The countries of Southeast Asia are forced into a difficult balancing act with Russia, an economic partner they must preserve, in the face of pressure from the United States to isolate Moscow, before a series of international summits. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February ended up catching up with Southeast Asia, which will have to come out of its silence to discuss this delicate subject and its economic repercussions, during a busy diplomatic sequence in November. . Three summits are on the program this month: ASEAN in Phnom Penh (11-13), the G20 in Bali (15-16) then the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum (Apec) in Bangkok (18-19).
Indonesia, in a mediating role, has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to the G20, but neither leader has confirmed his physical presence. Ukraine is also due to sign a treaty of friendship and cooperation with ASEAN countries in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where Mr Zelensky asked to deliver a video message during the summit. The regional bloc of ten countries, which has made non-interference one of its fundamental principles, should not be expected to make a clear choice between kyiv and Moscow, assured the experts interviewed by AFP. Faced with their diplomatic limits, its members remain divided between the need to trade with Russia and the fear of reprisals from its Western partners who want to isolate Moscow.
Information to remember:
- Southeast Asian countries will have to come out of their silence at various summits that will take place in the coming days
- Vladimir Putin gives a posthumous title to a “soldier priest” killed in Ukraine
Russian-US relations will remain ‘bad’ after US elections, Kremlin says
Relations between Moscow and Washington will remain “bad” regardless of the results of the midterm elections in the United States, the Russian presidency said on Wednesday, in the midst of a crisis linked to the Russian offensive in Ukraine. “These elections, basically, can’t change anything. Our relations are bad for the moment and will remain so,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“These elections are important, but on the other hand I think I am not mistaken in saying that we should not overestimate their importance for the future of our bilateral relations in the short and medium term”, he said. added. In recent years, the Kremlin has been accused of encouraging interference in elections in the United States, in particular via influence campaigns on social networks.
“We are so used (to these accusations) that we don’t even pay attention to them anymore,” commented Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday. Russian-American relations are going through one of the worst crises in their history with the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine, a country since then massively supported by the administration of Democratic American President Joe Biden with arms deliveries and financial aid .
Putin decorates ‘soldier priest’ killed in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin on Tuesday posthumously presented Russia’s highest decoration to an Orthodox priest, recently killed in Ukraine, who had recommended to the mothers of Russian soldiers to have more children to ease their grief. In a statement, the Kremlin said Mikhail Vasilyev was awarded the title “Hero of the Russian Federation” for “his courage and heroism in fulfilling his civic duty”. On Sunday, the Patriarchate of Moscow announced the death of this priest “in the special operation zone in Ukraine”, while he was carrying out “his clerical duties”.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Church, one of the pillars of power of Vladimir Putin, is to celebrate a special mass on Wednesday around the body of the deceased from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. According to Alexander Sladkov, a correspondent for Russian public television, the pope was killed in a Ukrainian bombardment in the occupied Kherson region, which has been plagued by a counter-offensive from kyiv for weeks. “He died like a soldier priest, alongside the paratroopers,” wrote Alexander Sladkov on Telegram on Sunday.
According to the Moscow Patriarchate, Mikhail Vasiliev, born in 1971, had already served as a military chaplain during Russian army operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, the Caucasus and Syria. Recently, he had been talked about after an interview on the Russian Orthodox television channel “Spas”. Asked about the case of a Russian mother who had sent her son abroad to prevent him from being mobilized to fight in Ukraine, he had recommended that women have more children to ease their pain.
“If a lady follows the precept of God ‘Be fruitful, multiply’ and refuses in a broad sense all artificial means of termination of pregnancy, then she will generally have more than one child. And so it will not be so painful to part with,” he said.