Europe’s central bank chief, Christine Lagarde, steps down for ‘freedom of speech’

Possible candidate to run World Economic Forum departs ECB nine months early, saying she wants to speak her mind about world affairs 

The Guardian, Phillip Inman and Graeme Wearden, Oct 2026 

In a video message on social media, Lagarde said it had been a ‘great pride and
huge privilege’ to serve at the ECB. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Christine Lagarde, the eurozone’s top central banker, has said she is stepping down nine months early to speak her mind about world affairs and confront the “misrepresentation of the truth”. 

Ending months of speculation about her future at the European Central Bank, Lagarde said she would quit her role as president in March rather than October next year because the rules of neutrality that governed her job prevented her from influencing debate about financial and economics affairs. 

She spoke at the end of a press conference to explain the ECB’s decision to hold interest rates – maintaining its key deposit rate at 2.5% – despite inflation climbing to 3.8% last month, its highest since September 2023. 

Lagarde said: “I ‌want to have the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression and the freedom ‌to engage on matters that are not monetary policy matters.” 

The former managing director of the International Monetary Fund has been tipped as a candidate to take over the running of the World Economic Forum, which holds its annual meeting in Davos each January. The WEF founder, Klaus Schwab, stepped down last year after being accused of financial and ethical misconduct, which he denies. 

Lagarde’s early departure fires the starting gun on the race to replace her as ECB chief, at a time when the eurozone is struggling with weak growth and above-target inflation. Potential candidates include the former Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot, the Spanish banker Pablo Hernández de Cos, the German central bank president, Joachim Nagel, and Nadia Calviño, the president of the European Investment Bank. 

The European Council made up of EU heads of state appoints the head of the ECB, which sets monetary policy across the eurozone. 

There has been speculation that Lagarde, a former finance minister of France, has been encouraged to quit early by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, so her successor can be appointed before the possibility of a far-right or far-left presidential candidate being elected to the Élysée Palace. Lagarde will also be able to participate in next April’s elections. 

She noted that ECB officials were bound by strict rules on not appearing partisan. “We have an obligation of neutrality; we comment on the situation with the focus on monetary policy,” Lagarde said, adding that the mandate was “the price we pay for being independent”. 

Lagarde said she no longer ‌felt comfortable staying silent on broader global issues. “I’m interested in the truth, and I see the truth being very often damaged, contradicted by misrepresentation,” she ​said, without elaborating. 

Drawing on more than two decades in international economic and financial roles, she said she had more to contribute. “There are things that I can say – whether people will listen or not is another story. But I feel that I ⁠should say those things and I cannot do so in my current ​position.” 

To reassure markets and staff ​that her early departure would not disrupt the central bank’s operations, she added: “A process ​has already started ‌to identify my ​successor.” She said ​there were “plenty of excellent candidates.” 

Macron said on Thursday ⁠that the ​succession at the ECB must ⁠be prepared in “an orderly ​and ‌balanced way” ‌with European partners, and also expressed his deep gratitude to Lagarde for her action ‌during her tenure. 

Holger Schmieding, the chief economist at Berenberg bank, said: “The European Union is trying to guard itself at least somewhat against the risk that rightwing Marine Le Pen may win the French presidential election in April/May 2027. 

“Lagarde’s successor will still be appointed while the staunchly pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron still resides in the Élysée Palace. He is a long-term political adversary of Le Pen.” 

Lagarde joined the ECB in late 2019, shortly before the start of the Covid pandemic. During her tenure the central bank has also faced the economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, Donald Trump’s trade war and his war in the Middle East. 

Lagarde was wearing two plasters on her face in her video message, which she said was because of “a small surgery earlier in the week”. She added: “Follow doctors’ orders and get your skin checked regularly.”

Serbia's veteran ruler Vučić concedes election to student-led protest movement

BBC News, André Rhoden-PaulandJaroslav Lukiv, 25 October 2026 

Vučić said early results made it "clear" that his party had lost

Serbia's long-standing leader Aleksandar Vučić has admitted defeat to the student-led protest movement in snap parliamentary elections. 

