Azerbaijan has taken responsibility for the deaths of several Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday.. The servicemen were attacked “when they were returning from an observation post of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the area of the village of Dzhanyatag,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.. Among the dead was the deputy commander of the Northern Fleet's submarine forces, but Russia avoided retaliation.

The vehicle in which the peacekeepers were traveling was attacked with small arms. Russia's Defense Ministry did not say how many people were killed, but RT chief Margarita Simonyan later wrote, without citing sources, that there were five dead.. Military correspondent Yuri Kotenok also claims that a total of five people died.. According to the Moscow Times, there are four.

One of the dead is the deputy commander of the peacekeeping contingent Ivan Kovgan, deputy commander of the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet, SeverPost reported.. Several months ago he was sent on a business trip to Karabakh.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan “expressed its deepest condolences” in connection with the incident. The Kremlin reported that President Ilham Aliyev apologized in a conversation with Vladimir Putin. Aliyev, according to a message on the Kremlin website, also expressed his readiness to provide financial assistance to the families of the victims.. The first suspects for the death of the peacekeepers have already been arrested and their commander has been replaced.

The assumption of blame coincided with the first meeting of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and representatives of Azerbaijan, held in the city of Yevlakh. There was no agreement between them. The representative of the President of Azerbaijan for special missions, Elchin Amirbekov, for his part, said that at the meeting a draft peace agreement was handed over to the Armenian side, which provides that both countries will be obliged not to interfere in each other's affairs.. On September 20, the authorities of this unrecognized republic announced that they had reached a ceasefire agreement with the participation of Russian peacekeepers.. But it is unknown how the future will be managed.

CHARGE AGAINST ARMENIA

Although Azerbaijan has pulled the trigger that has cost Russian lives, the orders given by Moscow to spokespersons and media go in the opposite direction: to charge against the government of Armenia, accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of betraying the interests of Nagorno-Karabakh. under pressure from the United States.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, María Zajarova, pointed out “the black ingratitude with which some unscrupulous people have tried to question” the work of the Russian troops deployed in the area, some “blue helmets” who, according to Armenia, have done almost nothing to prevent the attack of Azerbaijani soldiers, who began shelling Nagorno-Karabakh on the afternoon of September 19.

No one “will eclipse their feat, but all this will fall with eternal shame on the slanderers,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday after learning of the death of the Russian soldiers.. Zakharova dedicated a significant part of her message, written in connection with the death of these peacekeepers, to criticizing Armenia's leaders, but said nothing about Azerbaijan's role in the death of Russian soldiers.

The Kremlin is recommending that state media blame everything on the Armenian government, a retaliation for its flirtations with the US and the West in general.. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov called the fighting an internal matter of Azerbaijan.. More than 200 people have died. Theoretically, Armenia is part of the post-Soviet CSTO defensive alliance, but Putin's NATO has not served in this case. Armenia, like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, depends in each case on what is most convenient for the Kremlin.

Russia, which describes the attacks it has suffered on its own soil by Ukraine since the invasion began as “terrorism”, acts with caution in the case of other neighbors. And that it rains in wet: it is not the first time that Russian peacekeepers have died due to the actions of the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh. In November 2020, during the previous escalation, a Mi-24 helicopter accompanying a convoy was shot down over the internationally recognized territory of Armenia. That crash cost the lives of two soldiers. Putin decorated them, without consequences for Baku.

Something similar happened with Turkey, a NATO member, in 2015 after the downing of a Russian plane on the border with Syria. Russia announced a package of economic sanctions against Turkey, which included blocking tomato imports.

Pyotr Gumennik started learning to skate in 2006, when he was 4 years old. At that time, the German industrial music band Rammstein had been performing for 12 years and Ukraine was on its third president, but both names have crossed paths.. The Sports Ministry told Gumennik this month that he had better change his program, choreographed to the rhythm of a Rammstein song, because the band has criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine.. The music chosen by the young skater has been described as “unpatriotic” in a complaint filed with the government.

Perhaps Gumennik, 21, hasn't been following the news or is unaware of the patriotic furor engulfing his country.. Over the past few months, the German group's lead singer, Till Lindemann, has openly supported Ukraine.. Furthermore, as some Russian deputies have lamented, the name of the group coincides with that of the air base where NATO generals discuss the supply of weapons to Kiev.

