Muristek
Brussels, June 4
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has met Finland's PM and spoken to Turkey's President as he seeks to overcome Turkish resistance to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.
Stoltenberg, who visited Washington this week, tweeted that he met with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin while there and discussed "the need to address Turkey's concerns and move forward" with the Finnish and Swedish membership applications.
Russia's war in Ukraine has pushed the Nordic countries to seek NATO membership, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Sweden and Finland of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists.
Stoltenberg said he had a "constructive phone call" with Erdogan, calling Turkey a "valued ally" and praising Turkish efforts to broker a deal to ensure the safe transportation of grain supplies from Ukraine amid global food shortages caused by Russia's invasion.
Erdogan's office released a statement in which it said the President had emphasised that Sweden and Finland should "make it clear that they have stopped supporting terrorism," have lifted defense export restrictions on Turkey and are "ready to show alliance solidarity." — AP
17th century monastery attacked
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Svyatohirsk Lavra Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in war-torn eastern Ukraine on Saturday, engulfing its main church in flames. Reuters
'West to blame for food, energy crises'
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday blamed the West for emerging global food and energy crises and repeated his government's offers of safe passage for ships exporting grain from Ukraine if mines are removed from the waters. "Of course, we are now seeing attempts to shift the responsibility for what is happening on the world food market, the emerging problems in this market, onto Russia," he said. AP