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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 4 april 2023
Finland doubling NATO’s border with Russia in blow to Putin

By LORNE COOK tary potential in the west
Associated Press and in the northwest,”
BRUSSELS (AP) — The blue- Grushko said, according to
and-white Finnish flag rises the state RIA Novosti news
outside NATO headquar- agency, although Russia
ters Tuesday afternoon, is already having trouble
making Finland a member marshaling forces against
and doubling Russia’s bor- far-smaller Ukraine.
der with the world’s biggest Finland shares a 1,340-ki-
security alliance. lometer (832-mile) border
The move is a strategic and with Russia and unlike most
political blow to President members of the alliance,
Vladimir Putin, who has long Finland did not cut defense
complained about NATO’s spending and investment
expansion toward Russia after the Cold War.
and partly used that as a “They have trained and
justification for his country’s built a large army over
war with Ukraine. many years and maintain
“What we see is that Presi- that high level of readiness.
dent Putin went to war Finland is also a country
against Ukraine with a with extremely high level of
declared aim to get less resilience, of preparedness
NATO,” NATO Secretary- throughout the whole soci-
General Jens Stoltenberg ety,” Stoltenberg said.
said. “He’s getting the ex- Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, at the The country also helps to
act opposite.” presidential summer residence Kultaranta in Naantali, Finland, on June 12, 2022. Associated Press complete NATO’s geo-
Like all NATO members, Fin- graphical puzzle by filling in
land will benefit from the its 31st member country complete the fastest ac- Finland’s security, for Nor- a major gap in the strategi-
collective security guaran- Finland has substantial, cession process in the or- dic security, and for NATO cally important Baltic Sea
tee that an attack on one well-trained armed forces ganization’s recent history . as a whole,” Stoltenberg region in Europe’s north.
is considered an attack on with elite troops capable Alarmed by Russia’s inva- told reporters on Monday On Tuesday, Stoltenberg
all. of operating in the sub- sion of Ukraine last year, on the eve of a meeting of said, Turkey, the last coun-
NATO has said that it has no zero temperatures of the Finland applied to join alliance’s foreign ministers try to have ratified Finland’s
immediate intention to step high north. The Nordic NATO in May 2022. Neigh- in Brussels. membership, will hand
up its presence in Finland. country also has a large re- boring Sweden also ap- Russia’s Deputy Foreign the official document en-
Some members have de- serve army and is investing plied, but its accession pro- Minister Alexander Grush- shrining its approval to U.S.
ployed troops there for war heavily in new equipment, cess will take longer. The ko warned that Moscow Secretary of State Antony
games over the last year. including dozens of U.S.- ceremony falls on NATO’s would bolster its own forces Blinken.
Russia immediately warned made F-35 fighter jets. very own birthday, the 74th “in case of deployment of NATO’s top civilian official
that it would bolster forces The Finnish flag rising be- anniversary of the signing forces of other NATO mem- said he will then invite Fin-
near Finland if NATO sends tween the French and the of its founding Washington bers on the territory of Fin- land to hand over its own
any additional troops or Estonian in a ceremony Treaty on April 4, 1949. land.” signed documents, to com-
equipment to what will be scheduled for 1330 GMT will “It will be a good day for “We will strengthen our mili- plete the procedure. q

U.N. report charges South Sudan officials of rights violations

By DENG MACHOL JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — panel of investigators al- dicial killings carried out in judicial killings, remain un-
Associated Press A United Nations-backed leges in a new report that Mayom County in August punished, according to the
several officials in South Su- 2022, the report says. report.
dan have perpetrated seri- Koch County Commissioner “Over several years, our
ous human rights violations Gordon Koang is also men- findings have consistently
and should be held ac- tioned in the report which shown that impunity for se-
countable for their crimes. accused him of playing a rious crimes is a central driv-
The governor of South Su- role in attacks against civil- er of violence and misery
dan’s Unity State, Joseph ians in the town of Leer in faced by civilians in South
Monytuil, is cited for being February and April 2022. Sudan,” said Yasmin Sooka,
responsible for gross viola- The officials were not im- head of the investigating
tions of human rights as well mediately available for commissions.
as other senior government comment. So we have taken the step
and military officials, in the The U.N. experts’ report of naming more of the indi-
report released Monday by says South Sudan, the viduals who warrant crimi-
the Commission on Human world’s youngest nation, nal investigation and pros-
Rights in South Sudan. must tackle “impunity” to ecution for their role in gross
Lt. Gen. Thoi Chany Reat of stem persistent violence human rights violations.”
Deputy Chief of Defense Forces Lt. Gen. Thoi Chany Reat, right, the South Sudan People’s and rights abuses. The report is based on the
attends a ceremony for soldiers from the South Sudan People’s
Defence Forces (SSPDF) preparing to join the East Africa Defence Forces is among Perpetrators of the most commission’s investigations
Community Regional Force (EACRF) in Congo, at the airport in individuals warranting serious crimes, includ- over the last 12 months.q
Juba, South Sudan Monday, April 3, 2023. criminal investigation over ing widespread attacks
Associated Press state-sanctioned extraju- against civilians and extra-