UK sanctions Russians over chemical weapons in Ukraine
LONDON - Britain on Monday targeted two Russian individuals and one Russian entity as part of its chemical weapons sanctions regime, in its latest effort to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
It imposed asset freezes and travel bans on Aleksey Viktorovich Rtishchev and Andrei Marchenko, the head and deputy head of Russia's radiological chemical and biological defence troops, for their role in the transfer and use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, the British government said.
It said the Joint Stock Company Federal Scientific and Production Centre Scientific Research Institute of Applied Chemistry was sanctioned for supplying RG-Vo riot control agent grenades to the Russian military.
The grenades have been used as a method of warfare against Ukraine in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the British government said.
The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to Reuters request for a comment. Moscow has previously called Western sanctions illegal. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
3 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Ex-UK National Crime Agency officer jailed for stealing bitcoin from dark web drug dealer
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken November 25, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo LONDON - An officer with Britain's National Crime Agency who stole cryptocurrency from the operator of an illegal dark web marketplace was jailed on Wednesday for 5-1/2 years. The NCA was investigating the Silk Road 2.0 site – which allowed users to buy drugs and other illicit goods after the original Silk Road was shut down by the FBI in 2013 – and arrested Liverpool-based Thomas White in 2014. Intelligence officer Paul Chowles took the details of White's "retirement wallet" and stole 50 bitcoin before sending it to a cryptocurrency "mixing" service called Bitcoin Fog to obscure the source, prosecutors said. Chowles, 42, appeared in Liverpool Crown Court having pleaded guilty to one count of theft, one count of transferring criminal property, and one count of concealing criminal property. Prosecutor Craig Hassall said the bitcoin Chowles stole was worth just under 60,000 pounds (around $80,000) at the time of the theft in May 2017 and is now worth over 4 million pounds, though Chowles had realised nearly 145,000 pounds. Chowles was dismissed by the NCA this month for gross misconduct after his guilty pleas, having been arrested in 2022. The NCA initially thought White, who was jailed in 2019 for over five years, had managed to access his bitcoin wallet and remove the 50 missing bitcoin, Hassall said. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo The remaining 47 bitcoin in White's wallet were sold by the NCA for roughly 500,000 pounds, and the funds paid towards a 1.5 million-pound confiscation order made against White. But police and the NCA began to investigate after White said he was not responsible for moving the 50 bitcoin, and usernames and passwords linked to White's cryptocurrency accounts were found in Chowles' notebooks when he was arrested. Judge David Aubrey said bitcoin worth nearly 470,000 pounds was seized from Chowles, telling him: "Had you not been arrested, you would have continued to reap the rewards of your wrongdoing." REUTERS
Straits Times
3 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Syria's sectarian mix a dilemma for new rulers
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A member of the Syrian security forces stands on a military vehicle after Syrian troops entered the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday following two days of clashes, in Sweida, Syria July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's hopes of stitching Syria back together under the rule of his Islamist-led government are complicated by the country's mix of sectarian and ethnic groups. Syria is majority Sunni Muslim, and its religious minorities include Alawites, Christians, Druze and Shi'ite and Ismaili Muslims. While most Syrians are Arab, the country also has a sizeable ethnic Kurdish minority. Here's an overview of the Syrian ethno-sectarian mosaic: SUNNI MUSLIMS Sunni Muslims make up the majority of Syria's population of more than 20 million. Syria was for centuries part of the Sunni-ruled Ottoman Empire until it collapsed a century ago and the country became a French mandate. The group had historically dominated Syria's most powerful cities - Damascus, Aleppo, Hama and Homs. Under Assad family rule, Sunni Muslims still held some prominent roles and President Bashar al-Assad's wife Asma was from a Sunni family that gained influence until he was ousted in December. But patronage was largely skewed towards the Assads' Alawite minority after Bashar's father Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1970. In 1982, the Syrian branch of the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood launched a revolt in Hama against Hafez al-Assad. His forces crushed the rebellion, killing more than 10,000 people. Some of the most prominent factions in the insurgency against the Assads identified as Sunni Islamist, including Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was an al Qaeda affiliate until cutting ties in 2016. ALAWITES Alawites account for around 10% of the population and follow an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam and revere Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Islam's Prophet Mohammad. They were a historically