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Lausanne, Switzerland — The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has backed the World Anti-Doping Agency in a row over its handling of positive drug tests by 23 Chinese swimmers.

“We have full confidence in WADA and the regulations and that WADA have followed their regulations,” Bach told AFP in an exclusive interview Friday at the committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

WADA has faced criticism since media reports last weekend revealed that the Chinese swimmers tested positive for heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) — which can enhance performance — ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The swimmers were not suspended or sanctioned after WADA accepted the explanation of Chinese authorities that the results were caused by food contamination at a hotel where they had stayed.

The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, has called the situation a “potential cover-up” with the positive tests never made public at the time.

Bach stressed that WADA was run independently, despite being funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and he said he had learned of the positive tests via the media.

The IOC was awaiting the results of a new investigation ordered by WADA on Thursday, but Bach said the Chinese swimmers could compete at the Paris Olympics this year if cleared.

“If the procedures are followed, there is no reason for them not to be there,” the 70-year-old former German fencer added.

‘Iconic’ Paris

The Paris Games are set to be important to “revive the Olympic spirit” after the last COVID-affected edition in Tokyo in 2021 saw sport play out in empty stadiums, Bach said.

The hugely ambitious opening ceremony being planned by French organizers remains one of the biggest doubts, with infrastructure for the Games either already built or on track.

Instead of a traditional parade through the athletics stadium on the first night, teams are set to sail down the Seine on a flotilla of river boats in front of up to 500,000 spectators.

Worries about a terror attack have led to persistent speculation that the ceremony might need to be scrapped or scaled back dramatically.

“The very meticulous, very professional approach (from French authorities) gives us all the confidence that we can have this opening ceremony on the river Seine and that this opening ceremony will be iconic, will be unforgettable for the athletes, and everybody will be safe and secure,” Bach said.

Recent grumbling from Paris residents and negative media reports were typical of the run-up to any Olympics, he said, and also a symptom of broader anxiety.

“It’s part of our zeitgeist because we are living in uncertain times. And there are people who are skeptical. Some are even scared. Some are worried about their future,” the IOC president said.

Diplomatic tightrope

As with previous Olympics, international politics and diplomacy are set to intrude on the world’s biggest sporting event.

Bach reiterated his support for the IOC’s policy of excluding Russia from the Paris Games over the “blatant violation” of the Olympic charter when it annexed Ukrainian sporting organizations.

A small number of Russian athletes will be able to compete as neutrals in Paris, providing they have not declared public support for the invasion of Ukraine or are associated with the security forces.

Any Russian athlete that expressed political views on the field of play, including the “Z” sign that has come to symbolize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, could be excluded.

“Immediately a disciplinary procedure would be opened and the necessary measures and or sanctions be taken,” Bach said, adding: “This can go up to immediate exclusion from the Games.”

Addressing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, he said between six and eight Palestinian athletes were expected to compete in Paris, with some set to be invited by the IOC even if they fail to qualify.

Bach dismissed any suggestion that the IOC had treated Russia differently over its invasion of Ukraine compared with Israel and its war in Gaza.

“The situation between Israel and Palestine is completely different,” he said.

He said he had been even-handed in his public statements on Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.

“From day one, we expressed how horrified we were, first on the seventh of October and then about the war and its horrifying consequences,” Bach said.

Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed 34,356 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Bach is in the last year of what should be a second and final four-year term according to IOC rules.

But some IOC members have suggested changing the organization’s statutes to enable him to stay at the helm — an issue he declined to address.

“The IOC Ethics Commission has given me the strict recommendation not to address this question before the end of (the) Paris (Olympics) and I think they have good reasons for this,” he said.
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KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwanda says it’s ready to receive migrants from the United Kingdom after British Parliament this week approved a long-stalled and controversial bill seeking to stem the tide of people crossing the English Channel in small boats by deporting some of them to the East African country.

