Hindustan Times News | 23rd February 2022 | 6 PM

HT Daily News Wrap

Russia is ready for "diplomatic solutions" but the country's interests are non-negotiable, the ED on wednesday questioned Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik in a money laundering probe, Justin Trudeau on tuesday announced economic sanctions on Russia and other top news in this bulletin.
Russia is ready for “diplomatic solutions” but the country’s interests are “non-negotiable”, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday amid rising tension with the West over the Ukraine situation. “Our country is always open for direct and honest dialogue (and) for the search for diplomatic solutions to the most complex problems,” Putin said in a video address to mark the Defender of the Fatherland Day, a public holiday in Russia. “(But) the interests of Russia, the security of our citizens, are non-negotiable for us,” he said. Russia’s recognition Monday of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as ‘independent entities’ triggered global alarm, with western nations viewing it as one step from full-scale military conflict. Putin said: “I consider it necessary to take a long-overdue decision: To immediately recognize independence and sovereignty of Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.” In his address he also offered an alternative version of Ukraine’s history – one in which it was always a part of Russia. While that serves his purpose, it is also a fiction.

When Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi was in Beijing for the Winter Olympics this month, he reiterated Islamabad’s carte blanche support to China on its harsh policies towards Muslim majority Sinkiang, Buddhist majority Tibet and Hong Kong. During his four-day visit, the former swing bowler stamped approval yet again on “One China” policy and on Beijing’s claim on South China Sea. He railed against the west and stood up to defend the Chinese Belt Road Initiative, which President Xi Jinping described as a part of community of shared destiny in a 2013 speech. Today, when the entire US-led west has slammed the Russian intervention in two breakaway mini-republics in Ukraine and even China has not come out in open support of Moscow, PM Imran Khan is slated to go on a two-day trip to meet President Vladimir Putin. It will be interesting to watch how PM Khan, famous for swinging cricket ball both ways, diplomatically manoeuvres the Ukraine minefield in Moscow with all western eyes on the Pakistani leader. The last Pakistan PM to visit Russia was Nawaz Sharif in March 1999, on the eve of Kargil war.

The ED on Wednesday questioned Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of the Mumbai underworld, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides, officials said. The 62-year-old NCP leader is stated to have arrived at the Enforcement Directorate office in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate area around 8 AM and the agency is recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they added. Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut told reporters that Malik was taken away by the ED from his home. “…I think this is a challenge to the Maharashtra government…They (central agencies) are free to probe…old issues are being dug out but you should remember that after 2024 you too will be probed,” he said. The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress have joined hands to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MCA) government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the state. Malik’s alleged links in relation to some property deals are said to be under the radar of the federal probe agency and hence his questioning was necessitated.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday announced economic sanctions on Russia, saying Moscow’s recognition of two districts in Ukraine as “independent republics” was “a further invasion of a sovereign state, and it is completely unacceptable”. The sanctions were announced by Trudeau at a press conference, with foreign minister Melanie Joly and minister of national defence Anita Anand present. The press briefing was also attended by deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukranian heritage and has been a target of Russian disinformation campaigns in the past. “Russia’s brazen provocations are a threat to security and peace in the world,” Trudeau said, while announcing the sanctions which prohibit Canadians from conducting any business with the two districts of Donetsk and Luhansk, and two Russian financial institutions. In addition, Canadians are barred from purchasing Russian sovereign debt. Members of the Russian parliament, the Duma, who voted for recognition of the two “republics” will also be sanctioned. “These sanctions are a major step and target those responsible for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Trudeau said.

A student appearing for his final MBBS exam in a medical college in Indore had a micro Bluetooth device surgically inserted in his ear to enable cheating, said an official at the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College. The incident took place 11 years after the student was admitted in the college, but repeatedly failed his final exam. This was his last chance to clear it. “He was taking the General Medicine exam on Monday with 78 others when a flying squad of the Devi Ahilya Bai University headed by its deputy registrar Rachna Thakur reached the place,” said Dr Sanjay Dixit, dean at the medical collage. A member of the team, Dr Vivek Sathe, frisked the student and found a mobile phone in the inner pocket of his trouser. The phone was switched on and connected to a Bluetooth device, Dr Dixit said. However, the team did not find a Bluetooth device on the student. On sustained questioning, the student confessed that an ENT surgeon had fitted a skin coloured micro Bluetooth device in his ear.