Jetten calls for tougher sanctions against Russia ahead of talks

DutchNews, October 28, 2026 Gordon Darroch 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Rob Jetten held talks in the Catshuis, 
the prime minister’s official residence. 

Prime minister Rob Jetten has called for Europe to present a united front and step up sanctions against Russia in order to force Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. 

Jetten told reporters at a joint president with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in The Hague that economic pressure was needed to persuade Putin to give ground. 

His remarks came after Polish president Donald Tusk said the US, Ukraine and Russia had provisionally agreed to hold ceasefire talks in Abu Dhabi on November 4. 

European leaders will not be present, but Tusk said Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre had held a call with Putin after consulting Zelenskyy and the American side. 

Zelenskyy told reporters in The Hague that it was “very important” for Europe to show unity “because Russia is focusing on how to divide us”. 

“Russia is losing,” he said. “The American side is asking to find a balance and a compromise. If they need a compromise, we say: Russia is not winning. But what is very clear is they are not ending the war. 

No Russian gas

“That is the problem. That’s why we need to work step by step and move Russia to end this war.” 

Jetten also ruled out restarting supplies of Russian gas to Europe, an idea reportedly raised by Donald Trump’s peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff during talks with Zelenskyy at the weekend. 

“It is clear that we need to push Putin to take the negotiations seriously,” he said. 

“The way forward for Europeans, but also for Americans and others, is to put more sanctions on the Russian regime, not less. So buying Russian energy is a very stupid idea. I can assure you that there is no European leader who is willing to buy Russian gas in the next few years. 

“What we want is for Russia to stop this war, and as long as they don’t we will hit them hard in their pockets with sanctions.” 

Aid packages

The Dutch government announced on Wednesday it was spending another €1.2 billion on non-military aid to Ukraine over the next three years, as well as €500 million on military support in the form of air defence and drones. 

The non-military aid, announced by foreign trade minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma on a visit to Kyiv, will address “the most urgent needs” such as energy, drinking water, humanitarian aid, healthcare and medicine, as well as operations to clear landmines. 

“Russia is hoping to break Ukraine’s morale, its society and its economy,” Jetten said. 

“But they will not succeed. Firstly because of the great courage and resilience of the Ukrainians themselves, but also because we as allies realise that we must not let up on giving our support.”

Trump-sanctioned ICC wins EU Parliament’s human rights prize

Polico, Max Griera, October 22, 2026 

Court nominated by center-left weeks after sanctions imposed by Donald Trump.

This photograph shows a view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on September 23, 2026. | Remko de Waal/ANP/AFP via

STRASBOURG — The International Criminal Court has won this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded by the European Parliament, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. 

The €50,000 prize honors defenders of human rights and freedom of thought, with past winners including Nelson Mandela, Alexei Navalny, Belarusian journalists, and the people of Ukraine. 

Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the decision later on Thursday: “The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognizes the important work of the Court in upholding international law and justice.” 

The Socialists and Democrats group nominated the ICC following U.S. President Donald Trump's sanctions on the court, announced on Oct. 9. 

Inside the room, European People's Party chief Manfred Weber was counting on the right-wing groups to back his group's pick for the prize, Tanzanian politician Tundu Lissu — but needed the Patriots’ support to secure a majority. The Patriots, however, stood by their own nominees, the Iranian twin sisters imprisoned for protesting, one of whom has been sentenced to death. 

Weber first asked the right-wing ECR to lobby Patriots chief Kinga Gál. When that failed, he approached her himself, according to two officials, granted anonymity to speak about the internal process. Gál ultimately recused herself from voting, allowing the Socialists, Renew, Greens and The Left to prevail with a relative majority of votes. 

"It is a great achievement for the European Socialists that we led this proposal despite the EPP’s opposition. We are on the right side of history. This vote shows that the majority of this Parliament, together with our group, stands with international law,” Spanish S&D lawmaker Hana Jalloul, one of the promoters of the ICC nomination, told POLITICO. 

French MEP Chloé Ridel said: "This is a message of hope and resistance sent to Donald Trump. No, we will not abandon the rule of law and international justice. We will stand with the ICC for as long as it takes.” 

The prize is named in honor of Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet physicist and political dissident. Shortlisted candidates are traditionally invited to the Parliament’s award ceremony, which takes place during the December plenary session in Strasbourg. The Parliament plans in the coming months to increase the prize money from €50,000 to €100,000, according to an internal note seen by POLITICO.

