowed to present the outcome of this war as a victory and survive in power, all this means is that a year or 18 months from now we will be talking about another war, conflict or another catastrophe.”
Kara-Murza, a dual Russian and UK national, said he would be “honored” to go to Ukraine and meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that he was in favor of building bridges between Russia’s pro-democracy movement and Ukraine.
“We will have to find ways of living together and of overcoming this horrendous tragedy that the Putin regime has unleashed,” he said.
“It is not going to be an easy process, it’s not going to be a quick process, but we know that it’s possible.”
He said he felt a “special kind of solidarity” with Ukrainian officers who were held in his Siberian prison camp, even though they were not allowed to speak to each other.
Kara-Murza said he had been “absolutely certain” he would die in the penal colony in the Omsk region — until one morning he was suddenly put on a plane to Moscow and then with other prisoners involved swapped in the Turkish capital Ankara.
“Nobody has ever asked our consent,” he said. “They herded us on a plane like cattle and threw us out of Russia.”
Macron applauded the Kremlin opponent for his “courage” during their meeting late Monday, while reiterating “France’s support for all defenders of human rights and freedom of expression,” the presidency said in a statement.
Kara-Murza earlier said he had no doubt he would return to his country.
“Not only is the Putin regime not forever, I think... it will be over in the very foreseeable future,” he said.
“And we will have a mammoth task ahead of us in rebuilding our country from the ruins that Putin is going to leave.”
Pointing to the collapse of Tsarist rule in 1917 and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kara-Murza said that “major political change in Russia comes suddenly, unexpectedly and no one is ever prepared for it.”
Kara-Murza, who sees as his mentor the campaigner Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in Moscow in 2015, brushed off fears for his own safety outside Russia.
“Security is not a word that comes into the vocabulary of somebody who is in opposition to Putin’s regime in Russia,” said Kara-Murza, who was the target of two poisoning attacks against his life even before his arrest in 2022.
“Whether Putin likes it or not, the future is coming,” he said.
Kara-Murza recalled his own shock at hearing about the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a remote Arctic prison camp in February.
“I heard the news on the radio,” he said. “I don’t think I have the words to describe the feeling,” he said, adding that at first he could not believe it.
“After months and months in solitary confinement, your mind starts playing tricks on you,” he said. “I thought that maybe I’d made all of this up.”
He said he was confident Navalny was killed on the orders of Putin.
“Any Western leader who shakes hands with Vladimir Putin is shaking hands with a murderer.”
His wife Yevgenia, who tirelessly campaigned for his release, said “rage” against the “crimes” committed by the Kremlin in Ukraine and Russia had sustained her.
“The rage that I’ve been feeling for all these years... outweighs any fears that I can experience,” she said, pledging to continue to fight for the release of other political prisoners.
Vladimir called himself “the luckiest man in the world.”
“I would not be sitting here speaking with you today if it wasn’t for Yevgenia,” he said.
Kremlin opponent Kara-Murza urges against ‘face-saving exit’ for Putin in Ukraine war
https://arab.news/cwf3t
Kremlin opponent Kara-Murza urges against ‘face-saving exit’ for Putin in Ukraine war
- Vladimir Kara-Murza, who had been serving a 25-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony on treason and other charges after denouncing the invasion of Ukraine
Trump’s national security adviser Waltz leaving post: US media
Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong were both set to leave, CBS News reported, while Fox News said Trump was expected to comment on the matter soon. The White House did not immediately comment.
‘Not a commodity’: UN staff rally over deep cuts
- Carrying signs reading “We stand for humanity” and “Protect the protectors,” protesters poured into the square in front of the UN European headquarters
- “We’re supposed to stand for workers’ rights, so this is really tough,” Lena, an ILO staff member said
GENEVA: Hundreds of UN staff rallied in Geneva Thursday over deep funding cuts, especially from key donor the United States, which have led to mass-layoffs and threatened life-saving services around the world.
The demonstration, called by UN staff unions and associations, brought together workers from a wide range of Geneva-based agencies, along with their families and supporters under a blazing sun.
Carrying signs reading “UN staff are not a commodity,” “We stand for humanity,” “Stop firing UN staff now” and “Protect the protectors,” protesters poured into the square in front of the United Nations European headquarters.
“We’re supposed to stand for workers’ rights, so this is really tough,” Lena, a staff member at the International Labour Organization, told AFP, refusing to give her last name.
“You just feel helpless,” she said, standing next to her daughter sound asleep in a baby carriage with a sign reading “We stand for better jobs in the world” propped on top.
Humanitarian organizations worldwide have been reeling since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, pushing an anti-refugee and anti-migrant agenda and immediately freezing most US foreign aid funding.
