Europe takes step towards making Russia pay for Ukraine war

Yahoo – AFP, Marc BURLEIGH, May 16, 2023 

Leaders from the 46-nation Council of Europe including French President
Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasised that Moscow
would be held accountable

A summit of a rights body spanning Europe on Tuesday created a "register of damages" to record Russia's destruction of Ukraine for future compensation, and heard Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plead for Western fighter jets. 

Leaders from the 46-nation Council of Europe including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasised that Moscow would be held accountable for the harm and destruction it has caused in its 15-month invasion of its neighbour. 

The register of damages, to be lodged in The Hague, aims to record the tangible costs Russia has exacted on Ukraine in that time. 

"There will be no reliable peace without justice" and the register lays the ground for "a full-fledged compensation mechanism," Zelensky said in a video address at the start of the two-day summit. 

Right now, though, Zelensky said, ballistic missile and drone attacks on his country showed "Russia is trying very hard to improve its ability to kill". 

Ukraine consequently needed "additional air defence systems and missiles -- we also need more fighter jets, without which no air defence system will be perfect," he said. 

The call came just after a whirlwind tour by Zelensky of major European capitals to press for Western warplanes ahead of an expected offensive against Russian positions in Ukraine in coming weeks. 

He received pledges of more military deliveries from Germany, France and Britain. The latter two said they would train Ukrainian fighter pilots. 

Jet 'coalition'  

Western countries however are wary about supplying advanced fighter aircraft to Ukraine, fearing their use could escalate the war. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte agreed at the summit that they would build an "international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets," according to Sunak's office. 

Other leaders in Iceland emphasised the registry of damages -- and how justified they were in kicking Russia out of the Council of Europe a year ago over its war in Ukraine. 

Scholz said the registry would play "a central role" in "punishing and demanding accountability for the war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers". 

Macron called on other countries to join the initiative and "actively contribute to filling it out". 

The United States -- represented at the summit in an observer role -- said it too supported the creation of the register. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the register would play a role in deterring further Russian "war crimes" and called it important for the future "because only justice can be the foundation of lasting peace in Ukraine". 

Britain seeks reform 

All of the EU's 27 countries are part of the Council of Europe, and several of them are in favour of setting up a special tribunal to try Russia's leadership. 

That would be deferred until the conclusion of the grinding war. 

Russia could well be preparing its own spring attack on Ukrainian positions to try to break a battlefield stalemate. 

For all the unity projected at the summit, there were fissures in the European community. 

Britain is antagonistic towards the council's European Convention of Human Rights, which is a barrier to its plans to stem the irregular arrival of asylum-seekers by deporting them to Rwanda. 

The convention is backed by a European Court of Human Rights which has made rulings stymying Britain's policies. 

Sunak said as he arrived that he was pressing for a reform of that court as part of a strategy to stop small boats carrying refugees reaching Britain after transiting through France. 

"We're going to do absolutely everything we can to do that... I'm not going to rest until we can stop the boats and that's why I'm here," Sunak said. 

The leaders' gathering was also a key moment for the heads of European heavyweights Germany, France, Italy and Britain to meet before a G7 summit starting Friday in Japan.

Turkey bows to US pressure, cuts Russian bank ties

Yahoo – AFP, Fulya OZERKAN, September 28, 2022

 

Turkey's booming wartime trade with Moscow took a giant step back on Wednesday with confirmation that the last three banks still processing Russian card payments were pulling out under pressure from Washington. 

The decision follows weeks of increasingly blunt warnings from the United States for NATO member Turkey to either limit its economic relations with Russia or face the threat of sanctions itself. 

The US Treasury said last week that Turkish banks working with Russian Mir bank cards "risk supporting Russia's efforts to evade US sanctions". 

Two private Turkish lenders that began processing Mir after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in August suspended the transactions earlier this month. 

But three state lenders -- Halkbank, Vakifbank and Ziraatbank -- still worked with the cards. 

A senior Turkish official did not say when Russians would no longer be able to access their cards in Turkey at all. 

The three banks "are still processing (the outstanding) payments, but they have set a future date" for pulling out, the official said on condition of anonymity because no formal decision by the three bank has been announced. 

