Sepia

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43814573

One of the leaders of the pro-Russian Koos party and Estonian citizen Aivo Peterson was sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason by Harju District Court on Thursday.

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The trial, which began in November 2023, dealt with allegations of treason against Estonian citizens Peterson and Dmitri Rootsi, as well as claims that Peterson and Russian citizen Andrei Andronov acted to undermine Estonia's independence.

The charges were connected to meetings with Russian politicians, aligning policy positions, the organization of an independent civil defense organization, and a Russian-funded press trip to occupied Ukraine.

According to the indictment, Peterson and Rootsi, based on instructions received from Russia, knowingly and in an organized manner assisted Russia and people acting on behalf of Russian authorities in non-violent activities directed against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia from October 2022 to March 10, 2023.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43794611

A Taiwanese government-backed drone alliance and a Polish uncrewed system industry group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a "non-China" drone supply chain and work together on key technologies.

The MOU, signed by the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (TEDIBOA) and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems (PISB) in Poland on Wednesday, would improve ties between the Taiwanese and Polish drone industries, the alliance said in a statement.

Beyond paving the way for creating a non-China supply chain and integrating drone systems, the MOU would also support laws favorable to the market and plans for joint testing at cross-border technology exhibitions, it said.

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In an op-ed, a researcher Konrad Szatters published a comment in CHOICE (China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe):

This development sheds light on several broader issues. It offers insight into how CEE countries are reassessing their technological and security dependencies. It also suggests that Taiwan is finding practical, relatively low-profile, forms of engagement with Europe, and highlights that certain EU member states are willing to explore such avenues of cooperation. This creates an opportunity for Taiwan to strengthen its ties with Europe and make itself more indispensable for its partners, especially in the context of EU’s ongoing ‘de-risking’ from China. Finally, it highlights gaps in Europe’s own defense-industrial capabilities and shows the direction of choices certain governments may make when domestic supply becomes limited.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43763604

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European and Ukrainian leaders have officially launched an International Claims Commission in The Hague, marking a significant step toward accountability and reparations for the damage caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The new body is tasked with processing and adjudicating claims related to losses suffered by the Ukrainian state, businesses, and individuals since the start of the war.

The establishment of the Commission reflects growing international consensus that victims of the conflict should have access to a structured, legal mechanism to seek compensation. According to European officials, more than 80,000 claims have already been submitted, highlighting the vast scale of destruction to infrastructure, housing, industry, and livelihoods across Ukraine.

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The International Claims Commission is designed to operate as an independent and rules-based mechanism. Its mandate includes reviewing evidence, assessing damages, and determining the validity and value of claims arising from the conflict. While it does not itself enforce payments, the Commission represents a crucial institutional framework that could underpin future compensation arrangements.

Locating the Commission in The Hague — a city internationally recognized as a center for justice and international law — underscores the legal and symbolic weight of the initiative. European leaders emphasized that the Commission complements existing international justice efforts and reinforces the principle that violations of international law carry consequences.

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For Ukraine, the launch of the Commission represents an important diplomatic achievement and a step toward long-term recovery and reconstruction ... For Europe, the Commission sends a broader message: accountability and reparations are integral to any durable peace. By creating a formal mechanism now, European states aim to ensure that compensation is not treated as an afterthought, but as a core element of post-war justice laying the groundwork for future reparations and reinforcing the international rules-based order.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43764288

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The Moscow City Court has upheld the sentence against Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the election rights advocacy movement Golos (“Vote”). Melkonyants was convicted of participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organization — namely, the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) ... In May 2025, the Basmanny District Court sentenced Melkonyants to five years in a general-security penal colony; his defense appealed the ruling.

At the appellate court hearing, Melkonyants delivered a final statement in which he criticized the work of the prosecutor’s office and the court, calling their approach to sentencing “careless.” [The statement can be read in the linked article.]

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Diplomatic staff from the embassies of the U.S., France, the Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, and New Zealand, as well as a representative of the European Union, attended the announcement of Melkonyants’s sentence in May.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43762657

• The European Union plans to expand its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to some assembled goods such as cars and washing machines to help close loopholes.
• The EU introduced CBAM to safeguard its industry during an ambitious shift to net zero by 2050 and prompt other parts of the world to make their output greener.
• The EU will propose measures to extend the levy to selected steel and aluminium-intensive downstream products, and will also unveil a proposal on how to support its own exporters via a new fund.

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The European Union plans to expand an incoming emissions charge on imported goods as part of efforts to strengthen a flagship climate policy that’s aimed at protecting the bloc’s industries during the green shift.

