World
Top Nagorno-Karabakh official sacked as blockade approaches fourth month
TBILISI, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The top of Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist authorities, Ruben Vardanyan, was faraway from workplace on Thursday, Armenian state information company Armenpress reported, virtually three months into an Azerbaijani blockade of the enclave.
It gave no motive for Vardanyan’s dismissal, however the billionaire banker, appointed solely in November, had clashed with Armenia’s prime minister over the position of Russian peacekeepers within the area. Vardanyan had additionally been criticised by Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan, however its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians and it broke away from Baku in a conflict within the early Nineties.
Azerbaijan regained a lot of its misplaced territory in a six-week battle in 2020 by which hundreds of individuals had been killed. The combating was ended by a Russia-brokered truce and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers to the area.
Newest Updates
View 2 extra tales
Final December, Azerbaijani civilians figuring out themselves as environmental activists started blocking the Lachin hall, the one remaining highway connecting the territory to Armenia.
Separatist officers have repeatedly warned of a humanitarian catastrophe except the highway is opened, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly criticised Russia for not doing extra to carry the blockade.
In January, Vardayan mentioned that “futile” criticism of Moscow’s peacekeepers solely helped Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, for its half, has repeatedly described Vardanyan as an impediment to peace talks.
On the latest Munich Safety Convention, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned Baku was prepared to talk to Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian inhabitants, offered Vardanyan depart the enclave.
Pashinyan mentioned earlier this month that he had despatched Baku a draft of a peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In an announcement asserting Vardanyan’s dismissal, Nagorno-Karabakh’s ‘president’, Arayik Harutyunyan, praised the minister’s contribution to the territory’s authorities with out giving a motive for the sacking.
He named Prosecutor Basic Gurgen Nersisyan as Vardanyan’s substitute.
Vardanyan had beforehand been a Russian citizen. President Vladimir Putin granted Vardanyan’s request to be stripped of his Russian passport in a decree revealed in December.
Reporting by Reuters
Enhancing by Gareth Jones
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.
World
Manhattan's Top Federal Prosecutor to Resign Ahead of Trump Inauguration
World
Russian forces capture former British soldier fighting for Ukraine in Kursk: report
Russian forces captured a former British Army soldier who was fighting with Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, according to reports on Monday.
In a video, the prisoner of war was sitting on a bench with his hand restrained as he identified himself as 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Anderson.
Russia’s Tass news agency reported on Monday that Russian security officials confirmed a British mercenary had been captured in the Kursk area.
“I was in the British Army before, from 2019 to 2023, 22 Signal Regiment,” Anderson told Russian authorities while being recorded. “Just a private. I was a signalman. One Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment, 252 Squadron.”
RUSSIA TRICKS YEMENI MEN TO FIGHT IN UKRAINE UNDER HOUTHI SCHEME
He expressed regret for joining Ukraine in its fight against Russia, explaining he had nearly lost everything.
When he left the military, he got fired from his job and applied on the International Legion (of Ukraine) webpage.
“I had just lost everything. I just lost my job. My dad was away in prison. I see it on the TV,” Anderson said while shaking his head. “It was a stupid idea.”
RUSSIA IS SUPPLYING HOUTHIS WITH SATELLITE DATA TO ATTACK SHIPS IN THE RED SEA: REPORT
The International Legion for Defense of Ukraine was created at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
The Associated Press reported that the Legion is a unit of Ukraine’s ground forces that mainly consists of foreign volunteers.
Anderson reportedly served as an instructor for Ukrainian troops and was deployed to the Kursk region against his will.
In the video, he said his commander took his stuff — passport, phone and other items — and ordered him to go to the Kursk region.
UKRAINE TO ANALYZE FRAGMENTS OF MISSILE FIRED BY RUSSIA CAPABLE OF CARRYING NUCLEAR WARHEADS
“I don’t want to be here,” Anderson said.
The AP could not independently verify the report, but if confirmed, it said this could be one of the first publicly known cases of a Western national getting captured on Russian soil while fighting for Ukraine.
The U.K. Embassy in Moscow told the wire officials were “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention” though no other details were provided.
Anderson’s father, Scott Anderson, told Britain’s Daily Mail that his son’s Ukrainian commander informed him the young man had been captured.
The senior Anderson also said his son served in the British military for four years, worked as a police custody officer, and then went to Ukraine to fight. He told the paper he tried to convince his son not to join the Ukrainian military, and now fears for his safety.
“I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip, but my son told me they torture their prisoners, and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured,” he told Britain’s Daily Mail.
