Stories related to violent conflicts, diplomatic tensions, and conflict prevention, mediation and resolution.
On January 23, the Council of the European Union (EU) agreed to establish a civilian monitoring mission in Armenia’s border areas in order to “ensure an environment conducive to normalization efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan”. The deployment of the mission has caused mixed reactions in the two countries and frustrated Russia, writes Vasif Huseynov in this op-ed for commonspace.eu.
Russia's last remaining independent television channel station, Dozhd TV, commonly known in English as TV Rain, has been ordered to close by Latvia's media regulator less than five months after moving operations to Riga.
Latvia's media regulator, The National Electronic Media Council (NEPLP), announced the ruling on Tuesday (6 December), ordering TV Rain to cease operations by Friday 8 December. It said the decision to order the station to close was taken "in connection with threats to national security and public order."
Following continued Russian strikes on Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure on Monday (5 December), President Zelensky announced on Tuesday that the country would begin implementing emergency power shutdowns in order to stabilise its power grid.
He added that regions throughout Ukraine would be affected, and that about half of Kyiv region would remain without electricity for the coming days.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, embarked on a four-day visit to Ukraine on Sunday (4 December), arriving there at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.
Türk will be making stops in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Izyum and Uzhhorod to meet with both national and regional government officials and civil society, as well as the families of missing civilians and captured soldiers, among others.
Türk will hold a news conference in Kyiv at the end of his mission, on Wednesday (7 December) at around 13:00 hours local time.
Analysis of satellite images by NASA's special programme NASA Harvest has revealed that over 5.8 million tonnes of wheat have been harvested in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, valued at $1 billion (€949 million). About 88 per cent of winter crops planted in occupied areas were harvested. Especially in frontline areas, wheat remained in the fields.
The Associated Press reported that a senior Ethiopian government official claimed that there is no timeline for restoring internet access to the Tigray Region, despite claims from the government in November that it would restore basic services.
The United States on Tuesday (29 November) announced an additional humanitarian aid package worth $53 million (about €51 million) to repair Ukraine's power grid and to purchase new power grid equipment for Ukraine. This news was announced by the US Department of State in a statement.
“This equipment will be rapidly delivered to Ukraine on an emergency basis to help Ukrainians persevere through the winter. This supply package will include distribution transformers, circuit breakers, surge arresters, disconnectors, vehicles and other key equipment”, the statement reads.