There is even a place ready and waiting for the migrants — a refurbished Hope Hostel in the vibrant upscale neighborhood of Kagugu, an area of the Rwandan capital of Kigali that is home to many expats and several international schools.

The hostel once housed college students whose parents died in the 1994 genocide, this African nation’s most horrific period in history when an estimated 800,000 Tutsi were killed by extremist Hutu in massacres that lasted over 100 days.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged the deportation flights would begin in July but has refused to provide details or say how many people would be deported.

Rwanda government’s deputy spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda told The Associated Press on Tuesday that authorities here have been planning for the migrants’ arrival for two years.

“Even if they arrive now or tomorrow, all arrangements are in place,” he said.

The plan was long held up in British courts and by opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane. It envisages deporting to Rwanda some of those who enter the U.K. illegally and migrant advocates have vowed to continue to fight against the plan.

The measure is also meant to be a deterrent to migrants who risk their lives in leaky, inflatable boats in hopes that they will be able to claim asylum once they reach Britain. The U.K. also signed a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for migrants, and adopted new legislation declaring Rwanda to be a safe country.

“The Rwanda critics and the U.K. judges who earlier said Rwanda is not a safe country have been proven wrong,” Mukuralinda said. “Rwanda is safe.”

The management at the four-story Hope Hostel says the facility is ready and can accommodate 100 people at full capacity. The government says it will serve as a transit center and that more accommodations would be made available as needed.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Britain every year.

After they arrive from Britain, the migrants will be shown to their rooms to rest, after which they will be offered food and given some orientation points about Kigali and Rwanda, said hostel manager Ismael Bakina.

Tents will be set up within the hostel’s compound for processing their documentation and for various briefings. The site is equipped with security cameras, visible across the compound.

Within the compound are also entertainment places, a mini-soccer field, a basketball and a volleyball court as well as a red-carpeted prayer room. For those who want to light up, “there is even a smoking room,” Bakina explained.

Meals will be prepared in the hostel’s main kitchen but provisions are also being made for those who want to prepare their own meals, he said. The migrants will be free to walk outside the hostel and even visit the nearby Kigali city center.

“We will have different translators, according to (their) languages,” Bakina added, saying they include English and Arabic.

The government has said the migrants will have their papers processed within the first three months. Those who want to remain in Rwanda will be allowed to do so while authorities will also assist those who wish to return to their home countries.

While in Rwanda, migrants who obtain legal status — presumably for Britain — will also be processed, authorities have said, though it’s unclear what that means exactly.

For those who choose to stay, Mukurilinda said Rwanda’s government will bear full financial and other responsibilities for five years, after which they will be considered integrated into the society.

At that point, they can start managing on their own.
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Washington — British officials formally charged two men Friday with spying on behalf of China in the latest in a series of European arrests of suspected Chinese intelligence agents.

The two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, were charged with violations of the Official Secrets Act by “providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China” between 2021 and February 2023.

Their arrests on Monday occurred at the same time that German authorities arrested three people suspected of spying for China and leaking information on military technology. German authorities separately arrested an assistant to a far-right European Parliament member.

The Chinese Embassy in London said the charges Cash and Berry face are “completely fabricated” and “malicious slander,” a part of British “anti-China political manipulation.”

Dominic Murphy, who leads the counterterrorism command of London’s Metropolitan Police, told The Associated Press the charges are the result of “an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations.”

Cash, a parliamentary researcher with the governing Conservative Party, and Berry, an academic, have been granted bail and released after a court appearance in London. They will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing on May 10.

Cash maintains his innocence, while Berry and his lawyers have provided no public statements.

British and EU officials have warned of the threat that Chinese covert activities pose, with Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, warning in 2022 that China has sought to target and influence British political officials.

