US, European Allies Ready Additional Sanctions After Putin Recognizes Breakaway Ukraine Regions

The United States and Britain are set to announce additional sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, with European Union allies preparing their own measures, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to recognize the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent states.

A senior U.S. official, while declining to give specifics in a phone briefing with reporters late Monday, said the further U.S. measures would “hold Russia accountable for this clear violation of international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as of Russia’s own international commitments.”

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss used similar language in previewing action by her government, while French and German representatives spoke about firm measures being prepared as they addressed a late Monday meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

For weeks, the U.S. and European allies warned of severe consequences for Russia if it launched a fresh invasion of Ukraine, a possibility viewed with growing fear as Russia deployed 150,000 troops along with military equipment along its border with Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued an initial set of sanctions Monday in response to Putin’s recognition of the breakaway regions and his order to deploy what he called Russian peacekeeping forces.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters that the first round of sanctions was specifically tied to those actions and did not represent the “swift and severe economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine.”

Biden’s order prohibits new investment, trade and financing by Americans in those areas. “This wasn’t a speech just about Russia’s security,” a senior administration official said. “It was an attack on the very idea of a sovereign and independent Ukraine. He (Putin) made clear that he views Ukraine historically as part of Russia. And he made a number of false claims about Ukraine contention that seemed designed to excuse possible military action. This was a speech to the Russian people to justify war.”

Displaced civilians from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions rest in a sport hall in Taganrog, Russia, Feb. 21, 2022.

The official would not say whether plans were still on for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, later this week. That meeting was intended to set the scene for a possible summit between Putin and Biden, with the United States saying both were predicated on Russia not invading Ukraine.

“We’ll continue to pursue diplomacy until the tanks roll,” the official said. “We are under no illusions about what is likely to come next. And we’re prepared to respond decisively when it does.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday the Russian side was still “ready for negotiations.”

Blinken is scheduled to host Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for a meeting in Washington on Tuesday after speaking with him by phone Monday to “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine,” the State Department said in a statement.

Analyst and author Angela Stent of the Brookings Institution said Monday that a summit between Biden and Putin is an especially fraught proposition now.

“At this point, I think, to have another in-person meeting between President Biden and President Putin without some conditions being laid for the Russians, without them showing some goodwill or sincere interest in discussions by reversing some of the things that they’re doing, I think it makes no sense to do that,” she said to reporters and analysts. “Because, you know, otherwise we’re just playing into the Kremlin’s hands, and it looks as if they’re going to go ahead and do whatever they want to do irrespective of these negotiations.”

Author and analyst Steven Pifer agreed.

“I don’t want to downplay diplomacy,” he said. “But at this point in time, I would think that there would have to be some indication to the White House that a meeting with Putin would actually have a chance of yielding something. And right now, again, based on the experience that (French President Emmanuel) Macron had, that (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz had, it doesn’t seem like these meetings – I think they are ego boosters for the Russian president, but they don’t seem to be doing anything to turn him from a course which has been one of continual escalation of the crisis.”

Biden spoke to both the German and French leaders Monday, and, separately, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. In both calls, the White House said, “The leaders strongly condemned President Putin’s decision to recognize the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine as ‘independent.’”

A map showing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Washington was immediately joined by the European Union in announcing sanctions, with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel calling Putin’s recognition of these separatist areas “a blatant violation of international law.”

The Kremlin said Putin informed the leaders of France and Germany Monday of his decision and then signed documents declaring the regions as no longer part of Ukraine.

Putin, from a desk at the Kremlin, delivered a lengthy televised address to the Russian people, outlining his version of the history of national boundaries in Europe and the 1990s breakup of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, chairs a Security Council meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 21, 2022.

He contended that Ukraine was “never” a true nation but rather historically a part of Russia.