poor, rural community from Syria's mountainous coastal region. In 1920, French colonial rulers created an Alawite state along the coast, in what was seen as a divide and rule strategy. It was incorporated into the rest of Syria in 1936, before independence a decade later. Hailing from the Alawite village of Qardaha, Hafez al-Assad seized power after climbing the ranks in the military and the Baath Party. While espousing the Baath's secular Arab nationalism, the Assads recruited heavily from the Alawites for the security apparatus. Sunni fighters killed 1,500 Alawites in the coastal region in March, after a rebellion by Assad loyalists. DRUZE Syria's Druze community follows a religion derived from Islam and is part of a minority group that also has members in Lebanon, Israel, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In Syria, the community is concentrated in the Sweida region bordering Jordan, in areas adjoining the Israeli-occupied Golan, and in Damascus' Jaramana suburb. Echoing arrangements for the Alawites, French colonial authorities established a state called Jabal al-Druze centred on Sweida until 1936. After Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, Druze held protests against Assad but were spared most of the mass violence that unfolded elsewhere in the country. They faced periodic attacks from other groups - including from Sharaa's HTS and other Sunni Islamist militants who regard their sect as heretical. The Druze maintain a degree of secrecy about the practice of their faith that emerged in the 11th century and incorporates elements from Islam and other philosophies, emphasizing monotheism, reincarnation and the pursuit of truth. Friction between Druze and Syria's new authorities has broken out into fighting several times this year - notably in Jaramana and Suweida. Israel has intervened with airstrikes against Syrian government forces during the clashes with the stated aim of protecting the Druze. KURDS Kurds are Syria's largest non-Arab ethnic group at around 10% of the population and are concentrated near the border with Turkey and Iraq. They are part of a stateless ethnic group spread between Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Armenia. Syria's Kurds faced systematic persecution under the Arab nationalist Baathist rule. While the Kurds are mostly Sunni Muslims, their dominant faction - the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - follows a political doctrine emphasising secular leftism and feminism and is heavily influenced by Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). After the eruption of the Syrian conflict in 2011, a PYD-affiliated armed group, the People's Protection Units (YPG), established control of Kurdish-majority areas in northern Syria. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG partnered with the United States against Islamic State. SDF-held Syria today accounts for about 25% of the country, including some Arab-majority regions. Leading Kurdish groups want to preserve regional autonomy, at odds with Sharaa's ambition of reunifying the country under central rule. CHRISTIANS While some prominent Syrian Christians joined the opposition against Assad, most Christian communities stuck by him, fearing that Sunnis would trample on minority rights if they took power. The Christians are split into a number of denominations - some of them tiny communities with ancient roots in pre-Islamic Syria. Groups include the Greek Orthodox, Maronites, Syriac Orthodox and Catholics, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Armenian Orthodox and Catholics. There also are a few Protestants. REUTERS
Straits Times
3 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump indicated to allies he will fire Fed's Powell, CBS reports
Find out what's new on ST website and app. US President Donald Trump (left) has called on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, angry over the central bank's refusal to cut interest rates. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on July 15 asked Republican lawmakers if he should fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, and several people in the room said he indicated he will do it, CBS News reported, citing multiple sources with direct knowledge. The meeting with members of the House of Representatives took place in the White House's Oval Office on the night of July 15, CBS reported. Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised Federal Reserve monetary policy in recent months, angry over the central bank's refusal to cut interest rates. Fed officials have resisted cutting rates until there is clarity on whether Mr Trump's tariffs on US trading partners reignite inflation. Mr Trump has called for Mr Powell to resign, but the president does not have the power to fire him over a monetary policy dispute. Mr Powell, who was nominated by Mr Trump in late 2017 to lead the Fed and then nominated for a second term by Democratic President Joe Biden four years later, has said he intends to serve out his term as Fed chief, which ends on May 15, 2026. Last week, the White House intensified its criticism of how the Fed is being run when the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mr Russell Vought, sent Mr Powell a letter saying Mr Trump was 'extremely troubled' by cost overruns in the US$2.5 billion (S$3.2 billion) renovation of its historic headquarters in Washington. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo Mr Powell responded by asking the US central bank's inspector-general to review the project. REUTERS