Last month, the U.S. and U.K. governments announced new sanctions against hackers with ties to the Chinese government, and both countries accused the hackers of targeting government officials and businesses at the direction of Chinese government leadership.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press. 
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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced a military aid package for Ukraine valued at up to $6 billion. Analysts say the aid is desperately needed to help Ukraine regain the upper hand after months of having to ration ammunition. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has details.
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Warsaw, Poland — Olga drew her index finger abruptly across her neck as she recounted the threats her husband leveled at her after he returned to Russia, wounded from fighting in Ukraine.

“I’m going to cut your head and hands off and beat you up. I’ll burn you in acid,” he threatened her, she said.

Even before her husband went off to fight in Ukraine, he was a violent alcoholic, Olga — not her real name — told AFP.

When he returned home seven months later, he was even worse. And now he was a war hero, endowed with a sense of impunity and moral righteousness.

“He became even more radical,” she said. “He said that he was untouchable, that nothing could happen to him.”

Domestic violence

Long before Russia invaded Ukraine, rights groups had sounded the alarm over the country’s woeful record on protecting women from domestic violence.

In 2017, lawmakers — with the blessing of the Orthodox Church — reduced penalties for Russians convicted of beating family members.

And the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin has in recent years argued that abuse within families should be resolved by families, not law enforcement.

With the war in Ukraine, campaigners say that an already widespread problem could now be getting even worse.

While there are no publicly available figures on the scope of violence perpetrated by veterans, campaigners have identified a slew of survivors.

Local media, too, is awash with reports of violent crimes committed by ex-soldiers.

AFP spoke to two Russian women about the violence they had suffered from veterans of the war in Ukraine. Both requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Their testimonies are rare, given how the Kremlin has sought to exalt veterans fighting in a war it paints as existential.

Moscow has brought in new laws to criminalize criticism of the Russian army and its soldiers.

‘Ice-cold’ eyes

Olga’s life in her isolated Russian town had long been marked by violence.

Her husband was an alcoholic who regularly raped and beat her, stole money and monitored her every social interaction, she said.

Over and over, he would beg for forgiveness after an altercation, only to become violent again, she said.

So, when he volunteered for the army in October 2022, Olga hoped that proximity to “death and tears” might calm him down and sober him up.

Her hopes were dashed. He returned from the front earlier than expected to recover from a shrapnel wound.

“The next evening, I had a nervous breakdown,” she said.

“He was totally sober, but his eyes were shining. His eyes were ice-cold. He started insulting me,” she recalled.

Tensions were building at home that evening and Olga called an ambulance for refuge, pre-empting the moment he would raise his hand at her.

“If you let me out of this vehicle, he will kill me,” she told the ambulance crew.

AFP independently reviewed threats Olga received by text message, as well as reports compiled by the rights advocacy group Consortium that support the women’s testimonies.

‘Dreams of justice’

The police took a statement from Olga and told her husband to leave, but otherwise took no action, she said — a practice that rights campaigners have denounced for years.

Her husband remained at liberty, and free to spend the equivalent of the 30,000 euros he had received as compensation for being wounded.

The couple eventually divorced, and Olga’s ex-husband returned to Ukraine months later in December 2023 — but not before assaulting her one final time and robbing her of money.

Ever since her former partner had left for Ukraine again, Olga said she had become preoccupied with the idea of holding him accountable — “dreams of justice,” as she called it.

What triggered it was a television show she watched on domestic violence. “It felt as if they were speaking directly to me.”

The program prompted Olga to file a complaint with law enforcement and telephone Consortium for advice on how to protect herself.

Sofia Rusova from the group told AFP she had received around 10 reports like Olga’s involving veterans last year alone.

She echoed warnings voiced by other advocacy groups that the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine had exacerbated domestic abuse in Russia and normalized extreme violence.

“The consequences may be felt for a decade,” she warned.

‘Won’t be punished’

The placing of veterans on a pedestal — part of a push by the Kremlin to shore up support for the devastating conflict — has endowed them with a feeling that they are above the law, she added.

“Women often tell me that their attacker said he wouldn’t be punished,” Rusova told AFP. “These men flaunt their status.”