Gumennik wanted to perform at the Russian national team skating trials with the song Sonne. On September 16, the athlete announced that he had had to abandon the idea of performing with the German group's music for reasons beyond his control, since he was not allowed to play that piece.. He himself found out about it the day before leaving for rehearsals, without any other rehearsed choreography, and had to urgently switch to last year's program: Dawn of Faith by the string ensemble Eternal Eclipse.

Important figures from the world of figure skating supported Gumennik or expressed their regret about the situation. “Banning English or German speaking groups is nonsense. Many artists have ambivalent attitudes towards our country. “Elton John lives with a man, so now we won't listen to his songs?” said sports commentator and presenter of “patriotic” and pro-war events Dimitri Guberniev.

Other skaters, on the contrary, have asked that the issue be vetoed. Gumennik's coach, Veronika Daineko, said that Tamara Moskvina, a coach and one of the heads of the St. Petersburg federation, approached her and showed her a letter saying that skating to such music is not patriotic.. It was signed by Evgeny Kartushin, administrator of the fan community of another skater, Sofia Samodelkina.

Finally a solution has been reached: Gumennik will be able to participate in the season's competitions with a program based on the Rammstein song, but with a “reworked” artistic proposal.. A possible option is to retouch the first part of the song, which features the voice of the band's lead singer.. This is how Sportsdaily explained it, although on Thursday afternoon the uncertainty continued.

The scandal has grown so much that the Kremlin's press secretary, Dimitri Peskov, had to clarify that the president is not following the situation.

Rammstein is one of the most popular Western bands in Russia, and has composed soundtracks for the country's cinema.. In 2021 he performed in Red Square with Russian military bands at an event organized by the Ministry of Defense. But in 2022 the Rammstein frontman canceled his solo concerts in Moscow and Novosibirsk just days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A new political actor has burst onto the left in Greece and aspires this Sunday to run as the new leader of the Progressive Alliance party known as Syriza.. This is Stefanos Kasselakis, a 35-year-old economist who until now lived in the United States – where he has developed his entire professional career – who barely has political experience.. He defends the most liberal sector of the party and is openly gay. Thus follows a long list of unusual attributes in the Greek left-wing party, which has generated detractors and admirers in equal measure.

Kasselakis was unknown among party members and voters until the end of August, when he presented his candidacy to lead the party.. In a video published on social networks, he introduced his electoral proposal with a story of personal and economic improvement in the United States, far from the motherland of Greece.. His candidacy soared in the polls, although he was never in front of the polls. However, she won the first round with 45.4% of the votes against the favorite candidate, Efi Ajtsioglu, who got 36.2%.

Electoral participation was higher than expected, with more than 80% of the 170,000 members going to the polls. “It was an unexpectedly high turnout, which marks the first step for the country to have a progressive government,” said Kasselakis after election day.. Although it remains to be seen who the bases will support in the second round, Kasselakis plays with the symbolic advantage of having taken nine points over Ajtsioglu in the last vote.

Before submitting his proposal to lead the party, he unsuccessfully attempted to run for Mayor of Athens.. Kasselakis is a native of Maroussi, a northern suburb of the Greek capital. When he was 14 years old, his family decided to move to the United States, where a few years later a young Stefanos began his degree in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.. Parallel to his studies, he made his first steps in politics as a volunteer for the then senator – and now president – Joe Biden for the 2008 presidential elections.. He has also worked as a foreign policy advisor at a strategic studies center in Washington.. However, his most striking work is at Goldman Sachs, the American bank known in Athens for helping to manipulate its public accounts in the early 2000s, which caused – among other circumstances – the country's economic fall.. After leaving the entity, he set up his own shipping company and lived in Miami until the middle of this summer.

His business and liberal profile is one of the aspects that has provoked the most detractors among the ranks of the party.. His rivals accuse him of hobnobbing with the capitalist world, but Kasselakis defends himself by saying that thanks to his work experience “he has understood the arrogance” of economic circles.. For his critics, his athlete's bearing and charismatic image fit more with the imagination of an American leader than a Hellenic one.

Kasselakis has also unearthed electoral promises that the left has not debated in Greece for years and that have been a source of reproach, such as the professionalization of the Army to end compulsory military service.. It also suggests the separation between Church and State, an issue that former Syriza leader and former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras did not dare to touch for fear of losing the support of his government partner, the nationalist Independent Greeks party (Anel ). The fact that Kasselakis is openly homosexual and speaks openly about his partner, the American nurse Tyler McBeth, has surprised the Greek training and media, taking into account that Greece is still at the bottom of Europe in terms of rights and legislation. LGBT. In an interview with the Greek magazine Antivirus, Kasselakis noted that he does not have “a gay agenda” but rather “a human agenda.”

