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G7 will seek to seize assets of key Russian elites -Yellen

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The Group of Seven major economies will convene a task force to focus on freezing and seizing assets of key Russian elites as it aims to put further pressure on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters quoting U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday.

The move “will inflict financial pain on the powerful individuals surrounding (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and make clear that no one is beyond our collective reach,” Yellen said in a statement after a virtual G7 meeting of finance chiefs.

The G7 will also continue to endorse removing key Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT banking system, she said, adding that the group expects that sanctions imposed so far will “hamstring the Russian government’s ability to fund its invasion.”

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation.”

The sanctions have had an immediate impact on Russia’s economy, with queues forming outside banks as Russians rush to salvage their savings. Oil company Royal Dutch Shell Plc on Tuesday became the latest big Western firm to pull out of the country, Reuters reported.

The measures limit Moscow’s use of a $640 billion war chest to defend its currency but it remains to be seen whether Russia can find other channels for trade and financing of its economy.

Notably, Chinese businesses and banks are looking for ways to limit the impact of sanctions on their relations with Russia, with settlement of transactions in yuan seen rising at the expense of the dollar.

According to Reuters earlier on Tuesday, Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, said the G7 expected an agreement in the coming days on possible further sanctions, though he gave no details about what moves were under discussion.

“We want to isolate Russia politically, financially and economically,” Lindner told reporters after the virtual meeting chaired by Germany.

“We had an exchange on the implementation of the current sanctions and we also exchanged proposals on what additional measures could be taken,” he said, adding: “And in the coming days there will be an agreement on this.”

Lindner said the impact of measures curbing the activities of the Russian central bank and excluding Russian banks from the SWIFT inter-bank messaging system had already exceeded expectations, read the report.

“The rouble is in free-fall,” he said as the Russian currency weakened to around 112 to the dollar in trade on Tuesday.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said G7 capitals had stressed the need for tight coordination of their measures against Moscow during the talks, which Ukraine’s finance minister, Sergii Marchenko, also joined.

Meanwhile, France’s Bruno Le Maire declared an “all-out economic and financial war” against Russia to bring down its economy before rowing back on language he later said was inappropriate.

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Trump says he still has good relations with leader of ‘nuclear power’ North Korea

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he still has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he held several summits during his first term, and referred to North Korea once again as a “nuclear power.”

Asked by reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte whether he had plans to reestablish relations with Kim, Trump said: “I would … I have a great relationship with Kim Jong Un, and we’ll see what happens, but certainly he’s a nuclear power,” Reuters reported.

On January 20, when he was inaugurated for his second term, Trump said North Korea was a “nuclear power,” raising questions about whether he would pursue arms reduction talks rather than denuclearization efforts that failed in his first term in any re-engagement with Pyongyang.

After referring to Russia and China’s nuclear arsenals, Trump said: “It would be a great achievement if we could bring down the number. We have so many weapons, and the power is so great.

“And number one, you don’t need them to that extent. And then we’d have to get others, ’cause, as you know, in a smaller way – Kim Jong Un has a lot of nuclear weapons, by the way, a lot, and others do also. You have India, you have Pakistan, you have others that have them, and we get them involved.”

Asked if Trump remarks represented any shift in policy towards North Korea’s nuclear weapons, a White House official said: “President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearization of North Korea, just as he did in his first term.”

On February 15, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts reaffirmed their “resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization” of North Korea in accordance with U.S. Security Council Resolutions.

Last week, Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong criticized the Trump administration for stepping up "provocations" and said it justified North Korea increasing its nuclear deterrent. This week North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles, its first since Trump took office.

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Iran’s President to Trump: I will not negotiate, ‘do whatever the hell you want’

“It is unacceptable for us that they (the U.S.) give orders and make threats. I won’t even negotiate with you. Do whatever the hell you want”, state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying.

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President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would not negotiate with the U.S. while being threatened, telling President Donald Trump to “do whatever the hell you want”, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday.

“It is unacceptable for us that they (the U.S.) give orders and make threats. I won’t even negotiate with you. Do whatever the hell you want”, state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Tehran would not be bullied into negotiations, a day after Trump said he had sent a letter urging Iran to engage in talks on a new nuclear deal, Reuters reported.

While expressing openness to a deal with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports down towards zero.

In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said last week, “There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal” to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the IAEA has warned.

Iran has accelerated its nuclear work since 2019, a year after then-President Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the country’s economy.

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Philippines’ ex-President Duterte arrested at ICC’s request over ‘drugs war’ killings

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The Philippines arrested firebrand former President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday at the request of the International Criminal Court, a major step in the world body’s investigation into thousands of killings in a bloody “war on drugs” that defined his presidency.

Duterte, the maverick former mayor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was served an arrest warrant on arrival from Hong Kong at Manila’s main airport and was now in custody, the office of his successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in a statement.

The “war on drugs” was Duterte’s signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial, crime-busting former prosecutor to power in 2016 and he soon delivered on promises made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of drug dealers and users, Reuters reported.

If transferred to the Hague, he could become Asia’s first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

Duterte has insisted he told police to kill only in self-defence and has repeatedly defended the crackdown, saying he was willing to “rot in jail” if it meant ridding the Philippines of drugs.

In a video posted on Instagram by daughter Veronica Duterte from Manila’s Villamor Air Base, where he has been placed in custody, the former leader questioned the reason for his arrest.

“What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?” he said in the video. It was unclear who he was speaking to.

“I was brought here not of my own volition, it is somebody else’s. You have to answer now for the deprivation of liberty.”

The president’s office has yet to clarify the next steps for Duterte and it was not immediately clear what the ICC has charged him with.

According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations that they say ended in shootouts. But activists say the real toll of Duterte’s crackdown was far greater, with many thousands more slumland drug users, some named on community “watch lists”, killed in mysterious circumstances.

The ICC’s prosecutor has said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed by police or unidentified individuals.

Police have rejected allegations from rights groups of systematic executions and cover-ups.

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