About 14,000 people have been killed in the flashpoint Donbas territory since 2014 in fighting between pro-Moscow separatists and Kyiv’s forces, trench warfare battles that started after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

The U.S. and its NATO allies have contended that Russia is staging false-flag operations in Donetsk and Luhansk to make it appear Ukrainian forces are an increasing threat. Kyiv says it does not intend to launch a full-scale attack on the region in eastern Ukraine, and the West says Russia is attempting to justify grounds for an invasion to protect Russian sympathizers.

The separatists want Russia to sign friendship treaties and give them military aid to protect them from what they contend is an ongoing Ukrainian military offensive.

The Russian parliament last week called on Putin to formally recognize the DNR and LNR, both of which declared independence from Ukraine in 2014.

Putin said there was “no prospect” for peace to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine, but Moscow has contended it has no plans to invade Ukraine.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. VOA’s Chris Hannas contributed to the report.

RFE/RL seeks hearing from European Court of Human Rights in its priority case against Russia – USAGM

RFE/RL seeks hearing from European Court of Human Rights in its priority case against Russia

February 17, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Moscow Bureau (RFE/RL) and its general director, Andrey Shary, filed their final written submission with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on February 9, asking the Court for a hearing to consider the merits. The brief was submitted in response to the Russian government’s “Written Observations” on RFE/RL’s legal case challenging Russia’s “foreign agent” laws, which have resulted in fines worth millions of dollars being imposed on the bureau and Mr. Shary since January 2021.

In their brief, RFE/RL has maintained its argument that Russia’s “foreign agent” content-labeling law and associated fines violate the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Russia is legally bound to uphold. RFE/RL also updated the Court on the worsening climate for its journalists in Russia, as evidenced by the addition of numerous reporters to the registry of “foreign agents,” the issuance of more than 70 demands from Russia’s media regulator that RFE/RL delete from its websites articles about investigations by Alexey Navalny’s organization, and a legally groundless judgment against RFE/RL for accurately reporting on Marshal Georgy Zhukov’s recommendation during World War II that surrendering soldiers and their families be threatened with execution.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said, “The Kremlin, in its effort to exert complete information control over the Russian public, is attempting to criminalize journalism and smear individual Russian journalists as traitors. We urge the European Court of Human Rights to consider and rule on the legality of the ‘foreign agent’ laws which are threatening the fundamental human rights of our journalists and every single Russian citizen.”

On June 17, 2021, the ECHR granted the RFE/RL case “priority” status – which it reserves for the most important, serious, and urgent cases – within a month of its submission, and formally communicated its acceptance to the government of Russia. Russia filed its “Written Observations” in response to the case this past November.

Since January 2021, Russian regulators have issued more than one thousand administrative cases against RFE/RL and Mr. Shary in the Russian courts, carrying fines that may total $13.4 million (RUB 1 billion). Russian court bailiffs visited RFE/RL’s Moscow bureau twice to notify the organization about enforcement proceedings for the fines arising from RFE/RL’s refusal to label its content. RFE/RL’s Russian bank accounts were frozen by court order in May 2021. RFE/RL has appealed hundreds of cases, but not a single court has upheld RFE/RL’s legal challenges or decreased the levels of fines imposed by Roskomnadzor.

Since 2017, when Russia expanded its controversial “foreign agent” laws to include media outlets, nine of RFE/RL’s news outlets have been designated “foreign agents” by the Russian Ministry of Justice, as have eighteen freelance journalists associated with RFE/RL. The law on “foreign agents” has been condemned by EU High Commissioner Josep Borrell, the European Parliament, the U.S. Department of State, and other international bodies as an infringement of fundamental freedoms.

RFE/RL is represented in the European Court of Human Rights by English barristers Can Yeginsu and Ian McDonald, instructed by the international law firm, Covington & Burling LLP.

Biden Says European Pipeline Will End If Russia Invades Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden said a crucial European gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, will not go forward if Russia invades Ukraine, as high-level diplomatic efforts took place Monday to try to prevent an invasion, with Germany’s leader traveling to Washington and France’s president to Moscow.

Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, “the notion that Nord Stream 2 would go forward” in the event of an invasion by Russian tanks or troops is “just not going to happen.”

“I promise you we will be able to do that,” Biden said when asked how he could make that happen.

Scholz did not directly say whether Germany would cancel the pipeline project but said, “We will take all the necessary steps, and all will be done together” with the United States and other allies.

He said, “We have prepared a reaction that will help us to react swiftly if needed” in the event of a Russian invasion. He said Germany would not “spell out everything in public.”

FILE – The logo of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is seen on a large diameter pipe at the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant owned by ChelPipe Group in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Feb. 26, 2020.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, running under the Baltic Sea, is designed to bring Russian natural gas to Germany. The pipeline was recently completed but is not yet operational.

The U.S., among others, has viewed putting the brakes on the pipeline as part of the deterrence of a Russian attack on Ukraine, eliminating potential Russian revenue from the pipeline.

Addressing reporters Monday, Biden also urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country, saying, “It would be wise” for them to do so.

The U.S. State Department has already said nonessential employees in Ukraine could leave the country along with family members.

At the outset of their discussions, Scholz, who took power in Berlin in December, and Biden emphasized the close relationship between their two countries. But they have taken different approaches in assisting Ukraine, with the United States sending weapons to the Kyiv government, and Germany sending 5,000 military helmets Ukraine requested, while adhering to its long-held position of not shipping arms into a conflict zone.

Biden, nonetheless, said the two countries are “working in lockstep” to “further deter Russian aggression in Europe.”

“We are closest allies and working intensely together. And this is necessary for doing the steps that we have to do, for instance, fighting against Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Scholz said.

FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron during a video conference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2020.

Meanwhile in Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, trying to curb the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin said after the talks that Russia would do its best “to find compromises” in the crisis with the West over Ukraine and said, “As far as we are concerned, we will do everything to find compromises that suit everyone.”

He said there would be “no winners” if war broke out on the European continent.

At the start of their meeting, Macron told Putin, “This discussion can make a start in the direction in which we need to go, which is towards a de-escalation” to “avoid a war” and “build elements of confidence, stability and visibility for everyone.”

The Kremlin had said ahead of the talks that it did not expect any immediate resolution of its stalemate with the West.

Macron said following the talks that he and Putin would speak again in a couple of days. The French president heads to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday.

Moscow has deployed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia and in its ally, Belarus, with the West fearing that Putin could at any time order an invasion of Moscow’s one-time Soviet republic.

France, the United States and their NATO allies have rejected Moscow’s demand that they rule out possible Ukraine membership in the Western military alliance formed after World War II.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Jan. 4, 2022, in Washington.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday Putin continued to add to his troop numbers along the borders with Ukraine over the weekend.

“Sizable forces continue to be added to the forces Mr. Putin has arrayed,” Kirby told reporters. “With each passing day, he gives himself a lot more options from a military perspective.”

The United States has warned that a Russian invasion “could happen at any time,” according to U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

BidenWhite House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Oct. 26, 2021.

“We believe that the Russians have put in place the capabilities to mount a significant military operation into Ukraine, and we have been working hard to prepare a response,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show on Sunday.

In a separate interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Sullivan said, “Any day, Russia could take action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple weeks,” with U.S. intelligence officials assessing that Moscow has 70% of its strike force in place for an attack.

Biden has ruled out dispatching the U.S. military to fight in Ukraine, but now has deployed 3,000 U.S. troops to Romania and Poland on NATO’s eastern edge and sent $500 million in military assistance to the Kyiv government.

Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.

European Union Rallies Behind Lithuania in Trade Fight with China

By filing a formal complaint against China at the World Trade Organization this week, the European Union is throwing its weight into support for member state Lithuania in what is being cast as a test of the EU’s willingness to defend the interests of even its smallest members in the face of Chinese power and aggression.

