Finland and Sweden request NATO formal membership
Finland and Sweden both applied on Wednesday to join NATO. This was reported by international news agencies on Wednesday. With this, the countries are taking the first formal step of the accession procedure at the military alliance headquarters in Brussels.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg spoke of a “historic moment” during a short ceremony. After Finnish and Swedish ambassadors handed him the applications for admission, he welcomed the Northern European countries. “You strengthen our shared security,” he said.
The accession procedure is expected to take only a few weeks. Both Finland and Sweden meet the conditions for NATO membership. However, it can take up to a year before the countries can officially call themselves members. Turkey has objections, though Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that he believes in a quick solution.
Also read: Putin: Russia has ‘no problem’ with Sweden and Finland as NATO members
Human Rights Watch: Russian troops committed war crimes around Kiev
Russian troops committed war crimes in the northern Ukrainian regions around Kiev and Chernihiv in February and March. They tortured civilians and summarily executed some of them, writes the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a study published on Wednesday† The military also committed “other serious abuses that are clearly war crimes.”
HRW has investigated reports of 22 summary executions, nine other unlawful killings, six possible enforced disappearances and seven cases of torture in 17 villages. The human rights organization records a number of testimonies from victims. For example, some Ukrainian citizens say that they were held captive for days or weeks by Russian troops in, for example, air raid shelters or old factories. They had little or no food, insufficient water and no access to toilets.
According to these witnesses, soldiers in the town of Jahidne held more than 350 villagers, including at least 65 children and five babies, in the basement of a school building for 28 days. There would have been little air and space to lie down. People had to use buckets to go to the toilet. “After a week, everyone was coughing violently,” said one held in the basement. “Almost all the children had a high fever, cramps from coughing and vomiting.” Ten elderly people are said to have died in the air-raid shelter.
Between April 10 and May 10, HRW interviewed 65 people; former prisoners, torture survivors, victims’ families and other witnesses. The organization examined physical evidence at the alleged abuse locations and looked at photos and videos shared by victims and witnesses. HRW: “The numerous atrocities committed by Russian forces occupying parts of northeastern Ukraine early in the war are abhorrent, illegal and cruel.”
Welcome to this blog
In this blog does NRC Wednesday 18 May report on the most important developments regarding the war in Ukraine.
Read the blog of Tuesday 17 May here
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