Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for June 23, 2022
Newsline: One French diplomat asked to leave Russia
Moscow informed the French Ambassador in Russia that one of France’s diplomatic staffers was no longer welcome in Russia, a spokeswoman of the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-french-diplomat-asked-leave-125625588.html) “We regret this unjustified decision”, the Ministry added when asked to confirm whether the cultural attache to the French Embassy in Moscow had been asked to leave the country.
Newsline: Iran foreign minister says only diplomacy can resolve Ukraine crisis
The Ukraine crisis can only be resolved diplomatically, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Thursday during a press conference in Tehran alongside his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-foreign-minister-says-only-diplomacy-can-resolve-ukraine-crisis-2022-06-23/) The Russian foreign minister arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, boosting bilateral and energy cooperation, and international and regional issues, according to Iranian state media. “In regards to Ukraine, we believe that American actions done through NATO are part of the crisis’ causes. However, the Islamic Republic does not see war as a solution and welcomes political talks on this issue,” Amirabdollahian said. While Moscow is challenging Western sanctions over Ukraine, Tehran’s clerical rulers have been struggling to keep Iran’s economy afloat because of U.S. sanctions that were reimposed after Washington exited Tehran’s nuclear deal in 2018.
Newsline: US embassy in Moscow gets new address
Authorities in Moscow said that they have changed the official address of the U.S. embassy building in the Russian capital to one named after pro-Kremlin separatists in Ukraine. “The United States embassy in Russia has a new official address,” Moscow city hall said in a statement, saying it had named a previously unnamed open area in front of the embassy’s main entrance. It said the embassy is now located at 1 Donetsk People’s Republic Square, referring to a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine that Moscow recognized as independent shortly before sending troops there. (https://www.courthousenews.com/us-embassy-in-moscow-gets-new-address-named-after-ukraine-separatists/) The embassy’s previous address was 8 Bolshoi Devyatinsky Lane. The new address was chosen in a public vote in which nearly 280,000 people participated, the city hall said. In February 2018, a street outside the Russian embassy in Washington was named after Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician who was shot dead outside the Kremlin in 2015.
Newsline: Canada announces embassy in Rwanda
Canada will open an embassy in Rwanda as part of efforts to combat the influence of Russia and China in Africa, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced on Wednesday shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in the country to begin a 10-day overseas trip. “Yes, we know that Russia is present on the continent. Yes, we know that China is increasingly present also on the continent. We can’t be naive,” Joly told reporters in Kigali. “We need to make sure that we have the diplomats on the ground with eyes and ears listening to what’s going on, to make sure that we can play a positive role with Rwanda and the entire region.” (https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canada-announces-embassy-in-rwanda-as-trudeau-arrives-for-10-day-foreign-trip/ar-AAYJkj9) She said Canada is setting up a permanent embassy in Kigali, with an ambassador, and will also name a new ambassador to the African Union, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The prime minister’s plane touched down at sunset on Wednesday in Kigali, where he will gather beginning Thursday with the heads of government from the other 53 countries in the Commonwealth for the first time since 2018.
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