Greek media have speculated that a possible victory for Kasselakis could cause a split in Syriza, because the most traditional sector of the party considers him a character far from the heart of the formation, with no political experience and no presence in the Greek Parliament.. “We don't want Instagram politicians,” Nikos Filis, a member of the party's Central Committee, said clearly about Kasselakis.. Syriza has long had a great internal division between those who suggest a more leftward turn and those who defend a more modest approach of opening towards the center-left.. The party has also been weakened by corruption scandals and allegations that party officials had appointed family members to senior positions in the public sector.

Now, the unknown falls on the influence of the candidates who did not pass the first round of voting. Nikos Pappas, who obtained 8.6% of the vote, has already spoken in favor of Kasselakis, while Euclid Tsakalotos, who obtained 8.4%, will support Ajtsioglu. Kasselakis also has the support of former minister Pavlos Polakis, who has publicly shown his preference for his candidacy.. In recent days, Greek media have revealed that the young candidate also has the support of deputy Yorgos Tsipras, brother of Alexis.. For his part, the former prime minister was believed to be confident in Ajtsioglu's victory, but there is speculation that he may have switched sides.. This Sunday we will meet the new leadership of Syriza, which will have the duty of pushing the party into forced marches to gain ground from the New Democracy of Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the local elections on October 8.

Azerbaijan has taken responsibility for the deaths of several Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday.. The servicemen were attacked “when they were returning from an observation post of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the area of the village of Dzhanyatag,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.. Among the dead was the deputy commander of the Northern Fleet's submarine forces, but Russia avoided retaliation.

The vehicle in which the peacekeepers were traveling was attacked with small arms. Russia's Defense Ministry did not say how many people were killed, but RT chief Margarita Simonyan later wrote, without citing sources, that there were five dead.. Military correspondent Yuri Kotenok also claims that a total of five people died.. According to the Moscow Times, there are four.

One of the dead is the deputy commander of the peacekeeping contingent Ivan Kovgan, deputy commander of the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet, SeverPost reported.. Several months ago he was sent on a business trip to Karabakh.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan “expressed its deepest condolences” in connection with the incident. The Kremlin reported that President Ilham Aliyev apologized in a conversation with Vladimir Putin. Aliyev, according to a message on the Kremlin website, also expressed his readiness to provide financial assistance to the families of the victims.. The first suspects for the death of the peacekeepers have already been arrested and their commander has been replaced.

The assumption of blame coincided with the first meeting of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and representatives of Azerbaijan, held in the city of Yevlakh. There was no agreement between them. The representative of the President of Azerbaijan for special missions, Elchin Amirbekov, for his part, said that at the meeting a draft peace agreement was handed over to the Armenian side, which provides that both countries will be obliged not to interfere in each other's affairs.. On September 20, the authorities of this unrecognized republic announced that they had reached a ceasefire agreement with the participation of Russian peacekeepers.. But it is unknown how the future will be managed.

CHARGE AGAINST ARMENIA

Although Azerbaijan has pulled the trigger that has cost Russian lives, the orders given by Moscow to spokespersons and media go in the opposite direction: to charge against the government of Armenia, accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of betraying the interests of Nagorno-Karabakh. under pressure from the United States.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, María Zajarova, pointed out “the black ingratitude with which some unscrupulous people have tried to question” the work of the Russian troops deployed in the area, some “blue helmets” who, according to Armenia, have done almost nothing to prevent the attack of Azerbaijani soldiers, who began shelling Nagorno-Karabakh on the afternoon of September 19.

No one “will eclipse their feat, but all this will fall with eternal shame on the slanderers,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday after learning of the death of the Russian soldiers.. Zakharova dedicated a significant part of her message, written in relation to the death of these peacekeepers, to criticizing Armenia's leaders, but said nothing about Azerbaijan's role in the death of Russian soldiers.

The Kremlin is recommending that state media blame everything on the Armenian government, a retaliation for its flirtations with the US and the West in general.. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov called the fighting an internal matter of Azerbaijan.. More than 200 people have died. Theoretically, Armenia is part of the post-Soviet CSTO defensive alliance, but Putin's NATO has not served in this case. Armenia, like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, depends in each case on what is most convenient for the Kremlin.

