World

A Russian representative in the Central African Republic was badly wounded Friday after opening a parcel bomb, Moscow’s embassy said, as a prominent pro-Kremlin figure claimed France was behind the blast, which Paris denied.

France rejected the claim by the boss of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that Paris was involved and should be designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

Central Africa has been battling civil war since 2013 and is at the heart of Russia’s bid for strategic influence in Africa.

The last French troops deployed in CAR left on Thursday following a chill in relations caused by closer ties between Bangui and Moscow and the deployment of Russian forces, which some countries say includes Wagner mercenaries.

“The head of the Russia House (cultural centre) received an anonymous parcel on Friday, opened it and an explosion happened,” the embassy said, quoted by the official TASS news agency.

The centre’s head Dmitry Sytyi was hospitalised with “serious injuries,” it added.

“I have already requested the Russian foreign ministry to initiate the procedure to declare France a state sponsor of terrorism,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying in a statement released by his company, Concord.

He called for a “thorough investigation” into “the terrorist methods of France and its Western allies — the United States and others.”

France’s top diplomat on Friday denied Prigozhin’s claims.

“This information is false and is a good example of Russian propaganda and the fanciful imagination that sometimes characterises it,” Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told AFP during a visit to Morocco.

– ‘Son’s head’ –

Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said it was unclear if Sytyi would make it.

“Russian doctors are doing everything they can in the Bangui hospital to save him,” Prigozhin said.

Before losing consciousness, Prigozhin claimed Sytyi saw a note that allegedly said: “This is for you from all the French, the Russians will get out of Africa.”

Prigozhin said Sytyi first received a parcel from Togo on November 11. It contained a picture of his son residing in France and a note saying “next time he will receive his son’s head” if the Russians do not leave Africa.

Prigozhin said Sytyi opened a new package on Friday because he had thought it would contain his son’s head.

Russia’s RIA Novosti agency quoted a Russian diplomat saying Sytyi received the parcel at his home, away from the cultural centre. “He received it, took it into his house and opened it,” the diplomat said.

The centre in downtown Bangui remained open on Friday. No police presence could be seen around the building where traffic was normal, AFP reporters said.

France, the former colonial power, dispatched up to 1,600 troops to help stabilise CAR after a coup in 2013 unleashed a civil war along sectarian lines.

Over the last few years, friction has grown between the two nations over a mounting Russian military presence.

In 2018, Moscow sent instructors to the country, and in 2020 followed this with hundreds of paramilitaries to help President Faustin Archange Touadera defeat rebels advancing on the capital.

France, the UN and others say they are mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner group, who have been linked with atrocities and looting of resources.

Sanctioned by Washington and Brussels, Prigozhin has emerged as one of Putin’s most loyal lieutenants after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.

In November, the European Parliament recognised Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, accusing its forces of carrying out atrocities during its offensive in Ukraine.

Ukraine claims that Russia is preparing a fresh offensive against Kyiv early next year, but analysts doubt that Moscow can regenerate its battered forces for such a major operation is so short a timeframe.

Speaking to The Economist magazine this week, Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valeriy Zaluzhny said he expected a new Russian assault on Kyiv in the first months of 2023.

“The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv,” Zaluzhny said.

A major Russian attack could come “in February, at best in March and at worst at the end of January,” he added.

Although Russia mobilised 300,000 reservists between September and October, military experts say the new troops are unlikely to be sufficiently trained or equipped to attempt another storming of the Ukrainian capital.

A first attempt in February and March ended in humiliation thanks to fierce defensive efforts by Ukraine coupled with major supply, intelligence and command problems in the Russian ranks. 

“Such an offensive does not appear very probable to me, but it’s not impossible at the same time,” independent Russian military analyst Alexander Khamchikhin told AFP.

Discussing Russian capabilities recently, US military expert Michael Kofman also judged Russia going on the offensive as a “rather unlikely scenario”.

“They have significant ammunition constraints and the Russian military’s performance now is very closely tied to the availability of artillery ammunition fires,” Kofman told the War on the Rocks podcast.

Asked about the comments on Friday, the White House cast doubt on them.

“We aren’t seeing any indication that there’s an imminent move on Kyiv,” said White House spokesman John Kirby.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder declined “to get into speculating on potential future ops” but added that “we know that Russia continues to try to take offensive action.”

– Russian commander –

Russia’s future military capabilities in Ukraine will depend in large part on new commander Sergey Surovikin, a veteran of Moscow’s wars since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The shaven-headed general with a reputation for ruthlessness has been tasked with integrating the newly drafted soldiers and regenerating Russia’s badly damaged combat units.

Australian general Mick Ryan stressed that Surovikin was also working on unifying Russia’s fractured command system and trying to better integrate air support with ground operations.

“Surovikin commands an army that suffers from low morale and keeps losing its people and best equipment,” Ryan wrote in Foreign policy magazine.

