MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the peninsula’s annexation, a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him over the Ukraine conflict.
Turkiye announced the extension of a deal that has allowed Ukraine to export grain following Russia’s offensive, but Kyiv and Moscow disagreed over the length of the extension.
Putin’s surprise visit to Crimea was his first to the peninsula since he sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 last year, apart from when he drove across the bridge linking the territory to mainland Russia last December.
Russian state TV showed him visiting the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol, accompanied by the local Moscow-appointed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.
Razvozhayev said on the messaging app Telegram that Putin had been expected to take part in the opening of a children’s art school by video link.
“But Vladimir Vladimirovich came in person. Himself. Behind the wheel. Because on such a historic day, the president is always with Sevastopol and the people of Sevastopol,” he said.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 following a referendum that was not recognized by Kyiv and the international community.
Speaking at the Davos forum in January, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine aimed to take back Crimea, “our land.” Moscow has refused to include it in possible peace talks.
Putin’s visit came a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him over the “deportation” of Ukrainian children.
Kyiv says more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the start of the conflict last year, many of them placed in institutions and foster homes.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told AFP Friday that Putin was now liable for arrest if he set foot in any of the court’s more than 120 member states.
The 70-year-old Russian leader has yet to publicly comment on the warrant.
But the Kremlin dismissed the legal validity of the warrant, arguing that since Russia did not the ICC’s jurisdiction, it was “void.”
The Hague-based court’s decision came ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow next week to sign accords ushering in a new era of ties. Xi will be in Russia from Monday to Wednesday.
China, a major Russian ally, has sought to position itself as a neutral party, urging Moscow and Kyiv to resolve the conflict through negotiations.
But Western leaders have repeatedly criticized Beijing for failing to condemn Russia’s offensive, accusing it of providing Moscow with diplomatic cover for its campaign.
In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the two sides had agreed to extend the deal that has allowed Ukraine, a major grain exporter, to resume shipments.
But there was disagreement over the terms.
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said the deal had been extended for 120 days, but a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow had agreed to a 60-day extension.
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports were blocked by warships after Russia sent in troops last year.
The deal brokered by Turkiye and the United Nations in July 2022 — and signed by Kyiv and Moscow — had allowed for the safe passage of exports. It was extended for 120 days in November.
Fighting on the ground is concentrated in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, particularly the city of Bakhmut.
The mayor of nearby Kramatorsk said Russian strikes on the city killed two people and wounded eight on Saturday, accusing Moscow of using cluster bombs.
AFP journalists in Kramatorsk heard around 10 explosions go off nearly simultaneously just before 4:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) and saw smoke above a park in the southern part of the city.
A woman died at the scene from her wounds, they saw.
Putin visits Crimea as Ukraine grain deal extended
https://arab.news/jqbjs
Putin visits Crimea as Ukraine grain deal extended
- Turkiye announced the extension of a deal that has allowed Ukraine to export grain following Russia's offensive
- Putin's surprise visit to Crimea was his first to the peninsula since he sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 last year
Anger as branch of ICE to help with security at Winter Olympics
ROME: A branch of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help with security for the Winter Olympics in Italy, it confirmed Tuesday, sparking anger and warnings they were not welcome.
Reports had been circulating for days that the agency embroiled in an often brutal immigration crackdown in the United States could be involved in US security measures for the February 6-22 Games in northern Italy.
In a statement overnight to AFP, ICE said: “At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations.
“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”
It’s not known whether the HSI has in the past been involved in the Olympics, or whether this is a first.
According to the ICE website, the HSI investigates global threats, investigating the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States.
ICE made clear its operations in Italy were separate from the immigration crackdown, which is being carried out by the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) department.
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” it said.
The protection of US citizens during Olympic Games overseas is led by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
Yet the outrage over ICE immigration operations in the United States is shared among many in Italy, following the deaths of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The leftist mayor of Milan, which is hosting several Olympic events, said ICE was “not welcome.”
“This is a militia that kills... It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it, Giuseppe Sala told RTL 102.5 radio.
“Can’t we just say no to (US President Donald) Trump for once?“
Alessandro Zan, a member of the European Parliament for the center-left Democratic Party, condemned it as “unacceptable.”
“In Italy, we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control,” he wrote on X.
Monitoring Vance
Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay any role, suggesting they would help only in security for the US delegation.
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.
On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, said their involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.
“It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,” Attilio Fontana told reporters.
However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any specific information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was quoted as saying late Monday that “ICE, as such, will never operate in Italy.”
The International Olympic Committee when contacted by AFP about the matter replied: “We kindly refer you to the USOPC (the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee).”
Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on illegal immigration.
Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis sparked outrage.
