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WORLD NEWS Saturday 26 March 2022
Mexican leader brushes off U.S. allegations of Russia spies

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- any aid to Ukraine or im-
can President Andrés Man- pose sanctions on Russia,
uel López Obrador on Fri- but did cosponsor a U.N.
day brushed off comments resolution condemning the
by a senior U.S. military of- invasion. The huge man-
ficial who said there are sion that holds the Russian
more Russian spies in Mex- Embassy in Mexico City is
ico than anywhere else in far out of scale to the very
the world. limited trade, tourism and
That was an apparent ref- commercial ties between
erence to Russia's huge the two countries and has
embassy in Mexico City, long been thought to be
which has a decades-old a hub for spies. Lee Har-
reputation for being an es- vey Oswald, the gunman
pionage hub. in the 1963 assassination of
Responding to a question, President John F. Kennedy,
López Obrador said Mexico made never fully explained
was nobody's colony and visits to the Soviet and Cu-
didn't send spies abroad. ban embassies in Mexico
But those were two things City before the killing.
that Gen. Glen VanHerck, More recently, U.S. secu-
head of U.S. Northern Com- rity archives show several
mand, had not mentioned. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily morning press confer- cases in which people con-
VanHerck said Thursday be- ence before officially inaugurating the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA) north of Mexico victed of selling sensitive
fore the U.S. Senate Armed City, Monday, March 21, 2022. U.S. information to the Sovi-
Services Committee that Associated Press ets in the 1960s and 70s met
"the largest portion of the with handlers or contacts in
GRU members is in Mexico volved in that," he said. mittee." The idea of Mexico them, "For us this is a sign Mexico City.
right now. Those are Russian Despite Mexico's enormous drawing closer to Russia of support, of friendship, And in February, a promi-
intelligence personnel." commercial ties to the or splitting with the United of solidarity in these com- nent Mexican scientist who
The GRU is Russia's main United States, the coun- States on the issue is some- plicated times in which my led a double life with two
foreign military intelligence try has traditionally tried thing "that can never hap- country is not just facing a families on separate con-
agency. to preserve a measure of pen," Salazar said. special military operation in tinents pleaded guilty to a
"Mexico is a free country, independence and non- A half dozen legislators from Ukraine, but a tremendous charge of being coopted
independent and sover- alignment in foreign policy, López Obrador's Morena media war." by Russian agents into sur-
eign, we are not a colony and many Mexicans have party joined almost 20 oth- Morena Congressman Ar- veilling a U.S. government
of Russia, China or the Unit- long seen Russia and Cuba er allied Congress mem- mando Contreras Castillo informant residing in Miami.
ed States," López Obrador as counterbalances to U.S. bers Wednesday in creat- said: "We are always ready Hector Cabrera Fuentes
said. "We don't go to Mos- dominance. ing the committee almost a to do everything we can was arrested in 2020 at Mi-
cow to spy on anybody, For example, members of month after Russian troops to increase the friendship, ami International Airport as
nor do we go to Beijing to Mexico's Congress drew a invaded Ukraine. relations and cooperation he and his Mexican wife
spy on what they are do- rebuke from U.S. Ambas- The group held a meeting between Mexico and Rus- -- the other is from Russia
ing. "We don't go to Wash- sador Ken Salazar this week in the Congress building sia in every aspect of the -- were looking to return
ington, not even to Los when they formed a Mex- with Russian Ambassador world and life." to their home in Mexico
Angeles. We don't get in- ico-Russia "friendship com- Viktor Koronelli, who told Mexico has refused to send City.q

Atom-smashing CERN lab ratchets up measures against Russia

GENEVA (AP) — The sprawl- grappled with its response ing magnets in and around
ing European science lab to the invasion because Geneva, generating sci-
that houses the world's larg- nearly 7% of its 18,000-odd ence that can help elu-
est atom smasher is taking researchers from around cidate mysteries like dark
new steps that will further the world are linked to Rus- matter or the standard
limit its cooperation with sian institutions. On March model of particle phys-
Russian research institutes 8, the council suspended ics. Russian scientists have
in the wake of Russia's inva- new collaborations with been involved in planning
sion of Ukraine. Russia and stripped Russia multiple experiments.
The CERN Council, the gov- of its observer status at the Under the new measures
erning body of the Gene- organization. approved Friday, CERN will
va-based lab with 23 mem- The issue of whether to suspend all joint events with
ber states, announced Fri- further sanction Russia be- Russian institutes and pause
day that its scientists will sus- came pressing because considering any new can-
pend participation in all sci- the Large Hadron Collider, didates from Russia and A technician works in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) tunnel of
the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, during
entific committees in Russia the world's largest and Belarus to join the organiza- a press visit in Meyrin, near Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Feb.
and neighboring Belarus, a most powerful particle ac- tion's staff. 16, 2016.
Russian ally that facilitated celerator, is set to start its The council also an- Associated Press
the Feb. 24 invasion. third-ever run next month. nounced that it will suspend
CERN, the historic acro- The machine propels par- all collaboration with the nations based in Dubna, ing Ukraine, but they also
nym for what is now the ticles through an under- Joint Institute for Nuclear Russia. More than half of include Cuba, the Czech
European Organization ground, 27-kilometer (17- Research, an international the members are former Republic, Poland, North Ko-
for Nuclear Research, had mile) ring of superconduct- grouping of 19 member Soviet republics, includ- rea, and Vietnam.q