World
Rattled by Ukraine War, Moldova Strives to Dodge Russia’s Long Shadow
CHISINAU, Moldova — Earlier than warfare erupted subsequent door, Moldovans had huge plans for his or her nation.
However the Russian invasion of Ukraine put Moldova, a former Soviet republic and one among Europe’s poorest nations, in a particularly weak state of affairs, threatening its financial growth, straining its society with waves of refugees and evoking existential fears of one more Russian occupation.
The warfare jitters are additionally including one other chapter to Moldova’s lengthy and more and more determined effort to untangle itself from Moscow’s clutches. In pursuit of that, it just lately utilized to affix the European Union, however the prospect of gaining admission anytime quickly is distant.
“We’re a fragile nation in a fragile area,” mentioned Maia Sandu, Moldova’s president, in an interview.
Moldovans’ fears swelled anew on Friday, when a Russian common mentioned his nation’s navy now plans to grab your entire southern coast of Ukraine. That might set up a land bridge from Russia within the east to Transnistria, a closely armed, breakaway area in Moldova’s east — bordering Ukraine — that’s managed by Russia.
Whether or not Russia has the wherewithal to swallow up such a big stretch of Ukrainian territory is debatable, particularly in view of the large losses its navy suffered within the battle for Kyiv. However whether or not actual or simply an effort to fire up hassle within the area, the Moldovans are taking the final’s menace severely.
The Moldovan authorities has lengthy been nervous about Transnistria, a skinny sliver of territory that’s managed by at the least 12,000 separatists and Russian troops. Because the warfare erupted, the Moldovan and Ukrainian militaries have confronted the additional concern of whether or not the Transnistrians had been going to leap into the battle and begin attacking Ukraine from the west. To date, that has not occurred.
Tucked between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is tiny — with lower than three million folks — and for hundreds of years has been torn between higher powers: first the Ottomans and Russia, and now Europe and Russia. The theme, clearly, is Russia, and Russia doesn’t need to let it go.
Moscow exerts a stranglehold over almost one hundred pc of Moldova’s power provide. And the Kremlin is consistently making an attempt to fire up Moldova’s many Russian audio system who’re inclined to its propaganda, particularly in Transnistria.
That’s what appeared to have occurred on Friday, when, in line with the Russian information media, Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekayev mentioned, “Russian management over the south of Ukraine is one other approach out to Transnistria, the place there are instances of Russian-speaking folks being oppressed.”
The Moldovan authorities instantly summoned the Russian ambassador to complain concerning the common’s assertion, saying it was “not solely unacceptable but in addition unfounded” and led to “elevated pressure.”
For Ms. Sandu, 49, the nation’s first feminine president, it was one other hurdle alongside a harmful pathway she has been making an attempt to navigate for the reason that disaster started.
Moldova has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and barred Moldovans from sticking pro-Russia symbols on their automobiles. On the similar time, the nation didn’t absolutely be a part of the European Union’s sanctions on Russia, for worry of being lower off from Russian gasoline.
“Nobody mentioned it was going to be straightforward,” Ms. Sandu, 49, mentioned from her workplace on Stefan cel Mare, the grand boulevard within the capital, Chisinau, that cuts previous a patchwork of hulking, Soviet-style workplace buildings. “However nobody mentioned it was going to be this tough.”
The warfare has been onerous not solely on her however on most everybody right here. Earlier than the hostilities began, Adrian Trofim, whose household owns a Nineteenth-century countryside vineyard and resort, thought that he was lastly catching a break after two years of struggling in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. He was including a wing to the resort, establishing a spa centered on wine-based remedies and gearing as much as produce a glowing wine.
However now his operations have fallen into peril. Brandy value 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 {dollars} that he must ship to Belarus has been blocked in his warehouses. His common Ukrainian prospects don’t have any approach of paying him, costing him a number of extra a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars}. And he can not ship his chardonnays to China, one among his new markets, as a result of the port in Odesa, Ukraine, that he makes use of for exports shut down as quickly as the primary bombs fell in February.
“I don’t know what to do,” mentioned Mr. Trofim, who could quickly have to put off virtually half of his workers. “The whole lot is frozen till we perceive dwell with this case.”
It may very well be some time. When the warfare started in Ukraine, residents of Chisinau mentioned they had been woke up by the sounds of not-so-far-off explosions. Then Ukrainian refugees began streaming in — greater than 400,000 have arrived, Moldovan officers have mentioned — placing a extreme pressure on public providers in a rustic the place the typical annual earnings is lower than $6,000.
Costs for fundamental items then shot up as provide chains had been disrupted. And enterprise homeowners needed to persuade their workers, terrified that the warfare would possibly cross into Moldova, to not flee the nation, following the a whole bunch of hundreds of Moldovans who moved overseas previously decade.
