Russian opponent heavily condemned, kyiv skeptical of peace efforts

Did you miss the latest events on the tensions in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Who did what ? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below:

news of the day

He was found guilty of “high treason”. For these facts, the Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Mourza was sentenced Monday, during a trial behind closed doors, to 25 years in prison. He is notably accused of having disseminated “false information” on the Russian army. This condemnation provoked a wave of indignation on the part of the international community.

France said it was “dismayed” by this judgment which “constitutes a new illustration of the campaign of repression carried out by the Russian authorities against the voices critical of power and its war of aggression against Ukraine”, estimated Anne-Claire Legendre, spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Washington denounced “the intensified repression” of the Russians, while the European Union castigated a “scandalously harsh” sentence.

For its part, the UN asked the Kremlin for the release “without delay” of the opponent. Berlin and London also condemned the judgment. The 41-year-old man has been in pre-trial detention for a year. He says he was the victim of two poisoning attempts, in 2015 and 2017.

sentence of the day

You cannot say that you are in favor of peace while trying to conquer more territories, committing more atrocities, destroying villages and towns”

These are the words of Dmytro Kouleba, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy. During a press conference in Baghdad with his counterpart Fouad Hussein, the leader was skeptical about the chances of success of the peace efforts.

The mediation proposals made by several countries have all been declined. “Russia must agree to something very simple: stop the war and withdraw from Ukrainian territory. This will create a space for diplomacy”, specified the Ukrainian minister while considering that the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine “represented” the cornerstone “of any peace effort.

The number of the day

750. Like the number of civilian victims by mines since the start of the invasion. According to the British Ministry of Defense, the most affected regions are the oblasts of Kherson and Kharkiv, areas previously occupied by Russia. “With the arrival of spring and the increase in the number of people involved in agricultural activities, the risk of civilian mine incidents will increase,” predicts London, which estimates that it will take around a decade to clear the country. .

The trend of the day

Vladimir Putin always praises the alliance with Beijing. The Russian president praised the “very high level” Russian maneuvers in the Pacific involving dozens of ships and planes.

The drills announced last week, which come amid Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu’s visit to Russia, involve more than 25,000 military personnel, 167 ships and boats, including 12 submarines, as well as 89 planes and helicopters. , said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting with the head of the Kremlin.

According to him, the Russian forces participating in the maneuvers were trained, during the first stage, in particular to detect enemy submarines in the vicinity of the Gulf of Peter the Great (in the Sea of ​​Japan) and the Avachinsky Gulf, in the south-west. east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.

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