UNITED NATIONS: In an escalation of Russia’s anger at Ukraine and its Western backers, Russia refused to speak at a UN Security Council meeting called to discuss Moscow’s recent devastating attacks on the key port of Odesa immediately following its refusal to extend the Black Sea grain deal.
The confrontation began at the start of a council session called by Russia on the divided Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, protested that Britain, which holds the council presidency, was allowing only two briefers and Moscow wanted a third — Archbishop Gideon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, supported Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine.
Polyansky accused the UK of bias, censorship and obstruction for limiting the number of briefers.
Deputy British ambassador James Kariuki responded that because of a tight time schedule to fit in two council meetings, the UK had offered a compromise to allow a third Russian briefer to submit a statement to the council, which he said was “not unreasonable.”
Polyansky was not satisfied, and Kariuki then put Russia’s proposal to have the archbishop speak to a vote. Russia got support only from China and Brazil, with the 12 other council members abstaining.
Polyansky called the council’s refusal to allow the archbishop to speak an “egregious” example of double standards on human rights and freedom of religion.
As “a sign of protest,” he said, Russia wouldn’t speak in the Ukraine-backed council session called by Ukraine to take up the Odesa attacks.
The meeting on the Orthodox Church then went ahead. The director of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, Nihal Saad, told the council that the division between Ukraine’s Orthodox bodies “has existed for decades.” But she said it has been exacerbated since the February 2022 Russian invasion and has “reverberated worldwide as Orthodox churches have struggled with how and whether to take sides.”
Saad said the “heartbreaking” damage to Odesa’s historic church, the Transfiguration Cathedral, caused by a Russian missile strike Sunday was condemned by many, including the UN secretary-general. The cathedral is in Odesa’s historic city center that is a UNESCO world heritage site and had been largely spared since the beginning of the war.
Saad lamented that it was one of 116 religious sites damaged since the invasion, according to a preliminary assessment by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
In her briefing, Saad cited restrictions to freedom of religion by both Russia and Ukraine since the invasion, saying “the politicization of religion in the war in Ukraine fuels intercommunal tensions, stokes fear and triggers violence.”
Polyansky called the devastation to the cathedral “a horrible tragedy” and reiterated Russia’s claim that the cathedral was damaged by a piece from Ukraine’s anti-air defenses — not a Russian missile. If a Russian missile targeted the cathedral, he said, “then there would be nothing left of the cathedral at all.”
The Russian deputy ambassador left the council chamber at the end of the session.
The council meeting that followed on the Russian attacks on Odesa came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine to export more than 32,000 tons of foodstuff to many countries facing the threat of hunger.
In addition to severely damaging the cathedral, the Russian attacks crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk, and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.
The council heard from 14 members, almost all condemning the damage to Odesa.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “Russia is hell-bent on preventing Ukrainian grain from reaching global markets” and that “the world is paying the price for Russia’s barbaric attacks.”
She accused Russia of “weaponizing grain” and cynically using Russian-produced grain as leverage to win the support of other countries.
Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, the last speaker, told the council that Russian missiles, including anti-ship missiles, hit 29 historical and cultural landmarks in Odesa.
He said Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, destruction of their infrastructure, obstruction of grain exports, and intimidation of foreign merchant vessels should be considered an attack on freedom of navigation.
“These actions also aim at eliminating a market competitor, deliberately raising world food prices and making a profit at the expense of the millions of people around the world who will suffer,” Kyslytsya said.
A junior Russian diplomat sat in Russia’s chair during the Odesa session and left the chamber when it ended — never having uttered a word.
Angry Russia refuses to speak at UN meeting on its attacks on Ukraine’s key port city of Odesa
https://arab.news/54c6h
Angry Russia refuses to speak at UN meeting on its attacks on Ukraine’s key port city of Odesa
- The confrontation began at the start of a council session called by Russia on the divided Orthodox Church in Ukraine
What Bangladesh’s election means for India, China and Pakistan ties
- Bangladeshis will vote on Feb. 12, almost two years after the 2024 student-led uprising
- After nearly 2 years of tensions, experts expect a thaw with India under elected government
DHAKA: As Bangladesh prepares to hold its first elections since the 2024 ouster of Sheikh Hasina, its longest-serving prime minister, the outcome will define Dhaka’s relations with the most important regional powers — China, India, and Pakistan.
