SAO PAULO, Brazil: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday it was urgent for G7 nations to jointly seize profits from frozen Russian assets and redirect them to Ukraine, as the group prepared to meet on the issue.
Calls have been mounting in the United States and Europe to set up a fund for Ukraine using billions of dollars in bank accounts, investments and other assets frozen by the West over Russia’s 2022 invasion.
“It is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine’s continued resistance and long-term reconstruction,” Yellen told journalists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she will attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers Wednesday and Thursday.
“There is a strong international-law, economic and moral case for moving forward. This would be a decisive response to Russia’s unprecedented threat to global stability. It would make clear that Russia cannot win by prolonging the war and would incentivize it to come to the table to negotiate a just peace with Ukraine.”
Yellen urged joint action by the Group of Seven — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, plus the European Union — after evaluating the risks, which include triggering financial instability.
“The G7 should work together to explore a number of approaches: seizing the assets themselves, using them as collateral to borrow from global markets,” she said.
G7 officials say the group is due to meet on the sidelines of the Sao Paulo gathering to discuss support for Ukraine, as its grueling fight against Russia enters its third year.
Ukraine has warned it desperately needs more military and financial assistance, as a fresh $60 billion US package remains stalled in Congress.
That has cast a spotlight on the estimated $397 billion in Russian assets frozen by the West, ranging from central bank assets to yachts, real estate and other property from oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin.
But there are risks involved, including likely Russian legal action and the potential for scaring other countries, such as China, into reducing their own investments in the West, fearing similar action.
Yellen said a risk to financial stability would arise “if there were a massive shift away from currencies” of Western countries in response to seizing Russian funds. But she said the risk was minimal if the G7 acted together.
“I think (financial instability) is extremely unlikely, especially given the uniqueness of this situation, where Russia is brazenly violating international norms and a group of countries representing half the global economy... have the capacity to work together,” she said.
“Realistically, there are not alternatives” to the dollar, euro and other G7 currencies on international markets, she said.
“There are risks,” she acknowledged. “We’re working to evaluate and outline options for consideration.”
The US Congress is currently weighing a bill that would authorize the confiscation and disposition of Russian sovereign assets.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Sunday for “bolder” action on the issue, writing in an opinion piece in the Sunday Times that the West should start by taking interest from Russian assets before finding “lawful ways to seize the assets themselves.”
And Greece’s special envoy on Ukraine, Spiros Lampridis, told AFP Monday the EU is close to seizing Russian profits, saying it was “a question of months.”
However, he added that the estimated 50 billion to 60 billion euros the move would yield was a “trifle” compared with the roughly 500 billion euros or more needed for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
‘Urgent’ for G7 to seize Russian profits for Ukraine: Yellen
https://arab.news/jgutv
‘Urgent’ for G7 to seize Russian profits for Ukraine: Yellen
- Calls have been mounting in the United States and Europe to set up a fund for Ukraine
- Yellen told journalists in Sao Paulo: “There is a strong international-law, economic and moral case for moving forward”
Belgium probes death of Canadian festival-goer at Tomorrowland
The event’s organizers said the woman became unwell at the festival
BRUSSELS: Belgian authorities said Saturday they have opened an investigation into the death of a Canadian woman who fell ill at Tomorrowland, one of the world’s largest electronic music festivals.
The Antwerp prosecutor’s office told AFP they were looking to establish what caused the death of the 35-year-old, one of tens of thousands of festival-goers who attended the event’s opening night on Friday.
The event’s organizers said the woman became unwell at the festival, which is held in Boom, near Antwerp, and “received first aid on site” before being transferred to hospital, where she later died.
“This morning, we were saddened to learn of her death. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and loved ones,” said Tomorrowland spokeswoman Debby Wilmsen.
Featuring scores of DJs including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies and Charlotte de Witte, Tomorrowland draws electronic music enthusiasts from all over the world.
Around 400,000 people are expected to attend over two weekends.
The event was initially thrown into doubt this week after a fire destroyed its main stage. But organizers speedily put in place an “alternative setup,” and the festival went ahead as planned.