Russia, which describes the attacks it has suffered on its own soil by Ukraine since the invasion began as “terrorism”, acts with caution in the case of other neighbors. And that it rains in wet: it is not the first time that Russian peacekeepers have died due to the actions of the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh. In November 2020, during the previous escalation, a Mi-24 helicopter accompanying a convoy was shot down over the internationally recognized territory of Armenia. That crash cost the lives of two soldiers. Putin decorated them, without consequences for Baku.

Something similar happened with Turkey, a NATO member, in 2015 after the downing of a Russian plane on the border with Syria. Russia announced a package of economic sanctions against Turkey, which included blocking tomato imports.

Poland will not supply more weapons to Ukraine than “those already agreed”. The quotation marks are the precision of the Polish Government spokesman, Piotr Müller, to the explosive statements of the Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in which he announced that his country would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine in order to rearm itself.

“In relation to questions about arms deliveries, I would like to inform you that Poland only carries out previously agreed deliveries of ammunition and weapons. Including those derived from contracts signed with Ukraine,” declared Müller, without specifying until when these contracts extend.. He did speak out about the “absolutely unacceptable diplomatic statements and gestures on the Ukrainian side.”

The spokesperson was referring to the accusations made by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, before the UN General Assembly, accusing some European countries of “false solidarity” and of playing into Russia's hands.. The Ukrainian president expressed himself in this way about the decision of Poland and other countries in the region to maintain the ban on Ukrainian grain, against the opinion of the European Commission.

Ukraine has put the matter in the hands of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which Poland considers a lack of solidarity with a country that has been especially supportive since the war began.. In the verbal escalation that has occurred these days, Morawiecki is willing to defend Polish farmers until the end, especially just one month before the general elections. What's more, Polish President Andrzej Duda compared Zelensky at the UN to someone who is drowning and tries to save himself by dragging others to the bottom.

The question of weapons

Hours before the spokesman's “qualification” about weapons, Morawiecki had declared in an interview: “We no longer supply weapons to Ukraine, but rather we are equipping ourselves with the most modern weapons.”

Morawiecki went on to say that Poland has greatly increased its arms orders.. “If you do not want to defend yourself, you must have something to defend yourself with: this is the rule we profess”. “The armed forces must be modernized so that Poland has one of the strongest land armies in Europe,” he said.

The Prime Minister's statements sparked alarm, although, at another point in the interview, Morawiecki stressed that the Warsaw Government will not endanger the security of Ukraine under any circumstances.. “Our center in Rzeszow, in agreement with the Americans and NATO, will continue to play the same role as before and also in the future,” he assured.. Much of the Western military aid to Ukraine passes through the city of Rzeszow, in southeastern Poland, in its defensive fight against the aggressor Russia.

Rzeszów-Jasionka airport is strategic for Poland and NATO as a whole after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. In recent months, it has hosted some of the world's largest transport aircraft. Among them, the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, up to 75.5 meters long, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, somewhat smaller but also crucial for the US military, and the largest aircraft in the world, the An-225. Mriya, 84 meters long and 18 meters high. The latter was later destroyed at Hostomel airport by the Russians.

The prime minister added that he had visited the Ucznik arms factory in Radom. “Weapons production is also in full swing there. Likewise in Stalowa Wola, at the Bumar Abdy Mechanical Factory, mainly focused on the modernization and rapid arming of the Polish army so that it becomes one of the strongest armies in Europe. And this in a very short time,” he explained.

Polish support for Ukraine has repeatedly been described as invaluable. Both experts and Ukrainian soldiers themselves have praised many of the weapons produced in Poland. The AHS Krabi cannon howitzers have become a success of Polish arms. They use 155 mm caliber projectiles and are capable of firing at distances of up to approximately 37 km.. Thanks to their great precision, they have made it possible to eliminate many Russian positions. The Ukrainian ambassador to Poland stated in a recent interview that “Krab cannon howitzers have changed the situation on the front.”

The list of Polish military equipment delivered to Ukraine also includes Rosomak wheeled armored personnel carriers, PT-91 Twardy tanks, Piorun anti-aircraft missile sets, Warmate cruise ammunition, Grot carbines or FlyEye unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles.

Poland, a country of the EU and NATO, is not only one of the main political and military supporters of Ukraine. It has also hosted a large number of war refugees from the neighboring country since the Russian war of aggression began in February 2022.. The export of Ukrainian grain, however, has put limits on that solidarity.

Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has blocked the classic export route for Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, forcing the opening of new ones through the countries of Eastern Europe.. This has created tensions in local markets, since the grain supposedly destined for third countries stays in transit countries, generating strong alterations in the markets.. The EU imposed trade restrictions on Ukraine to protect local farmers, but the European Commission believes they should be lifted, opposed by Poland and its neighbors.. Ukraine has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

The Ukrainian-Polish clash of these days also has a geopolitical dimension. Germany's growing involvement in sending weapons to Ukraine has offered Kiev a succulent alternative to the regional alliance with Poland on which it was forced to opt when only Warsaw, the Baltic countries and the United Kingdom reacted to Ukrainian emergencies.. Ukraine has in recent months moved closer to the country that the current conservative Polish government sees as Poland's natural adversary, which is perceived as little less than a betrayal in Polish pro-government circles.

Shortly after accusing Poland of favoring Russia, Zelensky asked at UN headquarters for Germany to be included in the organization's Security Council.. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak has described the proposal as “quite strange”. “President Zelensky seems not to remember that Germany did not help Ukraine after the Russian aggression,” said Blaszczak, who described Kiev's policy in this regard as a “great disappointment” for Poland.

Military expert Carlo Masala, a professor at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, believes that the Polish decision regarding the arms shipment “could reinforce Putin's belief that his strategy of buying time is working to erode Ukraine's support in the United States and Europe”.

Regarding the possible reasons for Poland's decision, beyond the problematic relationship resulting from grain exports to the EU, Masala points out internal political reasons: “Poland is in the middle of an electoral campaign.. And the ruling PiS party is under pressure over the scandal of work visas granted through bribes by Polish consulates and embassies in Africa and Asia.. There is talk of between 350,000 and 600,000 illegal entries into Poland and, from this country, to the EU and the Schengen area.

On his second day of visit to France, the British King, Charles III, gave a speech in the Senate in which he said that France and the United Kingdom will continue to stand by the Ukrainian people in an “unwavering” manner.. “Our alliance is more important than ever. Together we will stand by the Ukrainian people with resolute solidarity. “Together we are unwavering in our determination that Ukraine will triumph and our cherished freedoms will prevail,” said the monarch, in a speech half in English and half in French.

His words in the Senate, before some 300 parliamentarians from both assemblies, were the only ones during his three-day visit to the country.. It is also the first time that a monarch speaks in the Chamber of one of the two French chambers.. 19 years ago it was his mother, Queen Isabell II, accompanied by Prince Philip, who spoke before the senators, but she did so in the conference room.

It was precisely in 2004, when the anniversary of the entente cordiale was celebrated, the alliance that put an end to Franco-British hostilities and opened a new peaceful and friendly stage, which continues today and which will be commemorated again in 2024.. In his speech, Carlos III highlighted the need to continue nurturing this historic alliance.

“During my time as King, I commit to doing everything in my power to strengthen the indispensable relationship between the United Kingdom and France, and today, I invite you to join me in this effort.. Together, our potential is limitless. That is why we must appreciate and maintain our entente cordiale,” said the monarch, who was applauded both upon his arrival and at the end of his speech.

This has been preceded by those of the two presidents of the chambers, who have highlighted the legacy of the United Kingdom in the construction of democracy and the creation of Parliament. The monarch, in addition to insisting on the shared history between both countries, has urged the creation of a new entente cordiale for “sustainability, to respond more effectively to the global climate emergency.”

“Jacques Cousteau wisely said: 'For most of history, man has had to fight nature in order to survive.. In this century, he begins to understand that, to survive, he must protect it,” he recalled, quoting the famous French explorer and biologist.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte, received Charles III and Camilla yesterday. It was a day full of symbols and nods to the ally: monarch and president took a car ride along the Champs-Élysées, met at the Presidential Palace and even walked together on foot the stretch to the British embassy.. They dined at the Palace of Versailles, an event attended by more than 150 guests and in which both gave speeches in which they highlighted the friendship and strong ties that unite both countries.. This visit reinforces those ties, which had been strained after the United Kingdom left the EU in 2020.

Today will be the last day in Paris. While Charles III addressed parliamentarians this morning, Carmila and Brigitte Macron participated in the launch of literary awards at the Library of France. Afterwards, a visit is planned to Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, also to the works of the Notre Dame cathedral, in the process of rehabilitation after the fire of 2019.. On Friday, Carlos III and Camilla will go to Bordeaux, where this state trip will end.