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Thursday, August 3, 2017

Ukrainian police seize software company's servers

July 05, 2017

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's national cybercrime unit seized servers belonging to a small company at the center of a global outbreak of malicious software after "new activity" was detected there, the service said in a statement early Wednesday.

The announcement raised the possibility that the hackers behind last week's wide-ranging cyberattack were still seeking to sow chaos. Tax software firm M.E. Doc was raided to "immediately stop the uncontrolled proliferation" of malware. In a series of messages, Cyberpolice spokeswoman Yulia Kvitko suggested that M.E. Doc had sent or was preparing to send a new update and added that swift action had prevented any further damage.

"Our experts stopped (it) on time," she said. It wasn't immediately clear how or why hackers might still have access to M.E. Doc's servers. The company has been the focus of intense attention from authorities and cybersecurity researchers since it was identified as the patient zero of the outbreak, which crippled computers at several multinational firms and knocked out cash machines, gas stations and bank branches in Ukraine.

The company has not returned messages from The Associated Press, but in several statements posted to Facebook it disputed allegations that its poor security helped seed the malware epidemic. Cyberpolice chief Col. Serhiy Demydiuk previously told AP that M.E. Doc's owners would be brought to justice, but Kvitko said there had been no arrests.

Adding to the intrigue, the bitcoin wallet linked to the hackers who masterminded the outbreak was emptied around the same time as the police announcement. Kaspersky Lab researcher Aleks Gostev said on Twitter that some of the digital currency had been sent to text storage sites, hinting at the prospect of some kind of a forthcoming statement.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials were just beginning to count the costs of the outbreak. Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan told AP his department had incurred "millions" in costs, with hundreds of workstations and two of its six servers knocked out.

Ukrainian officials have yet to put a dollar amount on the total damage or even estimate its scope.

Romania blocks Russian deputy PM from entering EU airspace

July 28, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin had to scrap a trip to Moldova on Friday after his plane was barred from entering Romanian and Hungarian airspace. Rogozin told Russian news agencies that he and other Russian officials were traveling on a commercial flight to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau when the plane was denied passage over Romania or Hungary, both European Union members. It had to land in the Belorussian capital of Minsk because it was running out of fuel.

The deputy prime minister is one of the most senior Russian officials slapped with an EU visa ban in 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea. Rogozin told the Interfax news agency that he started using commercial flights after Romanian authorities closed their airspace to his chartered flight in 2014.

Romania's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that authorities had not allowed Rogozin to enter the country's airspace. In a tweet later Friday, Rogozin said Romanian authorities "put lives of the passengers, women and children at risk" by forcing the plane to divert. He issued a warning for the Romanian government: "You wait for an answer, bastards!"

Moldova's pro-Russian President Igor Dodon, who was to meet Rogozin on Friday in Chisinau, reacted angrily. "We are watching an unprecedented Russia-phobic show, which is designed to destroy Moldovan-Russian relations," Dodon said.

Opposition activists had gathered at the Chisinau airport earlier Friday to protest Rogozin's visit. Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday presented Romania's envoy to Russia with a note of protest, urging an investigation into the incident and arguing that it put the lives of those onboard at risk.

"Moscow is treating the incident as a deliberate provocation, which seriously damages the bilateral relations," the ministry said, urging Romania to investigate the incident.

Associated Press writer Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania contributed.

Poland ponders demanding WWII reparations from Germany

August 02, 2017

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is looking into demanding reparations from Germany for the massive losses inflicted on Poland during World War II, an official said Wednesday. The Polish parliament's research office is preparing an analysis of whether Poland can legally make the claim and will have it ready by Aug. 11, said Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a lawmaker with the ruling Law and Justice party who requested the report.

The step comes after Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland's most powerful politician, said the "Polish government is preparing itself for a historical counteroffensive." "We are talking here about huge sums, and also about the fact that Germany for many years refused to take responsibility for World War II," Kaczynski, the leader of the conservative ruling party, told Radio Maryja last week.

