Daily: 03/03/2022

Western Sanctions Push Russia Back to Soviet-Type Market

It’s unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin expected the sanctions that followed his invasion of Ukraine. But their severity could have far-reaching economic consequences for Russia. Oksana Bedratenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.

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Russian State Media Move to Alternative Video Streaming Site After Several Bans

Following moves by tech companies and the EU to reduce the visibility of Russian state media site RT, the network says it will begin streaming its content on a YouTube-like platform called Rumble.

“RT gets ready to… Rumble: After a multitude of platforms have moved to knock out our broadcast and limit social media…,” RT wrote in a Thursday tweet.

According to a statement on the Rumble website, the company “was built on the belief that all creators should have the opportunity to freely express themselves and reach their followers without censorship or restrictions.”

As of Thursday, the RT livestream in English was still functioning on YouTube in the United States.

On February 27, the European Union announced it was “banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the Union.” YouTube reportedly also blocked RT in the EU.

Twitter announced Monday that it will start labeling and making it harder for users to see tweets about the invasion of Ukraine that contain information from Russian state media like RT and Sputnik.

Facebook has similar measures.

A popular streaming service called Roku removed the RT channel from its channel store in Europe, Reuters reported.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.

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Грузія і Молдова подають заявки на вступ до Євросоюзу

Офіційні заявки на вступ до ЄС підписали президент Молдови Мая Санду і прем’єр-міністр Грузії Іраклій Гарібашвілі

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ЄС схвалив надзвичайні заходи для захисту українських біженців

«Історичне рішення… прямо зараз; ЄС надасть тимчасовий захист тим, хто втікає від війни в Україні»

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Відповідальність для колаборантів і мародерів: Рада провела закрите засідання

Ухвалені, зокрема, законопроєкти про націоналізацію російських активів в Україні; про посилення покарання за мародерство, виправдання дій агресора і антиукраїнську пропаганду

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Європейська Рада питає думки Єврокомісії щодо надання Україні членства в ЄС

Надання Україні статусу кандидата обговорюватимуть міністри закордонних справ ЄС під час зустрічі завтра

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IPC: Russian, Belarusian Athletes Barred from Beijing Paralympics

Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred on Thursday from the Winter Paralympics in Beijing on the eve of the Games following threats of boycotts by other teams over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.

Belarus has been a key staging area for the invasion, which was launched a week ago.

The decision comes a day after the IPC gave athletes from the two countries the green light to participate as neutrals, saying that the governing body had followed its rules and that “athletes were not the aggressors.”

But that decision led to an outcry and threats from other countries’ National Paralympic Committees (NPC) to boycott the Games, IPC President Andrew Parsons told a news conference in Beijing.

“They told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the Winter Games,” Parsons said.

“Multiple NPCs, some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete.”

Parsons said it was clear the situation put his organization in a “unique and impossible position” so close to the start of the Games, adding that an overwhelming number of members had been in touch and been forthright in their objections to Russia and Belarus taking part.

A 71-member Russian contingent and 12-member team from Belarus are already in Beijing for the Games, which begin on Friday.

Parsons said the Russian and Belarusian athletes were victims of the actions of their governments.

“Athlete welfare will always be a priority for us,” he said.

“If Russian and Belarusian athletes stayed in Beijing, nations were likely to withdraw, and a viable Games would not have been possible.

“The atmosphere in the Games village is not pleasant. The situation there is escalating and has now become untenable … The Games are not only about gold, silver and bronze, but also about sending a strong message of inclusion.”

Parsons said the IPC was likely to face legal consequences but was confident that the right decision had been made.

The IPC said earlier in a statement that following a specially convened meeting, its Governing Board has decided not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part.

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France Seizes Yacht Connected to Putin Ally

The French government Wednesday seized a yacht connected to Russian oil oligarch Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of European Union sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a written statement posted on his official Twitter account, French Minister of Public Action and Accounts Olivier Dussopt said the 85.6-meter yacht — the Amore Vero — was seized by French customs agents at a shipyard at La Ciotat, near Marseille, in the south of France. The statement said the yacht is owned by a company “in which Sechin is the main shareholder.”

Sechin runs Russian petroleum company Rosneft and is also a former Russian government official.

Dussopt’s Twitter post includes a photograph of the yacht, which reportedly features a swimming pool that turns into a helipad, as well as multiple decks, including one with a hot tub.  

The statement says the boat arrived in La Ciotat on January 3 for repairs and was scheduled to remain there until April 1. French customs officers say when they arrived to inspect the yacht, its crew was preparing an urgent departure, even though the repair work wasn’t finished, the statement said. The boat was seized to prevent its departure.

