Europe

  LONDON, March 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Several Western countries, including the UK and the United States, have called on Interpol to suspend Russia from the international law enforcement organisation, according to British Home
Secretary Priti Patel.

   The UK, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have requested “the immediate suspension of Russia’s access to its systems”, Patel tweeted.

   The grouping asked Interpol’s executive committee to make a decision this week.

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Britain defended its record on welcoming refugees fleeing Ukraine on Monday, after criticism it was not doing enough and was far behind its European neighbours in helping address the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War Two.

The United Nations estimates that more than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia started bombarding its neighbour, with hundreds of thousands pouring into Poland, Romania, Slovakia and elsewhere.

BRUSSELS, March 7 (Reuters) - Belgium should keep an open mind about extending the life-span of its remaining nuclear power plants, the country's Green energy minister said on Monday, in a shift of position prompted by the conflict in Ukraine.

After months of debate, Belgium's seven-party coalition government agreed a compromise in December that the country's last nuclear power plant would close in 2025 provided it did not lead to energy supply shortages.

BRUSSELS, March 7 (Reuters) - The European Union has asked the U.N. nuclear watchdog to safeguard Ukraine's nuclear plants, two of which are now under Russian control, and mobilise international help in case of an emergency, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Russian forces have seized Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe' biggest, and the spent-fuel and radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl, next to the now defunct power plant where the world's worst nuclear accident happened in 1986.

LVIV, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) - Humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians out of Ukrainian cities are still not up and running, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Monday.

Vereshchuk said there were nearly 300,000 civilians requiring evacuation from the southeastern port city of Mariupol, which is under assault from Russian forces. U.N. representatives had joined negotiations, she said.

LVIV, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Monday for new international sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, proposing a boycott of Russian oil and other Russian exports and a halt of exports to Russia.

Western sanctions imposed over Russia's military assault have already isolated Russia to a degree never before experienced by such a large economy. 

Zelenskiy said the economic pressure needed to be increased, calling in effect for an international trade embargo on Russia. L2N2VA07O

VILNIUS, March 7 (Reuters) - Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda on Monday warned Washington’s top diplomat Antony Blinken that a failure to stop Russia’s aggression in Ukraine would lead to a global conflict.

Addressing the U.S. secretary of state as he began a tour of Baltic states, Nauseda said Russian leader Vladimir Putin “will not stop in Ukraine” and that the world had an obligation to help Ukrainians “by all means available.”

“I mean indeed all means if we want to avoid the Third World War. The choice is in our hands,” he said.

ATHENS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Greece has lifted the requirement of mask-wearing outdoors starting from Saturday as the COVID-19 situation in the country improves.

However, mask-wearing would remain strongly recommended outdoors in crowded spaces.

KIEV, March 6 (Xinhua) -- NATO countries are not ready to discuss having Ukraine in the organization and Kiev is ready to discuss "some non-NATO models," Fox News reported on Sunday.

"The response that we are getting from the NATO countries is that they are not ready to even discuss having us in NATO, not for the closest period of five or 10 years. We would not fight for the NATO applications, we would fight for the result, but not for the process," David Arakhamia, member of the Ukrainian delegation for talks with Russia, told Fox News.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A representative for Kyiv urged the United Nations’ top court on Monday to order Russia to halt its devastating invasion of Ukraine, at a hearing snubbed by Russia amid its ongoing assault on its neighbor.

Ukrainian representative Anton Korynevych told judges at the International Court of Justice: “Russia must be stopped and the court has a role to play in stopping it.”