“We had been already thought-about a excessive danger,” mentioned Carmina Vicol, the top of the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova. “We had simply began convincing buyers to take a shot on us. Now everybody has backed out.”
It isn’t all unhealthy information. Some Ukrainian firms are contemplating shifting to Moldova, seeking a safer surroundings. And with the entire international dignitaries (and information crews) swooping in, its worldwide profile has acquired a raise, main the federal government final month to rebrand Moldova as “a small nation with an enormous coronary heart.”
Many Russians found that huge coronary heart way back. Throughout Soviet instances, retired officers flocked to Moldova, drawn by the surroundings, good meals and sunshine. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the nation was run by pro-Russian elites, who saved sturdy hyperlinks with Moscow, particularly concerning power.
Moldova receives all its gasoline from firms managed by Russia. And although Moldovan leaders have talked an enormous sport about weaning the nation off Russian gasoline and getting power from different nations like Azerbaijan, Turkey and Romania, none of these, in the meanwhile, may come near what Russia offers.
And so Russia continues to make use of its sway over gasoline costs to push Moldova round. Russia has intimated, as an illustration, that it might decrease costs if Moldova agreed to make concessions on Transnistria, which Moldova has refused.
Moldova’s twin issues, of power and Transnistria, are interconnected. Within the Soviet period, Moldova’s greatest energy plant, and its two greatest gas-pumping stations, had been in-built Transnistria.
“In case you take a look at the map, it doesn’t make sense,” mentioned Victor Parlicov, an power analyst and a former authorities official. “It was constructed this fashion in case Moldova would attempt to pursue its personal path.”
Transnistria has its personal flag, full with a Soviet-style hammer and sickle, and a separate identification from the remainder of Moldova. Its roots return to the Nineteen Twenties, when the Soviet Union carved out a small republic in the identical space, earlier than incorporating elements of it into the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic throughout World Warfare II.” Mr. Parlicov mentioned that this match a sample of the Soviet authorities reshaping the borders of republics in opposition to historic realities, which created the potential for battle.
Transnistria’s state of affairs mirrors that of Ukraine’s Donbas area, the place Russia-backed separatists rebelled after the anti-Russian 2014 rebel, setting off a series of occasions that led to warfare. Transnistria additionally complicates Moldova’s aspirations to affix the European Union.
“We’d be completely happy to be a part of the E.U.,” mentioned Serghei Diaconu, the deputy inside minister. However, he added, half-jokingly, Transnistria was “an enormous ache” that might discourage the E.U. from accepting Moldova.
Becoming a member of NATO could be a good taller order. Neutrality is enshrined in Moldova’s structure, a holdover from the early Nineteen Nineties, when it tried to face by itself with out antagonizing Russia. Now, Moldova’s leaders are questioning the knowledge of that strategy.
“In case you ask me whether or not neutrality goes to maintain us secure, I don’t know,” mentioned Ms. Sandu, the president. “It didn’t assist during the last three many years to persuade Russia to take its troops in another country.”
The geopolitical tightrope the nation is pressured to stroll, within the eyes of many Moldovans, means its future is intertwined with Russia’s. Mr. Trofim, the winemaker, for one, mentioned that nearly half of his enterprise relied on Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
As he appeared on the vineyard’s huge, neat gardens, empty however for just a few guests, he mentioned that he was appalled by what Russia had executed in Ukraine, however that he couldn’t condemn anybody endlessly.
“I can not say I’ll by no means do enterprise with Russia,” Mr. Trofim mentioned. “It’s a matter of the well-being of my firm.”
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been arrested after a dramatic and drawn-out showdown with law enforcement officials.
Police and corruption officers on Wednesday scaled the walls of his residential compound, where he had been holed up for nearly two weeks, evading arrest, after his short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3. The officers broke through the barbed wire and barricades his security personnel had erected.
Hundreds of officers pushed past Yoon’s small army of personal security to take the leader into custody after a court issued a warrant for his detention.
The former president’s imposition of martial law had rattled the country, and he was swiftly impeached and removed from his duties.
Now Yoon faces numerous criminal investigations for insurrection. Here’s everything to know about his arrest:
Who is Yoon Suk-yeol?
Yoon is a storied former prosecutor who led the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to election victory in 2022 despite a lack of political experience.
Before taking the country’s top job, Yoon was called “Mr Clean” for prosecuting an array of prominent businessmen and politicians, analysts told Al Jazeera at the time of his election.
The former leader with affluent roots shot to national fame in 2016 when, as the chief investigator probing then-President Park Geun-hye for corruption, he was asked if he was out for revenge and responded that prosecutors were not gangsters.