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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.

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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.

US targets Belarus with sanctions amid Western outcry over plane

Yahoo – AFP, Anita Chang BEATTIE with Anna SMOLCHENKO, May 28, 2021 

Belarus authorities claimed to have received a bomb threat against the
Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius

The United States on Friday announced punitive measures against Belarus targeting the regime of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko, who met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin amid a global outcry over the forced diversion of a European plane. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called for "a credible international investigation into the events of May 23," which she called "a direct affront to international norms." 

Belarus scrambled a military jet to divert a Ryanair plane and arrested 26-year-old opposition journalist and activist Roman Protasevich who was onboard, triggering a global outcry. 

The White House announced it was working with the European Union on a list of targeted sanctions against key members of Lukashenko's regime. 

Meanwhile, economic sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises, reimposed by Washington in April following a crackdown on pro-democracy protests, will come into effect on June 3. 

Further US moves on Belarus could target "those that support corruption, the abuse of human rights, and attacks on democracy," Psaki said. 

The White House also issued a "Do Not Travel" warning for Belarus to US citizens, and warned American passenger planes to "exercise extreme caution" if considering flying over Belarusian airspace. 

The European Union has also urged EU-based carriers to avoid Belarusian airspace. 

However President Vladimir Putin celebrated Russia's close ties with Belarus on Friday as he hosted Lukashenko in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. 

With observers closely watching the talks to see how far the Kremlin would go to support the regime, the Russian leader said he was "very glad" to see Lukashenko and agreed with him the Western reaction was an "outburst of emotion". 

During talks in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin warmly greeted Lukashenko

'Rock the boat' 

Lukashenko complained the West was seeking to stir unrest in Belarus. 

"An attempt is underway to rock the boat to reach the level of last August," he said, referring to anti-regime protests following a disputed election. 

"It's clear what these Western friends want from us." 

The Belarus strongman, who arrived with a briefcase, said he wanted to show Putin "some documents" related to the Ryanair incident and thanked him for his support in the latest standoff with the West. 

The talks lasted for more than five hours but their results were not announced. 

Over the past years Lukashenko has had a volatile relationship with Moscow, playing it off against the West and ruling out outright unification with Russia. 

But after the Ryanair plane incident his options appear to be limited. 

Putin and the Belarus leader have met regularly since August, when historic protests broke out against Lukashenko's nearly three-decade rule. 

The 66-year-old waged a ruthless crackdown on his opponents and has leaned increasingly on the Russian president amid condemnation from the West. 

Several people died during the unrest in Belarus, thousands were detained, and hundreds reported torture in prison. 

Sunday's plane diversion was a dramatic escalation, with EU leaders accusing Minsk of essentially hijacking a European flight to arrest Protasevich. 

Alexander Lukashenko

Technical reasons 

The overflight ban has led to several cancellations of air journeys between Russia and Europe, after Russian authorities rejected plans that would have skipped Belarusian airspace. 

Russia insists the cancellations are purely "technical," but they have raised concerns that Moscow could be systematically refusing to let European airlines land if they avoid Belarus. 

The Kremlin criticized the flight ban as politically motivated and dangerous, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it "completely irresponsible". 

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was monitoring whether this was a broader policy from Russia, but Moscow insisted the disruptions were in no way political. 

Belarus authorities claimed to have received a bomb threat against the Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying the dissident. 

Minsk said it demanded the flight land in the Belarus capital based on the message it said was sent from a ProtonMail address by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. 

Protasevich, who helped organize the demonstrations against Lukashenko's rule last year, was arrested along with Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega, 23, after the plane landed in the city.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called for 'a credible international
investigation' which she called 'a direct affront to internationals norms'

'Braver' 

Borrell has said proposals are "on the table" to target key sectors of the Belarusian economy including its oil products and potash sectors. 

Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya on Friday urged the EU to be "braver" and impose more sanctions against the Minsk regime. 

After meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, Tikhanovskaya said measures being discussed by EU countries did not go far enough. 

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday warned Lukashenko that "it is time to change course." 

"No amount of repression, brutality or coercion will bring any legitimacy to your authoritarian regime," she said. 

The European Commission president also wrote to the opposition offering a three-billion-euro package to support "a democratic Belarus" if Lukashenko steps down.