“So far, evidence suggests that the troops Russia has mobilized to replace the dead and injured are not receiving the kind of demanding training they need to succeed.”

He warned, however, that the Siberia-born commander was “almost certainly drawing up battle plans that are clearly focused, unlike past assaults that spread Russia’s troops thin.”

– Western help –

Any attack on Kyiv would be immensely complicated and the city would be almost impossible to capture without destroying it.

“Taking a city without destruction is difficult, apart from cases where there is a decision to surrender, such as in Paris in 1940,” Khamchikhin said.

Pascal Ausseur, director of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies, a France-based think-tank, said the Ukrainian claims were an effort to concentrate minds in Western capitals.

Ukraine has held out since February and turned the tide of Russia’s invasion thanks to an influx of Western financial help and high-tech weaponry.

“The Ukrainians are shouting ‘keep helping us, don’t let us down’,” Ausseur told AFP. “These statements are destined for the West to say ‘we can still lose everything’.”

They might also be a diversion tactic as Ukraine looks to go on the attack in the southeast as the ground freezes in mid-winter, making it easier for vehicles to travel off-road.

“I would find it strange for the Ukrainians to put themselves in defensive positions which would stop them launching an offensive operations before March,” Ausseur said.

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Russia is readying for a protracted war in Ukraine and Kyiv’s NATO backers must keep sending weapons until President Vladimir Putin realises he “cannot win on the battlefield”, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg told AFP on Friday.

Almost 10 months into Moscow’s invasion, Kyiv’s forces have inflicted a succession of defeats on the Kremlin that have seen swathes of territory liberated.

But NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg warned there was no sign Putin had “given up his overall goal of controlling Ukraine”.

“We should not underestimate Russia. Russia is planning for a long war,” Stoltenberg said in an interview. 

“We see that they are mobilising more forces, that they are willing to suffer also a lot of casualties, that they are trying to get access to more weapons and ammunition,” he added.

“We have to understand that President Putin is ready to be in this war for a long time and to launch new offensives.”

NATO allies, led by the United States, have sent billion of dollars of weaponry to Ukraine that have helped it turn the tables in the conflict and put Moscow on the back foot.

“Most likely this war will end at the negotiating table, as most wars do,” Stoltenberg said, insisting any solution should ensure “Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent nation.

“The fastest way to achieve that is to support them militarily so President Putin understands that he cannot win on the battlefield but has to sit down and negotiate in good faith.”

– ‘Ramping up production’ –

In response to its setbacks on the battlefield, Moscow has unleashed waves of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure.

US reports say Washington is finalising plans to send its most advanced Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine to add to other Western air-defence systems provided to Kyiv.

Stoltenberg said there was a “discussion going on” about delivering Patriots, but pointed out that NATO allies had to make sure there was enough ammunition and spare parts to keep weapons sent so far working.

“We have a dialogue among allies on additional systems, but it becomes more and more important to ensure that all the systems that are delivered are functional.”

Ukraine’s demands for more weapons and a huge flow of ammunition have drained the stockpiles of NATO members and sparked fears the alliance’s defence industries may not be able to produce enough.

“We are ramping up production to do exactly that: to be able both to replenish our own stocks for deterrence and defence, and to continue to provide support to Ukraine for the long haul,” Stoltenberg said. 

In the short term, that means more shifts at factories to maximise output and over time bolstering joint purchases of weapons and giving industry “long-term demand signals so they can invest more,” he said.

– ‘Pivotal moment’ –

Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been a seismic shock for the West. 

It has forced NATO to carry out its biggest adaptation since the end of the Cold War by massively bolstering its eastern flank and it has seen Finland and Sweden push to enter the alliance.

“This is the most dangerous security crisis we have been in in Europe since the Second World War,” Stoltenberg said. 

“This is a pivotal moment for security.”

Stoltenberg said that while there had been a drop-off recently in nuclear threats from Putin, the alliance remained “vigilant and will constantly monitor what they do.

“Nuclear rhetoric in reference to potential use of nuclear weapons is reckless, is dangerous,” the NATO chief said. 

“His aim is of course to deter us from supporting Ukraine, but he will not succeed in doing that.”

Stoltenberg’s current term as NATO head is set to expire towards the end of 2023, after allied leaders in March extended his tenure for an extra year because of the war raging in Ukraine. 

The former Norwegian prime minister, 63, remained non-committal on whether he would definitely leave the post next year, saying only “I have no other plans”.

He would not be drawn on calls from some for a woman to succeed him as NATO’s first female secretary general. 

“My focus is on fulfilling my responsibilities as secretary general of NATO in a way that ensures that this alliance continues to stand together,” he said. 

“That’s my only focus and then I leave it to the heads of state and government to decide what happens after my term.”

Around 5,000 tourists have been left stranded in Cusco, the Peruvian gateway city to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, due to protests against the ousting of president Pedro Castillo, a local mayor said Friday.