While being questioned, the younger Anderson talked about how he got to Ukraine from Britain, saying he flew to Krakow, Poland from London Luton. From there, he took a bus to Medyka in Poland, which is on the Ukrainian border.
Anderson’s capture comes amid reports Russia is recruiting hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in its war in Ukraine by luring them to Russia under false pretenses in coordination with the Houthi terrorist network, as reported by the Financial Times.
A senior Ukrainian defense official told Fox News that Moscow is trying to involve as many foreign mercenaries as possible in its war against Ukraine, whether from its allies or proxies in poor, impoverished countries.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense similarly confirmed the report to Fox News and said, “Russi[a] has escalated this war twice recently. First, when they brought North Korean fighters, and second, when they used [a] ballistic missile in Ukraine.”
Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall and Nana Sajaia, as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
German FM questions if DHL plane crash was 'hybrid incident'
A cargo plane crashed into a house on its approach to Lithuania’s Vilnius Airport on Monday morning, killing one crew member and injuring others.
Authorities search for answers as they continue their investigation after a Boeing 737 cargo plane crashed into a house near Vilnius Airport in Lithuania on Monday morning.
The DHL cargo plane operated by Swiftair, departing from Leipzig in Germany, crashed while approaching the airport in Lithuania’s capital. A Spanish crew member was killed, and three other people on board were rushed to the hospital, one of them is in critical condition. No one on the ground was reportedly injured.
Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Italy, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock raised the question of whether the plane crash was a hybrid attack.
“We have to say at this point that we and our Lithuanian partners must now seriously ask ourselves whether this was an accident or, after last week, another hybrid incident. That shows what volatile times we are living in in the middle of Europe,” she said.
Lithuanian officials said one line of inquiry would examine Russian involvement but stressed that no evidence exists yet.
Last month, Western security officials warned that Russian military intelligence may be carrying out sabotage acts against nations in retaliation for their support to Ukraine.
Darius Jauniškis, the chief of Lithuania’s Intelligence, mirrored these concerns and said terrorism cannot be ruled out: “The State Security Department, together with the Department of Operational Services, have warned that these things are possible in the future. We see Russia becoming more aggressive.”
He added that however for now, “we really cannot make any attributions or point fingers at anyone, because there is no information about it.”
Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said, “According to the information I have at the moment, I can say that there are no confirming facts that this was some kind of sabotage or terrorist incident. But the investigation will answer all the questions.”
The General Commissioner of the Lithuanian Police, Arūnas Paulauskas, chose not to speculate and said the cause of the crash might be the result of a technical failure or a human error. “But we are not aviation experts here to discuss this matter in such detail,” he added.
Paulauskas confirmed that investigators have visited the hospital, and will talk with the aircraft’s police and other aviation officials when they get the chance.
“As far as I know, the investigators have gone to the hospital. If there is an opportunity to communicate with the aircraft’s pilots to determine the initial causes, as well as with officials responsible for civil aviation.”
Experts say communication with Air Traffic Controller seemed ‘normal’
Several aviation experts who spoke to local media said they noticed nothing out of the ordinary when they listened to the communication between the crew and the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) that was shared online.
Aviation expert Vidas Kaupelis said it seemed there was “routine communication between the air traffic controller and the pilot”.
“They didn’t declare any emergency situation, they didn’t speak of any technical failures or fires,” the expert added.
The Chief of the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation under Ministry of Justice, Laurynas Naujokaitis, said German and Spanish investigators are due to arrive in Lithuania to assist local authorities with the probe.
“Currently we have an answer that a German safety probe institution is sending four investigators, Spain safety probe institution is sending two,” he said. “We are still gathering information regarding technical maintenance, meteorological, navigation and qualification information.”
-
Business1 week ago
Column: Molly White's message for journalists going freelance — be ready for the pitfalls
-
Science6 days ago
Trump nominates Dr. Oz to head Medicare and Medicaid and help take on 'illness industrial complex'
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump taps FCC member Brendan Carr to lead agency: 'Warrior for Free Speech'
-
Technology1 week ago
Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
-
Lifestyle1 week ago
Some in the U.S. farm industry are alarmed by Trump's embrace of RFK Jr. and tariffs
-
World1 week ago
Protesters in Slovakia rally against Robert Fico’s populist government
-
Health3 days ago
Holiday gatherings can lead to stress eating: Try these 5 tips to control it
-
News1 week ago
They disagree about a lot, but these singers figure out how to stay in harmony