"We still do not have final results... it is clear that we have lost these elections," the right-wing populist leader said as he conceded late on Sunday. 

Preliminary figures provided by Serbia's election commission indicated a record high turnout, which commentators had suggested would favour the student movement. 

Vučić had called the snap elections after two years of protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 and was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia. 

Vučić had spent two terms as president and could not seek a third term, so was leading his party with the aim of returning to the post of prime minister, which he left in 2017. 

There have been wild celebrations at the Student List headquarters

He made his announcement at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the capital Belgrade. 

There were celebrations on the streets of the city, with people dancing and chanting "victory", cars honking, and fireworks set off. "Serbia is free," one student told the BBC. "It's a miracle." 

The Student List - which has no obvious leaders and whose members are not used to politics - had attracted anti-government voters across Serbia. 

It decided to field candidates to the 250-member parliament from across Serbian society including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities. 

"This will be a free state," its lead candidate - cardiologist Ilija Srdanović - said in a statement to BBC Serbian as the result became clear. 

He said the movement hoped to "free the country from tyranny". 

The anti-corruption movement campaigned on a manifesto that included purging officials who broke rules cracking down on protesters, stopping party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and freeing the public broadcaster of political control. 

Vučić and the SNS party have repeatedly denied corruption. 

Vučić, who backs Serbia's candidacy for the European Union while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, had pledged to increase pensions and public sector salaries, and investment in state healthcare. 

Preliminary figures provided by Serbia's election commission suggested a record high turnout, with 64.9% having cast their vote by 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT), two hours before polls were set to close.

US closely monitoring case of lab worker who ‘possibly’ died of plague in Siberia, says Rubio

The Guardian, Mon 5 Oct 2026, Pjotr Sauer and Luke Harding 

Quarantine measures in place in several hospitals in eastern Russia amid uncertainty over death of Darya Shipilova 

Darya Shipilova died on the night of 2 October at a regional hospital in
Shelekhov. Photograph: Social Media

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said the US is closely monitoring the case of a Russian laboratory worker who died last week after a reported accident at a plague research institute in Siberia.

“We’re watching and monitoring it closely,” Rubio said on Monday before leaving for a trip to Europe. “I ⁠don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause just to keep an ⁠eye on it.”

Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee at the anti-plague institute in the city of Irkutsk, became ill at work. She died two days later on the night of 2 October at a regional hospital in the nearby town of Shelekhov.

It remains unclear how she became unwell. Unconfirmed reports in Russian media have suggested Shipilova may have been infected after a mishap at the laboratory. Officials have not publicly confirmed that account.

Local media have reported that the institute has subsequently been locked down, with staff forced to sleep on the floor and on chairs. “They’ve been isolating everybody since Friday – more than 60 people,” one relative, Roman, told the news portal Siberia.Realities.

He said family members were allowed to drop off food at a checkpoint while tests were carried out inside the building. Similar quarantine restrictions have been placed on several other hospitals in and around the city.

Rubio, citing what ‌Russians have released about the death, said it seemed a worker in the lab became ​infected and there was concern the disease may have spread internally.

“There’s very limited travel between the US and Russia, obviously,” he said. “But like anything else, something like that gets out, it just quickly spreads.”

Senior Russian officials have added to public disquiet by sending conflicting messages. Alexey Tsydenov, the head of the Buryatia region, which neighbours Irkutsk, initially wrote that Shipilova had died of plague, before editing his post to say she had “possibly” died of the disease.

Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s health watchdog, said Shipilova died from “pneumonia of unknown aetiology”. It insisted that tests found no micro-organisms linked to her professional work and described the “sanitary and epidemiological” situation in the area as stable.

Authorities in the nearby city of Baikalsk briefly urged residents to avoid travelling to Shelekhov and surrounding settlements after what they said was unofficial information about a possible plague infection. They later deleted the post from social media.

“There are no obvious changes to daily life on the streets, but people are worried and anxious. Locals are angry that they are not being told anything,” said Elena Trifonova, a journalist with People of Baikal, an exiled Russian media outlet specialising in Siberia.

Despite the lack of a confirmed diagnosis, precautionary measures appear to have been introduced across the region. The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Monday that several hospitals in Irkutsk had been placed under quarantine.

