Putin attends keel-laying of new warships in annexed Crimea

July 20, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday to continue an ambitious program of building new warships on a trip to Crimea, which Russia has annexed from Ukraine. Speaking during the keel-laying of two landing vessels at a shipyard in Kerch, Putin said that Russia needs a strong navy to defend its interests and "help maintain a strategic balance and global stability.”

The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine denounced the move, saying on Twitter that “Russia's unauthorized construction of warships on sovereign Ukrainian territory, which it seized by force, violates international norms once again.”

In sync with the keel-laying ceremony in Crimea, Russia also launched the construction of two frigates in St. Petersburg and of two nuclear-powered submarines at the giant Sevmash shipyard in the northern city of Severodvinsk.

Putin said that the navy has commissioned 200 new ships over the past eight years, adding that the modernization will continue. Seeking to demonstrate its global reach, the Russian navy has increasingly often sent its ships to various parts of the world.

Putin said that the navy currently has 60 vessels on patrol missions. “We will maintain efforts to develop a modern navy and will build ships armed with new weapons,” he said. Russian officials noted that the new frigates and nuclear submarines that were laid Monday will be armed with hypersonic weapons.

The military has said that the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles capable of striking targets 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away, traveling at 9 times the speed of sound, have undergone successful tests and will equip future navy ships.

Contact tracing falters in Barcelona amid virus spike

July 21, 2020

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — When Sonia Ramírez was told by her local clinic that she had tested positive for the coronavirus, she expected to be asked about anyone she had come in close contact with recently.

Instead, like an unknown number of Spaniards in the northeast region of Catalonia, she was left on her own to warn family, friends and co-workers that they could have been exposed amid a new surge of infections.

“They didn’t ask me who I had been with,” said Ramírez, a 21-year-old cleaner in the greater Barcelona area. “They didn’t even ask if I had been to work recently, which of course I had.” With the virus rebounding in parts of Spain, it appears Catalonia and other regions are not adequately prepared to trace the new infections in what was supposed to be an early detection system to snuff out any outbreaks and prevent a new cascade of cases.

Spain imposed a three-month lockdown earlier this year and reined in a devastating first wave of infections that left at least 28,000 dead. As conditions improved in May and June, the government in Madrid gave in to pressure by the separatist-minded leaders in Catalonia and the right-wing political opposition to return full control of the health care system to the regions.

Now, Barcelona and an agricultural area in the same Catalonia region have become the two areas hit hardest by a resurgence of the virus. Ramírez believes she got infected from her boyfriend, who had caught the virus a few days earlier. After her positive test, the clinic she visited told her to self-isolate for two weeks, and someone has called every two days to check how she feels.

In over a week since testing positive, no health care worker has asked Ramírez or her boyfriend about their contacts in the two weeks before their symptoms started, as mandated by public health guidelines.

Catalonia leads Spain's 19 regions with 9,600 new reported cases since May 10 and its growth rate has more than doubled in the past three weeks, according to Spain’s National Epidemiological Survey. The survey found that Catalonia on average only traces up to two contacts and detects under one new infection per case, the lowest rates in the country. Experts say that on average, each infected person spreads the virus to three more people.

“We are seeing a rise in cases and community contagion that worries us,” Dr. Jacobo Mendioroz, the epidemiologist in charge of Catalonia’s virus response, told Catalonia Radio on Sunday. “The system of contact tracers can still be improved. Now we have 300 tracers and we are going to add another 600 shortly.”

Catalonia's Health Department did not respond to repeated requests from The Associated Press for Mendioroz or another top official to comment on the contact tracing failures, which also have been reported in local media and have drawn complaints from mayors.

“This is the main problem: The virus is outpacing our control measures," said Dr. Joan Caylà, a retired epidemiologist who set up Barcelona's contact tracing unit in the 1980s. According to Caylà, Catalonia should have boosted its full-time contact tracing force to 1,500 trained professionals over a month ago when the virus was still in remission.

“It would have cost a lot of money, but it would have paid off because the consequences are going to be much more costly,” he said. "This is a race against the clock.” The contact tracers were supposed to be supported by 120 workers of a private call center that the Catalan government contracted for a reported 17 million euros. Faced with criticism from health professionals who said the call center workers were not properly trained, the government has scaled back their role to checking in on patients in self-isolation.