But that feeling among veterans also has roots in the failure of the Russian judicial system to tackle domestic violence, she added.

“The system sometimes failed to defend women before, so these men think it will keep failing women, and that the state will be on their side,” Rusova said.

Regional media outlets across Russia regularly publish reports on violent crimes committed by servicemen or former members of the Wagner paramilitary group that fought for the Kremlin in Ukraine.

While in some cases, the defendants are handed long prison sentences, sometimes they get off lightly.

In separate cases in the southern regions of Volgograd and Rostov near Ukraine, two veterans were allowed to walk free after having stabbed their girlfriends. One of the victims died.

The main difficulty in bringing them to justice is that Russia has limited mechanisms for prosecuting violence within the family.

Russia in 2017 decriminalized certain forms of domestic violence, classifying them as an administrative offence and not a crime, with reduced penalties.

The weakness of legal protection for women means there is little incentive for law enforcement to go after suspects — or for those among victims to report the problem in the first place, say activists.

This month, AFP asked the Kremlin to comment on the slew of reports in local press describing bouts of violence among veterans.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had recently met with officials from the interior ministry and that the issue had not been raised.

“This kind of violence was not among the areas of concern,” he said.

‘Pure horror’

The Kremlin has also spoken in favor of the military’s recruitment drive in prisons, paving the way for dangerous criminals to return to society if they survive a months-long battlefield stint.

Rusova, from the Consortium campaign group, said several Russian prisons had confirmed to her that people convicted of domestic violence had been recruited to fight in Ukraine.

One woman had voiced relief when she learned her abusive husband had been killed in Ukraine, she told AFP.

Nadezhda had to face her abusive ex-husband, a veteran of the Wagner group, when he returned from the front a year ago even more aggressive than before.

The Wagner group suffered tens of thousands of losses during some of the bloodiest battles of the war before it was dissolved by Moscow after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged a short-lived rebellion.

When her former husband returned, he had a serious drug problem, said Nadezhda. But he insisted she pay due respect to his service with what he saw as an elite fighting force.

She struggled for months with feelings of shame and uncertainty over whether she should seek help, she said.

Finally, after one outburst of violence that got her fearing for the lives of her children, she fled to a shelter at the end of last year.

A sympathetic police officer helped her file a legal complaint that — to her surprise — led to her ex-husband being arrested.

“We had got used to the nightmare,” she said. “We lived with it. We thought it wasn’t serious.”

“But now that we’re processing it all, we understand that it was pure horror,” she said.

Nadezhda and her children are now receiving psychological support. But even though her ex-husband is behind bars, she is haunted by the fear he might someday return seeking revenge.

“Still, you walk around, and there’s this fear that he’ll jump out,” Nadezhda told AFP.

“There’s always the feeling he’s out there with a knife. It’s just so ingrained in my head.”
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WASHINGTON — Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia, in part because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate without detection or coming under attack, two U.S. military officials told The Associated Press.

The U.S. agreed to send 31 Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks, which cost about $10 million apiece, were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.

But the battlefield has changed substantially since then, notably by the ubiquitous use of Russian surveillance drones and hunter-killer drones. Those weapons have made it more difficult for Ukraine to protect the tanks when they are quickly detected and hunted by Russian drones or rounds.

Five of the 31 tanks have already been lost to Russian attacks.

The proliferation of drones on the Ukrainian battlefield means “there isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection,” a senior defense official told reporters Thursday.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide an update on U.S. weapons support for Ukraine before Friday’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.

For now, the tanks have been moved from the front lines, and the U.S. will work with the Ukrainians to reset tactics, said Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Adm. Christopher Grady and a third defense official who confirmed the move on the condition of anonymity.

“When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armor in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk,” Grady told the AP in an interview this week, adding that tanks are still important.