The outlet confirmed that staff from Shipilova’s workplace, the Irkutsk Anti-plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, had been kept inside the institute since 2 October.

Patients at Irkutsk city clinical hospital No 1 and the Ivano-Matreninskaya children’s hospital said relatives were not being allowed to visit and people inside were not permitted to leave.

On social media, local residents described some of the precautions being introduced.

Ulyana Gavryunina, who went on Monday to one of Irkutsk’s main maternity hospitals for a routine check-up on Monday, said doctors refused to allow her mother in, citing a quarantine imposed over the suspected plague case. Gavryunina said staff member checked her for flu-like symptoms and asked her to fill out a screening form for infections, on which “plague” was listed. She posted a photograph of the form on Instagram.

Elsewhere, a mask requirement was introduced at the Irkutsk aluminium smelter in Shelekhov. The plant’s director, Artyom Fominykh, called it a preventive measure, saying: “Better safe than sorry.” Over the weekend several public events in Irkutsk were cancelled.

Shipolova’s death has prompted intervention from senior federal health officials. Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor and the country’s chief sanitary doctor, travelled to Irkutsk on Friday.

She attended an emergency meeting of the regional sanitary and anti-epidemic commission over what officials called a suspected case of a “particularly dangerous infection”.

Igor Kobzev, the governor of the Irkutsk region, urged residents to remain calm after meeting Popova to coordinate the response. “All identified contacts have been placed under medical observation. As of today, none is showing signs of illness and laboratory tests have returned negative results,” he wrote on Telegram.

Kobzev made no reference to reports that a laboratory worker had died.

US politicians have raised concerns about the incident, which follows longstanding and unfounded allegations by the Kremlin that Ukraine has secretly carried out biological weapons research with the support of Washington.

A Republican representative, Don Bacon, a senior member of the House armed services committee, wrote on social media: “I remember hearing from anti-Ukraine voices about their so-called bio labs. It was Russian disinformation ops at their best. But in reality it is Russia with the bio labs.”

Plague remains endemic in parts of Siberia and the Russian far east, where the bacterium persists naturally among wild rodents and their fleas.
But human cases in Russia are rare. Before the suspected Irkutsk case, the country’s last recorded human infection was in 2016, when a 10-year-old boy in Siberia’s Altai Republic contracted plague after helping butcher a marmot.

“This case here seems like a rare lab accident and is unlikely to go much further,” Prof Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading, in the UK, said. “Although it is true that pneumonic plague is directly transmissible, the contacts of the primary case are known and can be treated if they show any sign of infection.”

He added: “Plague carries a huge history and is still present in many parts of the world, including Russia, but the living conditions associated with previously spread plague are no longer generally true, antibiotics are available and its potential is therefore limited.”

The victim was working at the anti-plague institute in 

the Siberia city of Irkutsk. AFP via Getty Images.

Related Articles:

Rubio urges Russia to share more information on plague lab worker's death

WHO says it does not have ‘full picture’ from Russia following suspected plague death

Why scientists are concerned about leaks at biolabs

"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

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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 quake tests Erdogan's all-powerful rule

Yahoo – AFP, Fulya Ozerkan with Burcin Gercek in Ankara, February 16, 2023 

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assumed sweeping powers in 2018, he swore the state would deliver more under a centralised system that his critics compare to one-man rule. 

Five years on, an agonisingly slow response to a catastrophic quake has undermined that idea, boosting the opposition's case in  polls planned for May, experts say. 

Erdogan has acknowledged "shortcomings" in the government's handling of Turkey's deadliest disaster of its post-Ottoman history. 

More than 36,000 people have died in Turkey and nearly 3,700 in neighbouring Syria. The toll is expected to keep climbing for days to come. 

Under pressure like at few points in his two-decade rule, Erdogan blamed obstacles such as freezing temperatures and quake-damaged airports and roads. 

No government in the world could have done better, Erdogan said. 

The opposition counters that the February 6 quake underlines why Turkey must switch back to a parliamentary system under which agencies have more freedom to act on their own. 

