Russian Navy sinks Dominica-flagged cargo ship

Russian Navy, in what appears an accident, discharges artillery at a Dominica-flagged vessel. All crew members aboard the vessel, whilst one person had been injured, were successfully evacuated.

Russian missile strikes, after the vessel had been misidentified as Ukrainian, struck a Dominica-flagged cargo ship sank on Tuesday, 5 April 2022. The Azburg, at berth in Mariupol, is believed to have been without cargo. Russian Navy sank the civilian cargo vessel Azburg as it shelled the besieged Mariupol. One of the twelve crew members required medical treatment.

"On April 4, around 2240 LT (local time) the vessel was heavily fired upon by Russian armed forces after intentionally shelling the vessel twice a day earlier," the registry said in a published statement.

Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city, has been under siege since at least Friday, 25 Feb. 2022. The port city, situated south of the Donetsk Oblast, is considered militarily strategic by certain Russian officials.

Russian violence against civilian shipping clearly surpasses anything perpetrated by Somali pirates. Moscow, considering the invasion a "special operation," seeks to demilitarise Ukraine because high ranking Russian officials deem the country a credible threat. There is no tangible evidence supporting such allegations.

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01. International responses to Bucha massacre

France and Germany, further to Lithuania, recently expelled Russian diplomats. Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, following suit, have collectively expelled more than 100 Russian diplomatic staff from their countries.

The international response has been swift. José Manuel Albares, Spain's Foreign Minister, said it would expel 25 Russian envoys.

Jeppe Kofod, Danish Foreign Minister, made the situation clear in a tweet tweeted to his official Twitter account Tuesday, 5 April 2022:

Denmark will expel 15 Russian intelligence officers working at the Russian embassy in Copenhagen. They pose a threat to our national security. It’s in our mutual interests to maintain diplomatic ties, but we will not accept Russian espionage on Danish soil.

Ann Linde, the Swedish Foreign Minister, announced in her Tuesday press briefing that the country would also expel three Russian diplomats because “they have not acted in accordance with the Vienna Convention."

It is believed, according to Linda, Russian officials have "conducted illegal intelligence activities in Sweden.” Linda, in another tweet, referenced an "important meeting" that saw representatives from six countries discuss European security matters relating to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvia's Foreign Minister, revealed the closure of two Russian consular facilities. Rinkēvičs, referencing consulates in Daugavpils and Liepāja, stated "the diplomatic staff of those Consulates General are declared persona non grata in Latvia.”

Thirteen Russian diplomats are unsurprisingly being expelled from the country. They have until 30 April 2022 to leave the country.

Estonia, in Narva and Tartu, mirrors Latvia's actions. Russian diplomatic facilities in both Latvia and Estonia, based on news coming out of the respective countries, have been permanently shuttered. Time will tell if the situation changes.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, informed TASS that Moscow is intending to respond to the expulsions.

TASS, a state-owned news agency, feels like Russia's equivalent to Fox News. A main difference being, despite some people believing it is the Republican Party's media arm, Fox News isn't owned or operated by the American government. Neither organisation, when it comes to TASS and Fox News delivering accurate unabridged impartial news content, can be trusted.

02. Turkish diplomatic relations with Ukraine

Turkey, in a recently released press announcement, revealed it has moved its embassy back to Kyiv from Chernivtsi. Temporary situations come and go. It was only a matter of time before the Turkey's embassy would be placed back in Ukraine's capital city.

The embassy, operating as a coordination and logistics centre for evacuation purposes, had been temporarily moved to Chernivtsi amid Russia-Ukraine war.