ty b
https://www.rt.com/news/614357-russia-uk-piracy-assets/
Moscow accuses London of ‘piracy’
Calls to seize Russia’s frozen central bank assets follow “English traditions,” the Foreign Ministry has said
Russia has accused the United Kingdom of engaging in modern-day piracy following former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s call to seize the Russian assets that were frozen in the West as part of Ukraine-related sanctions.
In a social media post on Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova likened Sunak’s position to historical acts of piracy.
“This is one of the English traditions, like tea drinking and horse racing. The fact is that piracy was legalized in England. Pirates were forbidden to attack English ships but were allowed to plunder rival vessels,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Zakharova’s criticism follows Sunak’s post on X, where he claimed that “Now is the time to seize [the Russian assets] and make Russia pay.”
The former British prime minister was referring to the roughly $300 billion in assets belonging to Russia’s central bank that had been immobilized by the Western financial system as part of Ukraine-related sanctions since 2022. The assets are mostly EU, US, and British government bonds held in a Brussels-based securities depository.
“If we don’t act, [the assets] could be handed back to Moscow to fund Putin’s next war,” Sunak wrote on Sunday.
The UK has consistently supported the seizure of frozen Russian assets. Last month, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that Europe should move from freezing Russian assets to actively seizing them.
Earlier this month, the British government agreed to issue a $2.84 billion loan to Ukraine backed by the income generated by the assets. In response, Moscow accused London of violating international law and warned that it will have to give the money back.
The EU’s economic sanctions against Russia come up for renewal every six months with the next extension due in July.
The US launched negotiations last month to broker peace in Ukraine, with President Donald Trump indicating that sanctions against Moscow could be lifted if a settlement is achieved. Additionally, Hungary has repeatedly threatened to veto the renewal of EU sanctions against Russia. This means that the assets could potentially be released and returned to Moscow.
The European Parliament last week called on EU member states, in collaboration with G7 partners, to “immediately seize all frozen Russian assets” in order to continue financing Kiev.
Moscow has repeatedly decried the asset freeze as “theft,” while the Kremlin has warned of consequences if Western countries go ahead with the proposed confiscation.
https://www.rt.com/africa/614349-south-africa-responds-envoy-us-expulsion/
South Africa responds to envoy’s expulsion from US
Pretoria says it will continue to build a mutually beneficial relationship with Washington, regardless of the decision
South Africa has called the expulsion of its envoy to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, a “regrettable” move, but says it remains committed to engaging with Washington in order to maintain diplomatic relations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool persona non grata in a post on X on Friday, saying he is no longer welcome in the country. Rubio accused Rasool of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates America and its president, Donald Trump.
In response, South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said he has taken note of the decision by the Trump administration.
“The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter. South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement on Saturday.
The action against the diplomat came shortly after he accused Trump in a speech at a South African think tank webinar of leading a “supremacist assault on incumbency” through the ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign.
Tensions between Pretoria and Washington have escalated since Trump took office in January. The US president recently halted all federal funding to South Africa over a controversial land expropriation law, which the African country insists aims to address historical racial disparities in land ownership. Trump claims the legislation violates the rights of white South Africans, who continue to own the majority of farmland despite constituting only about 7% of the population.
The South African government has sought to hold talks with the Trump administration in order to clarify what it calls “misinformation” about the land policy. Last week, Semafor news agency reported that Ambassador Rasool has been unable to secure meetings with American officials.
On Monday, Ramaphosa dismissed claims that his government is being ignored by the White House.
“We cannot be blue-ticked because we are such an important player to the United States of America, as they are an important player to South Africa from a political point of view, from a trade point of view… We cannot be ignored,” he said in response to a question about the situation with Washington.
“A great deal of progress has been made by our ambassador in straightening out the path to ensure that there is meaningful engagement at the diplomatic level,” Ramaphosa said, acknowledging that the diplomat’s expulsion has caused a “hiccup.”
that is the truth of the matter, ain't it!