Because of the flare up in Catalonia, authorities have restored restrictions. Catalonia was the first region to make face masks mandatory regardless of the distance between people in public areas. It then closed off a rural area that is home to 210,000 people around the city of Lleida, and prohibited gatherings over 10 people in Barcelona, while also asking them to limit their outings.

Even so, Barcelona's beaches were packed Saturday, and young people appear to be fed up with social distancing guidelines. Wary of privacy concerns over smartphone apps that warn users they could have been exposed to the virus, Spain has focused on manpower to track outbreaks.

England recruited about 25,000 contact tracers, but data shows the number of people reached and asked to self-isolate has been falling since the program began in May. Italy has had no major complaints about its contact tracers, but it has pinned its hopes on a tracing app that few people have downloaded.

Spain's doctors and nurses, who fell sick in world-leading numbers during the spring outbreak, are once again being asked to step in and do their own contact tracing. “We have always been ready to take our place in the front line,” said Dr. Rocío Moreno, who coordinates several clinics in an area of greater Barcelona that has a large virus cluster.

“Our own doctors, nurses, and social workers are making the calls and searching for contacts,” Moreno said, adding that her staff has had to drop almost all other work to concentrate on COVID-19 cases.

Nurse Raúl Martín is tracing contacts from his clinic because he and his colleagues say the contact tracers are overloaded. “I would speak with a patient to see if they had been contacted by tracers to get their contacts, and they would say nobody had called them,” Martín said.

His biggest fear is that another onslaught of infections is coming. “If a second wave like the first one hits, I don’t believe that the system could take it,” Martín said. “Maybe we do have enough protection suits and better protocols now, but as human beings we could not take another period of 12-hour shifts treating COVID patients, one after the other, and seeing people die all alone.”

Associated Press writers Aritz Parra in Madrid, Sylvia Hui in London, and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed.

Dutch 'Dr. Superstrict' Rutte influential in EU virus deal

July 21, 2020

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte didn’t win many friends with his tough negotiating over the course of a marathon four-day European Union summit in Brussels. That didn’t bother the three-term leader who is a veteran of plenty of past EU negotiations.

“We are not here because we are going to be visitors at each other’s birthday party later,” he told reporters during a brief lull in the grueling series of meetings. “We are here because we do business for our own country. We are all pros.”

As the two-day summit to hammer out an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund stretched into a third and then a fourth day, the normally affable, smiling Rutte became the grim face of the “frugals,” a group of five nations — Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Finland — demanding fiscal responsibility and reforms even as the 27-nation bloc came to the rescue of member states hardest hit by the pandemic.

It’s hardly a new position for Rutte, 53, whose country is an EU founding member with an export-driven economy that benefits hugely from its single market but has long been critical of administrative overreach and inefficiency from Brussels. A Dutch referendum in 2005 rejected a proposed EU constitution.

The Dutch also have long linked EU money to reforms in member states, arguing that countries in southern Europe need to overhaul their labor markets and pension systems in return for financial help. Even so, it was a tough four days for Rutte, who has in the past been touted as a possible president of the EU’s executive commission. Italian media dubbed Rutte “Mr. No,” and Dr. Superstrict. Hard-line Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wondered out loud why Rutte hated his nation. He compared Rutte’s negotiating stance to the rule of Hungary’s former communist leaders.

Rutte insisted after the summit that the relationships between leaders remain strong. “You can have big differences of opinion, maybe through fatigue somebody will smack their fist on a table or hit the roof, but the personal relationships are so good, they stay good,” Rutte told national broadcaster NOS.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven added: “Negotiations were very tough and conducted sometimes in a rather loud manner but also with the understanding that there is a need to reach a goal of some kind.”

In the end, Rutte — and his fellow EU leaders — hammered out compromises and everybody headed, bleary-eyed, back home claiming a measure of success. EU superpowers France and Germany had wanted the 750-billion-euro coronavirus fund to be made up of 250 billion euros in grants and 500 billion euros in loans. Rutte and his frugal allies initially balked at any grants before eventually agreeing to 390 billion in grants with guarantees on reforms in southern nations like Italy and Spain.

Adriaan Schout, Senior Research Fellow at the Dutch Clingendael think tank and professor of EU integration at Radboud University in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, said Rutte’s influence was clear in the final deal

“This is most definitely a compromise in which we can see his fingerprints all over the place,” Schout said. He called the compromise, “a defendable deal that will go to (Dutch) parliament and I guess there will be a majority.”

