live blog
Status: 09/18/2022 04:06 a.m
Defense Minister Lambrecht demands that the UN should secure evidence in Izyum as quickly as possible and investigate possible war crimes. Australia is not planning any restrictions on Russian tourists. The developments in the live blog.
4:05 a.m
Because for a quick suspension of the debt brake
In view of the foreseeable burdens on the economy and consumers as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil is pressing for a quick decision on suspending the debt brake. As early as the Prime Ministers’ Conference on September 28, agreement should be reached that “we are in an emergency and that we have to suspend the restrictions imposed by the debt brake in this situation,” Weil told the dpa news agency.
It is foreseeable how stressful the year 2023 will be socially and economically. “I can’t imagine that we can get through this situation without at least partially taking out loans,” said the SPD politician.
The debt brake anchored in the Basic Law stipulates that the budgets of the federal and state governments are to be balanced without income from loans. There is, however, a leeway that for the federal government amounts to a maximum of 0.35 percent of gross domestic product. In the event of natural disasters or other emergency situations, the debt brake can be suspended, which happened in 2020 and 2021 because of the corona pandemic. In the current energy crisis with drastic price increases, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) sees no reason to suspend the debt brake again. However, he reserves the right to take such a step as an “ultima ratio”.
3:30 a.m
Australia is not planning any action against Russian tourists
According to Defense Minister Richard Marles, Australia is not planning to ban Russian tourists from entering the country. Like other states, the country has imposed a series of sanctions because of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. When asked whether an entry ban for tourists would also be possible, Marles said in a TV interview: “It’s not something we’re currently considering.” The sanctions were aimed at the Russian government, not the Russian people.
In Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, extensive national entry bans for Russian tourists will come into force on Monday. The four EU countries share a border with Russia.
3:07 a.m
Biden warns Putin against using nuclear weapons
US President Joe Biden has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against using tactical nuclear or chemical weapons in the wake of the backlash in Ukraine. “It would change the face of the war like nothing since World War II,” Biden said in an interview clip with CBS television network released Saturday night (local time). Russia would thus make itself even more of an outsider than ever before, according to Biden.
The Russian President had said that the Kremlin would change tack if his troops were further pressured. In a speech on the February invasion of Ukraine, Putin hinted that he could use nuclear weapons if the West intervened in what Russia officially calls the war in Ukraine, “special military operations.”
1:13 a.m
Lambrecht demands clarification of possible war crimes
After hundreds of bodies were found in the Ukrainian city of Izyum, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht called for investigations into possible war crimes. “These terrible crimes must be clarified – ideally by the United Nations,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group. The UN should be given access as soon as possible so that evidence could be secured. “Those responsible for war crimes must be brought to justice,” Lambrecht demanded.
More than 440 graves with bodies have been found in Izyum in the now liberated Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine. According to initial findings, people are said to have died when Russia fired heavily on the city at the end of March. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accuses Russia of torture. Russia rejects this.