The complaint, which seeks a ruling from the WTO, alleges that China has violated the trade body’s rules by carrying out against Lithuania coercive actions that also interfered with the EU’s all-member-inclusive single market and supply chain.

China’s actions are widely seen as intending to punish the Baltic country of 2.8 million people for leaving the 17+1, a regional group Beijing established, and agreeing to host in its capital a Taiwanese representative office bearing the name “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania” rather than “Taipei Representative Office,” as such offices are titled elsewhere.

“Over the past weeks, the European Commission has built up evidence of … a refusal to clear Lithuanian goods through customs, rejection of import applications from Lithuania, and pressuring EU companies operating out of other EU Member States to remove Lithuanian inputs from their supply chains when exporting to China,” the EU said in a statement Thursday, adding that China’s actions “appear to be discriminatory and illegal under WTO rules.”

Before the announcement, a European Commission spokesperson in Brussels told VOA, “As we have consistently stressed, the EU will stand up against all types of political pressure and coercive measures applied against any Member State. We stand by Lithuania. Lithuanian exports are EU exports.”

Jonathan Hackenbroich, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that while some within the EU initially questioned the extent to which Lithuania had consulted other member states prior to announcing its decisions concerning China and Taiwan, those concerns paled compared with the seriousness of the threat China’s actions posed to the political and economic integrity of the 27-member bloc.

If China’s action is left unchallenged, EU member states and businesses will end up losing more of their freedom, Hackenbroich warned in a recent essay, Coercion With Chinese Characteristics: How Europe Should Respond to Interference in Its Internal Trade.

The essay states that while China’s aggressive thinking and deeds “should be a source of great worry for European businesses and governments,” the EU must urgently do more to promptly identify and effectively counter China’s coercive methods against nations that defy its wishes.

“Look, everyone can understand this is a test,” said Benjamin Haddad, senior director of the Europe Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. “This is a test of whether Europeans will break off their solidarity with one of their smaller members in exchange of economic interests.”

Haddad told VOA that he wouldn’t be surprised if the EU came up with strong measures in support of Lithuania. “Because I think there’s just this feeling that Lithuania should not be left on its own.”

Besides, doing so is consistent with the vision for Europe spelled out by French President Emmanuel Macron. France took over the six-month EU presidency Jan. 1. “If you talk about sovereignty, or if you talk about strategic autonomy, that means defending all of the EU members against external challenges and threats. Clearly we have China being aggressive against one of the smaller (EU) members.”

French and EU policymakers are no doubt mindful of “a broader shift in European mindsets about China,” Haddad said.

“Three years ago, the EU released a paper saying China is a trade partner, an economic competitor but also a systemic rival; I think now you see more and more of the systemic rival piece take precedence.”

The battle between Beijing and Vilnius has been closely watched around the world. Analysts in Poland recently wrote that China’s new, more aggressive tactics are also meant to intimidate other EU countries, mainly those in central Europe, “where the economic cooperation model with China is similar to Lithuania’s.”

That model involves only minor direct sales to China but significant indirect export through the supply chains of Western European companies. China is applying its punitive measures to products containing any Lithuanian-made content, in effect issuing what analysts describe as secondary sanctions that also harm businesses and industries from third countries, including other nations in the EU.

Lithuania’s direct exports to China constitute only 1% of its total exports, but its industry and manufacturing are closely linked with German and other multinational corporations that Beijing is pressuring to stop sourcing from Lithuania.

Given Germany’s status as an economic powerhouse in the EU, the reaction of the German businesses and government to China’s pressure is considered crucial.

Observers noticed that the Federation of German Industries, or BDI, supported the EU’s WTO filing, saying the union needs to take decisive measures.

New message from Berlin

Addressing an audience gathered at the Mercator Institute to discuss its China 2022 forecast, Tobias Lindner, a German deputy foreign minister, described the disagreements with China as touching “the core of European values and interests — not addressing this now will cost us dearly in the long run.”

“We will continue to seek cooperation between China and the EU and Germany,” Lindner said. “However, the partnership that we seek will be looked at strategically: Does it conform with our values? Is it in our interest?”