The massive suffering inflicted on Poland has been a topic of public discussion as Poland marked the anniversary Tuesday of the start of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The doomed revolt against the Nazi German occupying forces resulted in the killing of 200,000 Poles and the near-total destruction of Warsaw, the Polish capital.

Amid the observances, Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said Germans need to "pay back the terrible debt they owe to the Polish people." World War II, which began with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, killed nearly 6 million Polish citizens and inflicted huge material loss on the country, including the destruction of churches and other cultural treasures and entire cities.

Kaczynski also called for reparations from Germany when he was prime minister more than a decade ago, creating tensions between Poland and Germany, which are important trade partners and allies in NATO and the European Union.

Germany has paid billions of euros over the years in compensation for Nazi crimes, primarily to Jewish survivors, and acknowledges the country's responsibility for keeping alive the memory of Nazi atrocities and atoning for them.

Poland's former communist government, under pressure from the Soviet Union, agreed in the 1950s not to make any claims on Germany. Macierewicz said Tuesday that communist-era Poland was a "Soviet puppet state" whose decision is not legally valid today.

Protests across Poland over law to control judiciary

July 22, 2017

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Outrage over plans by Poland's governing party to put the judicial system under its political control sparked another day of nationwide protests Saturday, with some people gathering outside the home of ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and accusing him of being a dictator.

Polish democracy icon and former President Lech Walesa addressed a protest in Gdansk, urging young Poles to fight to preserve the separation of powers that his Solidarity movement helped to achieve more than a quarter century ago when Poland threw off communist rule.

Later, thousands of government opponents gathered in Warsaw, Krakow and other cities to urge President Andrzej Duda to reject legislation that would give Law and Justice, the conservative ruling party, control of the Supreme Court and the judiciary.

"We are all in danger. Every citizen is in danger now," said Tomasz Gromadka, a 32-year-old playwright protesting in front of the home of Kaczynski, who is the power behind the government and presidency. "Because now they are taking the courts, then they will take the media, they will take everything. But we still have the streets. This is our power. I think we should do whatever we can."

The European Union and many international legal experts say the changes would mark a dramatic reversal for a country that has been hailed as a model of democratic transition over the past quarter century, and move Poland closer toward authoritarianism.

The party "is about to finish democracy," said Ewa Krasucka, a 32-year-old photographer. "Honestly I don't think we will stop him now, but at least in 10 years, in 15 years, when we will still be with these people in the government I will feel good with myself for being here now."

Many of the protesters then moved to the Supreme Court, where people sang John Lennon's "Imagine" and held up candles. Law and Justice won parliamentary elections in 2015 with nearly 38 percent of the vote, which translated into a slim majority in the parliament. It has maintained support of about 35 to 40 percent of voters, according to recent polls, with many supporting its cash handouts for families and its conservative and pro-Catholic worldview.

The party says the changes are needed to reform a justice system that Kaczynski says was never purged of former communists after that system collapsed in 1989. In Warsaw, 29-year-old lawyer Marzena Wojtczak disputed that logic, saying many judges working today had actually been anti-communist dissidents and others are too young to have been communists.

Demonstrations have taken place almost every day in Poland over the past week as lawmakers pushed forward with the legislation to impose greater control over the courts. "This will sound strange, but this is the worst and best moment in Poland since 1989," Tomasz Lis, the editor of Newsweek Polska and an outspoken government critic, said on Twitter. "A great nation is defending democracy and its own freedom."

The Supreme Court's powers include ruling on the validity of elections, and government critics fear the ruling party could use friendly judges to falsify future elections. They also fear the courts, under political pressure, will prosecute political opponents.

After winning power in 2015, Law and Justice has acted quickly to cement its power, prompting numerous street protests. The party has asserted control over government-owned media, purged the army of most of its leadership and has neutralized the power of the Constitutional Tribunal to block any new legislation that might violate the constitution.

