Category: World

Yun Seok-yol appointed Choi Bong-hyuk as the new defense minister after Kim Yong-hyun resigned. The change of leadership followed a failed attempt to impose martial law and a political crisis in the country.

South Korean President Yun-seok Yol has appointed a new defense minister. This happened after a failed attempt to impose martial law in the country. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.

Details

South Korea's president accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and appointed Choi Ben-haek, who was South Korea's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, to the post instead.

Kim, who resigned on Wednesday, was reportedly seen as the central figure in Yun's declaration of martial law on Tuesday. He was the one who made the recommendation to the president, as evidenced by impeachment documents from the opposition, as well as a senior military official.

As a result, the nomination of a new candidate was Yun's first official move after he announced on Wednesday morning that martial law had already been lifted. All of this took place against a backdrop of political turmoil and diplomatic repercussions.

Recall

On Tuesday evening, Yun declared “emergency” martial law, accusing the country's opposition of “paralyzing” the government with “anti-state” actions. After that, clashes broke out in Seoul between citizens and the military, who blocked the parliament building. Later it became known that the South Korean Cabinet of Ministers voted to lift martial law imposed by President Yun Seok-yol.

South Korean President Yun Seok-yol announced the suspension of the martial law (ML) declared on December 3.

South Korea's opposition parties also initiated the impeachment of President Yun Seok-yol due to the introduction of martial law. The impeachment vote is scheduled for December 6-7, with two-thirds of the National Assembly's votes required for approval.

Georgian law enforcement officers have detained several participants in anti-government protests in Tbilisi following the government’s decision to suspend Georgia’s European integration until late 2028.

Source: Ekho Kavkaza (Echo of the Caucasus), a Radio Liberty project, as reported by European Pravda

Details: This is the seventh day of anti-government protests in Tbilisi and they have so far passed off without incident.

However, special forces were deployed in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square, and police raided the Rustaveli and Freedom Square metro stations, detaining people heading to the protest.

The Georgian Internal Affairs Ministry also said that seven people were detained during searches of offices belonging to Georgian opposition parties and youth movements.

Nika Gvaramia, head of the Coalition for Change, was among those detained. He was taken to a temporary detention centre 30 kilometres from Tbilisi.

Background:

• Protests in Georgia have been continuing for nearly a week following the prime minister's statement pausing discussions on EU accession negotiations until 2029.
• The Baltic states have already announced sanctions against Georgian officials involved in dispersing protests, including oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, de facto leader of the ruling party.

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A regional court in Vienna has refused to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash to the United States. The prosecutor's office plans to appeal the decision by December 16 in the case of bribes for titanium mining in India.

An Austrian court has refused to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash to the United States, where he is accused of corruption schemes related to bribes for titanium mining in India. This was reported by Vienna Online, according to UNN.

Details

According to the newspaper, the Vienna Regional Court made its decision on November 7, but announced it only on the evening of December 4. The decision was the result of a long-running extradition trial against Firtash to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring to pay bribes in India to obtain rights to mine titanium used in jet engines.

The publication notes that the prosecutor's office plans to file an appeal by December 16.

Addendum

Firtash is accused in the United States of conspiring to pay bribes in India for the rights to mine titanium used in jet engines. Firtash denies all charges and insists on his innocence.

Dmitry Firtash was detained in Austria in March 2014 at the request of US investigators, but was released on bail of €125 million, after which he appealed his extradition to the US. The oligarch faces up to 50 years in prison and confiscation of all his assets.

Recall

The UK government has imposed sanctions on Dmitry Firtash, his wife and financier Denys Horbunenko. The sanctions include a travel ban and asset freeze.

In June of this year, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy extended sanctions against 390 oligarchs with ties to Russia. In particular, the sanctions list includes Dmitry Firtash and Oleg Deripaska.

Ukraine’s 48th Separate Assault Battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan has pushed Russian forces out of the village of Novyi Komar in Donetsk Oblast.

Source: DeepState monitoring project, citing soldiers from the 48th Separate Assault Battalion

Details: According to DeepState and Ukrainska Pravda sources, several Russian fighters from the 40th Separate Marines Brigade were captured by Ukrainian forces.

DeepState: Бійці 48 ОШБ витіснили ворога з Нового Комара.
Відео – DeepState pic.twitter.com/KBYAqMiMN3

— Українська правда ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) December 4, 2024

Quote: "The village was mopped up thanks to successful actions by the 48th Separate Assault Battalion’s assault troops. It should also be said that a sufficient number of FPV units were involved in the liberation of the village."

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The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the TGR Group network and its executives for helping Russians circumvent sanctions. The company was engaged in money laundering and illegal cryptocurrency transactions for the Russian elite.

The US Treasury Department has announced the imposition of sanctions on the international network TGR Group, which helped Russian elites circumvent US and international sanctions. This is stated on the website of the department, UNN reports.

Details

The U.S. Treasury Department notes that TGR Group is a Russian company controlled by Ukrainian citizen George Rossi and has offices in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.

The company provides its clients with a range of services, including money laundering related to sanctioned entities, illegal cash and cryptocurrency exchange, and concealment of funding sources, which allows wealthy Russian citizens to purchase real estate in the UK.

Through the TGR Group, the Russian elite attempted to use digital assets – in particular, stable coins backed by US dollars – to circumvent US and international sanctions and further enrich themselves and the Kremlin,

– said Bradley Smith, Acting Under Secretary of State for Counterterrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The sanctions list includes: George Rossi, a Russian-born Ukrainian citizen who controls the TGR Group of companies, as well as Russian citizen Elena Chirkinian and Latvian citizen Andrejs Bradens. The US Treasury believes that Chirkinian is directly subordinate to Russia and makes decisions in the TGR Group. In 2023, she was involved in the transfer of funds to the UK to support the Russian propaganda channel RT. Bradens is affiliated with several TGR Group companies – TGR Corporate Concierge and Pullman Global Solutions.

