At home, Merkel wins backing for EU aid U-turn

RTL – AFP,  26 May 2020

La chancelière allemande Angela Merkel pendant une conférence de presse à
Berlin, le 20 mai 2020 / AFP/File

Chancellor Angela Merkel shattered a long-standing German taboo last week when she unexpectedly unveiled a plan to fund the EU's coronavirus recovery through shared debt.

It was a stunning U-turn after years of German opposition to joint borrowing, but the risky political gamble appears to be paying off.

The veteran leader, set to end her political career next year, has already won the backing of key members of her conservative CDU party for the proposed 500-billion-euro ($544 billion) EU recovery fund, aimed at helping the nations hardest hit by the pandemic.

Surveys show that a majority of Germans are also on board.

"I have no doubt that there is broad support for this proposal in the German national parliament," Bundestag president and CDU heavyweight Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with AFP.

The recovery plan, thrashed out with French President Emmanuel Macron, may ultimately never win over sceptical EU member states such as Austria and the Netherlands.

But observers say tectonic plates have started shifting in Germany and the debate about what it means to show European solidarity will never be the same again.

'Necessary'

The Merkel-Macron plan is "a necessary and important proposal during this time", said Schaeuble, who is also a former finance minister and remains highly influential in Germany.

"It calls on Europe to use this crisis to become stronger and more dynamic," he said.

Like Merkel, Schaeuble has long resisted the idea of EU joint borrowing over fears that fiscally disciplined nations -- such as Germany -- would be forced to pay for the excesses of their less frugal partners -- such as Italy or Greece.

During his eight years as Germany's powerful paymaster, Schaeuble was admired at home for his strict balanced budget policies.

But he became a hate figure abroad during the eurozone debt crisis for his insistence on tough austerity for debt-mired nations like Greece.

The coronavirus pandemic however requires a different response, he argued.

In their landmark gambit, Merkel and Macron suggested that the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, borrow on the markets to raise the recovery funds.

The money would be handed out as grants to help the most stricken among the EU's 27 members bounce back, like Italy and Spain.

The 500 billion euros would be paid back through successive EU budgets, with Germany as Europe's top economy funding around 27 percent of it.

Top brass from Merkel's CDU endorsed the Franco-German plan at a meeting of the party's executive committee on Monday.

"Germany will only do well if Europe does well," Merkel told participants, according to a source at the talks.

EU presidency

Merkel still faces some obstacles. The CDU's most conservative faction, known as the Values Union, has slammed the proposal.

The head of the faction, Alexander Mitsch, has urged German and European lawmakers to resist the planned fund, which he described as "another step" towards turning the European Union into a "debt union and a centralised state".

Similar criticism has also come from Germany's far-right AfD, the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, and from the smaller pro-business FDP party.

But 51 percent of Germans support the Merkel-Macron effort, according to a survey by the Civey institute for Der Spiegel weekly. Around 34 percent of respondents opposed it.

It is an early victory for Merkel who is riding high in the polls over her coolheaded, science-based handling of the pandemic so far, which has helped keep Germany's COVID-19 deaths lower than in neighbouring nations.

With little left to lose as she readies to bow out at the next general election, slated for late 2021, observers say Merkel is staking much of her political capital on the recovery fund.

"She was eager to reaffirm Germany's European commitment after pretty harsh criticism from Italy and Spain" over a perceived lack of solidarity in the coronavirus crisis, a source close to Macron told AFP.

"She is also keeping in mind Germany's EU presidency from July. She wants to leave her mark."

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EU launches debit cards for refugees in Turkey

Yahoo – AFP, September 26, 2016

European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos
 Stylianides (L) delivers a speech next to Turkey’s EU Minister Omer Celik (R)
during a joint press conference following their meeting on September 26, 2016
(AFP Photo/Adem Altan)

Ankara (AFP) - The European Union on Monday launched a scheme worth almost 350 million euros providing mainly Syrian refugees in Turkey with pre-paid debit cards, the biggest project yet under a landmark deal between the bloc and Ankara.

EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides, in Ankara for the start of the programme, said the debit cards will help give vulnerable refugees a "sense of normality" in their lives.

The refugees will be able to use the cards in shops or institutions to pay for food, education, housing and clothing or also to withdraw cash from ATMs.

Each card will be automatically topped up with 100 Turkish lira ($33.50) a month, giving people the chance to choose their own purchases.