Forbes magazine has reported that German authorities have seized the superyacht Dilbar belonging to billionaire Alisher Usmanov, but the report has not been confirmed.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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Канада та Японія оголосили про нові санкції проти Росії

Канада запроваджує обмеження для 10 високопосадовців компаній «Газпром» і «Роснєфть»

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Російським і білоруським спортсменам заборонено брати участь у Паралімпіаді в Пекіні

У МОК пояснили, що ухвалили рішення «з метою захисту чесності глобальних спортивних змагань і безпеки всіх учасників»

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Біля Волновахи збито російський винищувач-бомбардувальник СУ-34 – штаб ООС

Інших подробиць операції військові не вказують

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One Week Into Russia’s Invasion, War Rages in Ukraine

One week into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces continue their push despite condemnation from the United Nations General Assembly, which voted overwhelmingly to reprimand Russia for invading Ukraine. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the latest.

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North Korea Kept Ukraine Invasion Secret to All Except Ruling Party Members

North Korean authorities waited days to tell the nation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, first informing only members of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party in private meetings, who later spread the word, government officials told RFA.

In North Korea’s one-party state, membership in the Workers’ Party is reserved for the privileged or for exemplary soldiers who complete long mandatory stints in the armed forces.

The Russian military began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, but it wasn’t until two days later that Pyongyang told the party members.

“Yesterday, each regional party committee in the province informed all the party members that our strong ally Russia was at war,” an official from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service on Feb. 27.

“International relations are strained with Russia at war, so the regional party committee demanded that everyone be ready to be mobilized at all times,” the source said.

The Soviet Union helped establish North Korea in 1948 after occupying the northern half of the Korean peninsula following Japan’s defeat in World War II, installing as leader the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia moved in 2000 to revitalize ties with Pyongyang that had fallen off with the USSR’s collapse.

The central party leaders delivered the Ukraine news to each provincial party committee, ordering them to tell party members at their weekly meeting, where they confess political errors and reaffirm their commitment to be loyal to the country and its leaders.

“The news came privately during self-criticism on Saturday,” said the source. “The party members were told to be ready to mobilize at any time.”

The party members were not surprised, but still wondered why the authorities were keeping news of the invasion private, according to the source.

“The party members, of course, already knew from their Chinese acquaintances … that war had begun, but they were more interested in what caused Russia to invade Ukraine,” the source said.

After the news was broken to party members in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, it began spreading rapidly among the public, a resident there told RFA.

“They not only stated that Russia is at war, they also ordered us to be prepared to enter into war immediately under any circumstances,” said the second source.

“In response, some residents showed a radical reaction, saying they wish that war would break out and this disgusting system we are living under would come to an end,” the second source said.

The second source said that some residents recognize the hypocrisy of the government siding with Russia while it invades an independent country.

“The authorities are always quick to criticize the United States as an aggressor, repeatedly asserting the independence of Korea, and the U.S.’ interference in our internal affairs,” the second source said, referring to Washington’s military presence in South Korea, which North Korea considers to be an occupation of its sovereign territory.

“That is why they are watching the government’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

The state-run Korea Central News Agency reported Monday that a spokesperson for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the U.S. and other Western countries for war breaking out in Ukraine.

“The U.S. and the West, in defiance of Russia’s reasonable and just demand to provide it with legal guarantee for security, have systematically undermined the security environment of Europe by becoming more blatant in their attempts to deploy attack weapon system [sic] while defiantly pursuing NATO’s eastward expansion,” the spokesperson said according to KCNA’s English version of the report.

“Having devastated Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, [they] are mouthing phrases about ‘respect for sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integrity’ over the Ukrainian situation which was detonated by themselves. That does not stand to reason at all,” the spokesperson said.

Though it was the first official statement on Ukraine by Pyongyang, two days earlier a commentary published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed Washington and its allies for “high-handedness and arbitrariness that are shaking international peace and stability at the basis,” as rendered in the English version of the commentary.

Penned by researcher Ri Ji Song, it said that the U.S. was disregarding Russia’s demands for security and “unilaterally” expanding NATO to cause an imbalance of military power in Europe.

“The U.S embellishes its own interference in internal affairs of others as ‘righteous’ for peace and stability of the world, but it denounces for no good reason self-defensive measures taken by other countries to ensure their own national security as ‘injustice’ and ‘provocation,’” wrote Ri.

