Putin opponents condemn Russia regional elections as farce

Published

2 weeks ago

September 6, 2024

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Polls have opened in regional elections in Russia, which opposition activists say are a farce, after hundreds of anti-war candidates were barred from running.

Ballots are being held in almost every part of the country at various different levels, from local councils to regional governors.

But only a handful of races will feature a candidate from Yabloko, the only political party in Russia that opposes the war in Ukraine.

The party says it put forward around 350 candidates in total but that only 65 were allowed on the ballot after authorities found irregularities with their paperwork.

“Right now, the authorities want deputies at all levels to be as loyal as possible,” Maria Chuprina, one of Yabloko’s barred candidates, told Sky News.

“Such is the current federal agenda, there shouldn’t be anything that reminds us that Russia is in conflict.”

Ms Chuprina attempted to run for a seat in the Moscow City Duma and was required to gather thousands of signatures of support to register her candidacy.

But despite meeting the benchmark, her application was rejected on the basis that it wasn’t filled out correctly.

Some supporters’ details supposedly contained commas and full stops in the wrong place.

“If someone wrote their address differently to how it’s written in their passport, then their signature was considered invalid, even if it was written by a real person,” she said.

“For example, the passport says Number 15, but they wrote No.15, then it’s invalid.”

Ms Chuprina appealed against the decision in court but a judge ruled against her.

“The huge number of documents [that candidates must submit] allows them to come up with any reason they want,” she said.

“This is solely a protective measure so authorities can decide who is allowed on the ballot and who isn’t.”

Yabloko’s slogan “Za Mir i Svobodu” translates as “For Peace and Freedom”. A second line calls for a ceasefire.

The mere utterance of such words in Russia can result in a prison sentence – there have been countless examples since the start of the war in Ukraine.

So why are some still willing to take the risk?

“There’s no other way for us,” Nikolay Rybakov, Yabloko’s leader, told Sky News.

“We are on a big train but this train is on the way to catastrophe. We need to stop this train.”

By contrast, the Communist Party, which is portrayed as an opposition group, has been allowed to register more than 3,000 candidates.

But then again, the party supports both the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin.

“He’s on the same level as King Arthur and the Round Table,” said Roman Ustyuzhanin, a Communist Party candidate in Moscow, when asked how Russia’s president compares with other leaders.

“A personality on a par with Peter the Great. But not Napoleon, Putin is bigger,” he added.

With opposition like that, there’s no need for the Kremlin to worry – the results are a foregone conclusion.

World

Hezbollah leader accuses Israel of targeting ‘5,000 people in two minutes’ as he admits Lebanon blasts are ‘unprecedented blow’

Published

7 hours ago

September 19, 2024

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Hezbollah leader accuses Israel of targeting '5,000 people in two minutes' as he admits Lebanon blasts are 'unprecedented blow'

Hezbollah’s leader has accused Israel of carrying out “massacres” with pager and walkie-talkie explosions, saying it wanted to kill “5,000 people in two minutes”.

Lebanon has blamed Israel for the blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday which have killed 37 and injured thousands.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the “unprecedented” explosions “could be called a declaration of war” as he accused Israel of “violating red lines”.

He said 4,000 pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded in hospitals, shops, cars and streets “where many civilians were” on Tuesday.

A thousand walkie-talkies exploded the following day.

During Nasrallah’s speech, in which he called the blasts an “unprecedented blow” and a “test” for Hezbollah, Israeli jets flew over the Lebanese capital Beirut, triggering sonic booms which shook buildings.

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World

Raw anger and real fear on streets of Lebanon after deadly pager and radio explosions

Published

9 hours ago

September 19, 2024

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Raw anger and real fear on streets of Lebanon after deadly pager and radio explosions

There’s raw anger and real fear on the streets of Lebanon after two days of multiple explosions involving communication devices.

Less than 24 hours after the country was plunged into a major emergency with more than a dozen killed and nearly three thousand casualties being admitted to 90 hospitals, there was panic and deaths again.

There were numerous explosions, this time involving two-way radios being used by primarily Hezbollah operatives, security and supporters.

Thousands had gathered in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to attend funerals for four people killed during the pager explosions just one day earlier – among them a young boy.

But barely had the funerals begun and as mourners were just beginning to pay their condolences, we heard the sound of an explosion a short distance away followed by shouts and screams.

As we made our way to the site of the explosion, people were running in the opposite direction. We saw a crying mother holding on to her young child who was also sobbing, hurriedly trying to make their way out of the area.

A gaggle of men huddled together, one of them had blood smeared down his arm. An ambulance roared through the crowd to pick up the casualties, although as the funeral cortege continued undeterred, it was difficult to determine the numbers amid the mayhem.

We spotted members of Hezbollah, which is designated as a terror group by the UK and US, gathering handheld radios and taking them out of the area, their batteries removed.

Much of our filming was curtailed by angry, aggressive men wearing all-black clothes who appeared to be Hezbollah officials or supporters, although none of them identified themselves.

Many insisted we did not film what was happening in front of us by putting their hands in front of the camera lens and on one occasion attempting to snatch the mobile phone I was broadcasting on. As my colleague Chris Cunningham remonstrated with him, his mobile phone was taken and whisked away.

There is a lot of anxiety on display here and that is translating into red-rage anger.