Nearly 128 million Bangladeshis will head to the polls on Feb. 12 to bring in new leadership after an 18-month rule of the current caretaker administration.
The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took control following a student-led uprising that ended 15 years in power of Hasina and her Awami League party.
The two main parties out of the 51 competing for power are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami. The Awami League, which for decades has had close ties with India, was excluded from the election ballot over its role in the deadly crackdown on the 2024 student-led protests, in which 1,400 people were killed.
While Bangladesh’s relationship India has deteriorated since the fall of Hasina, who has been in self-exile in New Delhi, the period of diplomatic strain is expected to ease when the new government takes office.
“Whoever comes to power in Bangladesh, due to domestic pressure in the country, relationships with India need a resetting,” Humayun Kabir, former ambassador to the US, told Arab News.
“It’s anticipated that India will also engage with the new government, but they will protect their interests, and we also have to do the same. It’s most likely that the India-Bangladesh relationship will be normalized under the new, elected, government.”
Since 2024, India has suspended key transshipment access that allowed Bangladeshi exports to go via Indian ports and airports. It also put on hold most normal visa services for Bangladeshis, who were among its largest groups of medical tourists.
From Hasina’s heavy pro-India orientation, the interim government has tried to rebalance Bangladesh’s foreign policy toward the two other key regional players — China and Pakistan — who at the same time are India’s main rivals.
If New Delhi regains its importance, it should not deal a blow to the newly expanded relations with Pakistan, with whom Bangladesh has recently increased exchanges, especially economic, and last month resumed direct flights — after a 14-year gap.
Since the relations have been expanded under the caretaker government, Prof. Delwar Hossain from the International Relations Department at Dhaka University forecast that they would only further improve, no matter who comes to power, and there is no likelihood of a sudden change.
“For Pakistan, any political coalition — whether BNP or Jamaat — will be positive. The BNP has a long history of having good relations with Pakistan during their rule ... Jamaat also has a strong and very positive influence in Pakistan,” he said.
“For Pakistan, the new regime or new government is not the issue. The issue is what the (India) policy of the new government would be and to what extent it would actually support Pakistan’s view.”
Both the BNP and Jamaat have repeatedly said they wanted friendly relations with India, and Hossain expected that they would, at the same time, continue the balanced approach introduced by the caretaker administration.
“India is a reality as a neighbor. At the same time, India is also showing interest in mending relations or adopting a more cooperative approach after the vote, with the government that will be elected ... I think there will be pragmatism from both sides,” he said.
“I don’t see there is a long-term threat to Bangladesh-India relations ... When China and Pakistan were trying to create a trilateral cooperative system or some kind of coalition — China, Bangladesh and Pakistan — we have seen that Bangladesh opted out. It seems that Bangladesh is going to continue its policy of maintaining a balance among these great powers.”
Bangladesh’s relations with China have not changed since the ouster of Hasina, whose government signed several economic agreements with Beijing. Yunus’s administration has continued this cooperation, and China was among the very few countries he officially visited during his term.
During the visit, he secured about $2.1 billion in Chinese investments, loans and grants, including funding for infrastructure like Mongla Port and a special economic zone in Chattogram — Bangladesh’s largest port. China has also eased visa rules for Bangladeshi businesspeople, medical travelers and tourists.
According to Munshi Faiz Ahmed, Bangladesh’s former ambassador to Beijing, China’s importance for Bangladesh cannot be substituted by any other country, especially as over the past few years it has emerged not only as its key investor, but also the largest trade partner.
In the fiscal year 2024-25, Bangladesh’s trade with China was over $21.3 billion, according to National Board of Revenue data. With India, it was about $11.5 billion.
The trade — especially import — dependence on Beijing started long before the regime change. In terms of trade volume, China overtook India already in 2018.
“Even when people thought that we had very close relations with India, our relations with China continued to grow in terms of trade and commerce ... Our trade with China has surpassed India’s, and China is a much bigger investor in Bangladesh’s development projects,” Ahmed said.
“Bangladesh will continue to cooperate with China for a long time to come because what China can provide, no other country can.”