EU parliament declares 'Black Lives Matter'

Yahoo – AFP, June 20, 2020

Racial justice protests have spread from the United States to Europe, including this
mid-June 2020 demo in Strasbourg, eastern France (AFP Photo/PATRICK HERTZOG)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Parliament voted Friday to declare that "Black Lives Matter" and to denounce racism and white supremacism in all its forms.

The resolution has no legal consequences but sends a signal of support to anti-racism protesters, and it follows a UN call for a probe into police brutality and "systemic racism."

And, one day before President Donald Trump is to hold a rally in Tulsa, a city that saw one of the worst racist massacres in US history, the lawmakers condemned American police brutality.

Point number one of the text of the resolution takes up the slogan US campaigners painted on the street leading to the White House, when it "Affirms that Black Lives Matter."

The resolution, passed by 493 votes to 104, "strongly condemns the appalling death of George Floyd", an unarmed suspect killed by US police in May.

The EU parliament resolution also rebuked President Donald Trump for his "inflammatory 

rhetoric" and for threatening to deploy the army against protesters (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

It rebukes Trump for his "inflammatory rhetoric" and for threatening to deploy the army against protesters.

And EU member states themselves, many of which have seen protests in recent days about modern racism and previous colonial crimes, are not spared in the motion.

EU capitals are urged to denounce "the disproportionate use of force and racist tendencies in law enforcement."

The EU institutions and the member states should officially acknowledge past injustices and crimes against humanity committed against black people, people of colour and Roma.

And the resolution declares the slave trade a "crime against humanity."

Earlier Friday, the UN Human Rights Council demanded a report on "systemic racism", but left out any direct mention of the United States in the resolution.

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Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan to give up royal titles

Yahoo – AFP, Dmitry ZAKS, January 18, 2020

A royal goodbye: Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will give up their
official titles (AFP Photo/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS)

London (AFP) - Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have agreed to give up their royal titles and stop receiving public funds as part of a settlement with the Queen that lets them spend more private time in Canada.

The announcement from Buckingham Palace on Saturday follows more than a week of intense private talks aimed at managing the fallout of the couple's shock decision to give up front-line royal duties.

The decision means the couple will stop usings the titles "royal highness" as they assume more ordinary lives that will see them spend more time away from both Britain and the royal family.

"Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family," Queen Elizabeth II said in a statement.

"I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life."

Her comments referred to battles with the media that prompted Harry and Meghan -- known until now as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex -- to sue several newspapers over intrusions into their private lives.

A separate statement attributed to Buckingham Palace said "the Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family".

HRH stands for Her Royal Highness.

"As agreed in this new arrangement, they understand that they are required to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments. They will no longer receive public funds for royal duties," the statement said.

The settlement added that the two will also repay £2.4 million ($3.1 million) of taxpayer's money spent on renovating their Frogmore Cottage home near Windsor Castle.

Queen Elizabeth II described the settlement as "a constructive and supportive
way forward for my grandson and his family" (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

'Progressive new role'

The Palace would not comment on who ends up paying for their security detail in Canada -- an issue of intense public debate.

It also failed to mention whether the couple would be allowed to benefit financially from future royalties and franchise fees.

Harry and Meghan are seeking to register the "Sussex Royal" brand as a global trademark for their future enterprises.

The couple are dedicated to environmental causes and are looking to develop their charitable foundation as part of a "progressive new role".

The queen's announcement is her second on the royal crisis -- dubbed Megxit in honour of Britain's painful battle over Brexit -- since Harry and Meghan's effective resignation on March 8.

"We have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution," the couple said at the time.

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America."

Meghan then jetted back to Canada and is now their with their son Archie.

Their announcement caught the royal family by surprise and created a media sensation in both Britain and the wider world.

Their treatment by London's hard-hitting tabloid press and their personal future -- as well as questions about longstanding royal traditions -- have turned into daily front-page news.

Media reports said Harry would probably join Meghan and Archie on the west coast of Canada this coming week.

The royal crisis has been dubbed Megxit in honour of Britain's painful battle 

over Brexit (AFP Photo/Tolga AKMEN)

'Abdication'

The Queen's final ruling on her grandson's future drew immediate comparisons to King Edward VIII's abdication in 1936.

Edward married the American socialite Wallis Simpson the following year and never returned to Britain.

"Harry is not King (he is sixth in line) but tonight this feels like his and Meghan’s own abdication," ITV television's royal editor Chris Ship said on Twitter.