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Слідом за Boeing та Airbus: бразильський авіавиробник Embraer зупиняє постачання запчастин до Росії

«Embraer уважно стежить за розвитком подій і продовжує дотримуватися міжнародних санкцій щодо Росії», – йдеться у заяві

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Уряд пропонує РНБО запровадити санкції проти Путіна, Лаврова, Шойгу та десятків високопосадовців Росії

Зазначається, що санкції має бути застосовано «у звʼязку з повномасштабним воєнним вторгненням Російської Федерації на територію України, скоєнням масових воєнних злочинів на території України»

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Eight US States Investigate TikTok’s Impact on Children 

A consortium of U.S. states announced on Wednesday a joint investigation into TikTok’s possible harm to young users of the platform, which has boomed in popularity, especially among children. 

Officials across the United States have launched their own investigations and lawsuits against Big Tech giants as new national regulations have failed to pass, partly because of partisan gridlock in Congress. 

The consortium of eight states will look into the harm TikTok can cause to its young users and what the company knew about such possible harm, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said a statement.  

Leading the investigation is a coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont.

The investigation will focus, among other things, on TikTok’s techniques to boost young user engagement, including efforts to increase the frequency and duration of children’s use. 

“We don’t know what social media companies knew about these harms and when,” Bonta said in a statement.  

“Our nationwide investigation will allow us to get much-needed answers and determine if TikTok is violating the law in promoting its platform to young Californians,” he added. 

TikTok’s short-form videos have boomed in popularity with the youngest users, prompting growing concern from parents over the potential that their children could develop unhealthy use habits or be exposed to harmful content. 

TikTok welcomes investigation

The platform welcomed the investigation as a chance to provide information on its efforts to protect users. 

“We care deeply about building an experience that helps to protect and support the well-being of our community,” TikTok’s statement said. 

“We look forward to providing information on the many safety and privacy protections we have for teens,” it added. 

Social media’s impact on young users came under renewed scrutiny last year when Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked a trove of internal company documents raising questions over whether it had prioritized growth over users’ safety. 

The documents were given to lawmakers, a consortium of journalists and U.S. regulators by Haugen, who has become a figurehead of criticism of the leading social media platform. 

Despite media attention on the issue and hearings before U.S. lawmakers, no new rules have gotten close to being enacted on the national level. 

States have instead proceeded with their own efforts to look into Big Tech companies. 

For example, a consortium of U.S. states announced a joint probe in November of Instagram’s parent company, Meta, for promoting the app to children despite allegedly knowing its potential for harm. The consortium of attorneys general, states’ top law enforcers and legal advisers, included some of the same states as Wednesday’s probe, like California and Florida.

Instagram sparked fierce criticism for its plans to make a version of the photo-sharing app for younger users. It later halted development. 

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США розширили санкції проти Росії та Білорусі

Новий пакет санкцій стосується 22 російських компаній, повʼязаних із оборонним сектором

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US Sanctions Against Russian Oligarchs Take Shape

The United States on Wednesday announced a comprehensive effort to identify and seize the assets of wealthy Russians who have supported the regime of Russian President Vladmir Putin, as part of its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The new initiative, led by the Justice Department, is called Operation KleptoCapture and was hinted at by President Joe Biden on Tuesday in his State of the Union address.

“Tonight, I say to the Russian oligarchs and the corrupt leaders who bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime: No more,” Biden said. “The United States Department of Justice is assembling a dedicated task force to go after the crimes of the Russian oligarchs. We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the formation of the new task force, noting that its aim would be to enforce the punishing array of economic sanctions that have been levied against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last week.

“The Justice Department will use all of its authorities to seize the assets of individuals and entities who violate these sanctions,” Garland said. “We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute those whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue this unjust war. Let me be clear: If you violate our laws, we will hold you accountable.”

Familiar tools

Experts say the work of tracking and seizing the assets will rely on a combination of intelligence-gathering, data analysis and cooperation with international partners, which is common in criminal investigations.

“We’ve seen asset seizures in the past. We have seen yachts and apartments and stuff taken,” said Daniel P. Ahn, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former chief economist for the Department of State. “This is a difference of scale, rather than a difference of instrument.”

Ahn said that identifying the real owners of some assets will be a “sticky intelligence problem.” Assets owned by extremely wealthy individuals are often controlled by a complex web of shell companies and other entities that disguise what law enforcement officials refer to as the “beneficial owner.”

Yachts on the move

Since the countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and other allies began leveling sanctions on Russian banks and wealthy supporters of Putin, mega yachts owned, or believed to be owned, by Russian oligarchs have been tracked leaving ports in countries that have joined in the sanctions.