The EU has pressed ahead with its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism — which covers six emissions-intensive sectors — despite criticism from trading partners from the US to China. On Wednesday, it plans to propose measures to extend the levy to some assembled goods such as cars and washing machines to help close loopholes, according to a draft.

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The EU introduced CBAM to safeguard its industry during an ambitious shift to net zero by 2050 and prompt other parts of the world to make their output greener. The idea is that carbon-intensive sectors forced to comply with the bloc’s world-leading climate laws won’t face unfair competition from producers operating in nations with weaker rules. It comes amid concerns that Europe is deindustrializing under the strain of high energy prices and the green transition.

“The overall objective of the legislative proposal is to strengthen the effectiveness of CBAM, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change globally,” the EU says in the draft proposal, which is still subject to change. “This proposal will extend the scope of CBAM to selected steel and aluminium-intensive downstream products.”

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As of January this year, dozens of carbon-trading systems were in force globally, covering almost a fifth of global emissions, according to a report by non-profit organization IETA. Under EU rules, the fee importers will need to pay could be at least partially waived if a carbon levy has already been paid in the country where the goods were produced.

“The CBAM is deeply unpopular among major exporters to the EU, but it has already proven to be effective in pushing reticent countries toward building or expanding carbon-pricing efforts,” said Henry Lush, a carbon analyst at consultants Veyt.

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The European Commission on Wednesday will also unveil a proposal on how to support its own exporters via a new fund filled with a quarter of the proceeds collected from the levy over the next two years, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg. In addition, it will present detailed rules on calculating fees that importers will have to pay at the border, and measures to prevent circumvention.

The fees companies will have to pay will largely depend on the so-called default values, which will effectively set a price list for emissions when importers can’t provide verified, installation-specific data at the border, according to Robert Jeszke, head of Poland’s emissions management authority.

“In the early years, the most immediate behavioral effect is likely to be improved monitoring and verified reporting, rather than instant deep decarbonization across the board,” he said. “But CBAM’s financial materiality will rise over time.”

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43742474

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Following today’s unjust guilty verdict handed down to writer and media publisher Jimmy Lai, PEN International and English PEN have joined Hong Kong Watch and over 30 other civil society organisations in a joint letter addressed to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to to press for the release Jimmy Lai, a UK citizen, PEN writes in a statement on its website.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43734791

Just as Russian President Vladimir Putin was clear about his intentions toward Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping has left no doubt about his plans for Taiwan. The only way to deter him from pursuing "reunification" with the island is to make clear that the costs of doing so will be punishing.

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Last month, Japan’s new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, stated that Chinese aggression against the self-governing democratic island could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, warranting a military response.

Takaichi is right, but it is not just Japan that would be affected. Because Taiwan produces 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors and hosts one of its most vibrant globalized tech ecosystems, a blockade or invasion would send shockwaves through the global economy, potentially tilting the race for AI leadership in China’s favor. The fall of free Taiwan would also upend the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, placing much of Asia under China’s yoke, while cementing China’s chokehold on the South and East China Seas. For these reasons, a conflict over the island has the potential to escalate into a broader war.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43693292

Bloc’s justice commissioner says action needed to protect consumers from products sold on platforms such as Shein.

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[European Justice Commissioner] Michael McGrath [said] that the bloc was not protecting its citizens sufficiently from a rising tide of unsafe goods sent directly from China to customers’ homes.

“I am very concerned about the volume of unsafe products coming into the European Union. I think we have a duty to better protect EU citizens, and we also have a duty to European businesses to ensure that they are operating on a level playing field,” McGrath said.

The Irish commissioner said that “year in, year out” national authorities found products that were “very dangerous, with life-changing consequences for individuals” and which could “even cause loss of life”.

Customs and enforcement officers were overwhelmed, with only “a tiny proportion of the unsafe products coming into the European Union” being stopped, McGrath admitted. “That’s not good enough.”

Some 4.6bn low-value parcels entered the EU in 2024, and the number is continuing to double every two years, he said. Around 90 per cent come from China.

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He said when dangerous goods were identified, often by consumer groups, platforms usually got away with taking them off sale. “I think there needs to be a stronger deterrent,” he said.

Cosmetics and toys are among the most common types of products detected.

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Last month, Brussels said it was examining Shein’s sale of potentially illegal products, including childlike sex dolls and weapons, under its Digital Services Act, which regulates online content.

Brussels has asked for additional information from the company, which could lead to an in-depth investigation and fines.

It followed a move by Paris to suspend the site in France for allegedly advertising the products. France is also seeking to ban AliExpress, owned by Chinese tech group Alibaba, and Portugal-headquartered Joom for similar reasons.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43626010

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Any peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine will only last if Moscow makes real concessions, including limiting the size of its armed forces and curbing its growing military budget, the EU’s top diplomat has said.