Lithuania’s top economic official said her government hasn’t ruled out a diplomatic solution, while also underscoring the EU’s role going forward. “If the EU talks in one voice, then there is always a solution,” Ausrine Armonaite told Politico.

“When it comes to a situation that Lithuania is in, today it’s Lithuania; day after tomorrow it may be any other European countries,” she said.

There are signs that mutual support and solidarity are taking root among EU nations as the bloc and member states individually face challenges from multiple directions.

“The fact that we’re a member of the European Union, it means we have to defend other member states of the EU should they feel they’re being coerced by third parties,” Anze Logar, Slovenian foreign minister, told VOA in an interview last month.

In September, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa wrote a letter to fellow EU member states urging them to support Lithuania as the latter started to receive punitive blows from Beijing.

Asked whether Slovenia came under fire from Beijing because of the letter, Logar said it wouldn’t have mattered.

“It’s a matter of principle,” he said. “If you’re a member of a club, you have to defend your partners in this club, because we expect we’ll be defended when somebody from outside attacks us, that other member states will come to our own defense.”

Slovenia may need help from the EU club quite soon. Slovenian businesses reported their contracts were being canceled by China after Jansa described the tactics China deployed against Lithuania as “terrifying” and said his government is in talks with Taiwan to establish representative offices.

On Thursday, following the EU’s WTO filing announcement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office announced that “the United States will request to join these @WTO consultations in solidarity with Lithuania and the European Union.”

The State Department announced Friday that Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez will travel to Vilnius on Sunday, followed by a stop in Brussels.

Washington’s “continuing strong support for Lithuania in the face of political pressure and economic coercion from the People’s Republic of China” is on the agenda of discussions between Fernandez and his Lithuanian counterparts, the State Department said. Fernandez will also be discussing measures to counter economic coercion with EU officials in Brussels.

Stop cancer: a European plan to save lives

In 2020, 2.7 million people were diagnosed with cancer in the European Union, and 1.3 million lost their lives from this disease.

There are differences within the continent, such as survival rates after cancer treatment, which vary by 20% between countries, and those for colon cancer at five years, which range from 49 to 69.

All these data highlight the need for the EU to intensify its efforts against cancer through concrete policies.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious effect on cancer care: it has disrupted prevention and treatment, delayed diagnosis and affected access to medicines, explains the European Commission on its official website.

In the information note, it is recalled that the EU has been working for decades in the fight against cancer, but that its latest action plan was developed in the early 1990s, so it is considered that Europe should urgently renew its commitment to cancer prevention, treatment and care so that it adapts to the growing challenges linked to the disease and reflects advances in care.

Stop cancer: European plan

In the coming years, the Cancer Plan, which includes concrete measures in relation to tobacco, alcohol and food, it will focus on helping researchers in both small and large Member States to exchange findings and provide them with access to crucial health data on the possible causes of cancer and its promising treatments.

Through their actions and initiatives, medical staff and hospitals will be able to take advantage of a wealth of shared information, enabling patients across the EU to benefit from better care and treatment.

A wide range of EU policies will support the Cancer Plan, with the digitalisation, research and innovation as starting points for a new approach to cancer care in the EU.

Actions will range from employment, education, social policy and equality, through marketing, agriculture, energy, environment and climate, to transport, cohesion policy and taxation.

The Plan does not have an end date, but it will be subject to periodic reviews, the first at the end of 2024. This review will assess whether enough actions have been carried out to achieve the objectives or if additional measures are necessary.

Measures: alcohol, tobacco, food

Alcohol

According to the same source, Europe has the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world and alcohol-attributable cancer is a serious health problem.

Despite this, few people are aware that alcohol is a risk factor for cancer. It is necessary to strengthen alcohol control policies to prevent cancer cases and deaths attributable to its consumption.