Stylianides said the programme was an "unprecedented response" to an "unprecedented crisis".

"This (scheme) is, in our humanitarian field, a game-changer in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Refugees can choose what they spend money on."

Turkey is home to some three million refugees, most of them Syrian. The vast majority live in cities without direct support from non-governmental organisations and aid groups.

Supported with 348 million euros ($392 million) from Brussels and its member states, the scheme will be rolled out by Turkish Red Crescent and the UN World Food Programme supported by the Turkish authorities.

Applications will start in October for the scheme. Families who have children going to school will receive more cash. All refugees registered in Turkey, including Iraqis, are eligible to apply.

Stylianides suggested that the programme would also benefit Turks.

"The money will be spent in local shops, boosting local businesses and encouraging social cohesion between citizens and refugees."

The project is part of a six billion euro ($6.75 billion) deal struck in March between Brussels and Ankara to curb the migrant influx into Europe, which saw more than a million arrive in the EU last year.

There have been fears the deal could collapse with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complaining that the promised money was not handed directly to Turkey.

In exchange for cutting the flow, Brussels also offered Turkey visa liberalisation for its citizens to visit EU countries in the Schengen area as well as accelerated membership talks.

But Ankara has threatened to withdraw from the agreement if Europe does not allow visa-free travel for Turks by next month, though the numbers coming to Europe have dropped significantly since March.

Germany ready to support Turkey's EU accession process, says Merkel

Chancellor Merkel has said Germany will support Turkey's EU membership bid, during a visit aimed at securing Ankara's help in stemming a migrant influx to Europe. Turkish PM Davutoglu hailed Europe's "better approach."

Deutsche Welle, 18 Oct 2015

Merkel and Davutoglu shake hands at a joint-press conference

Germany is ready to accelerate Turkey's EU accession process, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Merkel spoke of organizing the accesion process "more dynamically."

"Germany is ready this year to open Chapter 17, and make preparations for (Chapters) 23 and 24. We can talk about the details," she said.

Kanzlerin #Merkel zu Gesprächen in #Türkei eingetroffen. Im Mittelpunkt: Syrien+Kooperation in der Flüchtlingskrise. pic.twitter.com/15vLrwt6jM

— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) 18 oktober 2015

Merkel's statement comes as she visits Turkish leaders on Sunday in a bid to secure Ankara's support in stemming the current migrant influx into the EU.

'Better approach'

Davutoglu hailed the EU's latest moves to foster collaboration between Brussels and Ankara as a "better approach."

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing. We are very pleased there is a better approach now. The issue of sharing going forward is very important," Davutoglu said.

The Turkish premier also praised Merkel for "not turning a blind eye" to the crisis.

However, Davutoglu noted that "significant new waves of migration" were likely to occur if a political solution to the Syrian conflict does not emerge.

Turkey has taken in more than two million Syrian refugees since a civil war erupted there in 2011, according to UN figures.

Thousands of refugees have crossed the Aegean Sea to enter EU member
state Greece from Turkey

Whole package?

According to officials, the EU offered Ankara an aid package of at least 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) along with an easing EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens, which Merkel and Davutoglu discussed.

The German chancellor later met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he asked Merkel to support Turkey's EU membership bid. Erdogan added that he also asked France, Britain and Spain for support.

The EU is struggling to cope with the current influx of asylum seekers, with more than half a million migrants having crossed into the 28-nation bloc in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in September.

ls/tj (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

Germany, Turkey hail progress in handling refugee crisis http://t.co/KzSFwV7skC pic.twitter.com/HgwlJBVOOH

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 18 oktober 2015

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Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

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World's first academy for humanitarian relief to be launched

Humanitarian Leadership Academy to train aid workers from over 50 countries in organising rapid responses to disasters and emergencies

The Guardian, Julian Borger Diplomatic editor, Sunday 22 March 2015

Local residents receive humanitarian aid in the city of Debaltseve, Ukraine.
The world’s first academy for humanitarian relief will train aid workers in
responding to disasters and emergencies. Photograph: Sokolov Mikhail/
Sokolov Mikhail/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

The world’s first academy for humanitarian relief is to be launched, aimed at training 100,000 aid workers from over 50 countries in organising rapid responses to disasters and emergencies.

The Humanitarian Leadership Academy, launching on Monday, is a response to the growing number of humanitarian crises around the world, driven by climate change and conflict, combined with a severe and worsening shortage of people with the skills necessary to coordinate the large-scale response required in the critical first days to prevent mass casualties.