‘Silence speaks volumes’

The Sky News team has been speaking to those close to the Hezbollah inner circle and there is both embarrassment and concern that the fighting group’s communications network has been so demonstrably compromised.

You won’t find many here who do not view Israel as responsible for these attacks.

The Israeli authorities have neither confirmed or denied their involvement but as my Sky colleague Alistair Bunkall put it: “The silence speaks volumes.”

Many within Hezbollah fear – much the same way as the UN secretary general has been speculating – that this widespread attack on the group’s communications may be a prelude to a more serious attack, even a ground invasion.

But doing the social media rounds are also plenty of theories that this may be Israel’s way of forcing Hezbollah to back down.

The atmosphere in Lebanon will not have been improved on hearing the Israeli prime minister, hours after the radio explosions, vow to return his citizens to their homes in north Israel.

About 90,000 Israelis have been displaced from the area because of almost daily shelling by Hezbollah fighters along the disputed border.

Israel’s cross-border attacks into Lebanon have similarly displaced large numbers of Lebanese from its southern border – an estimated 120,000.

Israel’s defence minister will have also sent temperatures rising with his declaration they were entering a “new phase” of the war and were going to concentrate on the north, alongside Gaza and retrieving their hostages.

A mixture of fragments and blood stains

Where one of the two-way radios had exploded in the suburb of Dahiyeh, the street was a mixture of fragments and blood stains.

A car bonnet had been left speckled with blood and we spotted blood smeared inside on the seats.

They appeared to be small explosions but by the end of the day, the death toll was still rising, outstripping those killed 24 hours earlier.

Along with the rising number of dead, there was a definite increase in fear and worry over the safety of any and every communications device.

The UN Security Council will discuss the dramatic turn of events at a meeting this Friday.

But earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad told us where he saw the blame.

“This is an act of aggression against non-combatants… you know, community people,” he said.

“Even if some of them [victims] are combatants, this is a non-discriminatory attack….and the use of this non-discriminatory force or attacks which, will clearly affect civilians, is in my mind against international law.”

Alex Crawford reports from Beirut with cameraman Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon team Jihad Jneid, Hwaida Saad and Sami Zein.

World

Beirut blasts: Lebanon rocked by wave of hand-held radio blasts as ‘solar energy systems explode’

Published

9 hours ago

September 19, 2024

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Beirut blasts: Lebanon rocked by wave of hand-held radio blasts as 'solar energy systems explode'

Lebanon has been rocked by a second wave of blasts, this time linked to hand-held radios, as reports have emerged that solar energy systems have exploded in several areas as well.

At least 20 people were killed in Wednesday’s blasts, with more than 450 injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The death toll from Tuesday’s explosions stands at 12, with nearly 3,000 injured.

Following the second wave of explosions, Israel’s defence minister declared a “new phase” of the war as its army turned its attention to the northern front with Lebanon.

Middle East latest: Israel declares ‘new phase’ of war after second wave of blasts

Multiple reports have come in from Lebanon saying hand-held radios used by Hezbollah have exploded across the country’s south, and in the southern suburbs of the capital.

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford witnessed the seeming aftermath of one of the explosions, at a funeral held in southern Beirut for four people killed in Tuesday’s pager blasts.

While Wednesday’s explosions seemingly targeted Hezbollah members, it is not clear whether or not bystanders were caught in the blasts as well.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s official news agency reported that home solar energy systems exploded in several areas of Beirut, AP news agency said.

Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, defence minister Yoav Gallant made no mention of the exploding electronic devices in Lebanon, but he praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies.

After months of war against Hamas in Gaza, “the centre of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces. We are at the start of a new phase in the war”, he said.

Many of the wounds suffered in Wednesday’s explosions were to the stomach and hands, it was reported.

This comes after nearly 3,000 people were injured and 12 were killed by pager explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday.

Two children were said to be among the dead, according to Lebanese health minister Firas Abiad.

The latest blasts come as Hezbollah alleged the pager explosions were part of a complex Israeli operation.

While the Iran-backed militant group and Hamas both claimed Israel was behind it, the country initially offered no comment.

Hezbollah security ‘taking batteries out of walkie-talkies’

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford was at a funeral in Beirut for four people killed in Tuesday’s attacks.

She said the area was in the southern suburbs of Beirut and she heard a “small sound of something popping”.

“We came out to try and find out what the sound was and people were running. People were covered in blood,” she said.

“There was blood on a car.

“One young man was running and he was very stressed. He said a walkie-talkie – which the Hezbollah security people around here are using for the funeral – exploded.

“The Hezbollah people then gathered up all the walkie-talkies and have been taking the batteries out of them.

“Our cameraman was surrounded by very tense and angry Hezbollah security, who told him to stop filming.

“The funeral is still going ahead.”

Crawford said there is an army presence there and “a lot of people are extremely tense”.

Hezbollah is “furious” and “there is a lot of anger from ordinary Lebanese civilians” too, Crawford added.

Experts told Sky News the pager devices would likely have had to have been intercepted and had explosives planted inside them to execute the apparent attack.

A Taiwanese pager maker denied it had produced the devices that exploded on Tuesday.

Gold Apollo said the devices had been instead made under licence by a company called BAC, based in Budapest, Hungary.

But BAC chief executive Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono told Sky News’ US partner NBC News: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong.”

Then, a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government said the pagers involved in Tuesday’s attack had never been in Hungary – but did not deny the firm’s alleged involvement.