The decision follows a meeting headed by Erdogan last Friday that officially focused on looking at "alternatives" to the Russian cards. 

Shift in tone

The explosion of Turkish trade with Russia during the seven-month war in Ukraine has been a source of growing irritation for Washington. 

The value of trade between the two rose by more than 50 percent. Turkey has also agreed to pay for a quarter of its Russian natural gas imports in rubles. 

US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo paid a rare visit to Ankara and Istanbul in June to express Washington's worries that Russian oligarchs and big businesses were using Turkish entities to evade Western sanctions. 

The Treasury sent a follow up letter to Turkish banks and businesses in August warning that they cannot expect to have "access to the US dollar and other major currencies" if they trade with sanctioned Russians. 

Turkey has tried to stay neutral in the Ukrainian conflict and refused to sign up to Western sanctions against Russia.  

It has used this status to strike a range of economic agreements that have helped prop up the ailing economy in the run-up to June elections in which Erdogan will struggle to extend his two-decade grip on power. 

Mir cards offer millions of Russians that vacation in Turkey each year a way to access their rubles and pay for everything from restaurants to hotels. 

They are also increasingly important to Russians who are fleeing to Turkey as part of a new migration wave of men trying to avoid the draft. 

But analysts note a shift in Turkey's tone away from Russia in the past few weeks. 

Ankara last week strongly condemned the "illegitimate" polls the Kremlin is using as a pretext to annex four Ukrainian regions now under partial Russian control. 

'Fear of secondary sanctions'

Prominent Russian sanctions campaigner Bill Browder -- a businessman who left Moscow after one of his associates died in jail -- said the Turkish bank decision showed that the "fear of secondary sanctions is starting to work". 

"Turkish banks have abandoned Putin's Mir payment system out of fear of being punished by the US," Browder tweeted. 

"We need to roll this out far and wide. Chinese, Indian UAE and many other countries should understand there will be consequences." 

Russia developed Mir in 2015 to circumvent Western sanctions imposed following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. 

But Russian central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina conceded earlier this month that Moscow was encountering "difficulties" expanding its payment system around the world. 

Uzbekistan suspended Mir transactions last Friday citing unspecified "technical procedures". 

The card still works in Belarus and a handful of Russia's closest allies. 

Visa and Mastercard no longer issue new cards in Russia or process foreign payments on the cards acquired before the war.

Kalush Orchestra - Stefania (Official Video Eurovision 2022)

Pink Floyd release first new song since 1994 for Ukraine

Yahoo – AFP, April 7, 2022 

David Gilmour: 'We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile
act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people
murdered by one of the world's major powers' (AFP/JOHN D MCHUGH) (JOHN D MCHUGH)

Pink Floyd have written their first new song in almost 30 years to support Ukrainians, the band announced on Thursday. 

"Hey, Hey, Rise-Up!" will be released on Friday, and be used to raise funds for humanitarian causes linked to the war. 

It samples Andriy Khlyvnyuk, from one of Ukraine's biggest bands BoomBox, singing in Sofiyskaya Square in Kyiv in a clip that went viral. 

Khlyvnyukh abandoned a world tour to return to Ukraine and help defend his country. 

"We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world's major powers," Pink Floyd said on their official Twitter feed. 

In a press release, band leader David Gilmour said he had been moved by Khlyvnyuk's video: "It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music." 

He was able to speak with Khlyvnyuk from his hospital bed in Kyiv, where the singer was recovering after being hit by shrapnel in a mortar attack, the record company said. 

"I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future," Gilmour said. 

The image accompanying the song is of a sunflower, and was inspired by a viral video showing a Ukrainian woman insulting two armed Russian soldiers. 

In it, she tells the soldiers: "Take these seeds and put them in your pockets. That way sunflowers will grow when you all rest here." 

It is the first original music from Pink Floyd since 1994's "The Division Bell". 

Gilmour tweeted his opposition to the war soon after Russia's invasion, saying: "Putin must go". 

The band has also pulled their music from Russian and Belarusian streaming sites in protest at the invasion.