Ukraine evacuates 43 deportees held on Russian-Georgian border
- At least 56 Ukrainians were being held in a basement facility near the Russian-Georgian border, according to aid group Volunteers Tbilisi
- Sybiga said 43 Ukrainians had been evacuated from Georgia via Moldova
KYIV: Ukraine said Saturday it had evacuated 43 of its citizens recently deported from Russia who were being held in Georgia in dire conditions, accusing Moscow of “weaponizing” deportations.
At least 56 Ukrainians, mostly prisoners who completed their sentences and were subsequently ordered to leave Russia, were being held in a basement facility near the Russian-Georgian border, according to aid group Volunteers Tbilisi.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said 43 Ukrainians, many lacking documents, had been evacuated from Georgia via Moldova, “including former political prisoner Andrii Kolomiyets.”
More people still remain in “difficult” conditions at the Russian-Georgian border, Sybiga said on X.
The treatment of those held at the border facility near the Dariali crossing is “inhumane,” said Maria Belkina, the head of Volunteers Tbilisi.
“They are without basic necessities — food, water, sanitation,” she told AFP, adding that some of the deportees had medical conditions, including suspected tuberculosis and HIV.
Russia may be accelerating deportations ahead of expected changes to Georgian migration laws in September, which are aimed at tightening entries, she added.
While Georgia has not officially closed the border to Ukrainian nationals, Belkina said a recent policy shift has delayed entry.
“Russia is weaponizing the deportation of Ukrainian citizens through Georgia,” Sybiga said, calling on Russia to transport the deportees directly to its border with Ukraine instead.
It was not clear how many people remained in the border facility, which only has 17 beds and no basic amenities and where some have been kept for weeks, according to Volunteers Tbilisi.
Rights groups estimate up to 800 more Ukrainians could be transferred to the border in the coming weeks.
Indian activists take Palestinian solidarity protest into major New Delhi market
- Protesters gathered at Nehru Place to spark greater awareness of Israel’s deadly war on Gaza
- Many ordinary Indians lack knowledge of atrocities unfolding in Gaza, activists say
NEW DELHI: Indian activists gathered for a Palestinian solidarity rally in one of New Delhi’s busiest commercial areas on Saturday, looking to raise public awareness of — and educate citizens on — Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Though support for Palestinian statehood was once an integral part of Indian foreign policy, the Indian government has moved closer to Tel Aviv in recent years and has largely remained quiet since Israel launched its deadly assault on Gaza in October 2023. New Delhi has been supplying Israeli forces with weapons and signed an agreement to send thousands of workers to Israel to replace their Palestinian counterparts.
Indian civil society and students have taken to the streets in solidarity with Palestinians and protest against the government. On Saturday, protesters carried Palestinian flags, “Free Palestine” posters, and placards that read “Stop the Genocide” in Nehru Place, a prominent commercial hub in the Indian capital, as they sought to engage passersby in conversation and spark awareness of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.
“Coming to a place like this is really an attempt to take the protest (to) ordinary Indians, because it is their hearts and minds that we wish most to access … We want to create consciousness among ordinary Indians,” Harsh Mander, Indian human rights and peace activist, told Arab News.
“There has been a repression of pro-Palestine voices all across Europe and North America, but there has been significant pushback and resistance in other countries. India has not seen that kind of societal pushback to the government’s open complicity with the … Zionist project of the Israeli government,” Mander continued.
Organized by the Indians for Palestine movement, Saturday’s protest moved away from the usual demonstration site of Jantar Mantar in the center of New Delhi. But it was also met with resistance, with some participants becoming the target of harassment from market visitors.
“The choice of Nehru Place as a site was symbolic — an open, public market square frequented by working-class people, students, and office-goers alike. It was meant to reclaim democratic space in a city where protest is now virtually criminalized,” organizers said in a statement. “Despite everything, the message of the gathering remains clear: There are Indians who stand — and will continue to stand — with the people of Palestine.”
Members of Indian civil society are aiming to educate people about the situation in Gaza to counter a lack of awareness, said Pamela Philipose, a journalist and senior fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research.
