After meeting the group of nine leaders of NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe on Wednesday in Warsaw the day after a belligerent speech by Vladimir Putin, US President Joe Biden again criticized the decision of the Russia to suspend its participation in the Russian-American New Start treaty on nuclear disarmament, the last bilateral agreement resulting from the Cold War which aimed to pacify relations between the two powers.
“It’s a big mistake to have done this, it’s not very reasonable,” Joe Biden said in an interview with ABC News in Poland, before leaving for Washington, repeating comments made earlier. The latter nevertheless added that he does not “see” in the decision announced by President Vladimir Putin any elements indicating “that he is considering using nuclear weapons or anything of this type”.
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry however clarified on Tuesday that Moscow would continue to respect the limitation of its nuclear arsenal despite the suspension of New Start, until the effective end of the treaty on February 5, 2026.
UN General Assembly vote expected
On the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN General Assembly votes Thursday on a resolution calling for a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine, a text that Kiev and its allies hope to see the broadest support.
“I call on you: this is a decisive moment to show support, unity and solidarity,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday from the podium, on the first day of the debates devoted to the invasion of Ukraine. ‘Ukraine by Russia started on February 24, 2022. “Never in recent history has the line between good and evil been so clear. One country just wants to survive. The other wants to kill and destroy,” he said. -he adds. The UN secretary general denounced the “affront to our collective conscience” caused a year ago by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine and its allies hope that the text, which will be put to the vote at the end of this second day, will obtain at least as many votes as in October. 143 countries then voted for the resolution condemning the annexations of several Ukrainian territories by Russia.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassili Nebenzia also attacked Westerners at the General Assembly on Wednesday. “In their desire to inflict defeat on Russia in any way possible, it is not only Ukraine they can sacrifice, they are ready to plunge the whole world into the abyss of war,” he said. he accused.
This conflict is not a question of “the West against Russia”, replied the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. “This illegal war concerns everyone: the North, the South, the East and the West”.
A belligerent speech by Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed this week to “methodically” continue his offensive in Ukraine, in a speech with anti-Western rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War. “Today the (military) hierarchy told me that fighting is going on in our historic lands for our people,” he said on Wednesday during a major patriotic concert at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. , in front of tens of thousands of his compatriots.
In France, 500 million euros for the Ukrainians
A year after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, France has spent nearly half a billion euros to offer “unprecedented” reception to some 100,000 displaced people who have found refuge in the territory.
Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, which generated the largest movement of refugees in Europe since the Second World War, France has spent more than 490 million euros to offer a “scheme of “unprecedented welcome” to Ukrainians, the French Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
In detail, nearly 220 million euros have been spent “under the allowance for beneficiaries of temporary protection” granted throughout Europe to Ukrainians. The latter were thus able to benefit from the allowance for asylum seekers (Ada) even if they are exempted from applying for refugee status. About 260 million were also spent “for accommodation” and 10.1 million “for day care and transport”, detailed the Ministry of the Interior to AFP.
G7 Finance: new sanctions against Russia
G7 finance ministers will try to agree Thursday in India on a new package of economic sanctions against Russia, on the eve of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine. The meeting, in which France, the United States and Japan participate in particular, will be held on the sidelines of a meeting of finance ministers and heads of central banks of the G20, organized in Bangalore (south).
“As part of the G7, we will plead for a strengthening of economic sanctions against Russia,” French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire warned on Monday.
Spanish Prime Minister visits Kyiv
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled to Kiev on Thursday to express his support for Ukraine, a day before the first anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion, he announced on Twitter.
“I am back in Kiev, a year after the start of the war. We will stand with Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe,” he wrote in this message in Spanish and Ukrainian, accompanied by video images where we see him getting off a train in Kiev.