The HLA is being set up by a global consortium of aid organisations with initial £20m funding from the UK Department for International Development, out of a target of £50m. The Save the Children charity has paid the startup costing and is hosting the academy’s hub in London.

Further centres will open in Kenya and the Philippines later this year, and by 2020 the plan is to have ten training centres around the world, which would offer both classroom and virtual training for the surrounding regions, in mobilising the rapid response in resources and manpower needed in the wake of a disaster.

Jan Egeland, a former UN head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, will be the academy’s first chairman. He said the initiative “may revolutionise the entire humanitarian sector”.

“Investment in a new and better trained generation of humanitarian workers closer to where we find the greatest needs will bring development and sustainability to many of the world’s most fragile communities,” Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said.

Last year witnessed a record number of severe global humanitarian emergencies and the highest number of refugees the world has seen since the second world war. 50 million people were forced to flee their countries.

  

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said: “If we are to save more lives in some of the toughest places in the world we need to train and support local people themselves to become the humanitarian workers and volunteers of the future. The academy will do this by bringing together an extraordinary and unique coalition of actors to train and share best practice, transforming the humanitarian system.”

The idea behind the establishment of ten national and regional centres around the world is that each should be able to tailor responses to crises in terms of local conditions and local culture. Aid experts have said that previous attempts to increase local and regional capacity to react to large-scale emergencies have foundered because they were seen as impositions of practices developed far away.

The plan is for each centre to provide a common pool of knowledge, the latest technology and examples of best practice, as well as solid career structures for humanitarian workers, with internationally recognised certification for successive levels of achievement, recorded in ‘humanitarian passports’. The end result should be to expand the pool of people available in every region to manage the humanitarian response in the first 72 hours of an emergency.

“This is potentially one of the most transformational projects I have been involved in,” said Gareth Owen, Save the Children’s director of emergencies, who has been working on the academy project since 2007. “It is based on the recognition that many studies of humanitarian disasters and emergencies point to leadership and decision-making as the critical factor. Really by now we should have a global capacity that we can draw on that is far greater and more diverse. We haven’t invested enough in people on the ground.”

Owen said that climate change was adding to the relentless annual toll of humanitarian crises: “We used to have a big natural disaster about once a decade and that has come down to one every two or three years.”

Global funding for emergency relief has largely stagnated. Owen said the $20bn (£13bn) spending on the response to humanitarian emergencies is a third of the amount the world spends on yoghurt, for example, and that there is no comparison with the $1.5tn spent on arms.

“The Humanitarian Leadership Academy will help create a faster and more effective disaster response system by empowering local people in the most vulnerable countries to be the first responders after a disaster strikes,” Justine Greening, the secretary of state for international development, said. “The high quality training and expertise delivered by this academy will mean humanitarian responses not only provide immediate, life-saving relief, but also help build a more secure and resilient world.”

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Wealthy Norway scraps plan to fine or jail beggars

Right-wing government had proposed prison term of up to a year for beggars and those who helped them

The Guardian – AFP, 6 February 2015

Norway has stepped back from criminalising begging which is banned in
some European countries. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

Oil-rich Norway, one of the world’s wealthiest countries, announced Thursday that it was scrapping plans to penalise begging.

The country’s right-wing government was forced to withdraw the proposal to slap fines and jail terms of up to one year on beggars and those who help them when the opposition Centre Party withdrew its support for the ban.

The law would have allowed for the prosecution of anyone found guilty of “complicity” with beggars, including giving them transport, shelter, or supplies.

The ruling coalition argued that the proposal targeted human traffickers and criminal gangs, but it provoked a storm of protest and accusations that the government wanted to make charity illegal.

“Punishing people helping beggars is not acceptable,” the Centre Party’s parliamentary leader Marit Arnstad told news agency NTB.

“It cannot be a criminal offence to give people clothes, food and shelter.”

Opponents of the plan said it unfairly targetted Roma migrants and some threatened a campaign of civil disobedience.

“Norway, a country where we prefer to fight poor people rather than poverty,” one opponent, Oeyvind Steinklev, criticised on Twitter.

Without the support of the Centre Party, Justice Minister Anders Anundsen, who is from the anti-immigration Progress Party, was forced to withdraw the proposal due to lack of parliamentary support.

Last year Norway introduced the possibility of banning begging locally but so far just one small southern town, Arendal, has done so.