In an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera published on Friday, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, warned that without meaningful concessions from Moscow, Europe risks facing new conflicts elsewhere.

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The problem for peace is Russia,” Kallas said, adding: “Even if Ukraine received security guarantees, without concessions from the Russian side, we would have other wars, perhaps not in Ukraine but elsewhere.”

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Kallas said that Kyiv and its allies “certainly welcome the momentum toward peace that the U.S. administration is showing,” but cautioned that Russia lacks a “genuine will for peace.”

“It [Russia] is constantly bombing Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure,” she told Corriere della Sera, stressing that “first we need to see a ceasefire.”

She said that in order to achieve sustainable peace, it is necessary to ensure that “Russia does not attack again”, adding that this requires clear concessions from Moscow.

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"We need concessions from Russia, whether that means limiting its army or restraining its military budget,” said Kallas, who served as Estonia’s prime minister from 2016 to 2021.

Moscow has significantly increased its military budget in recent years, diverting vast resources toward the defense industry to sustain its war in Ukraine.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43624826

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Their names are Yelizaveta and Mykhailo. She was born 16 years ago in Simferopol (Crimea); he, 12 years ago in Makiivka (Donetsk). Both were born in a free Ukraine, but have lived for more than a decade in territory occupied by the Russian army. Last week, Ukrainian lawyer and international law expert Katerina Rashevska showed their photos before the United States Senate. She denounced that the organization she works for in Kyiv, the Regional Center for Human Rights (RCHR), has documented 165 camps where Ukrainian children are subjected to a process of Russification. The case of Yelizaveta and Mykhailo is particularly noteworthy. Moscow temporarily sent the two children to the Songdowon camp in North Korea. They are the first identified Ukrainian minors to travel to the Kremlin’s major Asian ally as part of its campaign of child indoctrination.

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She [Yelizaveta] resided at the Songdowon camp, on the Sea of Japan, during July and August of 2024. She did so through the Russian youth organization Movement of the First, successor to the Soviet Young Pioneers. Yelizaveta traveled to Kim Jong-Un’s iron-fisted dictatorship as a participant in this nationalist movement. “Although she was born in Crimea, Ukraine, at first glance it appears that her identity has been completely erased and replaced with a Russian one,” the RCHR maintains.

Mykhailo visited the Songdowon facility from July 21 to August 1 last summer as part of a program between Moscow and Pyongyang. The boy is also a member of Movement of the First. Mykhailo was just a baby when the Russian army took over his hometown in the Donbas region. “He didn’t even have time to form his Ukrainian identity,” the RCHR stated.

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With due caution, the RCHR, which originated in Crimea but moved its offices to Kyiv after Russia’s conquest of the peninsula, acknowledges that in neither case would we be dealing with an “illegal deportation because the coercion consisted of 11 years of propaganda within the occupied education system.” We would, however, be at the final stage of a long process of “indoctrination and militarization” that could constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity. Last Thursday, a day after Rashevska’s testimony before the U.S. Senate, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets accused Russia of sending “abducted” Ukrainian children to North Korea.

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The RCHR has located 165 Russian indoctrination camps across occupied territory in Ukraine, Russia itself, its ally Belarus, and now North Korea, which in the last year has sent soldiers and weapons to Moscow to support the major offensive against Kyiv ... Behind this network allegedly is Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. She and Vladimir Putin are subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes.

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Yelizaveta and Mykhailo learned at the Songdowon camp, among other things, how to “destroy Japanese soldiers.” They also met North Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked and captured the U.S. spy ship Pueblo in the Sea of Japan. “The militarization and Russification cause severe trauma and violate the dignity of children,” [human rights lawyer] Rashevska stated ... “The ultimate goal,” the lawyer continued emotionally, “is for Ukrainians to kill each other.”

Yelizaveta and Mykhailo were sent to the camp as a reward for their “proactive” attitude, according to the RCHR. The investigation names other Ukrainian children, including some from the occupied Luhansk province, but it is unknown whether they were ultimately selected to participate in the program in North Korea. There is no evidence that the children who did travel were unable to return home after their stay in Songdowon ended.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43508884

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A high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in the UK has been the target of a harassment campaign involving letters containing fake, sexually explicit images of her sent to her neighbours.

Carmen Lau, 30, told the BBC she was "shocked" as the letters, delivered to addresses in Maidenhead from China, included her name and images made to look like she was either naked or in underwear and offering sexual services.

"The letters had a couple of very unpleasant images, AI-generated or photo-shopped... portraying me as a sex worker," she said.

