Russia hits back at Europe over flight ban

 Russia has banned airlines from 36 countries from using its airspace in a tit-for-tat response to Western sanctions.

The country said it would stop flights from nations including Germany, Spain, Italy and Canada.

Russia had already barred UK airlines from flying to and across the region after Britain banned national airline Aeroflot from landing in the UK.

On Sunday, Europe shut its skies to Russian owned or controlled planes.

The announcement means all planes, including the private jets of oligarchs, will now be unable to land in, take off from or fly over any EU nation.

It is one of a number of sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

In the UK, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also announced he had told all UK ports to not let any Russian “flagged, registered, owned, controlled, chartered or operated vessels” to have access.

“I’ve made clear these vessels are not welcome here,” he said.

On Monday, the Russian aviation regulator, Rosaviatsia, said: “A restriction has been imposed on flights for airlines of 36 countries in accordance with international law as a retaliatory measure for the ban imposed by the European states on the flights of commercial airliners operated by Russian airlines and/or registered in Russia.”

The measures mean airlines will have to make long detours on some routes, potentially raising the cost of fuel and tickets.

The countries banned from Russia’s airspace are: Albania, Anguilla, Austria, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland, the Faroe Islands), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK.

Swiss International Airlines, which is owned by Germany’s Lufthansa, said that it had cancelled flights from Zurich to Moscow despite Switzerland not appearing on Russia’s list of banned countries.

A spokesperson for the Swiss airline also said it was not flying through Russian airspace.

Swiss is now avoiding Russian airspace

It said: “We continue to closely monitor the development of the situation and are in close exchange with the Swiss and international authorities as well as with the Lufthansa Group for our operational decisions.”

Meanwhile, cruise firm Carnival, which owns P&O Cruises as well as Cunard, said it was changing journeys on Baltic cruises.

The company said it would advise guests of the changes “as soon as possible”.

On Monday, Switzerland – traditionally a neutral country and whose banks are believed to hold billions of dollars in Russian funds- said that it would adopt EU financial sanctions against Moscow.

The Swiss justice minister, Karin Keller-Sutter, also said it had banned five oligarchs with links to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin from entering the country, though declined to name them.

The BBC’s correspondent in Geneva, Imogen Foulkes, said: “Make no mistake, this is a huge step for Switzerland, which has often agonized over what being neutral actually means.

“Today, Swiss president Ignazio Cassis made it clear: the attack on Ukraine was an unacceptable attack on freedom and democracy,” she said.

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Fifa and Uefa suspend Russian teams as Ukrainian tennis players call for action

 Two of football’s top international bodies, Fifa and Uefa, both announced the suspension of Russian soccer teams in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Fifa and Uefa have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both Fifa and Uefa competitions until further notice,” according to a joint statement on Monday.

This immediate action means that Russia will not be participating in the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, nor will it be playing against Poland in a World Cup semi-final qualifier playoff in March. Its women’s team won’t be participating in the 2022 European Championship hosted in England.

Russian club teams will no longer compete in the Europa League, either.

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people,” said the statement.

Fifa had initially been criticized after it said it would let Russia continue to compete in the men’s World Cup playoffs.

Uefa has gone one step further and announced it cancelled its sponsorship deal with Russian gas giant, Gazprom. Gazprom had been the sponsor of the Champions League and Russia was supposed to host the finals in St Petersburg.

But Uefa moved the finals to Paris last week.
“Uefa has today decided to end its partnership with Gazprom across all competitions,” according to the statement.

“The decision is effective immediately and covers all existing agreements including the Uefa Champions League, Uefa national team competitions and Uefa Euro 2024,” it added.

The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also issued a recommendation on Monday, calling for the exclusion of Russian and Belarussian athletes, officials, and teams from international competitions.

In addition to the football teams being banned, a statement by Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina called for a clear decision to be made by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Svitolina said she wanted these three tennis associations to follow the IOC guidelines and only allow Russian and Belarussian athletes to be neutral athletes and not display any colors, flags or symbols of their countries.

“I do not blame any of the Russian athletes. They are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland,” said Svitolina in the statement.

“Moreover, I wish to play tribute to all the players, especially Russians and Belarussians, who bravely stated their position against the war. Their support is essential,” she added.

SA ambassador flees Kyiv and condemns discrimination

 South Africa’s ambassador to the Ukraine has told the BBC he has had no choice but to leave the capital, Kyiv, as an armoured Russian convoy is heading to the city.

Andre Groenewald said explosions could be heard in the distance as he packed the car to leave on Wednesday morning.

He is now travelling south in a convoy of two vehicles with his wife, three children and the last remaining embassy staff towards Romania, Moldova or Hungary.