"You have centralisation in all Turkish institutions, which is reflected in institutions that specifically should not have it," such as the disaster agency, said Hetav Rojan, a disaster management expert who follows Turkey closely. 

'Critical hours' 

Rojan argued that the system, which Erdogan secured through a constitutional referendum in 2017, had hamstrung disaster response agencies that need to make snap decisions on their own. 

Help took days to arrive in many areas, with distressed residents forced to use their bare hands to try and pull relatives from the rubble. 

Others were left without water, food or shelter in freezing temperatures. 

Many volunteers who rushed to the region shared on social media how they were forced to wait for authorisations or how equipment was slow to arrive. 

The government has since dispatched tens of thousands of soldiers to the scene, reinforcing support for millions of people left homeless by a 7.8-magnitude quake. 

But many are still fuming at the initial delay. 

The main opposition leader, who is running neck-and-neck with Erdogan in opinion polls, has spearheaded the criticism. 

"There wasn't any coordination. They were late in the critical hours," Kemal Kilicdaroglu thundered this week. 

"Their incompetence cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of our citizens." 

Unseemly arguments 

For example, it was impossible for crane operators -- who offered critical assistance to rescuers -- to be deployed without the disaster agency's approval. 

This cost crucial time, Erdogan's critics say.

Others point to unseemly arguments between state agencies and independent rescue and relief workers on the ground. 

AFP journalists witnessed disputes between volunteers and AFAD state disaster responders in Elbistan, near the epicentre of a huge aftershock in Turkey's southeast. 

"We started working on this rubble even though the disaster agency discouraged us from it," a volunteer, who did not wish to be named for fear of retribution, told AFP. 

"When we finally heard the voice of a survivor, AFAD teams pulled us away and took over our work," he added. 

Murat, 48, waiting for news of his loved ones under the rubble in Kahramanmaras, witnessed similar scenes. 

"When miners discovered a person alive under the rubble, they were pushed away and people who wanted to appear on camera took their place," he said, also fearing to disclose his last name. 

Controlling the narrative 

Even a non-profit group run by rock star Haluk Levent, as well as opposition-run municipalities that sent in their own rescue teams, have provoked the government's ire. 

"The necessary actions will be taken against anyone that tries to rival the state," threatened Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. 

"The (ruling party) government and its institutions are really trying to control the narrative of the current rescue management," Rojan said. 

An advertising campaign, called "disaster of the century", had been prepared by an agency close to the government, Turkish media reported. 

The aim, critics say, was to convince Turks that any shortcoming is because of the gigantic size of the disaster -- that no one could handle such a catastrophe. 

In the face of a public outcry, the campaign was withdrawn. 

For Rojan, it's still "too soon" to see if the government's narrative will work. 

"It is definitely a political test for Erdogan with upcoming elections," he said.

Ukraine raids homes, offices in graft clampdown

Digital Journal – AFP, Daria ANDRIIEVSKA with Arman SOLDIN near Vugledar, February 1, 2023 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made tackling corruption a
priority even as the war intensifies in the east

Ukraine expanded a clampdown on corruption on Wednesday launching coordinated searches of residences linked to a divisive oligarch and former interior minister as well as tax offices in the capital. 

The searches came ahead of a key summit with the EU and appeared to be part of a push by Kyiv to reassure key military and financial donors in European capitals and Washington that Ukraine is tackling systemic graft. 

The head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, David Arakhamia, said the searches had targeted influential billionaire Igor Kolomoisky and former interior minister Arsen Avakov. 

Law enforcement also raided tax offices in the capital and senior customs officials were fired, Arakhamia said in a post on social media announcing the shake-up. 

“The country will change during the war. If someone is not ready for change, then the state itself will come and help them change,” he added. 

Ukraine for years has suffered endemic graft but efforts to stamp out corruption have been overshadowed by Moscow’s invasion launched last February. 

Last week authorities fired around a dozen senior figures, including defence officials and a top aide to the president’s office, signalling a renewed push to clean up its image to appease Western backers. 

The raids on Wednesday came two days before President Zelensky was expected to host a summit with officials from the European Union, which has urged reforms to facilitate deeper integration. 