Top UN court tells Moscow to halt Ukraine invasion

France24 – AFP, 16 March 2022 

Kyiv dragged Moscow to the UN's top court days after Russia's attack
on February 24 Phil nijhuis ANP/AFP

The Hague (AFP) – The UN's top court on Wednesday ordered Russia to suspend its invasion of Ukraine, saying it was "profoundly concerned" by Moscow's use of force. 

"The Russian Federation shall immediately suspend military operations that it commenced on 24 February on the territory of Ukraine," pending the final decision in the case, presiding judge Joan Donoghue told the International Court of Justice. 

"The court is profoundly concerned about the use of force by the Russian Federation which raises very serious issues in international law," Donoghue told a hearing in The Hague. 

Kyiv dragged Moscow to the UN's top court days after Russia's attack on February 24. 

Ukraine accuses Russia of illegally trying to justify its war by falsely alleging genocide in Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions. 

Kyiv then asked the court to take provisional measures ordering Russia to "immediately suspend the military operations." 

"Russia must be stopped, and the court has a role to play in stopping that," Ukraine's representative Anton Korynevych told the ICJ last week. 

The hearing on Wednesday comes as the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine topped three million and Russian forces step up strikes on residential buildings in Kyiv.

 At the same time, Kyiv said it wanted its security to be guaranteed by international forces, as it rejected proposals pushed by Russia for it to adopt a neutral status comparable to Austria or Sweden. 

'No genocide evidence'

Russia snubbed hearings on March 7 and 8, arguing in a written filing that the ICJ "did not have jurisdiction" because Kyiv's request fell outside of the scope of the 1948 Genocide Convention on which it based its case. 

Moscow also justified its use of force in Ukraine, saying "it was acting in self-defence." 

The ICJ was set up after World War II to rule on disputes between UN member states, based mainly on treaties and conventions. 

Although its rulings are binding, it has no real means to enforce them. 

A full hearing into the content of the case could still take years, they added. 

Judges on Wednesday also ordered Moscow to ensure that military or irregular armed units "take no further steps" in furthering its offensive. 

But "whether Russia will oblige is an entirely different question", said Marieke De Hoon, assistant international criminal and public law professor at the University of Amsterdam. 

The case is also separate from a Ukraine war crimes investigation launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a separate tribunal also based in The Hague.

Merkel voices 'deep shame' on first visit to Auschwitz

Yahoo – AFP, Yannick PASQUET, December 6, 2019

Angela Merkel is only the third chancellor ever to visit Auschitz-Birkenau (AFP Photo/
John MACDOUGALL)

Oswiecim (Poland) (AFP) - Angela Merkel visited the former Auschwitz Nazi death camp on Friday for the first time as chancellor and said admitting Nazi crimes was a key part of Germany's identity that could combat growing anti-Semitism.

"Remembering the crimes... is a responsibility which never ends," Merkel said during the visit in a message aimed at calls from the German far right for a shift away from a culture of remembrance and atonement.

"To be aware of this responsibility is part of our national identity, our self-understanding as an enlightened and free society," she added.

Merkel is only the third chancellor ever to visit a place that has come to symbolise the Holocaust.

Map of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp as it was in 1944 in Poland (AFP 

Photo/Sophie RAMIS)

She expressed Germany's "deep shame" at what happened in Auschwitz and neighbouring Birkenau, where a million Jews lost their lives between 1940 and 1945.

"I bow my head before the victims of the Shoah," she said, speaking in front of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and a survivor of the camp, 87-year-old Bogdan Stanislaw Bartnikowski.

The 65-year-old chancellor, who was born nine years after the end of World War II, also addressed a rise of anti-Semitic and other hate crimes in Germany in recent years, saying they had reached an "alarming level".

"To combat anti-Semitism, the history of extermination camps has to be shared, it has to be told," she said.

Auschwitz "demands that we keep the memory alive".

A visitor to Auschwitz stands in front of victims' shoes (AFP Photo/JANEK 

SKARZYNSKI)

'Keeping the memory of the Shoah'

Merkel began her visit by walking under the Nazi slogan "Arbeit macht frei" (Work will set you free) that still hangs over the gates of the camp.

She marked a minute's silence by the Death Wall where thousands of prisoners were shot dead and visited the site of a gas chamber and a crematorium.