“Let me tell you, almost 90 percent of the people (in Nehru Place) would not have heard about Gaza, and the 10 percent who had would not have known what is happening in Gaza; that people are dying, that people are hungry, that there is a cruel state called Israel that is attacking them … they don’t know any of this,” she told Arab News. ”And this is educating them. A protest is always an education. That’s what we believe.”
Israel has reportedly killed more than 58,700 Palestinians and wounded over 140,000 others since October 2023. The true death toll, though, is feared to be far higher, with research published in The Lancet medical journal in January estimating an underreporting of deaths by 41 percent.
The study adds that the reported death toll does not include deaths caused by starvation, injury and lack of access to health care, caused by the Israeli military’s destruction of most of Gaza’s infrastructure and the blocking of medical and food aid.
“It is extremely important to protest because the atrocities that are going on in Gaza are unprecedented in the history of the world. It is as bad as, if not worse than, what happened in Nazi Germany,” Nandita Narain, a retired professor from Delhi University, told Arab News.
“If we don’t protest today, we have lost our humanity. Humanity can only survive if human beings stand up for each other … India has already suffered colonial rule. We should understand better than everybody else how you must support those who have been subjected to brutal occupation by imperialist powers.”
-ENDS-
Poland is investigating air traffic control system outage, ministry says
- Warsaw’s main airport had earlier reported disruptions to aircraft takeoffs
WARSAW: Polish services were investigating an air traffic management system outage, the Interior Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
“Officers of the Internal Security Agency are collecting information on this matter, analizing it, and verifying it for potential sabotage,” he added.
Warsaw’s main airport had earlier reported disruptions to aircraft takeoffs, according to state news agency PAP, but later said planes were departing.
“Takeoff and landing operations at Chopin Airport have been fully restored and are now proceeding without disruptions,” Chopin Airport in Warsaw wrote on X.
Bangladesh’s Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka
- An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said the next election would be held in April
- Jamaat-e-Islami said earlier it would mobilize 1 million people on Saturday
DHAKA: Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party rallied in the capital on Saturday to show their strength ahead of elections expected next year, as the South Asian nation stands a t a crossroads after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said the next election would be held in April but his administration did not rule out a possibility of polls in February as strongly demanded by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies.
Jamaat-e-Islami, which had sided with Pakistan during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, said earlier it would mobilize 1 million people on Saturday.
While Hasina was in power from 2009 until she was toppled in student-led protests last year and fled to India, top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were either executed or jailed on charges of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in 1971.
In late March in 1971 Pakistan’s military had launched a violent crackdown on the city of Dhaka, then part of East Pakistan, to quell a rising nationalist movement seeking independence for what is today known as Bangladesh.
The party on Saturday placed a seven-point demand to the Yunus-led administration to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election, the trial of all mass killings, essential reforms and proclamation and implementation of a charter involving last year’s mass uprising. It also wants the introduction of a proportional representation system in the election.
Thousands of supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami had spent the night on the Dhaka University campus before the rally. On Saturday morning, they continued to stream toward the Suhrawardy Udyan, a historical ground where the Pakistani army had surrendered to a joint force of India and Bangladesh on Dec. 16 in 1971, ending the nine-month war.
It was the first time the party was allowed to hold a rally on this ground since 1971. To many, the decision signaled a shift supported by Yunus’ government in which Islamists are gaining momentum with further fragmentation of Bangladesh’s politics and shrinking of liberal forces.
Hasina, whose father was the independence leader and the country’s first president, is a fierce political rival of Jamaat-e-Islami.
The party is expected to contest 300 parliamentary seats and is attempting to forge alliances with other Islamist groups and parties in hopes of becoming a third force in the country behind the BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and Hasina’s former ruling Awami League party.
The party has a close connection with a new political party formed by students who led the anti-Hasina uprising. Both Jamaat-e-Islami and the students’ National Citizen Party also promote anti-India campaign.
The Yunus-led administration has banned the Awami League and Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5. She is facing charges of crimes against humanity. The United Nations said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the anti-Hasina uprising in July-August last year.