Investigators from Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, released images of a search from the home of Kolomoisky who was barred from entering the United States over allegations of corruption and undermining democracy. 

‘All necessary steps’ 

Prior to the invasion, Kolomoisky was one of the country’s richest men with holdings in a slew of industries, including media, aviation and energy. 

The security service said the search had been launched in connection with an investigation into the embezzlement of 40 billion hryvnia (more than a billion dollars) from energy holdings. 

The Ukrainian government seized stakes in the energy companies — oil producer Ukrnafta and refiner Ukrtatnafta — as part of stated efforts to consolidate the war effort. 

The SBU also said it had uncovered a scheme by the head of the Kyiv tax office over “multimillion-dollar” fraud schemes, accusing the official of abusing a position of authority. 

In an address to the nation on Tuesday, Zelensky vowed officials would take further measures to sweep away graft, saying “all the necessary steps have already been taken.” 

“People in the government who do not meet the basic requirements of the state and society should not occupy their seats,” he said. 

Arakhamia added that as part of the measures Wednesday several senior defence ministry officials had been informed that they are formal suspects, without specifying the charges. 

Last week the defence ministry announced the resignation of deputy minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who was involved in logistical support for the army. 

That resignation came after the ministry was accused of signing food contracts at prices two to three times higher that market rates for basics. 

Donetsk battle getting ‘worse’ 

Despite being vocal about fighting corruption, Zelensky himself has been embroiled in corruption scandals in the past, and previously he was seen as harbouring links with Kolomoisky. 

He is now working to drum up political backing for Ukraine at a critical time in the conflict, with Russian forces claiming to have captured fresh ground in the eastern Donetsk region. 

AFP journalists near the small town of Vugledar in the battle-scarred industrial region this week witnessed artillery barrages to keep Russian forces at bay. 

“The more time passes, the worse the situation gets,” Oleksandr, 45, said from a trench just five kilometres (three miles) from Vugledar. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday that a dozen countries had promised more than 100 tanks after Germany and the United States signed off on the deliveries last week. 

Now Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials are calling on the West to supply fighter jets and long-range artillery too. US President Joe Biden said he would discuss the new requests for advanced weaponry with Zelensky. 

The Kremlin said Wednesday that any deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine would not change Russia’s military objectives in the pro-Western country or change fighting on the battlefield. 

“It would require greater efforts from us. But again, it won’t change the course of events,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. 

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.

Worshippers drove break with Russian Orthodoxy: Ukrainian church

France25 – AFP, 28 May 2022

'The commandment 'thou shall not kill' has no other interpretations,' said
Archbishop Kliment Aleksey Filippov AFP

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ordinary members of the branch of Ukraine's Orthodox church, until now loyal to Moscow, drove the decision to break ranks with the Russian leadership, its spokesman told AFP Saturday. 

Archbishop Kliment said the church's congregation felt it could no longer remain silent. 

He was speaking inside Kyiv's Pechersk Lavra monastery -- one of the most ancient and holy sites in Ukraine -- a day after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchy declared "full independence". 

The clerics condemned Russian Patriarch Kirill's vocal support for the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, in a historic move against Moscow's spiritual authorities. 

Bearded and black-robed, Kliment said his church "does not accept, condemns and completely dissociates itself from those statements about Russian aggression in Ukraine that came from the lips of Patriarch Kirill". 

Kirill is a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has spoken out in support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine several times. 

For Kliment, the situation was clear. "The commandment 'thou shall not kill' has no other interpretations," he said. 

"It is difficult for me to (understand) the explanation or silence of the representatives of the Moscow patriarchate on the tragedy that is happening today," he added, as tens of thousands are killed and millions displaced. 

Priests' mediating role

His wing of Ukraine's church is one of the last links to Russia. it remained loyal despite a 2019 schism that saw the creation of a rival Kyiv patriarchy -- a huge blow to Moscow. 

Kliment acknowledged that his church had "always felt pressure from the state" to break from Moscow -- and the authorities here have welcomed the decision of the Kyiv patriarchy. 

But this time, he said, the appeals had come from their own worshippers. 

"There was a need for this, a demand in church society." 

