President Trump cast doubt on whether Moscow is backing separatists engaged in the recent escalation of fighting in eastern Ukraine, appearing to side with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has long denied involvement in the conflict despite evidence to the contrary, the New York Times reports.
The arrest and extradition of Alexander Lapshin cannot have any significance for the work of reporters and human rights advocates in Nagorno Karabakh. This work has been considered and will always be considered as legitimate: this is the principle. A. Lapshin’s extradition fact is obviously linked with the infringement on freedom of speech.
During the phone talk the two Presidents talked about Turkey-US relations and reaffirmed their readiness to fight against terrorism. Trump said the US supports Turkey as a NATO ally and strategic partner.
Kara-Murza “knew that there was no moral equivalence between the United States and Putin’s Russia. I repeat, there is no moral equivalence between that butcher and thug and KGB colonel and the United States of America, the country that Ronald Reagan used to call a shining city on a hill,” McCain said. “To allege some kind of moral equivalence between the two is either terribly misinformed or incredibly biased. Neither, neither can be accurate in anyway.”
“This is a traditional procedure, when negotiations are finalized, negotiators do their work, the parties through official visits reconfirm their devotedness to the process, i.e. negotiations are strengthening by top officials. This means, negotiations basically have been finalized, or main decisions have been made, a vivid proof of which was visit of Danielsson to Armenia together with the European negotiator.”
Alexander Lapshin’s prosecution, his extradition to Azerbaijan is a severe violation of freedom of speech, freedom of movement, fundamental human rights, which once again shows the deep gap between a dictatorship and a democracy.
“Threat of current sleep is that status-quo seal has been eliminated from the conflict, and the situation may pop at any moment. Armenia and Azerbaijan aren’t the same as prior to April. Azerbaijan is always ready to wage a war, and Armenia isn’t ready to concede a millimeter land, no matter in which status they may formally be.”
Alexander Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger, was extradited to Azerbaijan from Belarus on February 7 on a special fiight, Interfax correspondent reported from Baku airport.
“This policy of Washington shouldn’t become a hindrance to Armenia’s authorities in Armenia-Iran relations, as those relations are a serious component of national security diversification. New, very complicated factor has appeared in the South Caucasus—contrasts of Israel and Iran, which are vividly expressed in the South Caucasus. If we observe Middle East developments under all these processes, maybe not so obviously, but there is a crucial threat—those very Iran-Israel contrasts.”
The Supreme Court of Belarus has denied the appeal of Alexander Lapshin regarding the Belarus Prosecutor General’s decision on extraditing him to Azerbaijan, Sputnik reports. The Supreme Court’s session on the appeal lasted less than half an hour. Lapshin’s attorney, Natalya Shekina, said her client was not present in the Court.
