Kremlin confirms the Putin-Trump call on Tuesday
In the last few minutes, the Kremlin has confirmed that the Russian president Vladimir Putin would talk to the American president Donald Trump by telephone on Tuesday.
Asked for the planned call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “Yes, that’s how it is. Such a conversation is planned for Tuesday, “Reuters reported.
Important events
Czech Republic wants to explore EU options for Radiofree Europe/Radio Liberty
Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský said he would ask the EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Brussels today to consider whether the EU should offer its support Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty After we have finished his financing for the station.
On Friday, American president Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday Focus on Voice of America’s Parent US Agency for Global Media In his last radical cuts on the federal government.
The cutbacks include a federal subsidy agreement for radiev -free Europe/Radio Liberty, formed in the Cold War to reach the former Soviet block that was terminated.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said Saturday That “the cancellation of the subsidy agreement of radiev -free Europe/Radio Liberty would be a huge gift for the American enemies.”
Lipava The issue of RFE/FL, which is located in Prague, during his arrival in Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
He said:
I want to increase it politically as a question, we see a value in such an organization, when broadcasting to countries such as Russia, Wit -Russia, Iran and many others, and if we see such a value, what are we ready to keep such a service in our favor. That is a very broad question.
We must start with the political willingness to do something, so I will ask today.
Lithuania accuses Russia of the arson of the IKEA store in 2024 to undermine the support for Ukraine
The Lithuanian Officer -General said that Russian military intelligence Was behind the arson of an IKEA store in Vilnius in 2024.
In an update to his research (in Lithuanian), The authorities said that the most important suspect deals with Russian military and security services and accepted payment for plans to attack shopping centers in Lithuania and Latvia to “intimidate the societies of both countries” in an attempt to stop their support for Ukraine.
The suspect, a foreign citizen who was a minor at that time, repeatedly visited Poland and Lithuania for collecting information and planning the arson.
The researchers believe that the arson in Vilnius was carried out using a timed fuse hidden in the store and is activated in the middle of the night. The suspect then left the stage, tried to cover their spurs and left for Warsaw to collect a premium car as a reward for the task.
The suspect was held a week later, when it was assumed that he was on his way to commit another arson, this time in Riga, Latvia.
The office of the public prosecutor said that the “extremely detailed data” about communication with regard to both arson attacks obtained, including “multi -level” schedules that support the operation and links in both Lithuania and Poland.
It suggested that it would deal with the attack as an act of terrorism.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk Previously suggested that the group involved in the IKEA fire foundation attack in Lithuania could also have links to similar incidents in Poland.
North Macedonia mourns victims of fatal fire at nightclub
Helena Smith
In Athens
North Macedonia has stated a seven -day mourning period after a fire in a nightclub that was injured at least 59 dead and scores, because the authorities held 15 people for interrogation and the Minister of the Interior said that a provisional inspection revealed that the club operated without a good permit.
Minister of the Interior Panche Toshkovski said that the location in the eastern city of Kočani, where the for the daily fire took place, seemed to work illegally.
More than 20 people were investigated, 15 of whom were in police custody, while others suspected they were in the hospital, he said.
Most of those who were killed by the fire, who tore through the Pulse Nightclub during a hip -hop concert were teenagers and young adults. More than 155 were injured, much critical.
Italy, one of the five ‘dismantling’ of democracy in Europe, says Report
Jennifer Rankin
Brussels Correspondent
From Italy The government has the rule of law thoroughly undermined With changes in the judiciary and shown “Heavy intolerance for media criticism”In an emblematic example of Europe’s deepening “democratic recession”has said a coalition of civil freedom groups.
A report of The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) said Italy was one of the five “dampers” – together with Bulgaria” Croatia” Romania And Slovakia – that “the rule of law intentionally undermines in almost all aspects”.
“The European Democratic recession was deepened in 2024,” Liberties said in a statement. The report, shared with The Guardian before publication, emphasized judicial systems that are subject to political manipulation, weak law enforcement against corruption, excessive use of rapid legislative procedures, intimidation of journalists and growing limitations on peaceful protests.
“Without decisive action, the EU risks further democratic erosion,” concluded the report -compiled by 43 human rights organizations in 21 EU Member States -.
Large protests against the rules of Vucić in Serbia
Tens of thousands of people from other side Serbia joined an anti-corruption rally Belgrade On Saturday, in what is considered the peak of months of protest that has shaken the grip of the autocratic president of the country, Aleksandar Vučić.
The anti-government rally is likely The largest ever held in the Balkan country.
Between 275,000 and 325,000 people participated in the protest, according to the archive of the Public Assembly, an organization that monitors the crowd size. That figure is much higher than the government’s estimate.
Morning opening: the silence before the storm
US President Donald Trump said he is planning to talk to the Russian president Vladimir Putin About the following steps in the peace process Ukraine On Tuesday, after “a lot was done at the weekend.”
His comments – in particular about “distributing certain assets” – will Europeans wonder what exactly he is planning to imagine when he will talk to Putin, and how this meets their opinion about what should happen in Ukraine.
On Saturday, “The Coalition of the Willing” discussed what they can do as a British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Speaked the scheme as moving to ‘operational phase’.
But the existence of the coalition seemed to be firmly opposed by Russia, as deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko said that every long -term peace treaty about Ukraine must meet the requirements of Moscow.
He warned that any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine would come with “all consequences for these quotas as parties in the conflict.”
In response, the French president Emmanuel Macron said that Russia’s permission was not necessary because Ukraine was sovereign. “If Ukraine asks Allied troops to be on his territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject them.”
While Washington is preparing for Tuesday’s call between Trump and Putin, the European leaders try to prepare for what is going on, for fear of any form of unpredictable and potentially controversial concessions from Trump.
EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs will meet this morning in Brussels to discuss what else they can do to help Ukraine. EU chef of foreign policy Kaja Kallas tried to generate the pressure on Russia when she arrived this morning before the meeting, insisting that “the ball is in the Russian court and what kind of conditions they present, what is what is [a] Big question whether they want peace. “
“Those conditions they presented show that they don’t really want peace because they present as conditions that all the ultimate goals they want to achieve from this war,” she warned.
Let’s see what we hear in the next 24 hours, prior to that Trump-Putin call.
Are Monday, March 17, 2025And this is Europe Live. Are Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
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