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Ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania say presence of Sergey Lavrov risks legitimising Russian war in Ukraine.

The foreign ministers of three Baltic states have announced that they will boycott a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was invited to the event.

In a statement on Tuesday, the officials from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania said that a decision to invite Lavrov to attend the summit in Skopje risked legitimising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation of Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov at the 30th Session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje,” the statement reads.

“It will only provide Russia with yet another propaganda opportunity.”

Separately, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, wrote in a statement on Facebook that the Ukrainian delegation would not take part in the meeting.

Nikolenko said Russia had abused the rules of consensus in the organisation, resorted to “blackmail and open threats” and had also been holding three Ukrainian OSCE representatives in prison for 500 days.

“In such conditions, the presence of a Russian delegation … at minister-level for the first time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine will only deepen the crisis into which Russia has driven the OSCE,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian foreign ministry.

Decided together with @krisjaniskarins & @GLandsbergis to not attend the OSCE ministerial council in Skopje if Russia’s foreign minister Lavrov will participate.

My view: Lavrov belongs at a special tribunal instead of the OSCE table.

Our full statement:https://t.co/Dkb1gn9T71 pic.twitter.com/J60h9DsTkt

— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) November 28, 2023

The move comes as Ukraine’s Western allies sought to rally more support for Kyiv, as fighting continues with no clear end in sight.

Speaking before a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged members to “stay the course” in their support for Ukraine, as both the United States and European Union struggle to agree on further military aid.

The OSCE, a 57-member organisation first started during the Cold War with the goal of lowering tensions between East and West, has a rotating presidency currently held by North Macedonia, whose foreign minister invited Lavrov to the summit that is set to begin on Thursday.

Lavrov said on Monday that he would attend, in what would be his first trip to a NATO member since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters on Tuesday, North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani defended the decision and argued that the OSCE should be seen as a neutral forum.

“Lavrov is not coming to Skopje, in a way. Lavrov is coming to the OSCE just as he went to [the] UN in New York a few months ago,” Osmani said. “I won’t be meeting him as the foreign minister of North Macedonia, but as the OSCE chairman in office.”

However, Osmani also took a firm stance on Ukraine, saying that he would tell Lavrov that “we have turned [the] OSCE into a platform for political and legal accountability of the Russian Federation for its deeds in Ukraine, and we will continue to do so”.

A court in Russia has extended the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, until 30 January 2024.

Mr Gershkovich, a US citizen, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on 29 March on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

He is the first US journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War.

The reporter denies all the charges but will remain in prison until his trial.

Ukraine war latest: Follow live

Russia claims that Mr Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” and the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said he was trying to obtain military secrets.

The extended pre-trial detention – which was ruled upon by Moscow’s Lefortovo district court on Tuesday – was for “up to 10 months,” but the court set the deadline for 30 January in 63 days’ time.

The decision prompted backlash from The Wall Street Journal, which said that Russia’s continued imprisonment of Mr Gershkovich was a “brazen and outrageous attack” on a free press.

It called for his immediate release.

“Evan has now been unjustly imprisoned for nearly 250 days, and every day is a day too long,” the Journal said in a statement.

“The accusations against him are categorically false and his continued imprisonment is a brazen and outrageous attack on a free press, which is critical for a free society. We continue to stand with Evan and call for his immediate release.”

President Joe Biden has previously called Mr Gershkovich’s detention “totally illegal” while the US embassy in Moscow said it was “deeply concerned” by the court’s latest decision.

Read more:
Nothing gives me hope, says mother of Evan Gershkovich
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Diplomats suspect that Mr Gershkovich was detained as part of broader efforts by Russia to build up a number of arrested US citizens who could be swapped for Russian citizens – and convicted spies – detained in the West.

But Russia has said there could be no exchange involving the reporter until a verdict is reached in his case.

A date for his trial is yet to be announced.

Born to Soviet migrants and raised in New Jersey, Mr Gershkovich moved to Moscow in late 2017 to join the English-language Moscow Times, and subsequently worked for the French news agency Agence France-Presse.

He joined The Wall Street Journal in 2022.

He has appealed against his detention several times, each time appearing in the glass cages used for suspects in Russian courts, but they have all been rejected.

The US State Department has repeatedly told all citizens to leave Russia immediately due to “the potential for harassment and the singling out of US citizens for detention by Russian government security officials”.

Former WWE star Tammy “Sunny” Sytch has been jailed for more than 17 years for a car crash that killed a 75-year-old man.

Sytch, 50, had pleaded no contest to the fatal collision that killed Julian Lasseter in March 2022.

She was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz car which collided with a Kia that was stopped at a traffic signal, police said.

The WWE Hall of Famer was alleged to have had a blood alcohol content three-and-a-half times the legal limit, according to reports.

The former wrestler appeared in court in Florida in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs on and broke down in tears while addressing the room.

Sytch said: “A precious life was lost that tragic day and I’m so incredibly sorry for that. I would ask that you give me the opportunity to atone for what I’ve done.”

At one point, she reportedly addressed the victim’s family saying: “I know my words are not enough but please know that I think about you every day.”

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Known as “Sunny” in the ring, Sytch is widely considered to have been the WWE’s first “diva” – the term used by the organisation to describe female performers.

The first 10 workers have been rescued from a tunnel in India after being trapped for more than two weeks, NDTV has reported.

The labourers became stuck after a highway tunnel in Uttarakhand state collapsed on 12 November.

So-called rat miners were brought in to drill through rocks and gravel by hand after a large drilling machine broke down.

