They had been expected for months. The first British and German heavy tanks have arrived in Ukraine, a contribution of forces long desired by kyiv to face the Russian invasion. At the same time, Russia confirmed its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its neighboring ally of Ukraine and the European Union, despite strong protests from the West.
The UN Security Council on Monday rejected a Russian resolution calling for the creation of an “independent international commission of inquiry” into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September.
Tuesday morning, in its annual report, the NGO Amnesty International denounced the “double standard of the West” between Ukraine and other conflicts. In constant support of Ukraine since Russia invaded it in February 2022, the West is distinguished by the “softness” of its reactions to other major human rights violations, observes Amnesty International.
Ukraine receives its first heavy tanks
In a post on Facebook on Monday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced that “British Challengers, American Strykers and Cougars and German Marders” have “added to the Ukrainian units”. These Challenger and Leopard battle tanks, promised in kyiv at the beginning of the year, arrive in time for the spring offensive planned by the Ukrainian forces. A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian ministry, Iryna Zolotar, confirmed to AFP that the Challenger tanks “were already in Ukraine”, without giving the exact number. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his part announced on Monday that Berlin has supplied “very modern” Leopard battle tanks to Kiev, and the Ministry of Defense later said that 18 tanks had been delivered.
The United Kingdom also announced in early February that it would train Ukrainian fighter pilots, eventually opening the door to the supply of planes to NATO standards. France will “very soon” supply Ukraine with a SAMP/T surface-to-air anti-aircraft defense system, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in an interview with Figaro published Monday evening. He added that France would also “double” the delivery of 155 millimeter shells “to bring it to 2,000 per month from the end of March”.
Nord Stream: the Security Council refuses an international investigation requested by Moscow
The UN Security Council on Monday rejected a Russian resolution calling for the creation of an “independent international commission of inquiry” into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September. The text co-sponsored by China and by non-member countries of the Council (Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Syria) collected 3 votes (Russia, China, Brazil), the 12 other members of the Council abstaining. It would have taken 9 favorable votes, without a veto from a permanent member, to adopt it.
The resolution called on the UN Secretary-General to establish this commission to “conduct a comprehensive, transparent and impartial international investigation into all aspects of the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, including the identification of perpetrators, sponsors, organizers and accomplices”. Russia justified its request by claiming to have been excluded from the investigations launched by Sweden, Germany and Denmark, countries bordering the sabotage – which rejected this accusation. “We have significant and very well-founded doubts about the objectivity and transparency of the national investigations conducted by certain European states”, insisted Monday the Russian ambassador to the UN Vassili Nebenzia, also citing “suspicions” of actions carried out under the guise of investigations to “hide evidence and clean up the crime scene”.
Between Ukraine and other conflicts, Amnesty denounces a “double standard” of the West
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine “exposed the hypocrisy of Western states, which reacted forcefully to Russian aggression but turned a blind eye to serious violations elsewhere, been accomplices”, deplores the NGO in its annual report. And Amnesty to pin the “deafening silence” surrounding Saudi Arabia – where according to the NGO justice has notably pronounced the death penalty during “flagrantly unfair” trials and peaceful demonstrators have been “sentenced to many long prison sentences” – or Egypt, where thousands of opponents of the regime “remain arbitrarily detained and/or unfairly prosecuted”.
“The response to what happened to the Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people is a formidable response. It is a response that should be a model for other present and future crises”, reacted Agnès Callamard , the secretary general of Amnesty, interviewed by AFP. But “by neglecting other crises, we diminish the value of what has been done in Ukraine”, she continued, her organization lamenting that the West has “tolerated” “similar acts of aggression in other countries”. ‘other countries’, ‘solely because its interests are at stake’.
In Ethiopia, for example, the NGO criticizes “the pitiful responses” to “one of the deadliest conflicts in recent history”, which claimed 500,000 lives, according to the United States. Always contradictory signals, the doors of the European Union, “wide open to welcome Ukrainian refugees”, remained “closed” for people fleeing Afghanistan or Syria, regretted Amnesty.