While in office, the former president faced challenges in advancing his agenda in an opposition-controlled parliament and was dogged by personal scandals as well as rifts within his own party.
What’s the latest?
After more than 3,000 police officers were mobilised to break into Yoon’s compound, the leader was arrested and taken in for questioning.
“I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation, despite it being an illegal investigation, to prevent unsavoury bloodshed,” Yoon said in a pre-recorded video statement released shortly after his arrest. He referred to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is heading the criminal probe.
According to Al Jazeera’s Patrick Fok, reporting from Seoul, this was the second attempt by investigators to bring him in after they tried to arrest him a week ago.
Yoon faces the charge of insurrection, the only one that South Korean presidents are not immune from. His arrest marks the first one of a sitting South Korean president.
What’s the impact of his arrest?
Despite polls showing that a majority of South Koreans disapprove of Yoon’s martial law declaration and support his impeachment, the political standoff has given oxygen to his supporters, and his PPP party has seen a revival in recent weeks.
Support for the PPP stood at 40.8 percent in the latest Realmeter poll, released on Monday, while the main opposition Democratic Party’s support stood at 42.2 percent, a difference that is within the poll’s margin of error and down from a gap of 10.8 percentage points last week.
The narrowed margin suggests that a presidential election could be close if Yoon is formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court examining the legality of his impeachment. Previously, in the days after the brief martial law declaration, the Democratic Party’s leader, Lee Jae-myung, was widely viewed as the firm favourite.
Beyond the political effects, the weeks-long government turmoil has rattled Asia’s fourth largest economy.
Some of Yoon’s supporters have also drawn parallels between him and United States President-elect Donald Trump, echoing claims by Trump that the former and incoming American president has been the target of a witch-hunt by elites who have long controlled the levers of power. South Korea is one of Washington’s key security partners in East Asia.
Who is in charge in South Korea?
South Korea currently has an acting president, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok.
Choi has been in the role since December 27 when the legislature voted to impeach Yoon’s initial successor, Han Duck-soo, over his refusal to immediately fill three vacancies on the Constitutional Court.
Han had been acting president since Yoon was impeached on December 14 over his martial law declaration and his presidential powers were suspended.
After Yoon was arrested, Choi met with diplomats from the Group of Seven nations, including the US, Japan, Britain and Germany, as well as a representative of the European Union to reassure them that the government was stable.
How are South Koreans reacting?
As local broadcasters reported that Yoon’s detention was imminent, the president’s supporters descended upon his residence, chanting, “Stop the steal!” and “”Illegal warrant!” and waving glow sticks alongside South Korean and US flags.
The “stop the steal” slogans referred to Yoon’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in April’s parliamentary elections, which the opposition won – one of the reasons Yoon gave to justify his martial law declaration. It was also used by Trump and his supporters as he falsely claimed he won the 2020 presidential election in the US.
“Police estimate as many as 6,500 supporters of [the former president] turned out overnight, urging their leader to keep fighting on,” Fok said.
Some of his supporters also lay on the ground outside the residential compound’s main gate.
“It is very sad to see our country falling apart,” Kim Woo-sub, a 70-year-old retiree protesting Yoon’s arrest outside his residence, told the Reuters news agency.
“I still have high expectations for Trump to support our president. Election fraud is something they have in common, but also the US needs South Korea to fight China,” he said.
Minor scuffles broke out between pro-Yoon protesters and police near the residence, according to a witness at the scene quoted by Reuters.
Many other South Koreans are angry and believe Yoon has “avoided facing responsibility for his failed martial law”, Fok said.
“I think it’s wrong for the leader of a rebellion to not face any legal consequences, and even though an arrest warrant has been issued, [he has] continue[d] to resist that,” Cho Sun-ah, an anti-Yoon protester told Al Jazeera.
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, hailed Yoon’s detention with a top official calling it “the first step” to restoring constitutional and legal order.
The country’s parliament speaker echoed those sentiments.
“We should concentrate our efforts on stabilising state affairs and restoring people’s livelihoods,” Woo Won-shik said.
What’s next?
Authorities now have 48 hours to question Yoon, after which they must seek a warrant to detain him on the charge of attempting a rebellion or he will be released.
If Yoon is formally arrested, investigators may extend his detention to 20 days before transferring the case to public prosecutors for indictment.
According to a CIO official, however, Yoon is refusing to talk and has not agreed to have interviews with investigators recorded on video.
Yoon’s lawyers have said his initial arrest warrant is illegal because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team set up to investigate him had no legal mandate to do so.
Presidential guards were stationed on the CIO floor where Yoon is being questioned, a CIO official said, but he will likely be held at the Seoul Detention Center, where other high-profile South Korean figures, including former President Park and Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y Lee, have also spent time.
Yoon faces the death penalty or life in prison if found guilty of insurrection.