Ms Lau is among thousands of Hong Kong residents to seek sanctuary in the UK following the imposition of a controversial new national security law.

The city had been a British colony until 1997, when it was handed to China on the proviso it retained its democratic autonomy for the following 50 years.

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Ms Lau moved to the UK in 2021 and has continued her advocacy work, frequently criticising China's Communist leadership and speaking out about China's controversial plans to build a "mega embassy" in London, warning that it could become a base for trans-national repression of China's critics abroad.

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"When I was in Hong Kong, pro-Beijing agents were trained to use gender-based harassment targeting pro-democracy activists," she said.

"But AI technology has enhanced this sort of intimidation. It is beyond just transnational repression - as a woman, it is very worrying."

Last year, up to a dozen of the same neighbours in Berkshire had received letters sent from Hong Kong, purporting to come from the police, offering a bounty payment of £95,000 to anyone who would hand Ms Lau over to the Chinese embassy in London.

The new letters - the existence of which was first reported by the Guardian - were sent last month from the Chinese territory of Macau, close to Hong Kong.

Another activist, Ted Hui, and his wife, who now live in Australia, have also been targeted with similar letters, the newspaper reports.

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Reynolds told the BBC that the government needed "to be very clear that this is not acceptable, we cannot have these letters sent to UK residents".

"We need to find out who sent these letters," he said, adding: "Officials in Beijing need to be held accountable."

Reynolds said he had raised the issue with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

A government spokesperson said: "The safety and security of Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance."

Thames Valley Police, meanwhile, said it was investigating reports of a malicious communications offence involving digitally altered images.

"We are engaging with the victim and, at this time, no arrests have been made," a spokesperson said.

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The UK government has previously insisted that any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities would not be tolerated.

It has said the UK continues to raise concerns about transnational repression directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, and has publicly condemned the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong Police Force.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43508565

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The scale of the imbalances with the European Union was thrown into stark relief days ago when Beijing disclosed its trade surplus with the bloc had widened to a record approaching $300 billion in 2025. The value of China’s exports to the EU is now more than double its imports, as Chinese sellers divert goods facing levies in the US.

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“The China shock in Europe is really starting to hit,” said Andrew Small, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “What you’ve now had in recent months has been much greater levels of urgency, not all of it playing out in public, but serious crisis meetings taking place.”

The result could be the biggest rethink of EU policy toward Beijing in at least a decade, according to Small, who previously advised von der Leyen on China. Sidetracked for years by the war in Ukraine and, more recently, by Donald Trump’s tariffs, the EU is finally focusing on China, preparing what Small describes as a “pent-up” mix of measures.

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The bloc unveiled a plan earlier this month to ensure its industries aren’t overtaken by global rivals, as competition intensifies with the US and China. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has also proposed setting up an economic security hub to better navigate trade tensions and counter the threat of cheap products flooding the bloc’s single market.

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Time is short for Europe. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc estimate competition from Chinese exports will cut gains in German, Spanish and Italian gross domestic product by 0.2 percentage point or more from next year through 2029.

The fallout from China’s exports might extend to almost a third of euro-area employment, according to economists at the European Central Bank, meaning it could possibly affect more than 50 million jobs.

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“External hostility toward goods exported by China will escalate, particularly in Europe,” said Stephen Jen, chief executive of London-based hedge fund Eurizon SLJ Capital. “This configuration of explosive trade and a cheap renminbi cannot be sustained.”

For China, there is little alternative. The EU’s $20 trillion economy is among the few markets big enough to absorb the goods it used to ship to the US.

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Propelling its exports is a currency undervalued in the view of many economists, making exports cheaper and imports more expensive. The yuan hit a decade low against the euro earlier this year.

“One of the real reasons that Chinese exports are going so fast is that the renminbi is very significantly undervalued relative to the euro,” said EU Chamber of Commerce in China President Jens Eskelund, using an alternative name for the currency. This acts as a “subsidy” for exports and suppresses Chinese consumers’ purchasing power, he said.

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China is now taking 7% of EU exports but supplying almost a quarter of all imports from outside the bloc. China’s deficit with the EU and the UK now accounts for nearly a third of its total trade differential with the world, which exceeded $1 trillion for the first time.

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In 2019, China ran a $25 billion deficit with Europe’s biggest economy. In the first 11 months of this year, that’s flipped to a $23 billion surplus due to the collapse in imports.

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As pressure builds to mount a response, countries could “not only use existing trade tools, like anti-dumping duties, but also develop new tools and approaches for addressing what is turning into a serious and unsustainable situation,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade negotiator now at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“We could see the EU and others take further measures to limit Chinese imports during the coming year,” she said.