Deutsche Welle (English edition)
Ukraine: NATO slams Russia's troop buildup on border
NATO has vowed to back Ukraine amid tensions in the in eastern Donbass region. The Kremlin accused the US and NATO of turning Ukraine into a "powder keg."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine's borders on Tuesday.
Stoltenberg's comments came ahead of an emergency meeting of allied foreign and defense ministers over the conflict in the eastern Ukraine region.
"In recent weeks, Russia has moved thousands of combatready troops to Ukraine's borders, the largest massing of
Russian troops since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014," Stoltenberg said at a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Stoltenberg said Russian troops' movement at Ukraine's borders was "unexplained, unjustified and deeply concerning."
"Russia must end this military buildup in and around Ukraine, stop its provocations and deescalate immediately," Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine calls for sanctions against Russia
Kuleba flew to Brussels for talks with Stoltenberg on Tuesday, a day after Ukraine accused the Kremlin of ignoring a request for top-level negotiations.
Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations about the increasing tensions in the eastern Donbass region.
Kuleba called for further economic sanctions on Russia
and more military support for Ukraine.
"At the operational level, we need measures which will deter Russia and which will contain its aggressive intentions. This could be ... a new round of sanctions, which would raise the price of Russian aggression," Kuleba said.
Russia shifts the blame
The Kremlin accused the United States and other NATO countries of turning Ukraine into a "powder keg."
"If there is any aggravation, we of course will do everything to ensure our security and the safety of our citizens, wherever they are," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
"But Kyiv and its allies in the West will be entirely responsible for the consequences of a hypo
thetical exacerbation," he said.
He said that training activities have been conducted on Ukrainian territory for many years and have lead to a negative impact on Russian security.
"Training activities have been intensified, a network of biolaboratories has been deployed that are engaged in activities that, to put it mildly, cause us alarm and concern."
Russia has not denied the troop buildup along the border but officials said it was not planning on going to war with Ukraine.
Officials insisted that the
Kremlin is entitled to move troops "within Russian territories" and pledged to protect Russian speakers in the region.
The West backs Ukraine
In recent weeks, Western officials have expressed concerns about Russia's military buildup close to Ukraine's eastern border and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to hold talks with Kuleba. He recently said Russia could face "consequences" if it acted "aggressively" against Ukraine.
Ukraine is a close partner to NATO, although it is not one of the 30 member states.
According to Ukraine, the conflict has killed at least 14,000 people since 2014.
fb/aw (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
ment has virtually collapsed and remittances from exiled Cubans have almost ceased to flow in the wake of tighter US regulations for money transfers to Cuba.
Earlier this year, the government in Havana tried to stem the economic decline with wage and price reforms, including a currency reform that scrapped the so-called convertible peso ( CUC), leaving the nonconvertible Cuban peso (CUP) as the only legal tender.
As the freely convertible CUC has ceased to exist, the US dollar has become the currency of choice for both Cubans and their government. In October 2019, the communist rulers opened hard currency stores where you can buy household appliances and car parts with dollars. Since June last year, Cubans can also buy their groceries and sanitary products there provided they have a foreign currency account with a bank and a debit card.
At the same time, shops charging only in nonconvertible CUP are struggling amid falling supply — and as lines have been getting longer and longer, they've become graphic reminders of Cuba's worsening economic situation. "Today it's chicken meat, the next it's cooking oil — standing in line never ends," says Barragan.
The coleros alternative Waiting for hours to be able to do your daily shopping is a hassle especially for the elderly. In times of a pandemic it is downright dangerous, increasing the risk of spreading the virus.
Since Cubans are used to dealing with economic hardship, some of them have turned a problem caused by the government into a private business model, becoming coleros by profession — people who provide others with a service in exchange for a remuneration.
Thecolero, which is the derogatory term used by the government, sells a place at the front of the line, which assures the buyer that he can get what he wants. But in order to formalize this transaction, the colero has to claim the space by spending the night outdoors in the line and sacrifice hours of his leisure time.
Marco Jimenz is a colero. He told DW that he once was employed at a state-run optometric laboratory where he earned 280 CUP ($11.67, €9.79) a month. He sometimes sold spectacle glass on the black market to improve his salary, he says, until he was laid off because "there wasn't any glass anymore and we were all sent home."
"We received salaries for another two months, and that was it." One day a friend had come up with the idea of standing in line for other people to earn some money, he told DW. Cuban lines grow upfront During the pandemic, social d i s tan ci n g rules re q u i re shopkeepers to allow only two people into their stores at the same time, further swelling the ranks of those waiting outside. A night curfew limiting opening hours had made matters worse, said Jimenez.
From 5 a.m. in the mornings, people are allowed to leave their homes, and the first thing they do is mark down their place in the line and leave again, he said.
"When the stores open at 9 a.m., they return to the marked spot, so that lines grow upfront. It can well happen that suddenly you find 70 people in front of you instead of the 10 who actually lined up when you came."
Reserving a place for someone else earns acolero 50 CUP per client, said Jimenez, which is quite a small income for the time they spend. This is why he's decided to buy the groceries himself and resell it for double the original price. "I buy chicken, minced meat, mayonnaise, spaghetti — whatever is available," he says, noting that about 80% of the coleros, meanwhile, are resellers.
Dismal job
The communist rulers have imposed stiff fines to curb the practice of reselling basic food and sanitary products. Under a new law, shopkeepers are obliged to scan buyers' personal ID documents to prevent people from lining up twice or more times over.
Jimenez claimed that he only went on his shopping sprees "twice or three times a week maximum" to avoid raising the interest of the authorities. He's got a list of fixed clients that reduces the risk of getting caught, he said.
The job earns him between 750 CUP and 1,000 CUP a week — the equivalent of a little over $40 (€33). He had enough money to make ends meet, he said, given that a government job he started about two months ago added a little more to his overall income. He's been hired as apesquisa — someone who knocks on people's doors to find out if quarantine rules and stay-athome rules are adhered to.
However, all he's hoping for is to return to his former job as soon as possible. "Standing in the line at shops has helped him survive," he argued, but he's grown tired of doing it, and "won't miss standing in line" once these trying times are over.