BRUSSELS: The EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini said Tuesday she was “extremely worried” about the fate of a major US-Russia nuclear missile control treaty, warning the security of Europe could be at risk.
Last month, Washington announced it was pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) over Russia’s deployment of a missile system that Western powers say breaches the 1987 accord.
The Kremlin has fired off warnings of a new arms race, and as she convened a meeting of EU defense ministers Mogherini expressed concern, calling for talks to maintain the agreement.
“If we go toward the dismantling of this agreement, Europe’s security is to be put at risk and we do not want to see European territory go back to being a battlefield for other powers as it has been for so long in the past,” she told reporters.
“We don’t want to go back to those kind of tensions, to that kind of situation and we still hope there is a space for saving the agreement and implementing it,” she said.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration has signalled it will withdraw from the treaty, it has not taken steps to put the decision into practice.
The INF treaty, signed by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ended a nuclear build-up in Europe triggered by Moscow’s deployment of SS-20 missiles targeting Western European capitals.
The US and NATO say Russia’s 9M729 missile system, also known by the designation SSC-8, breaches the treaty, which prohibits ground-launched missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
Washington says repeated attempts to persuade Russia to come back into compliance since 2013 have been met with silence or obfuscation.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the INF treaty during a brief conversation at World War I centenary events in Paris last week.
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EU ‘extremely worried’ about fate of nuclear treaty
EU ‘extremely worried’ about fate of nuclear treaty
- Last month, Washington announced it was pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)
- The treaty ended a nuclear build-up in Europe triggered by Moscow’s deployment of SS-20 missiles targeting Western European capitals
Tens of thousands attend funeral of killed Bangladesh student leader
- Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday for the funeral of a student leader, after two days of violent protests over his killing
DHAKA: Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday for the funeral of a student leader, after two days of violent protests over his killing.
Huge crowds accompanied the funeral procession of Sharif Osman Hadi, a key figure in last year’s pro-democracy uprising who died in a hospital in Singapore on Thursday after being shot by masked gunmen while leaving a Dhaka mosque.
Police wearing body cameras were deployed in front of the parliament building where the funeral prayers were held.
Hadi’s body, which was brought to the capital on Friday, was buried at the central mosque of Dhaka University.
“We have not come here to say goodbye,” interim leader Muhammad Yunus said in an emotional speech.
“You are in our hearts and you will remain in the heart of all Bangladeshis as long as the country exists.”
Hadi, 32, was an outspoken critic of India and was set to contest the general elections in February.
Iqbal Hossain Saikot, a government employee who traveled from afar to attend the prayers, said Hadi was killed because he staunchly opposed India.
He will continue to live “among the millions of Bangladeshi people who love the land and its sovereign territory,” Saikot, 34, told AFP.
Hadi’s death has triggered widespread unrest, with protesters across the South Asian nation demanding the arrest of those responsible.
Late Thursday, people set fire to several buildings in Dhaka including the offices of leading newspapers Prothom Alo and the Daily Star.
Critics accuse the publications of favoring neighboring India, where Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge since fleeing Dhaka in the wake of the 2024 uprising.
Rights group Amnesty International on Saturday urged Bangladesh’s interim government to carry out “prompt, thorough, independent and impartial” investigations into Hadi’s killing and the violence that followed.
It also expressed alarm over the lynching of Hindu garment worker Dipu Chandra Das following allegations of blasphemy.
Yunus said seven suspects had been arrested in connection with Das’s killing in the central district of Mymensingh on Thursday.
Huge crowds accompanied the funeral procession of Sharif Osman Hadi, a key figure in last year’s pro-democracy uprising who died in a hospital in Singapore on Thursday after being shot by masked gunmen while leaving a Dhaka mosque.
Police wearing body cameras were deployed in front of the parliament building where the funeral prayers were held.
Hadi’s body, which was brought to the capital on Friday, was buried at the central mosque of Dhaka University.
“We have not come here to say goodbye,” interim leader Muhammad Yunus said in an emotional speech.
“You are in our hearts and you will remain in the heart of all Bangladeshis as long as the country exists.”
Hadi, 32, was an outspoken critic of India and was set to contest the general elections in February.
Iqbal Hossain Saikot, a government employee who traveled from afar to attend the prayers, said Hadi was killed because he staunchly opposed India.
He will continue to live “among the millions of Bangladeshi people who love the land and its sovereign territory,” Saikot, 34, told AFP.
Hadi’s death has triggered widespread unrest, with protesters across the South Asian nation demanding the arrest of those responsible.
Late Thursday, people set fire to several buildings in Dhaka including the offices of leading newspapers Prothom Alo and the Daily Star.
Critics accuse the publications of favoring neighboring India, where Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge since fleeing Dhaka in the wake of the 2024 uprising.
Rights group Amnesty International on Saturday urged Bangladesh’s interim government to carry out “prompt, thorough, independent and impartial” investigations into Hadi’s killing and the violence that followed.
It also expressed alarm over the lynching of Hindu garment worker Dipu Chandra Das following allegations of blasphemy.
Yunus said seven suspects had been arrested in connection with Das’s killing in the central district of Mymensingh on Thursday.
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