UN warns of threat to Carpathians over climate change, illegal deforestation

 November 30, 2020 (UNIAN) The United Nations says the Carpathian region is in real danger over climate change and illegal deforestation. "The heightened cooperation will be essential as we seek to address growing threats to the Carpathians. Make no mistake: the Carpathian region is in real and immediate danger," Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Inger Andersen said on November 25, 2020. A 2017 report from UNEP, WWF and Eurac Research was unequivocal about the threats, particularly from illegal deforestation, she said. "The old-growth forests of the Carpathians and their unique biodiversity are disappearing at alarming rates as timber is being illegally cut and transported across and beyond the borders of mountain range States. This has many consequences," Andersen said.She reiterated Ukraine had seen several devastating floods over the last years.

"Villages and roads submerged. Bridges brought down. People killed. These are, in part, linked to climate change. But illegal logging – taking place under the cover of the difficulties Ukraine has suffered – has removed large chunks of forests that soak up excess water and provide a buffer against flooding." Meanwhile, over the past 20 years, illegal logging has cost Romania over five billion euros. "The report I mentioned, found that, in 2016 alone, around 187,000 cubic meters of timber were illegally cut in Romania… We need to step up to the first stop, then reverse, the damage being done to these essential ecosystems," the official noted.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Sweden Andrii Plakhotniuk submitted his Letters of Credence

 (sweden.mfa.gov.ua) On November 23, 2020, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Sweden Andrii Plakhotniuk submitted his Letters of Credence to His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden by a special arrangement, established during the COVID-19 pandemic, via the Protocol Department of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The formal audience of the Ambassador of Ukraine with His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is supposed to take place when the restrictive measures to counter the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.

Video: Russian armored repair and recovery vehicles removed damaged An-124 following crash

 After having been left sitting in the snow at the end of Novosibirsk-Tolmachevo Airport (OBV) runway 07/25 for just over two weeks following a crash landing, the Volga-Dnepr An-124 was finally removed with the aid of a couple of tanks. Because only the nose landing gear was damaged when the aircraft overran the runway, workers could drag the monster plane back onto the runway with the aid of two BREM-1 armored repair and recovery vehicles.

                                 The An-124 had no brakes and reverse thrust. Photo Getty Images

The BREM-1 is a tracked Russian tank and armored personnel carrier built on a T-72 battle tank’s chassis. With no other way of getting what was once the world’s heaviest aircraft moved, the Russian army was called in to see if they could budge the giant four-engine plane. Placing the two BREM-1s in tandem, the recovery vehicles moved the plane as the aircraft's main landing gear was still functioning. By attaching a cable to the aircraft’s cargo hold, the BREM’s were able to pull the plane backward despite the damage you see in the photograph.

An amateur picture of the secret soviet airbase

 The Poltava airbase, where many TU-22M3 strategic bombers were stationed in 1987-1988, was well known to the Americans thanks to spy satellites. However, in the USSR this base was secret and a limited number of people had access to it. Over time, the city authorities of Poltava decided to build residential houses in the area, which is directly adjacent to the territory of the military airbase. An amateur photo you can see below was taken by a resident of one of these houses. 

The fact is that the designers did not take into account the fact that from the upper floors of the standard Soviet nine-story building, the base was visible as in the palm of your hand. For many decades, the author of the photo did not dare to show it to anyone. Only recently, this already historical photo was posted on the Internet. As about the fate of Poltava-located TU-22M3 (NATO reporting name: Backfire), 43 Tu-22M3, and 423 Kh-22 cruise missiles were scrapped during 2002-2006 under the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement led by the US. Only one aircraft can be seen now in the Poltava Museum of Long-Range and Strategic Aviation.

Tu-22M3 in the Poltava Museum of Long-Range and Strategic Aviation

Nuremberg trials: 75 years on from the world's first war crimes tribunal

 November 20, 2020 (Euronews) When the Nuremberg trial opened on November 20, 1945, it was just six months since Nazi Germany had surrendered and much of the city remained a bombed-out ruin. Jointly headed by an American, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, and a Briton, Sir Hartley Shawcross, the trial saw 22 high ranking Nazi officers face trial for war crimes, including two of Hitler’s foremost generals and his second in command, Hermann Göring. “That four great nations, flushed with history and stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason,” Jackson said in his opening statement. The 22 defendants at Nuremberg represented the highest echelons of Nazi power, including three of the top generals that led the war, Alfred Jodl, Karl Dönitz, and Wilhelm Keitel. The highest-ranking member of the SS was Ernst Kaltenbrunner, while foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Albert Speer, known as Hitler’s architect were among facing trial. The sentences ranged from 10 years in prison (Dönitz) to death (Keitel, Jodl, von Ribbentrop, and Göring, although he committed suicide before he was due to be hanged). Hess was jailed for life, and died in 1987, while Speer served 20 years, was released and died in 1981. There were notable exceptions to justice at Nuremberg. Hitler, of course, had committed suicide in April 1945 as the Soviets closed in on his bunker in Berlin, as did Joseph Goebbels, who committed suicide along with his wife after poisoning his six children.

In this Nov. 21, 1945 file photo, Reichsmarshal Hermann Göring stands in the prisoner's dock at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial in Germany.

The full article is available at:

https://www.euronews.com/2020/11/20/75-years-ago-the-world-s-first-war-crimes-trial-began-in-nuremberg

Russia may soon deploy nuclear weapons in occupied Crimea – NSDC secretary

 November 16, 2020 (UNIAN) Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov has said Russia may soon deploy nuclear weapons in the occupied Crimea. "We have no final confirmation about nuclear weapons having been deployed there. But we are clearly aware this may happen shortly. This will depend on many factors, and if the Russians see they are losing, they will definitely revise the issue," he told in the interview with the Krym-Realii media project. Russian Federation has considerable capacities for storing and deploying nuclear weapons on the territory of occupied Crimea. Since Soviet times, there have been several facilities that were used to store nuclear weapons. One of the facilities is the so-called Feodosia-13 facility, now it is the village of Krasnokamyanka, where the large-scale construction of a storage base had been carried out for six years since the beginning of the 1950s. This is the former 12th Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, which was in charge of nuclear weapons. The facility was in use until 1996, and the last weapon was removed from there in the middle of the 1990s.

The so-called Feodosia-13 facility could be used to store nuclear arms / Photo from defence.ru

Ukrainian Ambassador speaks on how U.S. election outcome could influence Ukraine

 November 8, 2020 (UNIAN) Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Volodymyr Yelchenko has commented on the influence he believes the U.S. presidential election outcome could have on Ukraine.

"Any of my comments 'against' or 'for' would sound like interference in the U.S. elections. But, in principle, the real military, lethal, strategic aid came precisely under Trump. We also received two Island-class boats, three more are being prepared, we saw a whole bunch of decisions to increase the amount [of assistance] and specific hardware. It was under Trump that sanctions were introduced against those constructing the Nord Stream 2," the diplomat has told TSN. Also, Yelchenko adds, there are forecasts that the Democrats will increase the overall number of their representatives in both House chambers.

"And therefore, the position of the Democratic Party in relation to Russia, as is seen here, is sharper and tougher. Besides, in Biden's circle, in the circle of incumbent lawmakers and those who could be elected, there are much more people who at the expert level understand the essence of problems around Ukraine, and therefore I'm absolutely sure that sanctions against Russia will be strengthening and military assistance will be increasing," the ambassador assured. In general, Yelchenko believes that Ukraine is "lucky" as it enjoys bipartisan support in the United States.