13 Sep, 2023 18:21

EU states tell Zelensky they won’t hand over draft dodgers

Four countries so far have refused to round up male refugees from Ukraine

The Czech Republic announced on Wednesday that it would not send military-age men who came as refugees back to Ukraine to be conscripted.Germany, Austria and Hungary have already made similar declarations.

European conventions exclude extradition for things such as desertion or draft evasion, Justice Ministry spokesman Vladimir Repka told the outlet iDnes. However, he added that if Ukraine files individual extradition requests citing a specific criminal act they may have committed, Prague may give them consideration.

Hungary has ruled out any extraditions outright.

“We are not investigating any Ukrainian refugees to determine if they have been called up for military service.Hungary will not extradite them to Ukraine,” Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén told the outlet ATV on Wednesday. “All refugees from Ukraine are safe in Hungary.”

German officials who spoke to Deutsche Welle earlier this week said that Berlin did not intend to send draft-eligible refugees back, since desertion and draft evasion are not crimes under German law. There are over 123,000 Ukrainian men of military age who are in Germany as refugees, according to official estimates.

Vienna was the first to refuse extradition of military-age men. There are about 14,000 potential draftees among the 101,000 Ukrainian refugees in Austria.

“That would be a massive encroachment on our statehood, we would never do that,” a spokesman for the Interior Ministry told the outlet Exxpress on September 7.

On the other hand,Poland has already begun sending some Ukrainian men back, according to Hungarian media reports.

A senior lawmaker from President Vladimir Zelensky’s ruling party said in late August that Ukraine might seek extradition of draft-dodgers from the EU. The government in Kiev recently announced another round of mobilization in order to make up battlefield losses, which Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated at over 70,000 in the past three months of heavy fighting.

Zelensky fired all draft commissioners last month and ordered a review of all medical exemptions from military service, citing widespread corruption. New rules were adopted allowing for the conscription of people with mental disorders, chronic diseases, tuberculosis and HIV.

https://www.rt.com/news/582919-eu-ukraine-extradition-draft/

13 Sep, 2023 15:41

US sanctions prevented Ukrainian use of Starlink –Musk

The SpaceX CEO said his company was not allowed to provide coverage in the area due to US sanctions against Russia

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has claimed that his company refused to enable Starlink coverage over Crimea so as not to run afoul of US-imposed regulations. The billionaire came under fire last week after CNN reported that Musk’s refusal to turn on Starlink signal over the Russian peninsula had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack against the Russian Black Sea Fleet last year.

Appearing via video link at the All-In Summit 2023 tech conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Musk was asked why he had made that decision. The SpaceX CEO started off by stressing that his company has “provided Starlink connectivity to Ukraine” since the start of the military conflict with Russia in February 2022. He added that top Ukrainian officials have acknowledged on multiple occasions that the service has played a crucial role in fending off Moscow’s offensive.

Moving on to the question about Crimea, Musk explained that “at the time this happened, the region around Crimea was actually turned off.”

“Now, the reason it was turned off was actually because… the United States has sanctions against Russia… and that includes Crimea,”he continued.

According to the billionaire, “we are not actually allowed to turn on connectivity to… the country without explicit [US] government approval.”

Musk pointed out that even though he is not a supporter of President Joe Biden,“if I [had] received a presidential directive to turn it on, I would have done so,” adding that “no such request came through.”

The entrepreneur claimed that the planned Ukrainian attack on the Russian fleet in Sevastopol would have been similar in impact to the Japanese attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor during World War Two, potentially leading to a major escalation.

“So, [the Ukrainians] really asked us to really proactively take part in a major act of war,”Musk concluded.

On Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on Congress to investigate Musk over the episode, while a Ukrainian presidential aide accused the SpaceX CEO of “committing evil.”

https://www.rt.com/news/582910-musk-starlink-crimea-ukraine-us-sanctions/