On Saturday, presidential spokesman Krzysztof Lapinski said Duda sees some flaws in the new legislation on the Supreme Court. But he stopped short of saying whether the president would reject the bill or seek the opinion of the Constitutional Tribunal.

Duda has 21 days to sign the bill into law. The European Commission has expressed its concerns about Poland's judicial changes and recently threatened to strip Poland of its EU voting rights, but has so far proven powerless to do anything. Any sanctions would require unanimity of the remaining 27 EU members.

Moldova declares Russian deputy premier persona non grata

August 02, 2017

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Moldova has declared a Russian deputy prime minister persona non grata, following remarks he made after an aborted visit to the ex-Soviet republic. Wednesday's statement from Moldova's Foreign Ministry came after Dmitry Rogozin abandoned a trip to the country Friday after his plane was barred from entering Romanian and Hungarian airspace. Both countries are EU members.

Rogozin is one of the most senior Russian officials to be slapped with an EU visa ban in 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Rogozin later told Rossiya 24 TV station that Russia would adopt "special sanctions" against Moldovan and other officials who had obstructed his visit.

The ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Farit Muhametshin on Wednesday and said "Moldova wants to build with Russia bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect."

German runaway girl who converted to Islam is found in Iraq

July 22, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — A German girl who ran away from home after converting to Islam has been found as Iraqi forces liberated the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State extremists, German and Iraqi officials said Saturday. She is reported to be in good health and will be interrogated next week by Iraqi officials.

The 16-year-old teenager, only identified as Linda W. in line with German privacy laws, is getting consular assistance from the German Embassy in Iraq, prosecutor Lorenz Haase said from the eastern German city of Dresden.

Three Iraqi intelligence and investigative sources confirmed to The Associated Press that the German teenager, who was apprehended in the basement of a home in Mosul's Old City earlier this month, was Linda W.

The girl is in good health, the Iraqi officials said, adding that on the day of her arrest she was "too stunned" to speak but now she is doing better. They said she had been working with the IS police department.

Linda W. could theoretically face the death sentence, according to Iraqi's counter-terrorism law. However, even if she is sentenced to death in Iraq, she would not be executed before the age of 22. Photos of a disheveled young woman in the presence of Iraqi soldiers went viral online last week, but there were contradicting reports about the girl's identity.

The German teenager had married a Muslim Arab she met online after arriving in the group's territory, the Iraqi officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information was not public. They said Linda W. was one of 26 foreigners arrested in Mosul since the retreat of the extremists there.

So far, the young German has not made any statement. The officials said she is currently being held together with other foreign women at a prison near Baghdad's airport. Starting next week, she'll be investigated by the Iraqis, who will bring in German interpreters for the interrogation since she does not speak much Arabic.

Haase, the German prosecutor, told the AP that the girl ran away from her family home in Pulsnitz in eastern Germany last summer. It's not clear yet whether she will return to Germany, he said. "We, as the public prosecutor's office Dresden, have not applied for an arrest warrant and will therefore not be able to request extradition," Haase said. "There is the possibility that Linda might be put on trial in Iraq. She might be expelled for being a foreigner or, because she is a minor reported missing in Germany, she could be handed over to Germany."

The 26 foreigners found in Mosul included two men, eight children and 16 women, the Iraqi officials said. Some of those arrested were from Chechnya, and the women were from Russia, Iran, Syria, France, Belgium and Germany.

In addition to Linda W., the Iraqis found three other women from Germany, with roots in Morocco, Algeria and Chechnya. The Iraqi officials said the German-Moroccan woman has a child and both were arrested in Mosul about ten days ago.

They said the women allegedly worked with IS in the police department. Their husbands were IS fighters but their fates were not clear. French and German Embassy personnel have already visited the arrested women, they said. The children will be handed over to the countries they belong to, while the women will be tried on terrorism charges in Iraq, according to the officials.