Several have sailed to the Republic of Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

On Wednesday, the oligarch Roman Abramovich, who owns the highly successful London-based football club Chelsea, announced that he had put the club up for sale, in the process writing off some $2 billion in loans he has made to it. On Tuesday, a member of the British Parliament said in a speech to the House of Commons that Abramovich was also trying to sell off a number of luxury properties in London.

Unloading obvious assets

Experts say they believe the oligarchs may try to dispose of assets that can be most easily linked to them in the hope that their seizure will satisfy Western governments.

“If I’m a kleptocrat, and I don’t want them to get the bulk of my stuff, I’m going to throw away the stuff that everybody knows about, and then they’ll hopefully leave me alone,” Jim Richards, founder and principal of RegTech Consulting, told VOA.

Richards, who was the director of financial crimes risk management for Wells Fargo & Company for a dozen years, said Abramovich and other oligarchs will have been careful to have large amounts of wealth hidden in complex holdings that will be difficult or impossible for law enforcement agencies to detect.

“I mean, the last thing these guys want is for their girlfriends, their kids and themselves to all end up in some apartment in Moscow,” he said.

Aim of sanctions

As Western nations continue to pile sanctions on the Russian economy, their ultimate objective could be questioned.

Ahn said there are three aims when it comes to sanctions, which may or may not overlap. The first is to inflict economic damage on the target. The second is to deter or reverse specific behaviors. The third is to express disapproval of specific actions by the party being sanctioned and/or solidarity with a victim of those actions.

Ahn said that to the degree the sanctions imposed on Russia are aimed at doing economic damage, they have been a “qualified success” so far. Time will likely worsen the effects on the Russian economy. But when it comes to preventing or reversing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the sanctions have plainly failed, at least so far.

The symbolic success of sanctions regimes is typically greater the more multilateral they are, Ahn said. On that score, the actions taken against Russia have been quite successful, doing significant reputational damage to Putin’s government.

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Chernobyl Staff Cold, Hungry, Exhausted, Ukrainian Nuclear Regulator Says

Ukrainian staff maintaining the decommissioned nuclear power plant at the site of the 1986 nuclear accident are hungry, exhausted and at increased risk of making errors while under the control of Russian military occupiers, officials with Ukraine’s main nuclear regulatory agency say.

A relative of one of the workers tells VOA that the staff, who have now been manning the facility for a week without relief, are without clean clothes and blankets and are provided only one meal a day. The Russian soldiers guarding them are also short of supplies and have been scavenging in local villages for food, according to a woman who has been in contact with a relative inside the nuclear plant.

The facility, just 16 kilometers from the Belarusian border, was one of the first sites to fall to Russian forces, who invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and quickly disarmed a nuclear plant security force of 150 national guard troops. No deaths were reported.

Russian media quoted the defense ministry two days later saying an agreement had been reached on joint security at the plant by Russian airborne forces and the Ukrainian national guard.

But the regulatory authority, known as the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, said in a letter to VOA that that the guard troops were taken prisoner and remain inside the facility.

Also inside are the 95 night shift workers on duty when the Russians arrived, the medical staff of the nearby Slavutych City Hospital, firefighters, and four sightseers who had asked for shelter, the inspectorate said. Altogether, about 300 Ukrainians are trapped inside.

The inspectorate’s letter said the members of the night crew, who normally work in 12-hour shifts, have not been relieved since the takeover. They have now worked more than 14 consecutive shifts.

“Operational personnel are physically and morally exhausted and can perform only a limited number of priority measures to maintain security and monitoring. This state of staff, despite the high level of professionalism, can cause staff errors,” the letter said.

A woman whose relative works inside said that she could communicate by mobile phone until digital communications were cut off Saturday, but that she is still receiving word of conditions in the plant, where rations have been cut to one meal a day. She asked that only her first name, Natalia, be used for fear of retaliation against her relative.

“Before that, two meals — at noon and midnight. Staff walked around the station searching for remaining candies and biscuits in offices and lockers,” Natalia said.

She said the Russian soldiers who seized the station didn’t have supplies, so they went to the nearby villages, asking for food. The soldiers are treating the staff “with respect” and have not mistreated anyone, she said, but conditions are difficult because of the cold.

“My relative sleeps on the table, dressed in several layers of sweatshirts,” Natalia said. “In this situation, you can’t sleep much because they have to keep track of everything that happens.”

Radiation concerns

The Chernobyl power plant’s management painted a more reassuring picture of the situation in a public statement posted to its Facebook page on Tuesday, saying that there was no shortage of food inside the facility and everyone was still healthy.

