Month: March 2022

Nato, the G7 and the EU are all holding meetings, in a display of unity rarely seen by the West.

Mr Biden will take part in all three, the first ever visit by a US president to an EU summit in Brussels.

But his visit to Brussels is not just about symbolism.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the Western defensive alliance Nato a renewed sense of purpose. And as the EU attempts to sever energy ties with Russia, it needs to forge and reinforce other relationships, particularly with the US.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will appear by video link to both Nato and EU leaders.

Nato’s 30 presidents and prime ministers will agree greater support for Ukraine and new troop deployments for Eastern allies. Their aim is to show solidarity to Kyiv, though only up to a point.

Many, but not all, have been willing to supply weapons. The UK said it would use both the G7 and Nato meetings to “substantively increase defensive lethal aid to Ukraine”.

But the alliance has also made clear it won’t become more directly involved and Mr Zelensky’s repeated requests for a no-fly zone over Ukraine have pretty much been ignored.

Nor is it clear how Nato would respond if Russia were to dramatically escalate the conflict in Ukraine – such as an attack on a Western weapons convoy, the use of chemical, or even tactical nuclear weapons. Nato’s red lines have so far been drawn at its borders.

For the past few weeks, 30,000 Nato troops from 25 countries have been training in Norway as part of Exercise Cold Response, a long-planned exercise that has now taken on more significance.

Like Ukraine, Norway borders Russia. The key difference is that, as a Nato member, Norway is covered by a commitment to “collective defence” – an attack on one is an attack on all.

“I think an exercise like this is pretty good to have, to prove to countries like Russia… that you don’t want to mess with Nato,” a young Norwegian conscript called Peder told the BBC.

Nato leaders are focused on how to boost their own defences. They’ve already sent thousands more troops to the alliance’s eastern flank, along with more air defence batteries, warships and aircraft.

This, says Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, is the “new normal” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia will get exactly what it didn’t want – more, not less Nato near its border. Nato battlegroups will stretch all the way from the Baltic to the Black Sea for the foreseeable future.

Two EU countries that are not members of Nato – Sweden and Finland – contributed troops to the exercise in Norway. They appear to be edging closer and closer to Nato in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

President Trump once questioned the very existence of Nato and French President Emmanuel Macron once called it “brain dead”. But President Biden’s visit to Brussels is proof that he sees it as being more important than ever to curb a more aggressive Russia.

Defence strategy will also play a part in an EU summit where leaders will approve plans that aim to pull member states closer together on military planning, intelligence and procurement. One ambition is to have a rapidly deployable force of 5,000 troops.

It’s all part of the theme of “strategic autonomy” championed by Mr Macron.

The argument is that a more sovereign Europe is a safer Europe, whether that’s by securing reliable supplies of energy and semiconductor chips or by boosting military spending.

But the trickiest subject for the European Union’s 27 member states is fast becoming the future of energy supplies, as they try to look beyond Russia.

After an initial, dizzying display of unity on sanctions across all 27 member states there are now obvious ruptures over what to do next.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has publicly denounced the idea of banning Russian gas and oil imports, arguing it will drag Europe into a recession. “Sanctions must not hit the European states harder than the Russian leadership. That is our principle,” he said on the eve of the summit.

Soaring energy prices are also a concern to be discussed by EU leaders on Friday.

But there are nations agitating for action as they voice deep discomfort about handing cash to the Kremlin via energy payments. “It’s blood money,” said one central European diplomat. “I don’t think some countries understand the gravity of the situation.”

President Biden’s ability to offer Europe more US Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a key watch at Thursday’s summit. The US is the world’s largest producer of natural gas.

He is also expected to announce more sanctions on Russian political figures as well as so-called oligarchs.

But the prospect of fresh EU sanctions this week is being played down. Some in Brussels call it “fatigue”, while others insist it’s the right time to take stock.

A safeguarding report found the search of the 15-year-old, known as Child Q, was unjustified and racism was “likely” to have been a factor.

Child Q is suing the Met and her Hackney school over the 2020 incident.

Hackney police commander Ch Supt Marcus Barnett, who resisted calls to resign, said the pair were doing desk duties.

It came in response to repeated questions from the public about why the officers had not been sacked.

A member of the public also questioned why the team hosting Wednesday’s meeting was made up of three white male police officers.

Det Supt Dan Rutland responded acknowledging that while the panel did not reflect the local community, they were the senior leadership team of Hackney Police.

During the incident, the girl was taken out of an exam to the school’s medical room and strip-searched by two female Met police officers searching for cannabis, while teachers remained outside.

No other adult was present, her parents were not contacted and no drugs were found.

Her intimate body parts were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel, according to the review.

Scotland Yard has admitted the officers’ actions were “regrettable” and it “should never have happened”.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said that reports of the strip-search were “deeply distressing and deeply concerning”.

Earlier, Hackney’s mayor said it was clear that “school leadership has lost the confidence of the school, myself and the community”.

Philip Glanville said removing the head teacher could be “part of a process” to bring about change.

