Новости за 11.08.2020

Turkey's decision to send ships to disputed waters near Cyprus was a "serious escalation" which showed Turkey's "destabilising role" in the region, the Greek foreign ministry said Monday, after Turkish vessel Oruc Reis and two auxiliary ships set sail to look for oil and gas near Greece's island of Kastellorizo. The move violated a new Greek-Egyptian deal on maritime boundaries, but Turkey and Libya also have a new maritime deal.

Slovakia has expelled three Russian officials linked to the assassination, in broad daylight in Berlin last August, of a Russian exile by a Russian suspect. "There had been an abuse of visas issued at the Slovak general consulate in St Petersburg, and in this connection a serious crime was committed on the territory of another EU and Nato member state," the Slovak foreign ministry said.

Poland and Lithuania, Belarus' neighbours, have tried to lead the EU reaction to ongoing violence in Minsk, which so far claimed two lives.

A number of Italian MPs have pocketed Covid-19 relief funds that were meant to help the self-employed, reported Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday. The paper says at least five MPs spread out across the parties, including the far-right League party, the Five Star Movement, the Democratic party, and the Italia Viva, had taken the funds. The same MPs earn some €13,000 a month.

The European Union and the United States have started talks to revamp a data-sharing pact known as Privacy Shield. The agreement was recently invalidated by the European Court of Justice. It was supposed to protect the personal data of EU citizens when transferred to US-based firms, but has been proven a failure. The European Commission had, for years, defended the agreement, despite numerous warnings and US enforcement failures.

Germany, France, and Italy are pressing ahead with EU sanctions for Libya to prevent the flow of weapons to the warn-torn country. The German press agency DPA reports the three EU states have agreed on a blacklist of companies and individuals providing ships, aircraft, or other logistics for the transport of weapons to Libya. EU sources told DPA that some of the companies are from Kazakhstan, Jordan, and Turkey.

The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is recommending EU states imposes new restrictions to stem the transmission of Covid-19.