Europe

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3410771

Archived version

Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers has begun avoiding the English Channel, steering clear of high-risk zones and traditional shipping routes, according to maritime analysts at Starboard Maritime Intelligence, who spoke to the All Exclusive project.

For over a month now, Russia-linked tankers have been diverting around the Channel via the west of Ireland, Starboard analyst Mark Douglas told All Exclusive. The only known exceptions were the tankers Selva and Sierra, which passed through the waterway in late June — accompanied at the time by the Russian Navy’s Boikiy corvette, a Steregushchiy-class warship. Both tankers are under UK sanctions, while Sierra is also sanctioned by the European Union.

At least three tankers — Marathon, Ma Jin, and Tiburon — have since altered their routes.

• The Marathon, loaded with crude oil, left the Baltic Sea and sailed around the UK, bypassing the Channel and the WETREP reporting area, where ships are obligated to broadcast their location. As previously reported by The Insider, the Marathon is unregistered. In June, it passed through Estonian waters at night, seemingly in an effort to avoid detention. The Danish Maritime Authority said it attempted to make contact with the vessel, but was misled by the crew, who claimed it was sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands
• The Tiburon followed a similar path but later altered its destination to the Kola Peninsula. At one point, it turned off its Automatic Identification System (AIS), complicating tracking efforts. According to Douglas, the ship had no flag at the time but has since been registered under that of Sierra Leone.
• Meanwhile, the Ma Jin has been drifting near the western entrance to the Channel for more than a week. Analysts suspect the vessel may be waiting either for Russian naval escort or reflagging. The Ma Jin is currently signaling a Panamanian flag, but it remains unclear whether this registration is legitimate.

The Sierra, which previously crossed the Channel under Russian naval escort, recently loaded cargo in the Russian port of Primorsk and is again moving through the Baltic. As of now, it appears to be traveling without military support.

A growing number of tankers in Russia’s shadow fleet now sail without valid registration — a violation that legally opens them to detention and seizure. This risk is especially high in the narrow waters of the Baltic Sea, where territorial and economic zones are strictly defined among Sweden, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, and Estonia. So far, only Estonia and Germany have attempted to detain such vessels.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3406764

The European Commission has opened a call for evidence and public consultation on a new EU Civil Society Strategy. The strategy will propose a framework for action at EU and Member State level.

The key objectives of this call for evidence and public consultation will be to recognise the crucial role of civil society in our democracies and propose actions to foster a thriving civic space. These actions will aim to strengthen meaningful engagement with and protection and support of civil society organisations working on a broad range of EU policies.

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The EU Civil Society Strategy will provide a comprehensive framework for action at EU and Member State level; It will focus on strengthening meaningful engagement and providing support to all civil society actors, whilst including specific actions to address the shrinking civic space for civil society organisations and human rights defenders active in promoting and protecting EU values.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3405265

Archived version

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Speaking to the National Security Strategy (Joint Committee) yesterday, Ministry of Defence parliamentary under-secretary Luke Pollard admitted that the Submarine Telegraph Act 1885 – which can impose £1,000 fines – "does seem somewhat out of step with the modern-day risk."

However, he pointed out that forming legislation to mitigate the risk to undersea infrastructure is a balance between a civil and military approach, but this raises the question of how the government might prosecute a perpetrator of undersea cable sabotage.

"We've identified that this is an area that could be looked at again. That's why the Strategic Defence Review talked about creating a defence readiness bill, probably in a later stage, a later session of parliament," he said.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/43142602

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3405027

Archived version

• Dutch military intelligence says Russia uses banned chemical weapons in Ukraine
• Evidence points to 'large-scale program' of producing and using choking agent, officials say
• Dutch defence minister urges tougher sanctions

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The Dutch intelligence findings on alleged Russian use of chloropicrin, a banned warfare agent first used by Germany during World War One, have not previously been reported.

The head of the Dutch Military Intelligence Agency (MIVD), Peter Reesink, said the conclusions followed "our own independent intelligence, so we have observed it ourselves based on our own investigations."

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The United States first accused Russia of using chloropicrin, a chemical compound more toxic than riot control agents, in May last year.

Ukraine alleges thousands of instances of Russian chemical weapons use.

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Archive: https://archive.is/2025.07.04-044827/https://www.ft.com/content/c3223f76-3cba-40c3-b54c-8cd0cb611359

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.07.03-175155/https://www.ft.com/content/efc46178-0d2b-4236-a14c-36fc4b6ba4ea

Jeremy Corbyn has hinted he could launch a political party alongside other leftwing independent MPs in an attempt to offer “an alternative” to Labour, before the next general election.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston programme, the former Labour leader confirmed discussions were under way among the Independent Alliance group of MPs that he co-founded last year.