Therefore, the Commission will support Member States in implementing a wide range of policies, such as reducing the affordability and availability of alcohol, limiting its advertising and promotion, as well as raising awareness of the link between consumption of alcohol and the development of cancer.

Also, the Commission will review EU legislation on taxes on alcohol. Too will review the tax legislation on the cross-border purchase of alcoholic products. A public consultation on this matter is currently underway.

Tobacco

The consumption of cigarettes and other forms of tobacco is responsible for 15 to 20% of all cancer cases in Europe, which makes it the main avoidable risk factor.

In addition to addressing traditional tobacco products, action on the next generation of tobacco and related products will continue to be a priority as new products such as heated tobacco, among others, continue to enter the market.

It is necessary to protect young people from acquiring lasting habits that are harmful to health.

The Plan includes measures to help create a “Tobacco-Free Generation” adopting a comprehensive approach to it, which will include:

• A revision of the Tobacco Products Directive to tighten product regulation;
• A revision of the Directive on tobacco taxation, in order to review the EU’s minimum tax rates on tobacco products and harmonize the taxation of new products;
• A revision of the EU tax legislation on the cross-border purchase of tobacco products: a public consultation on this matter is currently underway;
• The treatment of advertising, promotion and tobacco sponsorship on social media and online services; and support to member states in implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The Commission will propose an update of the Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments and will recommend that its scope be extended to emerging products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.

Likewise, a new impetus will be given to Member States to improve the application of existing legislation in the framework of their general tobacco control strategies, including those related to sales to minors and campaigns to quit smoking.

TOfeeding

Diet can influence the risk of cancer many years before its diagnosis, already during childhood.

A diet composed of a wide intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains instead of refined ones and a low consumption of red meat and processed meat, sugary drinks and salt will reduce the risk not only of cancer, but also of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and mortality in general.

The Commission will assess the EU Action Plan against Childhood Obesity 2014-2020 and propose follow-up actions.

Strong synergies will be established with the Farm to Fork Strategy and a revision of the school fruit, vegetable and milk distribution program will be proposed to make more healthy products available to children.

In addition, the Commission is carrying out a review of the policy on the promotion of agricultural products in order to improve their contribution to sustainable production and consumption and in line with the shift to a more plant-based diet, with less red and processed meat and fewer foods related to the risk of cancer and with more fruits and vegetables.

Infographic European plan against cancer

Cancer Knowledge Center, the first step

The Commission has recently opened the Cancer Knowledge Centre, the first emblematic measure carried out under the aforementioned plan.

The Center has been established as a new online platform to collect documentation and coordinate actions against the main cause of death among those under 65 in Europe.

It will take stock of the latest literature on cancer, provide health guidelines and quality assurance systems, and monitor and project trends in cancer incidence and mortality across the EU.

It also provides a forum where everyone in the fight against cancer can share best practices, collaborate and coordinate to make the most of our collective knowledge and evidence-based science.

Cancer in Spain: a vital emergency

The aforementioned European plan has served as an opening arch to the conference ‘Cancer in Spain: a vital emergency’, where more than thirty entities involved in its approach —scientific societies, patient associations and NGOs— have made a common front to define a ‘road map’ with which to address the existing inequities and challenges around a pathology that causes more than 113,000 deaths and 280,000 new diagnoses annual in Spain.

The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, participated in the meeting corroborating the Government’s support for the ‘Cancer NOW’ project, promoted by the Foundation for Excellence and Quality in Oncology (ECO).

In his speech, Darias pointed out how “first order priority” improve detection and treatment through commitments such as the National Cancer Strategy, the Inveat Plan —which will allocate 795 million euros to High Technology Units— or Precision Oncology.

More than twenty panelists have participated in this meeting through different blocks that have analyzed axes such as the access to innovation, incorporation and management of more biomarkers in clinical practice, and heto equity in oncology care

Spain: equity in cancer care

On this point, the existing inequities between hospitals in the different Autonomous Communities have been highlighted.