The United States has traditionally been by far the top donor to a number of agencies, which have been left scrambling to fill sudden and gaping budget gaps.
A number of agencies have already signalled the dire consequences as austerity measures take hold across the UN system.
According to UN staff unions, the UN refugee agency is preparing to cut up to 30 percent of its staff worldwide, while the International Organization for Migration has said it will need to lay off more than 6,000 staff members, or over a third of its workforce.
The World Food Programme is meanwhile preparing to cut between 25 and 30 percent of its global workforce.
Thousands of jobs are also being cut at the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, with many more hanging in the balance, the staff unions said.
They also noted that nearly one in 10 jobs were being eliminated at the ILO, while the UN children’s agency UNICEF is facing a projected 20-percent budget cut.
“So many people are afraid of losing their jobs,” said Elodie Saban, who works at the main UN Geneva office.
“People who work for the UN are often asked to make extreme sacrifices. It is outrageous to see how they are being treated.”
Ian Richards, head of the UN office in Geneva staff union, stressed in a statement that “our colleagues have worked in some of the most dangerous, difficult and isolated locations in the world.”
“They couldn’t choose when or where they moved. They have sacrificed their personal and family lives, and in some cases paid the ultimate price, to help those in need,” he said, decrying that now “many are being let go without any social or financial support from their employers.”
Lena agreed, pointing out that some workers “are here for 20 years, and then it is basically: ‘goodbye’, you’re gone in two months.”
She highlighted that international UN staff are not granted unemployment benefits in the countries they work in, and their residence permits expire within a month of losing their employment.
Even worse, perhaps, would be the impact on operations in the field where the UN’s humanitarian agencies provide life-saving aid to millions of people, while an agency like the ILO battles against things like child labor, Lena said.
“Now, we just have to tell people we have worked with for years, ‘sorry’.”
Bangladesh holds mass political rallies in anticipation of first vote since Hasina ouster
- Thousands of people gathered for a May Day rally organized by Bangladesh Nationalist Party
- Chief of Bangladesh’s interim administration earlier said election could take place end of 2025
DHAKA: Three days of mass rallies began in Bangladesh on Thursday as political parties seek to drum up support ahead of the anticipated first vote since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The country’s interim government, headed by Nobel prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus, has been implementing a series of reforms. And preparing for elections since taking charge in August, after Hasina fled Dhaka amid student-led protests that called for her resignation.
Yunus has said that Bangladesh could hold elections by the end of 2025 or in the first half of 2026, provided that electoral reforms take place first.
As thousands of people gathered in Dhaka for a May Day rally organized by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday, its leaders seek to highlight the rights of Bangladeshis to a free and fair election.
The BNP’s Vice Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu told Arab News: “People were deprived of their voting rights in the last three general elections due to a fraudulent environment.
“Considering the present context, people are optimistic that they would get the chance to exercise voting rights and eventually hand over power to their trusted political party.
“In this way, a democratic government will be reinstated in the country.”
He added: “These expectations and dreams of the countrymen will be represented through our mass demonstration today.”
“We want to see a Bangladesh, which is run through a democratic system, where people would be able to exercise and enjoy all of their due rights.”
The country’s largest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, also held a rally on Thursday.
They will be followed on Friday by a mass demonstration organized by the National Citizens Party, which was formed by the students who spearheaded the youth-led protests that overthrew Hasina.
On Saturday, Hefazat-e-Islam, a powerful Islamic organization in the country, is also expected to hold a “grand rally.”
The series of political rallies are taking place a little over a year since Bangladesh’s last elections in January 2024, when Hasina won a fourth term in polls that were boycotted by the main opposition parties.
Following 15 years of uninterrupted rule, Hasina and her Awami League party had allegedly politicized key government institutions, including the Election Commission.
Bangladesh is going through a “transitional moment,” said NCP Joint Member Secretary Saleh Uddin Sifat, highlighting that the interim government’s ongoing work is crucial to secure a better future for the country.
“If we can’t reform or overhaul the other machineries of the state, like (the) judiciary, police, constitution etc., before the election, then the next government might also be an authoritarian one because of the existence of the authoritarian elements within the state machineries,” Sifat told Arab News.
Sifat is expecting a good turnout at the NCP rally on Friday, which will urge for reforms in various state institutions and demand justice for alleged crimes committed by members of the Awami League.
“We believe our next general election will not simply serve as a medium of transferring power,” he said. “Rather, it will pave the way for a permanent and effective reformation of the structural issues of the country.”