Ukrainian priests had tried to "reach the patriarch and those directly responsible for the Russian aggression" in Moscow before their decision, he said, but had received no response. 

Kliment stressed that clerics from all over Ukraine -- including territories controlled by separatists -- took part in the council, priests from the war zone in the east joining online. 

"The council was attended by representatives of almost all the dioceses, including those of the East", he said. Their decision, he said, "will be relayed in (Moscow-annexed) Crimea and in the Donbas". 

Moscow patriarchy clerics play an important role in territories not under Kyiv's control, he said, often acting as a "bridge" with Ukrainian authorities. 

They have been involved in negotiating "the return of prisoners or their exchange and the delivery of humanitarian aid", he said. 

But this week's decision will be testing for priests working in rebel areas, he added. 

"This requires from these priests a certain courage and wisdom in order to preserve unity in the church and at the same time not to lose the flock in these areas." 

2019 schism remains

Archbishop Kliment played down hopes for broader unity inside Ukraine's Orthodox circles, which was divided by the 2019 schism. 

"This largely depends on them, because the position held by the representatives of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is not constructive," he said. 

He accused them of "choosing the path of confrontation, seizing churches and discrediting our believers". 

This newly created Kyiv branch of the church now pledges allegiance to Istanbul-based Patriarch Bartholomew -- something the Moscow branch had no intention of doing, said Kliment. 

Nonetheless, the rival churches do share the view that Patriarch Kirill can no longer rule Ukraine because of his support for the Russian invasion. 

After Saturday worship, many, but not all, believers appeared to share his view. 

"I support this decision because the Bible says 'you shall not kill'," said one man, Serhii. 

Ludmila, 65, added she hoped that the priests would stop mentioning Kirill in prayers during services, which she said was "really awful and offensive". 

But another woman, Olena, 40, expressed concern about the schism. "I am afraid that it will weaken the Orthodox Church." 

She hoped Kyiv would not renounce Russian-language worship as "this old church language is very important in spiritual terms -- it reconciles body and soul and has been giving people strength for centuries". 

Asked her view on Kirill, she paused, sighed and said: "It's better to talk about who started the war."

Danish PM says sorry to Inuits forcibly moved to Denmark

Yahoo – AFP, March 9, 2022 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said sorry to the Inuits at an
emotional ceremony in Copenhagen (AFP/Liselotte Sabroe) (Liselotte Sabroe)

Denmark's prime minister apologised in person Wednesday to six Greenlandic Inuits removed from their families and taken to Copenhagen more than 70 years ago as part of an experiment to create a Danish-speaking elite. 

"What you were subjected to was terrible. It was inhumane. It was unfair. And it was heartless", Mette Frederiksen told the six at an emotional ceremony in the capital. 

"We can take responsibility and do the only thing that is fair, in my eyes: to say sorry to you for what happened," she said. 

In the summer of 1951, 22 Inuit children between the ages of five and eight were sent to Denmark, which was Greenland's colonial power at the time but has since gained autonomy. 

The parents had been promised their children would have a better life, learn Danish and return to Greenland one day as the future elite, in a deal between authorities in Copenhagen and Nuuk, the Greenland capital. 

In Denmark, the children were not allowed to have any contact with their own families. After two years, 16 of the group were sent home to Greenland, but placed in an orphanage. 

The others were adopted by Danish families. Several of the children never saw their real families again. 

An inquiry into their fate concluded more than half were very negatively affected by the experiment. 

Only six of the 22 are alive today. 

"It was a big surprise for me when I realised that there were only six of them left, because they were not that old," their lawyer Mads Pramming told AFP. 

"They told me that the others had died of sorrow," he added. 

The PM's apology is "a big success for them", he said, two weeks after they each received financial compensation of 250,000 kroner (33,600 euros, $37,200). 

"First they got an apology in writing, and then the compensation for the violation of their human rights, and now they will have a face-to-face," with the prime minister, Pramming said. 

"Nothing had happened until now and it's you, Mette, who took the initiative to set up a commission two years ago", one of the six, Eva Illum, said. 

In December 2020, the prime minister offered the six an official apology.