Euro-skeptic populists in the Netherlands were quick to criticize, possibly with an eye on Dutch national elections that are due by March next year. Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom is a fierce EU critic, called the deal “Crazy. Billions thrown away that we should have spent in our own country.”

Another reason for Rutte attracting so much criticism during the summit could be that he was not able to shelter behind the even more skeptical British, who since Brexit are no longer part of the EU. But Schout believes the absence of Boris Johnson in Brussels did not affect the Dutch leader.

“Rutte would have always played this role, even with the Brits," Schout said. "He’s fundamentally aware of the need for European cooperation. ... That will ask a price. He’s willing to pay the price.”

Istanbul's Hagia Sophia opens as a mosque for Muslim prayers

July 24, 2020

ISTANBUL (AP) — Thousands of Muslim faithful made their way to Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to attend the inaugural prayers inside the sixth-century monument along with around 500 dignitaries, as he fulfills what he has described as the “dream of our youth” anchored in Turkey's Islamic movement.

Thousands of men and women, including many who traveled from across Turkey, quickly filled segregated areas outside of Hagia Sophia to be part of the first prayers. Several camped near the structure overnight. Dozens of worshippers broke through one police checkpoint to rush toward Hagia Sophia and social distancing practices, in place due to the coronavirus outbreak, were being ignored, Turkish media reported.

Orthodox church leaders in Greece and the United States, meanwhile, were scheduled to observe “a day of mourning” over the inaugural prayers. Brushing aside international criticism, Erdogan issued a decree restoring the iconic building as a mosque earlier this month, shortly after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The structure, listed as UNESCO World Heritage site, has since been renamed “The Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque.”

The move sparked dismay in Greece, the United States and among Christian churches who had called on Erdogan to maintain it as a museum as a nod to Istanbul's multi-religious heritage and the structure's status as a symbol of Christian and Muslim unity. Pope Francis expressed his sadness.

Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque with the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding leader of the secular Turkish republic converted the structure into a museum in 1934.

Although an annex to the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan’s pavilion, has been open to prayers since the 1990s, religious and nationalists group in Turkey have long yearned for the nearly 1,500-year-old edifice, which they regard as the legacy of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer, to be reverted into a mosque.

“This is Hagia Sophia breaking away from its captivity chains. It was the greatest dream of our youth,” Erdogan said last week. “It was the yearning of our people and it has been accomplished.” Erdogan also described its conversion into a museum by the republic’s founding leaders as a mistake that is being rectified.

In New York, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, called the inaugural prayers a “cultural and spiritual misappropriation and a violation of all standards of religious harmony and mutual respect.” It called on the faithful to observe a day "of mourning and of manifest grief.”

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America held a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in Washington on Thursday to discuss concerns over the reconversion.

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

Turkey names 3 imams, including professor, for Hagia Sophia

July 23, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday appointed appointed three imams for Hagia Sophia, one of them a professor of religious studies, as the nation prepares for the first Muslim prayers in the Istanbul landmark in 86 years following its conversion back into a mosque.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to join hundreds of worshipers Friday for prayers inside the former Byzantine cathedral that became a mosque with the 1453 Muslim conquest of Istanbul and then a museum in 1934 after Turkey became a secular republic.

Erdogan issued a decree restoring the iconic 6th century building as a mosque this month after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The move was met with dismay in Greece and the United States and from Christian church leaders.

The head of Turkey’s religious authority, Ali Erbas, on Thursday announced the appointment of the three imams who will lead prayers at the reconverted mosque: Mehmet Boynukalin, a professor of Islamic law at Istanbul’s Marmara University, and Ferruh Mustuer and Bunjamin Topcuoglu, the imams of two other Istanbul mosques.

Erbas also named five muezzins - the officials who make the Muslim call for prayer — for Hagia Sophia, including two from Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque. Authorities have designated segregated areas outside of the Hagia Sophia for men and women wanting to join Friday's inaugural prayers.

Several roads leading to the building are being blocked. Authorities have said as many as 17,000 security personnel would be on duty.

Greece will do 'whatever necessary' in dispute with Turkey

July 23, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece warned Thursday it will do “whatever is necessary” to defend its sovereign rights in response to plans by neighboring Turkey to proceed with an oil-and-gas research mission south of Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean.

