Five Stories from Europe You May Have Missed
5. Armenia Kicks Off Joint Military Exercises With U.S. Despite Russian Opposition
Armenia and the United States have begun joint military exercises that have angered Moscow and come as tensions rise between Yerevan and neighboring Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement the Eagle Partner 2023 exercises began on September 11 with the purpose of preparing Armenian forces to take part in international peacekeeping missions.
Colonel Martin O'Donnell, spokesman for the U.S. command, said the exercises are "a vital opportunity for our soldiers from our two nations to build new relationships at the tactical level and to increase interoperability for peacekeeping operations."
The drills are being held at the Zar and Armavir Training Areas near Yerevan and will end on September 20. The U.S military said 85 U.S. soldiers and 175 Armenians would take part. The Americans -- including members of the Kansas National Guard, which has a 20-year-old training partnership with Armenia -- will not be using heavy weaponry, it added.
https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-military-exercises-us-russian-opposition/32587572.html
4. Belarus's Tsikhanouskaya To Meet With U.S., Other Officials In New York During UN General Assembly
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya has said she will be in New York this week for high-level meetings with officials from the United States and other countries as delegations converge for the UN General Assembly. Her chief adviser, Franak Viachorka, was later quoted as saying Tsikhanouskaya would be in the United States September 17-23. She will reportedly also meet with members of the Belarusian diaspora. Tsikhanouskaya, who was driven abroad by the brutal crackdown after Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed a sixth presidential term after a flawed election in 2020, warned last month that Belarusian independence is under its "greatest threat" ever because of Lukashenka.
https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-tsikhanouskaya-us-new-york-united-nations/32595563.html
3. Murdoch executives ‘told Sunak not to resign after Partygate fine’
Rishi Sunak was persuaded not to quit as chancellor over his fine for breaking lockdown laws after an intervention by executives working for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, it has been claimed.
The claim is detailed in a book by the Telegraph’s political editor, Ben Riley-Smith, and published by the newspaper’s website on Friday.
It is the latest report to suggest that Sunak was on the verge of resigning after he and Boris Johnson were fined in April 2022 for attending the then prime minister’s birthday celebration in Downing Street in June 2020.
According to the paper, Sunak shared a draft resignation statement with allies, including some who worked for Murdoch such as former Tory leader and Times columnist Lord Hague.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/15/murdoch-executives-told-sunak-not-to-resign-after-partygate-fine
2. The high-speed railway that’s uncoupling the Baltic states from Russia and their Soviet past
Rail Baltica is connecting the Baltics to Europe’s rail network, another sign of how the Baltics have swung away from Russia to the West.
The largest infrastructure project in the Baltic region for a hundred years is under way. The 870 km Rail Baltica project, which is due for completion in 2030, will connect the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia with Warsaw and the rest of Europe, allowing trains from the continent to run uninterrupted.
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For the EU, it’s a statement about the Baltic states’ return to Europe and their decoupling from their Soviet past.
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The railway will begin in Tallinn before passing through Pärnu, Rīga, Panevėžys, and Kaunas before reaching the Lithuanian-Polish border; there will also be a connection to Vilnius from Kaunas.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/09/16/the-high-speed-railway-thats-uncoupling-the-baltic-states-from-russia-and-their-soviet-pas
1. EU lifts bans on Ukrainian grain but Poland and Hungary move to impose unilateral restrictions
The European Commission has lifted the temporary bans on Ukrainian grain after Kyiv agreed to tighten control over its agricultural exports.
But the measure failed to satisfy Poland and Hungary, which swiftly announced they would impose their own nationwide prohibitions on a unilateral basis, the very chaotic scenario that Brussels wanted to avoid at all costs.
"We will extend this ban despite their disagreement, despite the European Commission's disagreement," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a rally on Friday. "We will do it because it is in the interest of the Polish farmer."
Shortly after, Waldemar Buda, Poland's minister of economic development, said he had signed a new "national regulation" to keep the trade embargo in place.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/09/15/brussels-lifts-bans-on-ukrainian-grain-as-kyiv-agrees-to-impose-effective-measures-to-avoi
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