In total, 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, including non-Jewish Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and anti-Nazi fighters.

Many were killed the same day they arrived at the camp.

"There is no other place of memory that demonstrates with such precision what happened during the Shoah," Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who accompanied Merkel, told AFP.

On the eve of her trip, Germany's federal state approved a new 60-million-euro ($66-million) donation for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which is marking 10 years since it was set up.

"This is an important and significant step towards keeping the memory of the Shoah," Israel's embassy to Germany said on Twitter.

Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki placed candles at the

International Monument Auschwitz II-Birkenau on Friday (AFP Photo/JANEK 

SKARZYNSKI)

'Break with civilisation'

Merkel follows in the footsteps of previous German chancellors Helmut Schmidt, who came in 1977, and Helmut Kohl, who visited in 1989 and 1995.

She has already visited several former concentration and extermination camps in Germany over many years and has been to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre five times.

In 2008, she became the first German leader to address the Israeli parliament.

Merkel has called the Holocaust a "break with civilisation" and has voiced concern about the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany.

Her visit comes two months after an attack aimed at a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle in which two people were killed -- part of a growing trend.

Police figures show that anti-Semitic offences rose by almost 10 percent in Germany last year from the previous year to 1,646 -- the highest level in a decade.

A million Jews were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, along with 100,000 non-Jewish 

Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and anti-Nazi fighters (AFP Photo/JANEK 

SKARZYNSKI)

'180-degree shift' in remembrance

Germany's far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party, some of whose members have been accused of using anti-Semitic rhetoric, has called for a rethink of the way Germany remembers its Nazi past.

Senior AfD lawmaker Bjoern Hoecke has called for a "180-degree shift" in the culture of atonement -- a cornerstone of German political life for decades.

The timing of the visit is also significant because of questions over Merkel's political future as tensions persist within the governing coalition.

German media reported that she wanted to make the trip ahead of any potential political crisis.

Merkel intends to step down at the end of her mandate in 2021 but there is a chance that the date could be brought forward if her junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats, pull out of the government.

Dublin warns UK PM 'no amnesty' for soldiers in N.Ireland

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON,  November 11, 2019

A mural commemorates the victims of the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" killings in the
Bogside area of Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland (AFP Photo/PAUL FAITH)

Dublin (AFP) - The Irish government said on Monday there must be "no amnesty" for British soldiers who committed crimes in Northern Ireland, after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made historic prosecutions an election campaign issue.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said it was "very concerning" that the British Conservative leader had pledged to end moves to bring criminal charges against army veterans who had served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

Campaigning for the December 12 election, Johnson pledged Monday, timed for the anniversary of the World War I armistice, to amend human rights law to shield servicemen from prosecutions for events before 2000.

The pledge stokes the divisive debate over prosecutions for British troops involved in killings during three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

More than 3,000 people were killed before the conflict wound down with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, signed with the accord of London and Dublin.

"This is very concerning. Governments and parties have agreed an approach on legacy and reconciliation in Northern Ireland," Coveney said in a statement.

"There is no statute of limitations, no amnesty, for anyone who committed crimes in NI. The law must apply to all, without exception, to achieve reconciliation."

British troops were despatched to the province to buttress law enforcement in 1969, as Catholics opposed to British rule battled in the streets with Protestants who wanted to remain part of the UK.

Initially welcomed, their deployment transformed into the longest British Army operation in history and was marred by a number of high profile killings.

According to the Ulster University's Sutton Index of deaths, the British Army was responsible for around 300 killings over the course of operations, which officially ended in 2007.

But efforts to bring soldiers to justice have been fraught with acrimony and legal difficulty, and the issue continues to split British and Northern Irish society.

Some feel the prosecution of soldiers equates them with state-designated terrorists, such as those acting for the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Others feel that an amnesty implies wrongdoing among all veterans, most of whom who served honourably.

Johnson's Conservatives have promised to protect ex-soldiers from "vexatious claims", by legislating to ensure laws intended for peace time do not apply to service personnel on military operations.

In his message to the armed forces, Johnson said: "We salute you and we will always support you."

