May 19, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has come under fire for not severing his Russian business ties following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, will have to give up his office at the German Parliament (Bundestag), a parliamentary budget committee ruled Thursday.   

Germany's governing coalition — led by the Social Democrat Party (SPD) of which Schröder is still a member of and the party he once led — decided to cut back Schröder's special rights as a former chancellor, following his ongoing business ties to Russia, a statement posted on the website of the Bundestag said. The former chancellor will however still continue to receive a pension and personal protection, the statement added.  

Schröder, 78, led Germany as chancellor from 1998 until 2005 and is known for his long time personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

Schröder also faced calls from the European Parliament on Thursday to be sanctioned due to his ongoing business and political links to Russia. A resolution by the EU Parliament said that EU sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine should be extended "to the European members of the boards of major Russian companies and to politicians who continue to receive Russian money."  

The resolution named former Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and former French prime minister François Fillon as two examples who recently resigned from their positions in Russian companies — and ''strongly demands that others, such as Karin Kneissl (a former Austrian foreign minister) and Gerhard Schröder, do the same.''  

Schröder currently holds leading positions with Russian energy companies Nord Stream 1 and 2 and the oil company Rosneft, where he is chairman of the supervisory board. Schröder is also slated to take on a supervisory board post for Kremlin-controlled Gazprom.   

In March, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked Schröder to resign from his multiple positions at Russian state-owned companies, saying that Schröder's Russia connections are in the public interest. Politicians across Germany rebuked the former chancellor for months for not cutting business ties with Russia. In early March, Schröder's own team at the Bundestag resigned in protest having failed to persuade him to severe his business links to Russia.  

Russia's "full-scale aggression" against Ukraine led to the "watershed moment" for Sweden to decide to apply for a NATO membership, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Thursday at the Rose Garden.

"My government has come to the conclusion that the security of the Swedish people will be best protected within the NATO alliance, and this is backed by very broad support in the Swedish parliament," she said as she stood with US President Joe Biden and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

She emphasized that NATO will also be stronger with Sweden and Finland as members.

"We are security providers with sophisticated defense capabilities. And we are champions of freedom, democracy, and human rights. We have a long tradition of extensive military cooperation with NATO, including all missions. And we are right now ramping up our defense spending and we will reach 2% of GDP as soon as practically possible," she added.

Andersson called US support for Sweden's NATO membership of "fundamental importance," but said she's looking forward to a dialogue with Turkey to address its concerns.

Sweden looks forward to "a swift ratification process," she added, saying it is "prepared to shoulder its responsibility as an ally in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization."

In remarks at the White House, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said that "Finland will become a strong NATO ally" after meeting with US President Joe Biden along with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

He said he hoped there would be "swift ratification" of Finland's NATO application.

Niinistö also addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying he will refuse both Finland and Sweden's entry into NATO.

Earlier this week, Erdogan accused both countries of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations." He was mainly referencing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which seeks an independent state in Turkey. The group has been in an armed struggle with Ankara for decades and has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The legislatures of all 30 current NATO members must approve new applicants.

Niinistö also spoke about how Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted his country to seek NATO membership.

"[On] 24th February, I said that that the masks have fallen and we see only the cold faces of war. Russia's war in Ukraine has changed Europe and our security environment. Finland takes the step of NATO membership in order to strengthen not only its own security, but also in order to strengthen wider transatlantic security. This is not away from anybody. Like you, Mr. President [Biden] said, NATO is protective, defensive, not a threat to anybody," he said.

Finland shares an 800-mile-long border with Russia.

After US President Joe Biden announced the United States' full support for Sweden and Finland's applications for NATO membership, he said his administration will submit reports to the US Congress on this NATO accession for both countries.

"Today, my administration is submitting to the United States Congress reports on NATO accession for both countries so the Senate can efficiently and quickly move on advising and consenting to the treaty," he said Thursday at the Rose Garden.

He urged Senate leadership to move this approval "as quickly as possible, once perspective of all allies are addressed and NATO adopts the accession protocol."

Remember: Within the US, at least two-third of the Senate must vote to approve new member states in the defensive alliance. Similarly, the legislatures of all 30 current members must approve new NATO applicants.

US President Joe Biden expressed support for the NATO bids of Sweden and Finland, calling it "a momentous day" after meeting with the countries' leaders at the White House.

"Today I am proud to welcome and offer the strong support of the United States for the applications of two great democracies and two close, highly capable partners, to join the strongest, most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world. Two proud independent countries exercising their sovereign rights all states possess to decide their own security," Biden said in the Rose Garden, flanked by Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

"Sweden and Finland are already among our closest partners on a range of issues," he said.

"Finnish and Swedish troops, they have already served shoulder to shoulder with US and NATO forces in Kosovo, in Afghanistan and in Iraq. And both Finland and Sweden are already working in coordination with the United States and our other allies and partners to support the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom against Russia's invasion," Biden added.

Biden said the countries already meet all of NATO requirements, "and then some."

US President Joe Biden, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö are delivering remarks in the Rose Garden after they met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Thursday.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that the meeting will allow the three nations "to coordinate on the path forward" and "compare notes" on their NATO membership applications.

Sweden and Finland's bids to join NATO come in response to Russia's war on Ukraine, which sparked security concerns across the region. Their bids to join the alliance mark a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics.

NATO is addressing Turkey's "concerns" over Sweden and Finland's NATO bid, the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

It comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey “will say no to Sweden’s and Finland’s entry into NATO,” reiterating the same stance he took last week. Earlier this week Erdogan accused both countries of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations."

"We are in close contact with Finland and Sweden and Turkey and also with other allies," Stoltenberg said speaking alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.

"Of course, we are addressing the concerns that Turkey has expressed" to find "an agreement on how to move forward," Stoltenberg said.

Pro-Russia online operatives falsely claimed weeks into Moscow’s war against Ukraine that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had committed suicide, as part of an aggressive effort to dent public morale and undermine the Ukrainian government, US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Thursday.

The false Zelensky suicide claim is just one of several information operations tracked by Mandiant from suspected Russian and Belarusian actors that were aimed at deceiving audiences in Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere in Europe – or at least muddling the truth about the brutal war.

The influence campaigns, analysts say, underscore how the Kremlin is committed as ever to information warfare and efforts to shape perceptions of the conflict even as its soldiers suffer heavy losses on the battlefield.

In another case, Belarus-linked operatives falsely asserted that a Polish crime ring was harvesting the organs of Ukrainian refugees, with the complicity of Polish officials.

Mandiant did not directly point the finger at the Russian government for the fake Zelenksy suicide narrative but described the activity as a “suspected Russian influence campaign.” For decades and dating back to Soviet times, disinformation and other so-called “active measures” have been a key part of Russia’s foreign policy strategy, according to scholars.

CNN has requested comment from the Russian Embassy in Washington and the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on the Mandiant research.

Read the full story here:

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Pro-Russia online operatives falsely claimed Zelensky committed suicide in an effort to sway public opinion, cybersecurity firm says

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has granted permission for the arrest of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, according to a statement published by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office on Telegram on Thursday.

The court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention of the former president, who is suspected of organizing illegal smuggling of people across the state border of Ukraine, according to the statement.

It is not clear where Yanukovych currently resides. The prosecutor's office said Thursday he had fled to the Russian city of Anapa. In March, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform quoted media reports that claimed Yanukovych was in Minsk, Belarus. 

Yanukovych served as president of Ukraine from 2010 until 2014, when he was removed from office during the Maidan protests. The protests erupted after Yanukovych rejected the Ukrainian-European Association Agreement, which would bring Ukraine closer to the European Union and further away from Russia.