More than 930 people, among them several girls and young women, have left Germany to join IS in Syria and Iraq in recent years, the German news agency dpa reported. While some have been killed in battle and suicide bombings and others have returned to Germany, there's also a large number that are unaccounted for, German security officials say. Many of them were radicalized via social media.

Local newspapers reported last year that Linda W. was in touch with IS members online before she ran away from home. She started wearing long gowns before she disappeared from her family's home last summer. Her mother later found a copy of the girl's plane ticket to Turkey under a bed, German media reported.

The mayor of Pulsnitz, Barbara Kueke, told dpa on Saturday that she was relieved the girl had been found. She described the teenager's family as very reclusive. Lueke said the school had been aware of the girl's conversion to Islam and the principal had talked to the parents about it, adding that "it was very surprising, though, that the girl has been radicalized in such a way."

In a different case, a French woman captured earlier this month in Mosul with her four children is facing possible prosecution in Iraq for allegedly collaborating with IS. The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was arrested July 9 along with her two sons and two daughters in a basement in Mosul's Old City, according to Iraqi intelligence officials.

Two Iraqi intelligence officials told the AP on Wednesday that the woman is being investigated in Baghdad and could face terrorism charges for illegally entering Iraq and joining IS, and that the French government wants the children handed over to France.

Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad, Iraq.

Activists riot against G-20 summit for 3rd night in Hamburg

July 09, 2017

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Anti-globalization activists rioted for a third consecutive night in Hamburg early Sunday even after Group of 20 leaders had already left the northern Germany city. Police again used water cannon trucks against rioters attacking them with iron rods and pavement blocks. They arrested 186 protesters and temporarily detained another 225 people. Officials say 476 officers have been injured in the violence since Thursday. The number of injured protesters wasn't clear.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel condemned the violence, saying "Germany's reputation is severely affected internationally by the events in Hamburg." Gabriel told Bild am Sonntag paper that a Europe-wide investigative team should search for suspects.

The overwhelming majority of the tens of thousands who took to the streets protested peacefully against the G-20 summit.

G-20 leaders set to face huge protests at Hamburg summit

July 05, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — President Donald Trump was met with thousands of protesters when he arrived at meetings in Brussels in May. But with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joining him at the Group of 20 meetings in Germany this week, he likely won't even be at the top of the list for demonstrators.

Add India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders whose controversial policies have sparked unrest, mix in the cauldron that is Hamburg — the summit venue is only about a kilometer (less than a mile) from the country's most notorious hotbed of left-wing protest — and the brew could prove explosive.

"G-20: Welcome to Hell" is the slogan anti-globalization activists registered for their protests on July 6, when Trump and other leaders arrive for the July 7-8 summit in the northern port city. "We are calling on the world to make Hamburg a focal point of the resistance against the old and new capitalist authorities," said the organizers, who have ties to the Rote Flora squat, a center for radical leftists where police have clashed frequently with protesters. The site is a short walk from where the leaders will be meeting.

Already in the weeks ahead of the summit, in incidents believed linked to the meeting, police cars have been burned, train lines have been sabotaged and authorities in Hamburg and the nearby city of Rostock have confiscated improvised weapons like fire-extinguishers filled with flammable liquid, material to build gasoline bombs, baseball bats and other items in several raids.

"We have to assume that this is only a tiny percentage of what is still in basements and garages in and around Hamburg," Hamburg police criminal director Jan Hieber told reporters this week. In a preview of things to come, police clashed Tuesday night in Hamburg with hundreds of protesters, using pepper spray and water cannons to eventually bring the crowd under control.

The "Welcome to Hell" demonstration is just one of dozens of protests that have been registered under a smorgasbord of themes — including a far-right pro-Trump rally — with more than 100,000 demonstrators from across Europe and beyond taking part.