“Now, there is a way to do it,” he said. “We’ll work with our Ukrainian partners, and other partners on the ground, to help them think through how they might use that, in that kind of changed environment now, where everything is seen immediately.”

News of the sidelined tanks comes as the U.S. marks the two-year anniversary of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries that meets monthly to assess Ukraine’s battlefield needs and identify where to find needed ammunition, weapons or maintenance to keep Ukraine’s troops equipped.

Recent aid packages, including the $1 billion military assistance package signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday, also reflect a wider reset for Ukrainian forces in the evolving fight.

The U.S. is expected to announce Friday that it also will provide about $6 billion in long-term military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said, adding that it will include much sought after munitions for Patriot air defense systems. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

The $1 billion package emphasized counter-drone capabilities, including .50-caliber rounds specifically modified to counter drone systems; additional air defenses and ammunition; and a host of alternative, and cheaper, vehicles, including Humvees, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles.

The U.S. also confirmed for the first time that it is providing long-range ballistic missiles known as ATACMs, which allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian-occupied areas without having to advance and be further exposed to either drone detection or fortified Russian defenses.

While drones are a significant threat, the Ukrainians also have not adopted tactics that could have made the tanks more effective, one of the U.S. defense officials said.

After announcing it would provide Ukraine the Abrams tanks in January 2023, the U.S. began training Ukrainians at Grafenwoehr Army base in Germany that spring on how to maintain and operate them. They also taught the Ukrainians how to use them in combined arms warfare — where the tanks operate as part of a system of advancing armored forces, coordinating movements with overhead offensive fires, infantry troops and air assets.

As the spring progressed and Ukraine’s highly anticipated counteroffensive stalled, shifting from tank training in Germany to getting Abrams on the battlefield was seen as an imperative to breach fortified Russian lines. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on his Telegram channel in September that the Abrams had arrived in Ukraine.

Since then, however, Ukraine has only employed them in a limited fashion and has not made combined arms warfare part of its operations, the defense official said.

During its recent withdrawal from Avdiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine that was the focus of intense fighting for months, several tanks were lost to Russian attacks, the official said.

A long delay by Congress in passing new funding for Ukraine meant its forces had to ration ammunition, and in some cases they were only able to shoot back once for every five or more times they were targeted by Russian forces.

In Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces were badly outgunned and fighting back against Russian glide bombs and hunter-killer drones with whatever ammunition they had left.
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Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Friday that Russia’s capture of a major nuclear power plant threatened a radiation catastrophe, as the country marked the anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine in the first days of its 2022 invasion.

Both sides regularly accuse each other of endangering safety at the site, Europe’s largest nuclear facility.

“For 785 days now, Russian terrorists have held the Zaporizhzhia NPP hostage,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

“It is the entire world’s responsibility to put pressure on Russia to ensure that ZNPP is liberated and returned to full Ukrainian control, as well as that all Ukrainian nuclear facilities are protected from Russian strikes,” he added.

“This is the only way to prevent new radiation disasters, which the Russian occupiers’ presence at ZNPP constantly threatens.”

The call came 38 years after the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.

The incident, which is considered the world’s worst nuclear disaster, contaminated vast areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Swathes of western Europe were also exposed to radiation.

“The Chernobyl disaster demonstrated how rapidly deadly threats can emerge,” Zelenskyy said Friday.

Russian forces captured the decommissioned Chernobyl facility on February 24, 2022 — the first day of its invasion, when it sent troops into Ukraine from Belarus — but abandoned it weeks later.

Russian troops have controlled the Zaporizhzhia plant since early March 2022.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has dispatched inspectors to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, has expressed concern over safety at the plant.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of firing drones at the power station, while Kyiv says Moscow has militarized the facility and is holding it “hostage.”
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Thirty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, hundreds of people work to dismantle the long-defunct power plant and control the contaminated exclusion zone, a 30-kilometer area surrounding it. Lesia Bakalets has the story of a man who lived through the tragedy and still works there.
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