“Under ‘no-rotation’ conditions, the ChNPP [Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant] staff has been demonstrating high spirit and solidarity with each other, as well as huge responsibility for their duties. Luckily, all of them are safe and sound. The plant’s systems operate without any faults. The stock of food is currently enough,” says the statement.

The Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, however, said in its letter to VOA that the Russian soldiers do not comply with the “sanitary regime” involving standard precautions to protect against the escape of radioactive materials. This “will inevitably lead to the spread of radiation pollution from areas with higher levels of pollution to less contaminated areas and premises,” it said.

The letter noted that the recorded gamma radiation levels were 5-15 times higher than the average for 2021. “One of the reasons may be the disturbance of the upper layer of radiation-contaminated soil as a result of the movement of heavy military equipment,” the letter said, adding that as a result, radioactive particles were lifted along with the dust.

The current levels of gamma radiation do not pose a threat to human health outside the exclusion zone, which extends about 30 kilometers in all directions from the plant, the agency said. But it cautioned that it is no longer receiving data from the plant and cannot detect “the dynamics of gamma radiation levels.”

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is the site of what is considered the world’s worst nuclear disaster. On April 26, 1986, its Number 4 reactor suffered a core meltdown followed by a series of explosions. The reactor was eventually shut down and encased in a steel and concrete containment structure.

Three other reactors remained in operation after the disaster, but all were shut down by 2000 and still are in the process of being fully decommissioned. The site cleanup is not expected to be completed until 2065.

Ukrainian authorities are keeping the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informed about developments at the Chernobyl facility and another 15 nuclear reactors at four stations, which provide about half of the country’s total electricity production.

In a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on Wednesday, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that he had received a letter from the inspectorate asking for “immediate assistance to ensure the safety of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear facilities in the country.” Grossi said his agency had begun consultations on the request.

Grossi also called for “restraint from all measures or actions that could jeopardize the security of nuclear and other radioactive material, and the safe operation of any nuclear facilities in Ukraine, because any such incident could have severe consequences, aggravating human suffering and causing environmental harm.”

“It is of utmost importance that the staff working at the Specialized Enterprise Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant are able to do their job safely and effectively and that their personal well-being is guaranteed by those who have taken control,” Grossi said.

He advised the board that Ukraine’s nuclear plants were operating normally despite the circumstances, but that grave danger remained.

“It is the first time a military conflict is happening amidst the facilities of a large established nuclear power program, which in this case also include the site of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant,” he said.

War-related dangers

Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute in Washington, told VOA the most significant danger at the Chernobyl plant comes from possible damage to the confinement structure due to hostilities. He said the reactors elsewhere in Ukraine, which do not have confinement structures, are vulnerable to being hit by missiles.

“This is the first time we’ve had a war between two countries that have large civilian nuclear power complexes. And that, I think, is even a greater risk than Chernobyl that something’s going to happen to disrupt the shielding and safety of one of those reactors,” Weitz said.

Chary Rangacharyulu, a physics and engineering professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said the Russians may try to use the nuclear plants for political leverage, but he doubts they are “so foolish to destroy those facilities and let out radioactivities into the atmosphere.”

“However, if they make mistakes and blow up a facility or two, the harm will not be limited to Ukraine. It will go beyond. Russia and Belarus are the neighboring countries that will be very much affected. Let us hope and pray that the Russian government is not that insane to cause harm to its own people,” he said in a written response to questions from VOA.

Wade Allison, a professor of physics and a fellow at Keble College at Oxford University in England, said he saw no threat posed by the Chernobyl situation because “there have been no active nuclear reactors at Chernobyl since 2000. Spent fuel is not a problem.”

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Макрон звинуватив Росію в агресії проти України та брехні про «нацистів»

«Це брехня, зневажання історії Росії та історії України, які боролися проти нацизму»

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У Росії знову затримання на акціях проти війни. Дума розгляне покарання для авторів «фейків про армію»

Протестні виступи 2 березня проходили у Москві, Санкт-Петербурзі, Єкатеринбурзі, Челябінську, Новосибірську, Кургані, Пермі, Іркутську, Красноярську, Тамбові й Іванові

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За гроші «єПідтримки» тепер можна придбати будь-які продукти чи товари – Федоров

Програма вже не має обмежень на конкретний напрямок бізнесу, заявив Федоров

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Арахамія: другий раунд переговорів із РФ пройде не в Біловезькій Пущі

«Інформація про проведення перемовин у Біловезькій Пущі не відповідає дійсності. Перемовини дійсно будуть, але місце інше. Всі деталі пізніше»

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