In addition, TGR Group used other companies to conduct illegal activities, including Smart Group, headed by Kateryna Zhdanova. She was sanctioned by the US in 2023 for her involvement in money laundering schemes worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Recall

The U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on 5 Russian officials over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. russia has illegally taken thousands of children, changing their identities and subjecting them to pro-Russian propaganda.

The Romanian Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) has said a Colombian citizen who was working to stage explosions at facilities in Romania on Russia’s orders has been arrested.

Source: Adevarul, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Colombian man, 34, was arrested by DIICOT officers. His case was referred to court on 13 November.

According to investigators, the man planned to carry out arson and explosions at facilities "of particular importance that could threaten national security" in Romania in July 2024.

The man managed to film the facilities in question, but an intervention by the Romanian police has prevented him from carrying out the sabotage operation, DIICOT said.

The Colombian citizen is known to have served in the military in his home country and was trained in intelligence gathering. He faces 10 to 20 years in prison in Romania.

The trial occurs against the backdrop of the ramping up of Russian subversive activity in Europe.

Background:

• Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský has said that Russia could be involved in 100 suspicious incidents in Europe that occurred over the course of 2024.
• In May, it was reported that a Romanian citizen was caught spying for Russia.

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Malta revoked Maria Zakharova's visa to participate in the OSCE ministerial meeting on December 5-6. The Russian Foreign Ministry called it an unprecedented case and promised to pay “special attention” to it.

Maria Zakharova, press attaché of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has had her visa revoked for participation in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting in Malta on December 5-6. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry, UNN reports.

An unprecedented case was the revocation on the eve of the event of a visa already issued by the Maltese Chairmanship to Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova with the wording "due to circumstances beyond their control,

– the message says.

Details

The ministry promised that the decision to cancel Zakharova's visa would be given "special attention" during the meeting. In addition, the ministry accused "a number of Western countries" of using the OSCE platform "in their own interests.

Recall

Last year, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov arrived in North Macedonia for an OSCE meeting via Greece after Bulgaria closed its airspace to his plane because Russian press secretary Maria Zakharova was on board.

The US Department of State has imposed visa restrictions on five individuals linked to the forced deportation, transfer and confinement of Ukrainian children.

Source: US Department of State, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Department of State did not disclose the names of the sanctioned individuals but specified that they are Russian officials and officials of "authorities installed by Russia" (presumably in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine).

"Many of these children have had their identities changed and origins obscured, have been subjected to pro-Russia indoctrination and militarisation, or have been adopted by Russian families," the US Department of State noted.

It continued: "Kremlin authorities have created a multitude of obstacles preventing the return of these children to Ukraine. Russia’s continued contempt for its international legal obligations to report the locations of these children makes securing their safe return nearly impossible."

The announcement also mentioned that the US was "deeply concerned by the increasing number of reports of Ukrainian children being wrongfully adopted by Russian citizens" and pledged to do everything possible to bring these children back to Ukraine and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Background:

• In October, Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner, said that Russia has abducted more than 20,000 Ukrainian children since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• It was for this crime that the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in 2023.
• In September, the Polish Sejm passed a resolution condemning Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children.

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The French Parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier with 331 votes. This is the first such case since 1962, and Barnier's government has become the shortest in the history of the Fifth Republic.

On the evening of Wednesday, December 4, the French parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. This was reported by Le Figaro, according to UNN.

Details

A total of 331 members of the National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) voted in favor of the no-confidence motion. A total of 289 votes were required for this decision.

The publication notes that this is the first such case since 1962, when Georges Pompidou received a vote of no confidence. In addition, Michel Barnier's government became the shortest-lived since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958, lasting less than three months.

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The no-confidence vote was put forward by the New People's Front (NPF) and supported by the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen's party.

Thus, the French National Assembly has two votes of no confidence on its agenda: one presented by the deputies of the left-wing coalition of the New Popular Front (La France Insoumise, Socialists, Greens and Communists), and the other by the extreme majority.

The opposition had 24 hours to pass a vote of no confidence.

Recall

The essence of the problem that defeated Michel Barnier's government is the bill on social security financing.

Barnier's difficulty in pushing through the 2025 budget in a deeply divided parliament has plunged France into its second political crisis in the last six months.

Since its formation in September, Barnier's minority government has relied on the support of the National Front for its survival.

The budget bill, which sought to rein in France's growing public deficit by raising taxes by 60 billion euros ($63 billion) and cutting spending, could spell the end of this precarious balance.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced the preparation of sanctions in response to the actions of the current Georgian authorities.

Source: European Pravda, citing Zelenskyy’s address

Details: Zelenskyy stated that the "current government in Georgia is pushing the country into clear dependence on Russia", stressing that this issue extends beyond Georgia itself.

Quote: "It is truly shameful – what actions they are taking against their own people. And when Moscow praises these authorities in Georgia, it clearly shows for whom they are now working in Tbilisi and for whom they are dispersing the protests. Definitely not for Georgia."

The president announced that Kyiv is preparing a "legal response" along with its partners regarding specific actions: "I have given instructions to prepare appropriate sanctions decisions," Zelenskyy clarified.

Background:

• Protests in Georgia have been continuing for nearly a week following the prime minister's statement pausing discussions on EU accession negotiations until 2029.
• The Baltic states have already announced sanctions against Georgian officials involved in dispersing protests, including oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, de facto leader of the ruling party.

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