Officials expect some 8,000 protesters from Europe's violent left-wing scene, and have been tracking known activists coming in from Scandinavia, Switzerland, Italy and elsewhere, said Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Meyer.

"This isn't about sit-ins," Meyer said. That's not to say all protesters are violent — most aren't and see the gathering of as an opportunity to highlight their messages with the world watching, and with the hope the leaders gathering inside Hamburg's congress will listen.

Greenpeace, for example, sees the G-20 as an opportunity for leaders to send a strong signal about their determination to fight climate change — despite the U.S. decision to pull out of the Paris agreement.

"We're looking for the G-20, and if that's not possible, then the G-19, to go forward with implementing the Paris agreement and maybe doing even more," Greenpeace International's executive director Jennifer Morgan told The Associated Press.

Like many nonprofits, Greenpeace is fighting against a security decision to block off a 38-square-kilometer (almost 15-square-mile) "no protest zone" encompassing the airport where leaders will arrive and the conference center where they will meet.

The group is also calling for residents who live within the security zone to hang flags and banners out of their windows so that leaders will see them on the way in. "Greenpeace stands for nonviolent direct action — we have peace in our name — and it would be a shame if violence moved the message away from what the G-20 should be doing on climate and other issues," Morgan said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told community organizers in Hamburg that she understood the importance of demonstrations to express criticism and concerns, but urged that they remain non-violent.

"It should be peaceful criticism," she said in June. Still, German security officials are preparing for the worst, drawing upon decades of experience dealing with violent May Day demonstrations and other protests at major events, including the G-7 in 2015 and G-8 in 2007.

In addition to the no-protest zone, tightly-secured transit corridors are set up to ensure that convoys will be able to keep moving lest they become a target for violent demonstrators or terrorists if they are stopped.

Germany has also denied Erdogan permission to hold a rally on the sidelines of the summit, which could have drawn huge protests from Kurds living in Germany. Hamburg is boosting its police force with reinforcements from around the country and will have 20,000 officers on hand to patrol the city's streets, skies and waterways.

"You can be certain that you will see all of the equipment that German police have here in Hamburg," said Hartmude Dudde, who is leading the security team for Hamburg police. That includes both underwater and aerial drones.

They are 220 officers shorter than planned, however, after Hamburg sent home a Berlin contingent for partying excessively at their barracks, with police officers allegedly urinating on a fence and an officer dressed in a bathrobe dancing on a table with a weapon in her hand.

Of those who are on hand, Germany's counter-terrorist GSG9 force will be assisted by Austria's counterpart Cobra and specialists from the Netherlands and other countries, Meyer said. They'll be stationed around the city in strategic locations to help protect the summit's expected 6,500 participants from any attack.

"You can count on a very quick reaction time," Meyer told reporters. "Well under a minute, that's the concept. They are, in principle, everywhere." Demonstrations need to be registered with authorities in Germany before going ahead — otherwise they're considered illegal and can be immediately broken up. That means that police can be expected to react swiftly to any "spontaneous" protests inside the security zone closer to where the world leaders are meeting.

On the outskirts of the city, a former wholesale supermarket has been converted into a special temporary prison with holding cells for 400 people, and judges on hand to decide whether there's enough evidence to keep them longer term or to set them free.

"Peaceful protest is welcome in our democracy... but violent protest will be stopped," Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said this week. "This event will not be disturbed, of that I am certain."

France seeks to exclude African Union from Libya crisis

August 3, 2017

In meetings with Libyan officials last week, France set out its plan for resolving the Libya crisis without providing a role for the African Union (AU).

Algeria has previously called for the AU to play its role in resolving the unrest in Libyan, however

France has not only isolated the African Union, but has also excluded a country whose role can be seen as pivotal in resolving the Libyan crisis for historical considerations said Jeune Afrique, which is known for its close ties to political circles in France.