Once the men had been reached, three teams of four rescuers were due to enter the area they were trapped in.

Workers being rescued from tunnel in India – follow live updates

Their job was to prepare the workers to be pulled through a pipe to safety, said Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain from the National Disaster Management Authority.

“We have been involved in this for more than 400 hours and are taking all safety precautions until the end,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

Billionaire tycoon Elon Musk, who has been accused of platforming anti-Semitic content on his social media platform X, on Monday met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Israel.

Accompanied by Netanyahu, the tech billionaire also visited a kibbutz that was raided by Hamas fighters on October 7, during an assault that left 1,200 people dead and triggered Israel’s deadliest-ever military assault on Gaza. Nearly 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave.

Musk was said to have backed Israel’s war on Gaza after the trip that came during the truce between Hamas and Israel.

Musk also agreed to not provide internet access to Gaza through his satellite company Starlink without Israeli approval.

Here is what to know about Musk’s visit to Israel and its significance.

Why did Elon Musk visit Israel?

Musk’s visit to Israel, which came amid a truce between Hamas and Israel, follows backlash against a post on X that many have labelled as anti-Semitic, triggering a wave of advertisement withdrawals from the platform by corporate giants such as Apple and IBM, potentially costing X millions of dollars.

Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a social media post accusing Jewish people of pushing “dialectical hatred” against white people. Musk’s remarks received condemnation in the United States from the White House for being “abhorrent”.

Musk has also been accused of allowing advertisements from major corporations next to neo-Nazi and white nationalist content.

X is also facing a probe from the European Union into the spread of disinformation and violent content about Israel’s war on Gaza.

Musk has either criticised or denied findings from organisations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Center for Countering Digital Hate that X has witnessed an increase in hate speech since he became CEO last year.

X has sued Media Matters after accusing the media watchdog of manipulating an algorithm to drive away advertisers.

The watchdog has called the lawsuit “frivolous”.

Where did Musk go and what did he say during the trip?

Escorted by Netanyahu and other security personnel, Musk toured the Kfar Aza kibbutz, attacked by Hamas fighters on October 7. He was also shown footage of the Hamas attack and met some of the families of people taken into captivity from Israel.

“It was jarring to see the scene of the massacre,” said Musk later in an X Spaces conversation with Netanyahu, adding Israel has “no choice” but to eliminate Hamas.

In the brief life-streamed conversation on X, Musk and Netanyahu agreed that Hamas needs to be eradicated – a mission that Israel has used as justification for its military offensive that has claimed overwhelmingly civilian lives.

“You first have to get rid of the poisonous regime as you did in Germany, as you did in Japan. Yeah, in World War II,” said Netanyahu.

Musk replied, “There’s no choice. There’s no choice.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Musk during a meeting that he had a huge role to play in the global fight against anti-Semitism.

“We have to do whatever is necessary to stop the hate,” Musk replied, according to a statement released by Herzog’s office.

Why did Netanyahu escort him weeks after asking him to condemn anti-Semitism?

On the X space, Netanyahu said that Musk’s visit to Israel points to his solidarity with Israel.

“The fact that you came here, I think, speaks volumes to your commitment to try to secure a better future”, he said.

Netanyahu reminded Musk that the last time they spoke, the two had a conversation about artificial intelligence. He told the tech CEO that “great talents are available” in Israel and pointed to Israeli manufacturing of iPhones and operations of the navigation app, Waze.

Netanyahu previously met Musk in California on September 18 where the Israeli prime minister urged him to strike a balance between protecting free expression and fighting hate speech after weeks of controversy over anti-Semitism on X.

Musk responded by saying he was against anti-Semitism and against anything that “promotes hate and conflict”, repeating his previous statements that X would not promote hate speech.

An Israeli government source described Monday’s visit as a follow-up to the September meeting.

Why Musk’s trip is being criticised?

Musk’s visit to Israel is being criticised by some supporters of Israel and Palestine.

Esther Solomon, editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, blasted Musk’s trip as a “PR visit” in a post on X.

In an opinion piece on the news site, Haaretz correspondent Ben Samuels also said Israel’s embrace of Musk is a “betrayal of Jews” and a “stain on Netanyahu’s legacy”.

Musk has also been questioned online for not visiting Gaza despite the deaths and destruction wrought on the territory by Israeli bombs.

Blatant antisemite & publisher of antisemitism Elon Musk should be persona non grata in Israel. Instead, Netanyahu – plumbing new depths of amoral sycophancy – gifts him a PR visit to the kibbutzim devastated by Hamas. Profane, venal, bilious, both of themhttps://t.co/zGc10w8Y9H pic.twitter.com/XMkitJclUt

— Esther Solomon (@EstherSolomon) November 27, 2023

What has Musk decided about Starlink access to Gaza?

Musk reached an agreement with Israel “in principle” that internet access to Gaza may be provided through Starlink, but only using units operated by Israel and with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications.

In October, CEO Musk had said that “Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognised aid organisations in Gaza.”

As Gaza plunged into darkness after its communications blackout in October, social media users pleaded with Musk to provide the besieged enclave with internet access through Starlink.

The company uses satellite technology instead of cable technology to provide internet access, and also came to the aid of Ukraine when the country faced its own blackouts during its war with Russia.

Musk’s instant provision of Starlink access to Ukraine prompted people to call him out for having “double standards” when it came to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israel has also previously opposed Starlink connectivity for Gaza, contesting that Hamas would use it for “terrorist activities”.