Ukraine: Russia in the dock at the UN General Assembly

In the dock on the international scene: Russia is judged Monday at the UN General Assembly during an "emergency extraordinary session" of its 193 members called to position themselves in favor of democracy and sovereignty Ukraine or the military invasion decided by Vladimir Putin. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. (3 p.m. GMT) with speeches by Assembly Speaker Abdulla Shahid and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. A vote on a resolution is expected at the end of the speeches which should continue on Tuesday due to the very large number of speeches in anticipation.

Entitled "Russia's unprovoked armed aggression against Ukraine", the initial draft of this resolution obtained by AFP, piloted by the Europeans in coordination with kyiv, "condemns in the strongest terms the aggression of Russia against Ukraine". Similar to an American-Albanian text co-sponsored by more than 80 nations from all continents and rejected on Friday in the Security Council following a Russian veto, it calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the cessation of fighting. Its authors hope to exceed one hundred votes in favor of this text, whereas in the General Assembly there is no right of veto.

At the Security Council, Africa and Latin America joined forces with the United States and Europe to denounce the Russian invasion. In the General Assembly, the usual supporters of Moscow - Syria, Cuba, China, India ... - should support its policy or abstain when it comes to voting.

Ukraine: political agreement of the 27 to block the transactions of the Russian Central Bank

European foreign ministers have agreed, in agreement with the G7 powers, to block transactions by the Russian Central Bank, announced the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell. The political agreement of the ministers paves the way for the implementation of the measure by the opening of the markets on Monday, he indicated, estimating that "more than half of the reserves" of the institution, placed in banks in G7 countries would be paralyzed.

The members of the G7 and the EU had agreed on Saturday to block the operations of the Russian Central Bank on their soil, which amounts to drastically restricting its ability to convert its foreign exchange reserves (foreign currencies, sovereign bonds denominated in Western currencies...). The objective is to prevent Moscow from using it to finance the conflict in Ukraine and counter the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian economy.

Climate: UN experts will again sound the alarm

UN climate experts (IPCC) will paint a arguably cataclysmic picture on Monday of the impacts on humanity of accelerating climate change despite repeated calls to rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse. After two weeks of online and closed-door negotiations which overflowed for more than a day, the IPCC unveils at 11:00 GMT the "summary for decision-makers" sifted through line by line, word by word by the 195 Member States, a kind of politically sensitive digest of the thousands of pages of the scientific report drawn up by 270 researchers from 67 countries.

And even if this publication risks being overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "the report must go beyond the sole question of making the front page of the media", underlined to AFP Stephen Cornelius, observer of the negotiations for the NGO WWF. “It will underpin international and national policies for the next 6 or 7 years,” until the next IPCC assessment cycle, he added. “Its conclusions will be of paramount importance for decision-makers around the world”, also insisted the president of the Giec Hoesung Lee during a brief public session for the launch of the session in mid-February. "The needs have never been greater, because the stakes have never been higher." "The future is now," insists Alexandre Magnan, one of the authors of the report.

IN SHORT

The Russian ruble plunged nearly 30% against the dollar on Monday after international powers imposed new, tougher sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine

Lille, winner in Lyon (1-0), moved back to the top of the standings, while Marseille lost important points for the podium in Troyes (1-1), Sunday in Ligue 1 during a 26th day marked by actions in support of Ukraine.