Cusco international airport, which serves numerous tourist sites in the region, has been closed since Monday when protesters tried to storm the terminal. It is Peru’s third largest airport.

Several major roads in Cusco, the old Inca capital, have also been blocked by protesters.

“There are 5,000 tourists stranded in the city of Cusco, they are in their hotels waiting for flights to restart,” Darwin Baca, mayor of the nearby town of Machu Picchu, told AFP.

The rail service that serves Machu Picchu has been suspended since Tuesday, leaving around 800 tourists stranded in the small town at the foot of the mountain where the Inca citadel stands.

Around 200 mostly American and European tourists have left the town on foot along the train tracks in a bid to reach the town of Ollantaytambo, 30 kilometers (20 miles) away, from where they would be able to take a train to Cusco.

“What they fear is getting to Cusco and then not being able to go to their country because this could get worse,” said Baca.

Trouble broke out in Peru last week after Castillo was impeached and arrested following his attempt to dissolve parliament and rule by decree.

Initially detained for seven days, Castillo was on Thursday ordered to spend 18 months in pre-trial detention.

The leftist former schoolteacher stands accused of rebellion and conspiracy, and could be jailed for up to 10 years if found guilty, according to public prosecutor Alcides Diaz.

Castillo’s successor Dina Boluarte has declared a nationwide state of emergency for 30 days.

Authorities say 18 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces over the last week.

Another six people have died in incidents related to road blocks, such as being prevented from reaching a hospital.

At least 340 people have been injured in the clashes, according to Peru’s rights ombudsman. Police say more than 200 officers are among the injured.

Buckingham Palace on Friday declared a reconciliation between Prince William’s godmother and a black British woman who was repeatedly asked where she was “really” from.

Sistah Space charity founder Ngozi Fulani was grilled at a palace reception on November 29 by Susan Hussey, who refused to accept that she was British.

After Fulani revealed the exchange, the 83-year-old Lady Hussey stepped down from her role as a household companion to Queen Consort Camilla, the wife to King Charles III.

William’s spokesman said at the time: “Racism has no place in our society.”

Fulani and Hussey on Friday held a meeting at Buckingham Palace and said in a joint statement issued by royal officials it was “filled with warmth and understanding”.

Hussey offered her “sincere apologies” and pledged to learn more about the racial sensitivities involved, while Fulani accepted the apology “and appreciates that no malice was intended”.

Fulani, who works to help black survivors of domestic abuse, had received “the most appalling torrent of abuse on social media and elsewhere”, the palace noted, after she was forced to suspend her charity work to protect her clients and staff.

Charles, Camilla and other royals “are pleased that both parties have reached this welcome outcome”, the statement concluded.

The row erupted in the days before William’s estranged brother Prince Harry and wife Meghan issued fresh allegations of racism in the family, in their Netflix documentary series.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who like Meghan is mixed race, rallied to the royals’ defence at the weekend.

He said there was no stronger supporter of a multicultural Britain than Charles, Harry’s father.

“And I think the royal family’s attitude to this country reflects the modern country that we see,” Cleverly told Sky News.

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Pope Francis is to return to Greece three fragments of Athens’ Parthenon temple, in what the Vatican called Friday a gesture of friendship.

The fragments from the Parthenon on the Acropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, have been held for centuries in the papal collection and Vatican Museums.

Francis has decided “to donate” them to the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens, “as a concrete sign” of his desire to nurture interreligious relations, the Vatican said.

No date was given for the return of the fragments.

Greece’s cultural ministry welcomed the restitution, saying in a statement that it appreciated the pope’s “spiritual and fraternal gesture towards the Greek Orthodox Church”.

The Parthenon is one of the most famous ancient monuments in the world.

The temple was originally dedicated to the goddess Athena, before being transformed into a church and then a mosque.

The marble fragments include the head of a horse, one of the four horses drawing Athena’s mythical chariot, according to the Vatican Museums website.

It comes from the west front of the building, on which Athena and Poseidon — the god of the sea — were shown competing for dominion over Attica.

The second is the head of a young boy, believed to be depicted carrying a tray of voting cakes, which were offered during a procession to commemorate the founding of Athens.

The last is a bearded male head from an area of the building featuring a battle between the Lapiths, a mythical group of people, and Centaurs — creatures part horse, part man.

The Parthenon has not been a place of worship since it was partially destroyed during an attack by the Venetians in 1687, then looted.

Its fragments were scattered throughout the main museums of the world.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Greece has been trying to recover them.

In 2008, the Vatican returned a fragment from the North frieze of the Parthenon, which it had been given in the early 19th century.

But others are less willing to set what some see as a dangerous precedent on returns.

The UK government warned the British Museum in London this month against a possible plan to hand back key pieces, saying it was legally forbidden to break up its vast collection.