Begging is already banned in Denmark and parts of Britain.

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Bayern Gets Papal Blessing After Roma Thrashing

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Oct 22, 2014

Bayern Munich soccer players give a team jersey to Pope Francis before his weekly
audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (Reuters Photo/ Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City. A day after thrashing local club Roma 7-1, Bayern Munich staff and players Wednesday paid a visit to the Bishop of Rome, otherwise known as Pope Francis.

Club captains Philipp Lahm and Manuel Neuer and coach Pep Guardiola presented the football-loving pontiff with a Bayern shirt signed by all the players.

Francis, an Argentinian who follows Buenos Aires club San Lorenzo, praised the Bayern squad for its Champions League demolition job in the Olympic stadium.

“You played a wonderful game yesterday,” he was quoted as saying on Bayern’s website, adding: “Football is good and healthy, and a good role model for children as a team sport.”

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who spent three seasons in Italy with Internazionale, chatted with the pontiff in Italian, telling him that the audience had been a “great honor”.

Rummenigge also announced that the club would be donating one million euros in proceeds from an upcoming friendly match for Francis to pass on to a charity or charities of his choice.

Merkel speaks of 'genocide' by 'IS,' as Germany readies arms

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the actions of the "Islamic State" in Iraq can be called "genocide." The German government is about to break its own rules on sending weapons to conflict zones in response.

Deutsche Welle, 27 Aug 2014

In an interview with her Christian Democrats' online video channel, CDU.tv, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday found unusually strong words to describe the actions of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) group in Iraq.

Angela Merkel said that the "awful" treatment of minority groups and non-Sunni Muslims by "IS" was such that, "one can speak of a genocide."

Merkel said that was why "above all else we have first offered humanitarian aid" for the north of Iraq, before gradually leading towards one of the main points of debate in Berlin in recent weeks: the sending of military equipment - and probably some weaponry as well - to a conflict zone. Ordinarily, the German government opposes this as a point of principle, but Berlin is set to make an exception in northern Iraq.

German aid deliveries to the Kurdish
region of Iraq began last month

"Considering the atrocities, the barbarism happening there, I think that it is justified for us to say that - to a limited extent - we will also help with weapons deliveries," Merkel said on her Christian Democrats' CDU.tv online channel. "What exactly? That will be decided in the coming days, and the Bundestag [the lower house of German parliament] will debate this at the beginning of next week."

Exceptional measures

"We should be helping with certain supplies, according to our capabilities, so they can fight and prevent ISIS from taking over the whole region and creating a caliphate," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a news conference during a visit to Prague on Wednesday.

"The German government has not reached a decision yet today but I believe that a decision should be made on Sunday on concretely what should be supplied," the German minister added. On Monday, parliament will debate the government decision, at the request of the opposition Green and Left parties, both avid opponents of weapons exports. Some members of Merkel's ruling coalition have also voiced concerns, mainly concerning the possibility of weapons ending up in the wrong hands.

Foreign Minister Steinmeier and Defense
 Minister von der Leyen will be part of the
team deciding what to send

The parliamentary debate would be primarily symbolic; all German arms exports must be approved by a special government panel, but not parliament. Domestic news agency dpa reported on Wednesday that the coaliltion was considering allowing a symbolic vote - sure to pass with ease - on the break from normal German policy.

Germany's decision to provide military aid to the Kurds has been seen by much of the German public to undermine the country's post-war ethos of not sending arms to conflict zones. In a poll conducted by German opinion poll company Forsa last week, 63 percent of Germans said they were against arming the Kurds.

Ethnic cleansing

Over recent months, IS has established control over territory it calls a "caliphate" across extensive areas of northern Iraq and Syria, where they have been accused of carrying out ethnic cleansing.

“They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control. Such persecution would amount to crimes against humanity,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Sunday.

Several other countries have already provided the Kurdish forces with arms to fight against IS, including Canada, France and the United Kingdom. According to the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Massud Barsani, Iran was amongst the first countries to provide military aid.

ksb/msh (dpa, Reuters)

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Speculations on the Reval, Ascension and the Removal of the Dark – Part 1/2 (Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, August 9, 2014)

"... ISIS/ISIL

Let me begin by repeating a part of a reading I had with Archangel Michael on July 11, 2014:

S: What is holding up the Reval now?

AAM: ISIS.

S: ISIS! Are they real?

AAM: Yes, they are real.

