QUITO: The president of Ecuador Lenin Moreno on Sunday described WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as an “inherited problem” that has created “more than a nuisance” for his government.
“We hope to have a positive result” on the issue, he said in an interview with television networks.
Earlier this month, Ecuador announced it had granted citizenship to Assange, in an unsuccessful attempt to provide him with diplomatic immunity and usher him out of its London embassy without the threat of arrest by Britain.
Moreno said his country was continuing to seek mediation involving “important people,” without specifying whom he meant.
Assange fled to the embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden for alleged sex crimes, which he denies, and has remained in the building ever since.
Sweden later shelved its investigation, but Assange faces arrest by British authorities for fleeing justice in the Swedish case.
He fears British authorities will then allow his extradition to the United States where he is wanted for publication by WikiLeaks of classified information in 2010.
The WikiLeaks founder has strained the patience of his hosts since taking up the offer of asylum made by then-president Rafael Correa in 2012.
He was publicly reprimanded for interfering in the 2016 US election after publishing hacked emails from the campaign team of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
More recently, he drew the ire of Correa’s successor, President Moreno, when he used Twitter to pump out messages of support for Catalonia’s independence drive.
Moreno was forced to respond to complaints from the Spanish government.
Commenting on the move to designate Assange a diplomat, Moreno said: “This would have been a good result, unfortunately, things did not turn out as the foreign ministry planned and so the problem still exists.”
Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa has confirmed that Ecuador will maintain the asylum granted to Assange by the government of former president Rafael Correa.
Ecuador president Lenin Moreno calls Julian Assange a ‘problem’
Ecuador president Lenin Moreno calls Julian Assange a ‘problem’
UK to double troops in Norway to defend against ‘rising’ Russian threat
- Healey is set to confirm on a visit to a UK military site in northern Norway that British forces
LONDON: Britain announced Wednesday it will boost its troops stationed in Norway and play a “vital” role in a NATO Arctic mission in face of “rising Russian threats.”
The UK’s decision to double its troops in Norway from 1,000 to 2,000 in the next three years comes as the US was set to relinquish two top regional NATO command posts to press allies to take greater responsibility for their defense.
“Arctic and High North security will be strengthened against rising Russian threats as Britain steps up its presence in the region,” the UK Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Defense Secretary John Healey is set to confirm on a visit to a UK military site in northern Norway that British forces will be involved in NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission to bolster security in the region.
European members of the transatlantic alliance have scrambled to boost defenses in the region after US President Donald Trump used alleged threats from Russia and China to justify his repeated threats to seize Greenland.
“Demands on defense are rising, and Russia poses the greatest threat to Arctic and High North security that we have seen since the Cold War,” Healey said in a statement.
Diplomats confirmed over the weekend that Washington would hand over leadership of its Norfolk command, focusing on the alliance’s north, to Britain.
The UK and Norway last December signed a new defense pact that would see their navies jointly operate a warship fleet to “hunt Russian submarines” in the North Atlantic.
That agreement aimed to protect critical undersea infrastructure such as communications cables, which Western officials say are increasingly under threat from Moscow.
Oslo also announced last year the purchase of at least five Type-26 frigates from Britain for £10 billion ($13 billion).
In 2023, the UK opened a new military base called Camp Viking in the far north of Norway, which serves as a hub for Britain’s Royal Marines.
Britain is planning to lead a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) of northern European and Baltic nations in “major military activity” in September.
The exercise called “Lion Protector” will see “air, land, and naval forces from JEF nations train to protect critical national infrastructure from attacks and sabotage.”
A cross-party delegation of United States senators visited Greenland on Monday to “rebuild the trust” shattered by Trump’s threats to annex the Danish territory, the lawmakers said.