UK counter-terrorism unit probes rappers Kneecap but music stars back band
- Since the row erupted Kneecap has had several concerts canceled, including one in southwest England and three in Germany
- London’s Metropolitan Police said two videos had been “referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers”
LONDON: British counter-terrorism police Thursday launched an investigation into online videos of Irish rappers Kneecap after the band denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or inciting violence against UK politicians.
The announcement came as nearly 40 other groups and artists, among them Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream, rallied around the band amid an escalating row about political messaging at its concerts.
Other artists offering their support are The Pogues, Massive Attack, Dexys and Thin Lizzy.
“As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom,” the group said in a joint statement.
They added there had been a “clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform.”
Since the row erupted Kneecap has had several concerts canceled, including one in southwest England and three in Germany.
London’s Metropolitan Police said two videos had been “referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers, who have determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offenses linked to both videos.”
The investigation was “now being carried out by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command and inquiries remain ongoing at this time,” it added.
Kneecap on Monday apologized to the families of murdered British politicians and denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.
The damaging controversy began after police on Sunday said they were examining video footage.
One video appeared to show a band member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Those groups, in Gaza and in Lebanon, are banned as terrorist organizations in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin had urged the band to clarify whether they supported the groups or not.
Video also emerged of the Belfast rap trio at a 2023 gig appearing to show one member saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
The family of Conservative MP David Amess, who was fatally stabbed by an Daesh group follower in 2021, called for an apology from Kneecap.
In its denial issued late on Monday, Kneecap said video footage had been “deliberately taken out of context.
“Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah,” it said, adding the band would never “seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever.”
“To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt,” it said, also referring to Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered in 2016 by a neo-Nazi sympathizer a week before the divisive Brexit referendum.
The war in Gaza followed an attack in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has caused a humanitarian crisis and killed at least 52,243 people, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
UN chief issues plea over Sudan’s ‘relentless suffering’ in wake of civilian massacres
- Antonio Guterres says scale of needs to address ‘catastrophe’ is ‘overwhelming’
- Civil war, now in its third year, has created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis
NEW YORK CITY: The UN secretary-general has sounded the alarm over the “increasingly catastrophic” situation in Sudan amid deadly battles and civilian massacres in Al-Fasher, a strategic city in the country’s southwest.
It came as UN rights chief Volker Turk said that the “horror unfolding” in Sudan “knows no bounds.”
At least 542 civilians have been killed in North Darfur State, of which Al-Fasher is the capital, in the past three weeks, the UN said on Thursday, warning that the true death toll was probably “much higher.”
Darfur has become a flashpoint in the deadly war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.
Last month, the latter withdrew from Khartoum, the country’s capital, after an offensive by government forces.
The civil war that broke out in 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a statement on Wednesday, condemned the “appalling” situation in Sudan and highlighted deadly attacks on two refugee camps in Al-Fasher.
The massacres a fortnight ago at the famine-stricken Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps “reportedly killed hundreds of civilians, including humanitarian workers,” he said.
It comes as the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, seeks to capture the strategic city, the last major area in the region outside its control.
More than 400,000 people are believed to have fled the Zamzam camp in April, Guterres said.
The secretary-general highlighted his “deep concern” over reports of “harassment, intimidation and arbitrary detention” of displaced people at checkpoints in the city.
The UN and its partners “are doing what they can” to urgently boost emergency aid to the Tawila area of North Darfur, he added.
Many of the displaced who fled Zamzam camp in the wake of the attacks traveled to Tawila, a town west of Al-Fashir.
Yet the scale of needs required by the displaced is “overwhelming,” Guterres said, and that “desperate people,” mostly women and children, are crossing the Sudanese border into Chad to seek safety.
The response to the “relentless suffering and destruction” in Sudan requires safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all necessary routes in the country, he said.
The UN chief called on the warring parties to protect civilians in line with their obligations under international law.
Guterres renewed his appeal for an immediate end to hostilities and urged the international community to “act with urgency” to bring an end to the violence.
Turk, in his statement on Thursday, highlighted “the ominous warning by the RSF of ‘bloodshed’ ahead of imminent battles with the Sudanese Armed Forces and their associated armed movements.”
The UN rights chief described as “extremely disturbing” reports of extrajudicial executions in Khartoum State.
“Horrific videos circulating on social media show at least 30 men in civilian clothing being rounded up and executed by armed men in RSF uniforms in Al-Salha in southern Omdurman.”
Turk said he had “personally alerted” the leadership of both the RSF and SAF in a bid to highlight the “catastrophic human rights consequences” of the civil war.
“These harrowing consequences are a daily, lived reality for millions of Sudanese. It is well past time for this conflict to stop.”
