World
Sanna Marin: ‘We will survive Russia’s blackmail and the long winter’
The European Union will survive “Russia’s blackmail” of power provides and the looming “lengthy winter” however provided that the bloc maintains its “unity, willpower and braveness,” stated Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
“Russia could problem us, blackmail us and threaten us, however we is not going to give in,” she instructed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, talking in Finnish.
“Russia’s actions have unified the West as by no means earlier than, whereas Russia is lonelier than ever.”
Throughout her speech earlier than the plenary, Marin painted a grim image of the challenges the EU faces, together with the Ukraine battle, the worsening power disaster, hovering inflation, an more and more probably recession, strained public funds, pure disasters, democratic backsliding and the technological rise of authoritarian international locations.
“Nonetheless, even within the darkest moments there may be hope,” she famous.
“Ukraine will win the battle with our assist. There isn’t any different different. In our hearts, the Ukrainians have already gained it.”
Marin stated the EU’s best power – and the one manner out of the overlapping crises – was the mutual belief and unity amongst its 27 member states.
“Blackmailing our societies by way of power provide is a approach to erode European assist for Ukraine and break down our unity. Putin should not succeed on this,” she stated.
“With its battle, Russia is destroying its financial system and future. Russia has damaged our belief. Even when the battle ended at the moment, our confidence wouldn’t be restored for a very long time.”
Because the battle broke out in late February, Marin has taken a tough line in opposition to the Kremlin, calling for sanctions and a speedy transition away from Russian fossil fuels.
Marin has additionally led Finland’s bid to affix NATO, a course of that, as soon as accomplished, will redraw the alliance’s map.
In current weeks, her authorities has pushed for a broad ban on visas for Russian residents, because the nation shares a 1,300-kilometre-long land border and is without doubt one of the few entry factors for Russians coming to the EU.
Final month, EU international affairs ministers agreed to completely droop a visa settlement with Russia and make the applying system lengthier and costlier– however nonetheless doable.
For Marin, the EU should be able to slap Moscow with “even harder sanctions” to make the battle unsustainably costly.
“Sanctions should be mirrored within the on a regular basis lives of extraordinary Russians,” she stated. “It’s not proper that whereas Russia kills civilians in Ukraine, Russian vacationers journey freely in Europe.”
All through her speech, Marin repeatedly praised Ukraine’s resistance and the “courageous and unyielding” characters of its folks and stated the bloc’s assist for Ukraine should not collapse underneath the load of the power disaster.
“We could depend the price of battle in euros, however Ukrainians depend it in human lives,” she instructed MEPs.
Reflecting on the developments over the previous months, the Finnish PM stated the EU was paying a “heavy worth” for its entrenched dependency on Russian fuels, which she blamed on geopolitical errors made up to now.
“We have now to confess that we have now been far too naïve about Russia and have constructed our assumptions about Russia’s actions on incorrect concepts,” she stated. “We must always have listened extra carefully to our associates from the Baltic states and Poland, who’ve lived underneath Soviet rule.”
A Russian court sentenced a 72-year-old American to nearly seven years in prison Monday after he was convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Investigators alleged during a closed-door trial that Stephen Hubbard of Michigan was paid $1,000 a month to enlist in a Ukrainian defense unit in Izyum, a city in the eastern part of the country, where he had been residing since 2014, according to Reuters.
The news agency cited Russian investigators and state media as saying that Hubbard was trained and given weapons and ammunition after he allegedly signed up for the mercenary unit in February 2022. Two months later, he reportedly was detained by Russian soldiers and then pleaded guilty to charges of fighting as a mercenary.
Hubbard was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison. He is the first American known to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in the Ukrainian conflict, according to the Associated Press.
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Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine against Russia, is seen inside an enclosure for defendants as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, on Monday, Oct. 7. (Reuters/Moscow City Court Press Service)
The charges carry a potential sentence of 15 years, but prosecutors asked that his age be taken into account along with his admission of guilt, Russian news reports said.
Last month, Hubbard’s sister Patricia Hubbard Fox and another relative told Reuters that he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have fought in battle at his age.
Russian state media is saying Hubbard plans to appeal the verdict. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Hubbard was sentenced Monday to nearly seven years in prison. He reportedly plans to appeal. (Moscow City Court Press Service via AP)
A court in the Russian city of Voronezh also sentenced American Robert Gilman on Monday to seven years and one month for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault.
Marine veteran Robert Gilman attends a court hearing in Voronezh, Russia, on Oct. 7. (Reuters/Vladimir Lavrov)
Gilman, a U.S. Marine veteran, was arrested in 2022 for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train, and then allegedly assaulted a police officer while in custody, Russian news reports say. He is already serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge.
State news agency RIA-Novosti said that last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check, then hit an official of the Investigative Committee, resulting in the new sentence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Syrians remain the largest group among asylum seekers, while Germany, Spain, Italy and France face the most cases.
First-time applications from people seeking asylum in the EU have declined by 17% this summer, according to Eurostat.
Syrians are still the largest group of people seeking asylum with more than 10,000 first-time applicants. Venezuelans followed them with 6,340 and Afghans with 5,930 applications.
Germany, Spain, Italy and France still host the highest number of first-time asylum applicants. These four countries are processing 76% of all first-time applications in the EU.
According to the report, in June the EU total of first-time asylum applicants was 15.7 per 100,000 people.
Among the 70,375 seeking asylum in the EU, a bit over 2,000 are unaccompanied minors.
The majority of underaged asylum seekers are originally from Syria (675), Afghanistan (405) and Egypt (255).
Most of these children apply for asylum in Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain.
How are the EU countries reacting?
Despite the drop, migration remains a buzzword across EU member states, forcing the issue to the top of the agenda.
The 17% drop in asylum applications came as some of the bloc’s countries announced new tighter border controls.
Germany decided to tighten its land borders for six months in September and has allowed its law enforcement to reject more migrants right at its borders.
Temporary border controls are set up at the land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark, adding to the existing checks, now totalling at all land crossings with nine European countries.
“Until we achieve strong protection of the EU’s external borders with the new Common European Asylum System, we need to strengthen controls at our national borders,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.
The Dutch government has also confirmed its intention to ask “as soon as possible” for an opt-out clause from the EU’s migration and asylum rules.
For more information about this, watch the Euronews video in the player above.
Video editor • Mert Can Yilmaz
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