In a parallel investigation, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday launched a trial to rule on parliament’s impeachment of Yoon.
If the court endorses the impeachment, Yoon would finally lose the presidency, and an election would have to be held within 60 days.
The opening session of the trial was adjourned on Tuesday after only a brief hearing as Yoon declined to attend, but proceedings could last for months.
Israel and Hamas on the ‘brink’ of a truce
Israel and Hamas are close to a deal on a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages there, Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said yesterday. “It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” he said. “But right now as we sit here we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance. And until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Negotiators said Hamas seemed ready to accept the deal, including its details about the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages and the specific movements of Israeli troops as they withdraw from positions in Gaza, a person familiar with the talks said last night.
The person said Israel was also locked in on the agreement, and that both sides seemed prepared to announce their acceptance of it in the very near future. Neither Israeli nor Hamas officials have publicly confirmed their positions. Here’s what we know about the proposal.
Gaza: An analysis in The Lancet found that Palestinian deaths from bombs and other traumatic injuries may have been undercounted by 40 percent during the first nine months of the war.
South Korea’s president was detained for questioning
Yoon Suk Yeol today became the first sitting South Korean president to be detained for questioning by criminal investigators, after striking a deal with law enforcement officials that ended a weekslong standoff. He has been accused of insurrection in connection with his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.
In a video message, Yoon said he had agreed to submit to questioning to prevent a “bloody” clash between his bodyguards and the police. But he called the investigation and the warrant to detain him illegal. Here’s what to know about South Korea’s leadership crisis.
Investigators have 48 hours to question Yoon, after which they could apply for a separate warrant to formally arrest him. Separately, the Constitutional Court is deliberating whether the National Assembly’s Dec. 14 impeachment of Yoon was legitimate and whether the president, currently suspended, should be permanently removed from office.
Republicans embraced Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, emerged from a tense confirmation hearing yesterday with the Republican Party’s support intact. A Senate vote on whether he should lead the Pentagon — a department with three million employees and a budget of $849 billion — could come as soon as Monday.
Over hours of questioning, Democrats quizzed Hegseth about sexual misconduct allegations — Hegseth was accused of rape in 2017 — and his drinking habits. They called him unfit to lead the Pentagon and grilled Hegseth, a former Fox News host, on his long history of disparaging comments about women in the military.
What’s next: It was unclear whether Hegseth had left the hearing with the votes he needed. If all Senate Democrats oppose him, Hegseth will have to secure the backing of at least 50 of the 53 Republicans in the chamber.
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Suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has reportedly been arrested over insurrection charges stemming from his ill-fated martial law declaration last month.
Yoon’s detention was reported Wednesday by Yonhap, one of the country’s largest news outlets. A warrant for his arrest, initially requested after he failed to show up for questioning, has been out since Dec. 31.
Police dispatched some 3,200 officers to the president’s sprawling hillside estate in Seoul, according to Reuters, where he has spent weeks in hiding whilst surrounded by a personal security detail.
Video shows officers closing in on Yoon’s residence, according to Reuters, where hundreds of his supporters had already gathered to protest on his behalf. Earlier, they were reportedly seen pushing through a group of them.
SOUTH KOREA’S IMPEACHED PRESIDENT AVOIDS ARREST ATTEMPT AFTER HOURSLONG STANDOFF
A previous attempt to detain Yoon was called off on Jan. 3 following a six-hour standoff between military guards and the president’s security staff.
“As I have repeatedly emphasized the need for prevention of physical conflict between state agencies,” Acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement Wednesday. “I will sternly hold those responsible if unfortunate events occur.”
Authorities are making a second attempt to detain suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol following last month’s martial law declaration. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP, File)
Executing a warrant for Yoon’s arrest has proven difficult for investigators, as the president’s legal counsel insists it is impossible to do so under a law barring non-consensual searches of locations potentially linked to military secrets.
Yoon’s lawyers have also decried such a warrant as an illegal means of publicly humiliating him.
ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR IMPEACHED SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT AS POLITICAL CRISIS DEEPENS
The arrest warrant is the first ever to be levied against a sitting South Korean president. Yoon’s warrant stems from his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 out of apparent frustration with the opposition-dominated parliament’s refusal to pass key items on his political agenda.
The move was decried within South Korea and abroad, where analysts expressed shock at the sudden and unprecedented move in what is typically one of Asia’s most stable democracies.
Police officers are seen closing in on suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s residence in Seoul, South Korea, alongside investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)
Parliament unanimously rejected Yoon’s declaration, and subsequently suspended him on Dec. 14 in a 204-85 vote that included members of his own party.
Yoon will be formally impeached should the Constitutional Court uphold the motion with a three-fourths majority.
The court’s next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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