Labour MP Florence Eshalomi: “When my daughter is 15, I hope this issue still isn’t happening but I’m worried it will”

On Monday, policing minister Kit Malthouse said the government was taking this matter “extremely seriously”.

He added the government would wait for the outcome of an Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation before announcing any changes to police training around strip searches.

The IOPC said a report on the incident is being “finalised”.

The incident has sparked days of protest across Hackney, near the site of Child Q’s school.

The school has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Local authorities in the town of Makariv, west of Kyiv, said Ukrainian flags were flying there once more.

A US defence spokesman said Ukrainians were also reversing momentum in some parts of the south.

In the small southern town of Voznesensk, Russian forces were pushed back and an armoured convoy destroyed.

And in Kherson, close to the Crimean peninsula and the first city to fall to Russia, Ukrainian forces are also trying to recapture territory.

A UK defence analyst told the BBC the fightback could force Moscow to change its tactics.

However, the latest assessment from the UK Ministry of Defence says Russian troops in Ukraine are moving in from the north and south to “envelop Ukrainian forces in the east of the country”.

The note says “Russian forces are likely reorganising before resuming large-scale offensive operations”.

Russian forces are also continuing to bombard the southern port city of Mariupol, although the port area itself is said to have suffered relatively little damage.

Justin Bronk, from the UK defence and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the Ukrainian pushback came as the Russians were trying to compensate for their lack of progress so far.

“The Russians have quite visibly failed to take the whole of Ukraine across multiple positions of advance,” he told the BBC.

“So now they are trying to pull their resources back and consolidate them and concentrate them on one push at a time – in particular around Mariupol and the south.”

He said that if the Russians took Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks and is low on supplies, then they might look to redistribute troops and ammunition, first to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and then perhaps to the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.

The firm could face fines “running into millions of pounds” if found guilty, Boris Johnson told the House of Commons.

It came as the boss of P&O Ferries apologised for the mass sacking.

Peter Hebblethwaite said the decision was “incredibly difficult” but “the only way to save the business”.

The sackings – along with claims that workers paid as little as £1.81 an hour will replace the fired staff – have sparked outrage.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson said: “Under section 194 of the trades union and labour relations act of 1992, it looks to me as though the company concerned has broken the law.

“And we will be taking action therefore, and we will be encouraging workers themselves to take action under the 1996 employment rights act.”

He added that the government would take steps to protect mariners working in UK waters and “ensure they all paid the living wage”.

Responding, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was not illegal for international seafarers to be paid below the national living wage at UK ports and criticised the government for not banning the practice.

He added that the government should immediately cancel a £50m contract awarded to P&O Ferries’ owner, DP World. Ministers have said such contracts are under review.

“DP World must be quaking in their boots. The prime minister says how disappointed he is in them whilst handing them £50m,” Mr Starmer said.

P&O denies it broke the law and says it is compensating workers fairly. But on Wednesday Mr Hebblethwaite said he understood people’s anger.

“I want to say sorry to the people affected and their families for the impact it’s had on them, and also to the 2,200 people who still work for P&O and will have been asked a lot of difficult questions about this,” he said.

“Over the last week, I’ve been speaking face-to-face to seafarers and their partners. They’ve lost their jobs and there is anger and shock and I completely understand.”

He added that the sackings were necessary to keep the loss-making firm afloat.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision that we wrestled with but once we knew it was the only way to save the business, we had to act,” Mr Hebblethwaite said.

“I wish there was another way and I’m sorry.”

It comes after reports that Indian agency workers paid as little as £1.81 an hour have already replaced sacked P&O workers at the Port of Dover.

Last week P&O said the figure was inaccurate but said it could not comment on how much agencies pay workers on ferries.

Some of P&O’s ferries are registered in Cyprus, meaning they do not have to pay the minimum wage required by UK law.

Shokrollah Jebeli died in Evin prison hospital in Tehran on Sunday, his son Peyman said.

Amnesty International said his treatment in jail had in effect been torture. Iran has not commented.

Mr Jebeli’s death comes at a time of heightened focus on the plight of dual nationals imprisoned in Iran.

Conservationist Morad Tahbaz, a British-US national held since 2018 on spying charges, has gone on hunger strike after Iran did not release him when two British-Iranian nationals, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, were freed on Thursday.

Iran does not recognise dual nationality and there are no exact figures on the number of such detainees.

Peyman Jebeli tweeted on an account which had campaigned for his father’s release that Shokrollah Jebeli had died.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the Defence Space Command would secure Australia’s place in the cosmos.

Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts, who will lead it, said she was “scared” by Australia’s inability to combat Beijing and Moscow’s activities.

The US, Russia and China are all believed to have tested weapons that could destroy a satellite in space.

The agency’s chief said a Chinese satellite could theoretically “take out” the National Broadband Network for regional Australia.

Her role includes increasing Australians’ “national understanding” of space threats.

Vice-Marshal Roberts said that “we are really tight with the US” and “we can rely on them to an extent, but we need to accelerate the capability so that we can deal with the threats”.