S: Is it not a CIA creation?

AAM: No. It is a grassroots organization. It is disgruntled ex-military.

S: Oh. Will they be able to hold it up for a long time?

AAM: No. Their goal is to create stability but it is stability at the price of great pain.

S: Yes, indeed.

AAM: There is no conscience. They believe that they act for Allah and to establish a Muslim state. But they are doing so through great violence.

Now this is part of what the Mother referred to as great chaos coming to the forefront. Will they be able to hold it up indefinitely? No. But the difficulty is that, with this Revaluation, if they were given even more money, that they would use it to buy very dangerous weapons.

S: Right. Does that mean that they’ll be able to hold it up indefinitely?

AAM: No. Not necessarily. [Next statement removed by request.]

S: But it won’t be in July.

AAM: It is more likely to be closer to September.

S: Any progress with the Dragons?

AAM: Oh, yes. There has been a great deal of progress with the Dragons. They are primed and ready to go but they are also not willing to allow a terrorist organization, regardless of their mission and purpose, as human as that is, to take that money and harm human beings.” (1)

Keep in mind what he said as we now turn to look at a news story that concerns ISIS or ISIL (they’re the same). ..."

Continue to read .. 

Merkel calls for bilateral ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an agreed ceasefire from Russia and Ukraine at talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. She said the territorial integrity of Ukraine was "essential."

Deutsche Welle, 23 Aug 2014

On her first visit to Ukraine since the crisis between Ukraine and Russia began early this year, Merkel called on Saturday for Moscow to engage in a peace plan with Kiev. She said success was not possible if only one side was interested in a diplomatic solution.

"There must be two sides to be successful. You cannot achieve peace on your own. I hope the talks with Russia will lead to success," said the German Chancellor.

"The plans are on the table...now actions must follow," said Merkel, adding that peace is possible in Ukraine but that a ceasefire, agreed with both sides, would be necessary.

Merkel, who has been spear heading efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, said the lack of controls along the Ukraine-Russia border was the main obstacle standing in the way of a ceasefire between Ukraine forces and pro-Russian separatists.

"The significance of my visit is that the German government (believes) that the territorial integrity and well-being of Ukraine is essential," she added.

Poroshenko agreed that, "Ukraine along with our European partners and the whole world will do everything for this to happen but not at the expense of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine".

Western pressure

Germany has also been a major force behind the imposition of economic sanctions on Moscow, which many in the West suspect of supplying the rebels with weapons.

However, speaking in Kyiv on Saturday, Merkel said that although new sanctions are not the main consideration at the moment, they could not be ruled out if the situation deteriorates in the future.

Since the outbreak of the crisis over four months ago, Merkel has regularly put pressure on Putin to use his influence on the separatists to bring an end to the fighting.

Pro-Russian rebels have taken over considerable amounts of territory in the east, declaring some regions as "people's republics."

Convoy returns

The talks, which were held ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day, which falls on Sunday, came just a day after Russia drove an aid convoy into eastern Ukraine, prompting Ukrainian accusations of a direct invasion.

According to media reports, the 260 vehicles from the convoy have now returned to Russia.

Ukraine and Western countries said they suspected that the convoy could be used by Russia to smuggle supplies and reinforcements for rebel fighters, although Moscow has repeatedly denied this and insisted that the convoy was carrying humanitarian aid for civilians affected by the fighting.

Both Merkel and US President Barack Obama condemned Russia's actions in sending the convoy into Ukraine without governmental permission.

According to figures from the United Nations, more than 2,000 people have died in fighting since the crisis began.

kb/jr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

Ukraine president pledges to 'talk peace' with Putin

Yahoo – AFP, Nicolas Gaudichet with Galina Korba in Kiev, 21 Aug 2014

Ukrainian forces take their position not far from the eastern city of Lugansk

on August 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Anatolii Stepanov)

Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine's president said he will "talk peace" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by demanding the withdrawal of pro-Kremlin militants from the war-torn east when they meet next week for the first time in months.

President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday that "the whole world is tired of war" and that he would "call for militants to be pulled out of Ukraine" when he meets Putin for crunch talks in Minsk alongside top EU officials.