The dispute over seabed mineral rights has led to increased navy deployments by both NATO members in the region, where a Turkish research vessel, the Oruc Reis, is being prepared for a survey mission.

Turkey has drawn growing criticism from Western allies, with French President Emmanuel Macron joining calls for European Union sanctions against Ankara if the dispute escalates further. Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas described the mission as a direct violation of Greek sovereignty and that of Greek ally Cyprus.

“The government is underlining to all parties that Greece will not accept a violation of its sovereignty and will do whatever is necessary to defend its sovereign rights,” Petsas said. French President Emmanuel Macron said sanctions now appeared necessary.

“It is not acceptable for the maritime space of a Union member state to be violated or threatened. Those responsible must be sanctioned,” Macron said before talks in Paris with Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades at the presidential Elysee Palace

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea boundaries but recent discoveries of natural gas and drilling plans across the East Mediterranean have exacerbated the dispute. Turkey argues Greek islands should not be included in calculating maritime zones of economic interest — a position that Greece says is a clear violation of international law. Greece has around 6,000 islands and smaller islets in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, more than 200 of them inhabited.

The survey ship Oruc Reis remains anchored off the port of Antalya, in southeastern Turkey, but a navigational telex issued by the port says the mission planned through Aug. 2 remains “valid and effective.” In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had full confidence in the capability of his country's military. “Historic successes on different fronts, from Syria to Libya, from the eastern Mediterranean to the fight against terrorism, demonstrate the strength of our country and the capabilities of our armed forces,” Erdogan said ahead of a visit to the country’s Supreme Military Council.

Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said Thursday: “We want all natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean to be shared fairly.” “We will never accept threats or sanctions,” the state-run Anadolu quoted him as saying. “We do not accept Greece’s maximalist position.”

But EU and U.S. officials have become increasingly blunt in their calls on Turkey to halt its survey plans. “I want to echo the clear message from Washington and elsewhere in Europe, urging Turkish authorities to halt operations that raise tensions in the region, such as plans to survey for natural resources in areas where Greece and Cyprus assert jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean,” said Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Greece.

“This is a complex strategic space. We want our friends and allies in the region to approach resource development in the spirit of cooperation ... Unilateral provocative actions were against this aim.” Pyatt spoke in the northeast Greek port of Alexandroupolis, where around 2,000 U.S. service members, dozens of helicopters and hundreds of vehicles disembarked. They were to take part in multinational training exercises and be sent to several NATO countries as part of regular troop rotation.

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Thomas Adamson in Paris and Menelaos Hadjocostis in Nicosia, Cyprus contributed.

Turkey rejects Greece accusation of Mediterranean violation

July 22, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Wednesday rejected claims by Greece that its oil-and-gas research vessels were encroaching on Greek waters in the eastern Mediterranean and said it would continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the region.

A Foreign Ministry statement, however, also renewed a call by Ankara for dialogue to resolve the dispute between the two NATO allies. Turkey announced plans Tuesday to dispatch search vessels into disputed waters in the Mediterranean, raising tensions between the neighbors and ignoring calls from European nations to avoid the action. Turkish authorities said the research vessel Oruc Reis and two support vessels would carry out operations through Aug. 2 in waters south of the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kastelorizo.

State-run television in Greece said the country’s armed forces had been placed on a state of readiness. An overnight statement by the Greek foreign ministry called the Turkish notification “illegal," while authorities there issued a counter-notification declaring the Turkish navy's notice for seismic survey in the area as “invalid."

NATO allies Greece and Turkey are at odds over drilling rights in the region, with the European Union and the United States increasingly critical of Ankara’s plans to expand exploration and drilling operations in the coming weeks into areas Athens claims as its own.

Turkey has accused Greece of trying to exclude it from the benefits of oil and gas finds in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, arguing that sea boundaries for commercial exploitation should be divided between the Greek and Turkish mainland and not include the Greek islands on an equal basis.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry denounced what it called a “maximalist continental shelf claim,” insisting that they were “against international law, legal precedent and court decisions.” The ministry statement added that the maritime area where Oruc Reis would conduct research was “within the limits of the continental shelf that our country has notified to the United Nations.” It said an exploration license was given to the Turkish state-run oil company, TPAO, in 2012.

Greece is pressing other EU member states to prepare “crippling sanctions″ against Turkey if it proceeds with the oil-and-gas exploration plans.