He said he and other colleagues and ambassadors had been working hard to secure the exit of South Africans and other foreigners from Ukraine – some of whom have faced racism at they have tried to flee.

“We’ve heard all of these accusations, we’ve seen the videos and we are concerned… We’ve protested ourselves on [an] official level to the government and asked them to please help the students that are still coming through,” he added.

South Africa’s ambassadors in both in Poland and Hungary had also gone to the borders to help people get through, he said.

Part of the problem was that “initially, only Ukrainian women and children” were being allowed through – and as officials from Ukraine were sticking strictly to these instructions, this had impacted on all the foreigners.

“It’s just been a very terrible situation.”

He denounced the discrimination, adding that bombs don’t discriminate.

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Sudan backs talks to end Russia-Ukraine war

 Sudan has expressed support for talks to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the state-run Sudan News Agency (Suna) has reported.

The Paris-based Sudan Tribune website reported on Monday that Sudan was under pressure from Western countries to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But in its first official statement on the war, Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council merely said that it backs dialogue and a diplomatic solution.

The deputy head of the Sovereign Council, Gen Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagolo, is on a visit to Moscow to strengthen ties between the two countries.

The foreign ministry had denied reports that he had supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sudan’s military leaders have maintained strong relations with Russia since the overthrow of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

Bashir was also an ally of Moscow,

Russia has interests in gold mines in Sudan.

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Africans trapped in basement amid Ukraine offensive

 A Cameroonian student has described how he and his friends have been forced to hide in a basement in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to escape air raids.

Christophe said that “every five minutes we are hearing bombardments”.

“Sometimes we can hear airplanes passing through the sky, mostly bombardments because you can feel it on the ground. That’s mostly what we’re hearing, they are really not very far from us, they’re around the town,” he told the BBC’s Soraya Ali.

Gun-shots could also be heard.

“We don’t know what to do. We are desperate,” Christophe said.

“We are either in the basement or in our home. Like one hour in the basement, five minutes at home.”

He said that about 15 of them were stranded in Kerson – fellow Cameroonians, Nigerians, Senegalese and Ghanaians.

“The city is said to have been circled by the Russian army. So, there is no way out. We find ourselves in this situation where we cannot do anything,” he added.

Their embassies had asked them to reach the border of a neighbouring state, from where they would be picked up, however, it was “impossible” to leave, he said.

“We don’t have any way out. Please we are asking for help,” Christophe said.

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West African bloc condemns Russia’s invasion

 The West African regional bloc Ecowas has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement it urged both parties to agree to a ceasefire and to resolve the crisis through dialogue.

Ecowas also called on the two countries to ensure the safety of Africans living in Ukraine.

Its statement came as Russia and Ukraine began face-to-face talks for the first time since Russian forces entered Ukraine five days ago.

Ukraine’s delegates have said they want an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of troops from their territory; Russia’s negotiators have talked of a deal that’s in the interests of both sides.

Racism against blacks in Ukraine unmasked by chaos of invasion

 At a time when Ukrainians are calling for all to join then to fight off Russians, they are also feigning betrayal and consequently displaying resentment at able bodied blacks, mainly Africans who are fleeing to safety.

Ukrainians are pointing at what they perceive at betrayal by Africans as the reason for the blatant instances of racism at train stations where social media videos depict exclusion of blacks when boarding departing trains.

But how have Ukrainians treated Africans in Ukraine during normal times?

DNT has been reporting on numerous cases of African students disappearing without a trace and the resulting nonchalant handling by the police.

One Congolese student was stabbed to death allegedly by his Ukrainian girl friend for posing videos of her lesbian activity on Facebook.

The accused murderer whose mother is a high ranking politician, boasted in a video posted on social media that nothing will happen to her.

Indeed but for the incessant publicity given to the case by DNT, evidenced by a police officer once referring to such, that murder too would have led to no prosecution.

There was another instance where one Nigerian student accompanied his Ukrainian girl friend and others on a leisure boat excursion. All but the Nigerian student returned, and yet non of them broke their silence as to what happened to him.

There has been several instances of maltreatment on university campuses despite many of these students fully paying their tuition.

Thus Ukraine has done little to integrate Africans into its society. While other countries such as United States, United Kingdom, France, and even Germany have opened their military to recruitment of Africans, Ukraine has not done so.

So how does Ukraine now expect Africans to stay and fight alongside its citizens when the latter has not been made to feel a part of that society?

As Ukraine is reportedly admitted into the EU today, its is hoped that when the dust settles from the Russian bombs, the rebirthed country would do more to integrate its black residents into its society.

DNT News.

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