"This isn't 1936. But it's still pretty big."

The BBC's royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said Meghan must also decide whether she intends to return and spend time in Britain in order to gain her UK citizenship.

The couple's future tax status also remains unclear.

"I think they are feeling their way into this as much as anyone else is," Witchell said.

The couple will now officially be know formally as "Harry, The Duke of Sussex" and "Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex".

The Palace statement said the new arrangement "will take effect in the Spring of 2020".

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's effective resignation from front-line duties is only the latest crisis to hit the royal family in the last century https://t.co/iC6b96CBMj

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 19, 2020

Britain's Prince Andrew has 'no recollection' of Epstein sex accuser

Yahoo – AFP, Joe JACKSON, November 16, 2019

Prince Andrew, the eighth in line to the throne, has come in for heavy criticism
over his links to Epstein who died in custody in the US in August (AFP Photo/
Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

London (AFP) - Britain's Prince Andrew has said he does not remember meeting Virginia Roberts, one of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein's alleged victims, who claims she was forced to have sex with the royal.

But Andrew admitted in an interview with the BBC due to be broadcast on Saturday that his decision to remain friends with Epstein after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor was a serious error of judgement.

"I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever," Andrew told BBC interviewer Emily Maitlis, according to extracts from "Prince Andrew and the Epstein Scandal" released ahead of the programme airing.

Andrew, 59, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and eighth in line to the throne, has been heavily criticised over his links to multimillionaire Epstein, who died in custody in the US in August.

A photograph apparently showing Andrew with his arm around then 17-year-old Roberts, now Giuffre, and with Epstein's friend Ghislaine Maxwell standing in the background, has been widely published. Supporters of Andrew, however, have disputed its authenticity.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a girl under the age of 18 for prostitution and served 13 months in a US prison before being released on probation.

He was arrested in July on new federal charges that he trafficked girls as young as 14 for sex, but was found dead in New York's high-security Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10 as he awaited trial.

A coroner ruled that he committed suicide by hanging.

'The wrong thing to do'

The BBC interview is the first time Andrew has answered questions on his relationship with Epstein. In 2015, he used a public appearance at Davos in Switzerland to deny the claims.

Pressed over the fact that he remained friends with the disgraced financier after his conviction, even staying at his Manhattan townhouse, Andrew said he regretted the decision.

"It was a convenient place to stay," the prince added.

"I have gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight one can have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do.

"But at the time I felt it was the honourable and right thing to do."

Andrew went on to concede it was "not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family".

"We try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that," he told Maitlis of the BBC's Newsnight programme.

A coroner ruled that Epstein committed suicide by hanging
(AFP Photo)

'Sex slave' claim

Over the years Epstein, 66, hobnobbed with politicians, socialites and celebrities, including Donald Trump before he was president, and Bill Clinton.

After his death Giuffre, who says she was abused by Epstein for years and farmed out to his wealthy friends including Andrew, said "the reckoning must not end, it must continue".

She has alleged she was forced to have sex with the prince three times, an allegation he has strongly denied.

"He knows exactly what he's done and I hope he comes clean about it," she told reporters after a US hearing on August 27 at which other alleged Epstein victims also described how they were abused.

Giuffre previously testified that she was forced to have sex with Andrew in London in 2001 when she was 17. She said she had sex with him again in New York and on Epstein's private island in the Caribbean.

But the allegations were struck from the record by a US judge in 2015, who said the "lurid details" were not needed to decide a civil case concerning Epstein.

She has filed a lawsuit in the US accusing Epstein of using her as a "sex slave".

'Real gentleman'

Buckingham Palace has strenuously denied the claims, calling them "false and without foundation".

In August, it issued a statement after a video emerged purporting to show Andrew at Epstein's New York home in 2010 waving goodbye to a woman leaving the property.

"His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent," the statement said.

Sarah Ferguson, Andrew's ex-wife and the mother of his two daughters, also defended the embattled royal ahead of Saturday's interview broadcast.

"Andrew is a true (and) real gentleman and is stoically steadfast to not only his duty but also his kindness," she wrote on Twitter.

Britain's Prince Andrew provoked a backlash Sunday following an extraordinary TV interview branded "disastrous" by public relations experts in which he denied having sex with an alleged victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epsteinhttps://t.co/rLEUWi1S69 pic.twitter.com/RJKFO45lbH

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 17 november 2019