Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20210423

A30 world news
Diabierna 23 aPriL 2021

Russia orders troop pullback, but keeps weapons near Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) — Rus- November, a move that drew
sia's defense minister on Ukrainian protests and raised
Thursday ordered troops Western concerns. Russia
back to their permanent also announced restrictions
bases following massive on flights near Crimea this
drills amid tensions with week, arguing that they fully
Ukraine, but said that conform with the interna-
they should leave their tional law.
weapons behind in west-
ern Russia for another ex- Ukrainian Foreign Minis-
ercise later this year. ter Dmytro Kuleba warned
Tuesday that the Russian
After watching the drills, buildup across the border is
Defense Minister Shoigu continuing and is "expected
declared the maneuvers in to reach a combined force of
Crimea and wide swathes of over 120,000 troops" in about
western Russia over and or- a week and urged the West
dered the military to pull the to beef up sanctions against
troops that took part in them Moscow.
back to their permanent bas-
es. Moscow has rejected Ukrai-
nian and Western concerns
"I consider the goals of the about the buildup, arguing
snap check of readiness ful- that it's free to deploy its
filled," Shoigu said. "The forces anywhere on the Rus-
troops have shown their ca- sian territory and charging
pability to defend the country cease-fire in Ukraine's east 60 ships, over 10,000 troops, ties in the region," Shoigu that they don't threaten any-
and I decided to complete the has raised concerns in the around 200 aircraft and about said. "Intelligence gathering one. But at the same time,
drills in the South and West- West, which urged the Krem- 1,200 military vehicles. has increased and the inten- the Kremlin sternly warned
ern military districts." lin to pull its forces back. sity and scope of operational Ukrainian authorities against
The exercise featured the training has been growing. trying to use force to retake
Shoigu said the troops should The Russian military hasn't landing of more than 2,000 One of the alliance's main control of the rebel east,
return to their bases by May reported the number of ad- paratroopers and 60 military coalition groups is being de- where seven years of fighting
1, but he ordered to keep ditional troops that have been vehicles on Thursday. Fighter ployed in the Black Sea re- have killed more than 14,000,
the heavy weapons deployed moved to Crimea and parts jets covered the airborne op- gion." saying that Russia could be
to western Russia as part of of southwestern Russia near eration. forced to intervene to protect
the drills for another massive Ukraine, and it wasn't imme- Russia long has bristled at civilians in the region.
military exercise later this diately clear from Shoigu's Shoigu flew in a helicopter the deployment of NATO's
year. statement if all of them will over the Opuk firing range forces near its borders and Amid the tensions, Ukraini-
now be pulled back. in Crimea to oversee the ex- stepped up its drills as rela- an President Volodymyr Zel-
Shoigu said they should re- ercise. He later declared the tions with the West have sunk enskyy on Wednesday signed
main at the Pogonovo fir- The U.S. and NATO has drills over, but ordered the to post-Cold War lows over a law allowing the call-up of
ing range in the southwest- said that the Russian buildup military to stand ready to re- the annexation of Crimea, reservists for military ser-
ern Voronezh region. The near Ukraine was the largest spond to any "adverse devel- Russian meddling in elec- vice without announcing a
sprawling range is located since 2014, when Russia an- opments" during NATO's tions, hacking attacks and mobilization. The new law
160 kilometers (about 100 nexed Crimea and threw its Defender Europe 2021 exer- other issues. will allow to quickly equip
miles) east of the border with support behind separatists in cise. The NATO drills began the military with reservists,
Ukraine. eastern Ukraine. in March and are to last until Last week, Russia has an- "significantly increasing their
June. nounced that it would close combat effectiveness during
The Russian troop buildup The Russian Defense Min- broad areas of the Black Sea military aggression," Zelen-
near Ukraine that came amid istry said the maneuvers in "NATO has significantly in- near Crimea to foreign navy skyy's office said in a state-
increasing violations of a Crimea involved more than tensified its military activi- ships and state vessels until ment.

Milan gets buzzier with 1 million bees in designer hives

MILAN (AP) — Italy's fi- versity with art. million the city's population on food, food security and them is what is new."
nancial and fashion capi- of honeybees cultivated by nutrition.
tal of Milan got a little A bee collective introduced the Urban Beehives project. Starting next week, Zanfi's
buzzier on Thursday with 17 new colonies to new de- Creator Claudia Zanfi said The seven-year-old, prize- group Green Island will offer
a project that mixes biodi- signer hives, bringing to 1 the project aims to "create an winning project is aimed at courses and workshops at the
intersection between artistic educating the public about park on beekeeping and the
language and biodiversity." the importance of bees to the bees' critical role in helping
environment, while boosting maintain a healthy planet.
The art is in the form of hives their population and produc-
designed by international ing a sweet treat of honey. Two years ago, the Rome-
artists and the biodiversity It's billed as one of the big- based Food and Agricultural
comes from the bees, which gest urban bee collectives in Organization sounded an
help pollinate plants in the Europe, with hives placed in alarm that declining bee pop-
city's expanding green spaces. four public parks in the city. ulations pose threat to global
food security and nutrition.
The new hives were intro- "Urban Beehives is a rede-
duced to their homes in the velopment project of urban "The bees have a fundamen-
Cascina Merlata Park, 20 green through the reintro- tal role for our lives, but also
hectares (50 acres) of new duction of bees in the city,'' for the life of the planet,'' Za-
park dedicated last year on Zanfi said. "There always nfi said.
land used for the Expo 2015 have been bees in the city,
World's Fair, which focused but creating a public space for