His strident tone reflects the fact that government forces have made significant gains against the pro-Russian rebels in recent days. A fierce offensive continued on Thursday, with Kiev hoping for a knock-out blow ahead of the fresh round of diplomacy.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko 

gestures as he addresses deputies during a

parliamentary session in Kiev on July 31, 

2014 (AFP Photo/Anatolii Stepanov)

Meanwhile, a controversial Russian aid convoy inched closer to the border with rebel-held areas. Ukraine's customs officials said they had started processing the first of the lorries after a week of wrangling caused by fears that the convoy could be used to smuggle in military supplies to the rebels.

Kiev has accused Moscow of ramping up support to the rebels as their situation grows more desperate, and the West fears the Kremlin could even launch a full-scale invasion as a last roll of the dice.

Russia has persistently denied allegations that it is arming and effectively running the rebellion. It says it wants an end to the Ukrainian offensive and to four months of fighting that has killed over 2,200 people.

It ridiculed claims from Kiev that Russian military documents had been found in armoured vehicles captured following a battle near the rebel stronghold of Lugansk.

Refugees rising

On the ground, fighting continued in a string of key rebel towns as government forces refocused attempts to cut off alleged supply routes from Russia.

Shelling near the main separatist city of Donetsk left two civilians dead on Thursday, while an interior ministry official said 16 servicemen were killed in fierce battles for control of a railway hub in the region.

The United Nations on Wednesday increased its estimate of the number of people who have fled the fighting since April to at least 415,800.

In Lugansk, a city without communication, water or power for the past 19 days, authorities said residents were "on the brink of survival".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged both sides to "take constant care to spare the civilian population" after a small team of aid workers visited the city.

Heavy shelling has left homes decimated in central Donetsk.

"I don't know who to turn to, I don't know who the government is anymore," Inna, a physics professor, told AFP. "Today it is the rebels but tomorrow Kiev could be back."

A Russian humanitarian convoy on the side of the road as they approach the

 Donetsk-Izvarino customs control checkpoint in the Russia's Rostov Region

on August 21, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sergey Veniavsky)

Aid on the move?

Meanwhile the week-long dispute over a mammoth Russian aid convoy parked at Ukraine's border appeared to be nearing resolution.

An ICRC official told journalists in Moscow that trucks could cross "hopefully tomorrow" as Ukrainian officials began long-delayed checks.

Kiev and the West fear that an attack on the convoy in Ukraine could be used by Russia as a pretext to invade, which Moscow has denied.

The Red Cross has spent the past few days scrambling to nail down security guarantees from all sides for the convoy's journey.

A day after the national currency tanked to a new record low, Economy Minister Pavlo Sheremeta announced his resignation citing prolonged disputes over how to fix the country's disastrous financial situation.

Sheremeta has been at loggerheads with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who criticised the slow pace of reforms needed to unlock $1.4 billion (one billion euros) in international aid due later this month.

The money is part of a broader $27-billion rescue package to salvage the economy but questions remain over failures by the authorities in Kiev to push through key anti-corruption legislation.

Russia 'guaranteed' no soldiers in Ukraine convoy: US

Yahoo – AFP, 15 Aug 2014

A column of Russian lorries drives on a road near the town of Kamensk-

Shakhtinsky in the Rostov region, some 30 km from the Russian-Ukrainian

border, on August 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Washington (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called his Russian opposite number Sergei Shoigu on Friday and was promised that no Russian troops are assigned to a "humanitarian convoy" headed to Ukraine.

"Minister Shoigu 'guaranteed' that there were no Russian military personnel involved in the humanitarian convoy, nor was the convoy to be used as a pretext to further intervene in Ukraine," the Pentagon said.

Moscow has a convoy of white-painted trucks carrying what it says is humanitarian aid to the beleaguered civilian population in eastern Ukraine, where government troops are fighting pro-Russian rebels.

But the vehicles closely resemble models used by the Russian army and there have been allegations that the drivers, seen in photographs as identically dressed in khaki "uniforms," are soldiers.

Kiev fears that the delivery could be an attempt to either smuggle more supplies to the separatist rebels or provoke an armed incident that would in turn be used to justify stronger Russian intervention.

But the Pentagon statement said Shoigu had insisted to Hagel that the convoy was not a disguised military column and vowed that the aid it carries would be properly distributed by a neutral third party.

"Minister Shoigu assured Secretary Hagel that Russia was meeting Ukraine's conditions," it said.

"He acknowledged that the goods would be delivered and distributed under the International Committee of the Red Cross," it added.

"The two ministers discussed the need to have bilateral follow-on meetings of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. They also agreed to maintain open lines of communication."

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