The “excluded” country is said to be Italy which launched a campaign through its Minister of Foreign Affairs Angelino Alfano against the French initiative that excluded all parties involved in the Libyan crisis.

Paris, under the rule of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, was the sponsor of the Atlantic military intervention, which aimed to overthrow the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Now Paris seeks to build camps for illegal immigrants in Libya to prevent them from reaching Europe.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170803-france-seeks-to-exclude-african-union-from-libya-crisis/.

French PM wins confidence vote, vows to cut budget deficit

July 04, 2017

PARIS (AP) — France's prime minister overwhelmingly won a confidence vote in the National Assembly on Tuesday after vowing to bring the country's budget deficit under the European Union limit of 3 percent this year without raising taxes.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told lawmakers that France's debt had reached "an unbearable level," putting the country "at the mercy of financial markets." He said there will be expenses cuts but pledged not to raise taxes.

Philippe won the vote in France's lower house of parliament by 370-67. Besides getting support from President Emmanuel Macron's party — which has a wide majority after a landslide win last month — he also got votes from centrist allies and even some conservative lawmakers.

"The truth is that while our German neighbors raise 100 euros in taxes and spend 98, we are raising 117 euros and are spending 125. Who can think this situation is sustainable?" he said. Philippe pledged to stop increasing the number of state employees, to focus the government on its main priorities and to stop spending money on policies that don't deliver results.

Last week the country's national audit office said France's budget deficit could reach 3.2 percent — above the EU limit for the 10th consecutive year in 2017 — if no measures are taken. Philippe said by choosing Macron, French voters showed they "are attached to the European Union and the euro. They want a more concrete, less fussy and more protective Europe."

He detailed the government's agenda in the next months and years, from health to education and job policies. He notably wants to raise the price of a cigarette pack to 10 euros ($11.35) — up from about 7 euros ($8) now.

Philippe pushed for the labor reform Macron has promised to pass by the end of the summer that aims to boost job creation, since French unemployment has been hovering around 10 percent for years. Unions, however, fear it strips hard-earned worker protections.

The government next week will outline new measures to handle Europe's migrant crisis, seeking a balance between helping refugees and controlling illegal immigration, Philippe said. The French government wants to reduce the asylum application procedure from 14 months now to 6 months and be able to deport those who are not granted asylum.

In an effort to keep fighting terrorists, France's military budget next year will increase spending on defense to 2 percent of GDP by 2025. Far-right lawmaker Marine Le Pen, who lost her presidential bid to Macron, said his economic plans would produce "very tough consequences to buying power" for French citizens. She also criticized the government for submitting to EU demands to lower public spending.

"We know what that means ... the progressive, continued disappearance of public services," she said.

Japan's prime minister reshuffles Cabinet as support dips

August 03, 2017

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his Cabinet on Thursday, opting for seasoned party veterans to help restore his battered popularity. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who retained his post, announced the new lineup.

Abe's approval ratings have suffered from a spate of scandals over alleged cronyism and other abuses and objections to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's tendency to force unpopular legislation through parliament.

The shake-up reflects Abe's recognition that despite the Liberal Democrats' overwhelming majority in parliament, his own once seemingly invincible position after more than four years in office may be imperiled.

But plans for the reshuffle were disclosed weeks in advance, and it was not expected to have a major impact on the foreign policy or economy of America's biggest ally in Asia. The newly named ministers included many Cabinet veterans, including Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister who again was named to that post.

Last week, Abe's protege Tomomi Inada stepped down as defense minister after the disclosure that the ministry hid information about risks faced by Japanese peacekeeping troops in South Sudan. In Japan, choice Cabinet positions tend to be distributed between factions that operate almost like political fiefdoms within the ruling party. This time, the ministers appear to be chosen with factions in mind, but they went to politicians with proven expertise or track records.

Abe also chose several popular lawmakers known to differ from him on key issues such as nuclear power and revision of Japan's pacifist constitution. The new foreign minister, Taro Kono, 54, is known to be liberal-leaning and has opposed nuclear energy, though he toned down his stance while serving as reform minister in an earlier Abe Cabinet.