At present there are a number of inquiries and criminal cases under way dealing with British Army killings.

Most prominently, a Parachute Regiment serviceman is currently facing murder charges for the killing of two civilians during "Bloody Sunday".

On January 30, 1972, soldiers opened fire on protesters in a majority Catholic area of the city of Londonderry, killing 14.

The case against the anonymous "Soldier F" -- who also faces four attempted murder charges -- reached court for the first time in September.

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Russia, Ukraine swap prisoners in landmark 'first step' to ease tensions

Yahoo – AFP, Oleksandr Savochenko with Michael Mainville in Moscow, September 7, 2019

Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was the country's most prominent
political prisoner (AFP Photo/Sergei SUPINSKY)

Kiev (AFP) - Russia and Ukraine made a long-awaited swap of 70 prisoners on Saturday, a deal hailed as a first step towards ending five years of tensions and conflict.

Two planes carrying 35 prisoners from each side landed simultaneously in Moscow and Kiev, where the passengers emerged under sunny skies.

"We have taken the first step," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the tarmac after greeting and hugging former detainees. "We have to take all the steps to finish this horrible war."

In emotional scenes at Kiev's Boryspil airport, family members embraced and handed flowers to the former prisoners, many weeping with joy.

Among those swapped were 24 Ukrainian sailors, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Russian-Ukrainian journalist Kyrylo Vyshynsky.

"I am overflowing with happiness," Natalya Mokryak, the mother of one of the sailors, told AFP at the airport. "I have finally seen this come true."

Two groups of 35 prisoners from each side were released simultaneously 

(AFP Photo/Vasily MAXIMOV)

Russian state television showed the Russian prisoners emerging from the plane at Moscow's Vnukovo-2 airport used for government flights.

Among those handed over to Moscow was Vladimir Tsemakh -- a fighter with Moscow-backed separatists considered a key witness in the downing of flight MH17 -- who was returned home despite pleas from the Netherlands.

Western leaders welcomed the exchange, with US President Donald Trump saying it could be "a first giant step to peace" and German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling it a "sign of hope".

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the release of Sentsov in particular, saying in a tweet that "we have always been by his side".

Anticipation had been building for the swap, which involved weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Anticipation had been building for days for the exchange (AFP Photo/

Sergei SUPINSKY)

Relations between Kiev and Moscow nose-dived in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and Moscow backed separatists in the eastern industrial regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. Fighting there has claimed more than 13,000 lives over the past five years.

Smiles and tears

Zelensky's election in April has raised hopes that a stalled peace process could be revived.

The comedian-turned-politician vowed to have Ukrainian prisoners in Russia returned and has said that ending the conflict with Russia is his top priority.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that the exchange would be "a huge step towards normalising relations" with Kiev.

Saturday's swap was "very important", Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the swap was a 'sign of hope' (AFP Photo/

Sergei SUPINSKY)

"It's necessary to maintain this drive to solve problems as much as possible," she said.

The release of filmmaker Sentsov will be seen as a major victory for Kiev. The 43-year-old was Ukraine's most famous political prisoner and the subject of a star-studded international campaign calling for his release.

He was arrested in 2014 and had been serving a 20-year sentence in an Arctic penal colony for planning "terrorist attacks" in Crimea.

"I thank all the people who have fought for us," Sentsov said at the airport in Kiev, where he was greeted by his teenage daughter who wept and smiled.

"I am hoping that the rest of the prisoners will be released soon," he added.

The sailors, including two members of Ukraine's SBU security services, were detained last year when Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels off Crimea.

Moscow had wanted to put them on trial for violating Russia's maritime borders.

The commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Igor Voronchenko, broke into tears as he embraced one of the freed sailors.

Vladimir Tsemakh -- a fighter with Moscow-backed separatists considered a key

 witness in the downing of flight MH17 -- was handed over to Russia (AFP Photo/

Sergei SUPINSKY)

MH17 witness handed over

Among those who flew to Russia was Vyshynsky, a 52-year-old journalist at Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency.

The Russian-Ukrainian dual national was facing charges of "high treason" but was released on bail ahead of the swap.

The release of Tsemakh -- who was reportedly in charge of air defence in the area where the MH17 came down -- was a demand by Russia for the swap to go ahead, said Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine's SBU.