In the words of doctor Carlos Camps, director of Scientific Programs of the ECO Foundation, The first transformation must be faced from the base: “We have a model health system organization, but a model for the 1980s”.

For this reason, a profound reform of the procedures is advocated within which the incorporation of new diagnostic technologies in a homogeneous manner throughout the territory is addressed, as well as maximizing the use of human and economic resources that have repercussions on improvements in care, without distinctions, for all cancer patients.

at the table named ‘Biomarkers in Oncology’, the vice president of the ECO Foundation, the Doctor Jesus Garcia-Foncillas, has focused on the “paradigm change” that the arrival of biomarkers has meant to “carry out a more directed approach that allows oncology to be valued and to search for the most effective treatments based on the molecular characteristics of the disease”.

The speakers at this table agreed on the same idea: it is urgent to detect and incorporate new biomarkers into the portfolio of SNS services in an effective way. In Oncology, betting on precision medicine is betting on quality medicine, the panelists agreed.

Subsequently, at the last table dedicated to access to innovation The differences in access to new oncological treatments of Spanish patients with respect to European citizens, as well as between the various Autonomous Communities of the country, have been addressed.

Various studies mentioned reveal that only 50% of the drugs approved at European level by the EMA are approved in Spain.

Or that, after its approval by the EMA, the average access time in Spain exceeds 400 days compared to about 120 days in countries like Germany.

US, European Leaders Align Against Russian Invasion Threat

WASHINGTON — 

Russia said Tuesday it is watching “with great concern” following a U.S. move to put 8,500 troops on alert for possible deployment to eastern Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated to reporters Russian accusations that the United States is escalating tensions in the crisis along the Russia-Ukraine border.

U.S. President Joe Biden met virtually Monday afternoon with key European leaders to discuss the ongoing threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“I had a very, very, very good meeting — total unanimity with all the European leaders,” Biden told reporters after hosting a secure video call with allied leaders from Europe, the European Union and NATO.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office released a statement that supported Biden’s summation, saying, “The leaders agreed on the importance of international unity in the face of growing Russian hostility.”

Biden has not decided whether to move U.S. military equipment and personnel closer to Russia. But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in advance of the meeting with the European officials that the United States has “always said we’d support allies on the eastern flank” abutting Russia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin placed 8,500 U.S. military personnel on “high alert” of being dispatched to Eastern Europe, where most of them could be activated as part of a NATO response force if Russia invades Ukraine.

FILE – U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pauses while speaking during a media briefing at the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, Nov. 17, 2021.

“It’s very clear the Russians have no intention right now of de-escalating,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “What this is about, though, is reassurance to our NATO allies.”

The White House released a statement after the meeting that said, “The leaders also discussed their joint efforts to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine,

including preparations to impose massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia for such actions as well as to reinforce security on NATO’s eastern flank.”

WATCH: US preps for possible deployment to Europe

Biden has ruled out sending troops to Ukraine if Russia invades the onetime Soviet republic but vowed to impose quick and severe economic sanctions on Moscow.

Kirby said the U.S. military is “keenly focused” on the Russian military’s 127,000-troop buildup along the Ukraine border and in Belarus. He said the United States was “taking steps to heighten readiness over Ukraine,” including for a NATO response force if the Western military forces are activated.

FILE – Ukrainian soldiers stand on a check-point close to the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels, Mariupol, Donetsk region, Jan. 21, 2022.

U.S. and Russian officials have had four face-to-face meetings in the past two weeks over Western concerns about the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and Russian fears of NATO operations in Eastern Europe, and Biden has also talked directly with European allies.

Russia insists the troops are on the border for its own protection but is demanding NATO provide guarantees it will stop its eastward expansion, beginning with not allowing Ukraine to join the alliance, a move Moscow perceives as a threat. NATO has repeatedly rejected that request, saying Russia has no veto over NATO membership for other countries.

The United States and Russia are planning to exchange written statements this week about their demands of each other.

VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report. Some information also came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.