A politics graduate of Georgetown University, Kono is fluent in English. He is probably best known for being the son of Yohei Kono, a former speaker of the lower house who also served as foreign minister.

The senior Kono is known for making an apology in 1993 to Asians who were forced to serve Japanese troops as "comfort women" before and during the world War II. Kono's predecessor, Fumio Kishida, opted out of this Cabinet to become the policy chief for the Liberal Democrats. He is widely thought to be aiming to become prime minister after Abe's term ends or if he steps down.

Russia vents frustration over Trump signing sanctions bill

August 03, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials and lawmakers on Wednesday vented their frustration with U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to sign a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia, warning that it will erode global stability and fuel conflicts.

In an emotional Facebook post, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described the move as a humiliating defeat for Trump. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned of possible new retaliatory measures. "The hope for improving our relations with the new U.S. administration is now over," said Medvedev, who served as Russian president in 2008-2012 before stepping down to allow Vladimir Putin to reclaim the job.

The Kremlin had been encouraged by Trump's campaign promises to improve the Russia-U.S. ties that had grown increasingly strained under President Barack Obama. With the White House preoccupied by congressional and FBI investigations into links between the Trump campaign and Russia, the hoped-for relationship reset has not materialized.

"Trump's administration has demonstrated total impotence by surrendering its executive authority to Congress in the most humiliating way," said Medvedev, who presided during a brief period of improved relations early in Obama's presidency.

"The American establishment has won an overwhelming victory over Trump," he added. The president wasn't happy with the new sanctions, but he had to sign the bill. The topic of new sanctions was yet another way to put Trump in place."

Medvedev emphasized that the stiff new sanctions amount to the declaration of an "all-out trade war against Russia," but added that it will cope with the challenge and only get stronger. "We will continue to work calmly to develop our economy and social sphere, deal with import substitution and solve important government tasks counting primarily on ourselves," he said. "We have learned how to do it over the past few years."

Without waiting for Trump to sign the bill, which was passed by Congress with overwhelming, veto-proof numbers, Russia fired back Friday. It ordered deep cuts in the number of personnel working at the U.S. embassy and consulates in Russia and the closure of a U.S. recreational retreat and warehouse facilities.

It was the long-expected tit-for-tat response to former U.S. President Barack Obama's move to expel 35 Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian recreational retreats in the U.S. following allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Asked Wednesday whether Moscow planned additional steps in response to Trump signing the bill, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered that "retaliatory measures already have been taken." But shortly after, the Foreign Ministry warned that "we naturally reserve the right for other countermeasures."

It said the sanctions bill reflects a "short-sighted and dangerous" attempt to cast Russia as an enemy and would erode global stability. The ministry added that "no threats or attempts to pressure Russia will force it to change its course or give up its national interests."

The ministry said, "We are open for cooperation with the U.S. in the spheres where we see it useful for ourselves and international security, including the settlement of regional conflicts," but warned that constructive dialogue was only possible if Washington sheds the notion of "American exclusiveness."

Konstantin Kosachev, who heads the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, said the bill Trump signed "leaves no chance for a constructive cooperation with Russia." "Perspectives for the settlement of Iranian and North Korean problems look grim," Kosachev said. "It means that real threats will exacerbate."

Separately, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the European Union also would consider retaliatory action if the U.S. sanctions against Russia penalize European energy companies doing business there.

"If the U.S. sanctions specifically disadvantage EU companies trading with Russia in the energy sector, the EU is prepared to take appropriate steps in response within days," he said. But Juncker said the new sanctions approved by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by Trump appear to have been softened or dropped in response to EU concerns.

He added that Congress "has now also committed that sanctions will only be applied after the country's allies are consulted. And I do believe we are still allies of the U.S."

Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this story.