The Dutch government contacted Ukraine "several times and at the very highest level" to try to prevent Tsemakh's handover, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said.

Blok said the authorities had the opportunity to question Tsemakh before he left for Russia but the Netherlands still profoundly regretted the outcome.

Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Russian-made missile in July 2014 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board, two-thirds of them Dutch.

Efforts have intensified to ease tensions between Moscow and Kiev since Zelensky's election, with Macron calling for a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany this month.

Germany asks Polish forgiveness 80 years after WWII outbreak

Yahoo – AFP, Anna Maria Jakubek and Stanislaw Waszak, September 1, 2019

"We want to, and we will, remember. And we will bear the responsibility that our
history imposes upon us," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
(AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

Warsaw (AFP) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland's forgiveness 80 years after Germany's attack triggered World War II while his Polish counterpart denounced Russia's recent "imperialist" aggression against its neighbours.

Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall.

That figure includes the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, half of them Polish.

"I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny. And I ask your forgiveness," Steinmeier said at pre-dawn ceremonies in the western Polish city of Wielun where Germany's first bombs fell 80 years ago.

"It was Germans who committed these crimes against humanity in Poland. Anyone calling them things of the past, or claiming that the vile rule of terror of the National Socialists in Europe was a mere footnote of German history, is passing judgement on him or herself," Steinmeier said alongside his Polish counterpart.

Polish Andrzej Duda said the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the outbreak 

of WWII will "go down in history of Polish-German friendship" (AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

The line appeared to be a reference to the German far-right, whose co-leader Alexander Gauland once called the 12-year Third Reich a "speck of bird poop" on an otherwise glorious German past.

Polish President Andrzej Duda for his part denounced Nazi Germany's attack on Poland, calling it "an act of barbarity" and "a war crime" but also hailed post-war reconciliation.

Duda later on Sunday slammed recent Russian military attacks against its neighbours as "imperialist tendencies" at state ceremonies in Warsaw attended by US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others.

Sanctions

The Polish leader did not specifically name Russia, but referenced Moscow's actions against "Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 that altered borders."

He urged "the leaders of Europe and the world, NATO and EU members" to guard against appeasing aggressors.

Tadeusz Sierandt, an eyewitness to the bombing of Wielun, holds a picture 

of the destroyed town (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

"There must be sanctions, resolute actions, it must be obvious that any military aggression will be met with a firm reaction," Duda said.

"Closed eyes are not a good recipe for keeping the peace; it's a good way to encourage aggressive personalities, to give the green light for new attacks."

Polish authorities said they had not invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Sunday's ceremonies because of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"80 years after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi army, let us remember the explosion of the Second World War that devastated our Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.

"The fight for peace and our values is more important than ever," he added.

Nazi Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 came one week after Berlin and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to carve up Eastern Europe between them by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Hitler's attacks on Poland on September 1, 1939, led Britain and France to declare 

war on Nazi Germany (AFP Photo)

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans attended a separate dawn remembrance ceremony on Sunday in Westerplatte, on Poland's Baltic coast, where a Nazi German battleship had opened fire on a Polish fort 80 years ago to the day.

'Demand compensation'

Hitler's attacks on Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union in turn invaded Poland.

After the Nazis tore up their pact with Moscow, two alliances battled it out: the Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Although it has been 80 years since the war started, there are still unresolved matters according to Poland, which says Germany owes it war reparations.

Map showing the start of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. (AFP 

Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

A parliamentary commission is currently working on a new analysis of the extent of Poland's wartime human and material losses.

"We have to talk about, remember and demand the truth regarding those losses. We have to demand compensation," Morawiecki said on Sunday at the Westerplatte ceremony.

When it comes to reparations, however, Berlin believes the case is closed.

US President Donald Trump had planned to attend the war commemorations but cancelled at the last minute so that he could monitor Hurricane Dorian.

"We love our Polish friends, and I will be there soon," Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday, confirming a visit was still in the offing.

King Willem-Alexander starts off the festivities. Photo: Anneke Janssen via HH

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Kings and World War II veterans mark the start of 75 years of freedom

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”