Moscow shutting down Amnesty, HRW

MOSCOW, Apr 09 (AFP): Russia said Friday it was shutting down the local offices of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) that have been working in the country for the past 30 years.

The announcement came on the 44th day of Russia's military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine, with thousands killed and more than 11 million having fled their homes or the country in the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

Human Rights Watch has been operating in Russia for 30 years, while Amnesty has had a presence in the country since 1993.

All in all, 15 organisations have been taken off Russia's registry of international organisations and foreign NGOs due to "violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation," the justice ministry said in a statement without providing further details.

Russia also shut down the local offices of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation, the Wspolnota Polska Association and other organisations.

Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said there was little doubt the move was in response to the organisation's reporting on Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

"The Russian government had already made it abundantly clear that it has no use for any facts, regarding the protection of civilians in Ukraine. This is just one small further proof of that," Denber said in a statement to AFP.

Denber, who previously directed the watchdog's Moscow office, said Human Rights Watch would continue to work on Russia.

"HRW has been working on Russia since the Soviet era, when it was a closed totalitarian state," she added. "We found ways of documenting human rights abuses then, and we will do so in the future."

Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said her organisation would also continue to support Russians.

Russia, Ukraine 'willing

to hold talks' in Turkey

Russia and Ukraine are willing to move forward with talks despite images of bodies found in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, but there are "issues pending", a Turkish official said Friday.

"Both Russia and Ukraine are willing to hold the talks in Turkey but they are far away from agreeing on a common text," the official said.

There are "some issues pending" including the status of the Donbas and Crimea regions as well as security guarantees, according to the official, who added there was no date fixed for the next round of negotiations.

Turkey, which hosted talks last week between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, has been mediating for an end to the conflict.

UK sending Ukraine more

anti-aircraft missiles

Britain is sending Ukraine more Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 anti-tank missiles after an "unconscionable" attack on a train station, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday.

The supplies of the "high-grade military equipment" are worth o150 million ($195 million, 180 million euros), Johnson said.

The attack at Kramatorsk "shows the depths to which (Vladimir) Putin's once-vaunted army has sunk", he told reporters alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said the Russian strike was "atrocious".

Scholz also defended Germany against criticism that it is dragging its feet on ending Russian energy imports as part of Western sanctions over Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"We are doing all we can and we are doing a lot," the chancellor said, pointing to Germany's long-term diversification to alternative energy and other suppliers for natural gas.