Asked directly whether they were preparing to form a new party, Corbyn did not rule it out. “That grouping [of independents] will come together, there will be an alternative,” he said.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3395472

Archived version

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"The vast majority of cluster munitions that are being used in the world today are being used by Russia in Ukraine," said Mary Wareham, deputy director of the Crisis, Conflict, and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch.

Their use "is an element of Moscow’s broader policy of terror against the Ukrainian people," Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on June 26.

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Ukrainian authorities have documented at least 5,974 cases of Russia’s cluster munitions use in Ukraine since 2022, the Foreign Ministry said.

When such attacks are launched on big cities, like Russia’s strike on Kyiv on June 17 that killed 30 and injured 172 people, they stand out for the number of civilian casualties inflicted. According to Wareham, videos from the attack site suggest the use of cluster munitions delivered by a cruise missile.

Ukrainian authorities said that Russia also used cluster munitions in a strike on a playground in Kryvyi Rih on April 4, killing 20 people, including nine children, in the deadliest single attack on Ukrainian children verified by the UN since the start of the full-scale invasion.

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In another attack, two ballistic missiles struck the center of Sumy minutes apart on Sunday afternoon of April 13, during a religious holiday. Thirty-five people were killed and 117 injured, "mainly civilians who were walking on the street or traveling on a bus, and people attempting to help the victims of the first strike," the UN report said.

Other deadly strikes on civilians with cluster munitions were reported by local Ukrainian authorities in the past few months, including the attack on Kharkiv on April 18, Chuhuiv in Kharkiv Oblast on May 23, a village in Sumy Oblast on May 26, and a UN-documented attack in Dobropillia that killed 11 people and injured 48 on March 7.

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[The cluster munition's] most common use is in artillery rounds, but they can also be carried in ballistic and cruise missiles that Russia routinely launches on Ukrainian cities, along with hundreds of drones.

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Cluster munitions indiscriminately kill or maim civilians caught in wide areas of impact at the time of the attack, experts say. A large percentage of bomblets also fail to detonate after scattering and could claim people’s lives decades after active fighting ends.

An international treaty called the Convention on Cluster Munitions was established in 2008 with the aim of moving the world away from their use. Since then, 124 countries have signed the treaty, but in 2024, Lithuania withdrew from it, citing the threat from Russia's use of cluster munitions in a potential war with NATO. Neither Russia nor Ukraine nor the U.S. are signatories.

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"Cluster munitions just cross a really big line, and should never be used by any actor under any circumstances, in a city or anywhere else," Wareham said.‌

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3394940

Archived version

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[Deminer Viktoria] Shynkar and her colleagues, who work for the demining charity the Halo Trust, uncovered 243 TM-62 Soviet-designed anti-tank mines left by the Russian army in a neighbouring field.

A chunky and intimidating 32-centimetres in diameter and 13-cm-wide, the TM-62 contains 7.5 kilos of TNT and can puncture a tank if triggered.

The presence of landmines and other unexploded ordnance is a significant issue in Ukraine, impacting civilians and Ukraine’s agricultural industry – a major employer and source of income to the country.

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Established by the [Ukrainian] Ministry of Defence, the country’s National Mine Action Centre (NMAC) has produced a map that highlights areas it confirms as hazardous, are suspected of being hazardous as well as those that have been cleared or checked for hazards. [The map can be seen in the linked article.]

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The information is collated from over 80 demining groups operating in the country, which employ people like Shynkar. They collect data from the field and share it with the NMAC who upload it to this map made using the IMSMA platform produced by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.

Yet the data the NMAC map contains, while significant, is only partial.

For example, it only creates a picture for the Ukrainian side of the front line, and just parts of it at that, with an area 20 kilometres from the frontline inaccessible to demining groups. Those same demining groups are also not operating in Russian-controlled regions, making the overall picture even less clear.

Furthermore, just because an area may be noted as not being impacted in landmine datasets doesn’t mean that it is not at risk from mines or other explosive ordnance that may not have detonated on impact. Some may simply not have been found yet.

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The country’s Agriculture Minister, Vitaliy Koval, ... stated that just over 123,000 km2 of land still needs to be assessed for the presence of landmines or explosives. That is a huge area, almost the same size as Greece, much of which remains inaccessible along the 1,500 km frontline.

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As of May 31, 2025, [Deminer Viktoria Shynkar] had been with the Halo Trust for a year. It’s a position she feels comfortable in despite the danger that comes with the job.

“Not once have I regretted [taking on the work], not at all,” she says. “I like the job very much. Because there are many good people here, and I feel like I’m resting at work.”

On top of that, the impact of what she is doing gives her satisfaction.

“There’s a lot of contamination … and farmers can’t work, can’t grow crops,” she says.

“We really need this, so I want to help however I can, so that our country can prosper.”