标签： Europe

YEREVAN, Armenia — As Armenians head to the polls for a critical parliamentary election Sunday, the small South Caucasus nation finds itself at a defining geopolitical turning point, with the incumbent government pushing to reorient its foreign policy away from historical reliance on Moscow toward deeper engagement with Western powers – a shift that has drawn escalating retaliation from the Kremlin.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who rose to power in 2018 on a wave of popular street protests, and his ruling Civil Contract party are seeking a solid parliamentary mandate to cement their new geopolitical course. They face a fragmented opposition largely dominated by factions that openly advocate for closer alignment with Russia.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, Russian authorities have imposed a sweeping set of trade restrictions on Armenian exports, covering everything from cut flowers, select cognac and wine varieties to fresh produce like eggplants and potatoes, dried fruit, and fish. Moscow claims the bans stem from violations of agricultural import standards, but the European Union has decried the measures as blatant political coercion. Beyond economic pressure, top Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin have issued thinly veiled warnings that echo the path that led to open conflict in Ukraine, drawing a direct parallel between Armenia’s Western overtures and Ukraine’s pre-2022 EU integration efforts.

“If the Armenian people see benefits in joining the European Union then we will certainly have nothing to say against it,” Putin told reporters following Russia’s May 9 Victory Day parade. He quickly added a sharp caveat, however: “We are currently living through everything that is happening in respect of Ukraine. And how did it start? It started with Ukraine’s joining or attempting to join the EU.” Putin has also stressed that Armenia cannot simultaneously remain a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and integrate with the EU’s customs union, calling the dual alignment “simply impossible by definition.” Moscow also retains major control over Armenia’s energy and infrastructure networks, and has regularly leveraged its supply of subsidized natural gas as a reminder of Armenia’s existing economic dependence.

In pre-election developments, Armenian law enforcement issued six arrest warrants for members of the pro-Russian opposition Strong Armenia party on the eve of the vote, alleging the group engaged in widespread vote-buying. The country’s Central Election Commission had previously rejected calls from another opposition faction, the Republic party, to bar Strong Armenia from running over corruption allegations, clearing the way for the party to participate. Strong Armenia is led by Armenian-Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who is currently under house arrest facing trial on charges of advocating for the overthrow of the Pashinyan government – charges Karapetyan dismisses as a politically motivated smear. He has overseen the party’s campaign from detention, with support from his nephew Narek Karapetyan. The faction frames Pashinyan’s course as a reckless push toward conflict with Russia and prioritizes expanding economic and political ties with Moscow.

Other key pro-Russian opposition contenders include former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, leader of the Hayastan opposition bloc, who has accused Pashinyan of severely damaging Armenia’s long-standing relationship with Russia. Another major faction is the Prosperous Armenia Party, headed by pro-Russian business leader Gagic Tsarukyan. All major opposition groups have also blasted Pashinyan’s ongoing efforts to normalize relations with neighboring Azerbaijan, a process brokered in part by the West. The two countries have been locked in a decades-long dispute over the Karabakh region, which was held by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia for nearly 30 years before Azerbaijan reclaimed full control of the entire territory in a 2023 military offensive. In August last year, Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialed a framework for a peace deal at the White House, with U.S. President Donald Trump in attendance.

“I want this government to change because the condition of our country is getting worse,” Sahakyan Elina, a Prosperous Armenia supporter, told the Associated Press at an opposition rally Thursday. “I don’t want to live with my enemies in unity.”

Pashinyan has publicly framed his foreign policy as a balanced approach that aims to maintain positive relations with Russia, alongside building stronger ties with the U.S., Europe, and regional powers including Turkey and Iran. Despite this framing, his government has been received far more favorably in Western capitals than in Moscow. Notably, Donald Trump has publicly endorsed Pashinyan’s re-election bid, taking to social media to call the Armenian prime minister “a great friend and Leader” who “is making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure,” and urging Armenian voters to “Make (Armenia) Great Again.”

Under Armenia’s electoral law, the 101-seat National Assembly is elected for five-year terms, with a 4% vote threshold for individual parties to gain representation, and an 8% threshold for multi-party blocs. A total of 17 individual parties and two electoral blocs are contesting Sunday’s vote. Most independent pollsters and regional analysts currently project that Pashinyan and Civil Contract will emerge from the election with a leading share of seats. “I think Armenians expect, first of all, a peaceful, independent and prosperous Armenia from this election, as we have today,” said Hripsime Grigoryan, an outgoing Civil Contract member of parliament.

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s 2 million eligible voters cast their ballots at polling stations across the small Balkan nation on Sunday, heading to the polls for the third early parliamentary election in just a year and a half. This latest electoral cycle was called to break a months-long institutional gridlock that has stalled the country’s bid for European Union and NATO accession, leaving key policy and governance initiatives on hold.

The current crisis traces its roots back to an inconclusive February 2025 election that left Kosovo without a fully functional governing administration for most of 2025, forcing a second snap vote that December. The latest impasse emerged after the Balkan country’s major political blocs failed to reach an agreement by a March deadline to select a successor for former President Vjosa Osmani, triggering the requirement for another round of national voting.

This extended period of political instability has hit Kosovo’s already fragile economy particularly hard. The country, one of the youngest and poorest in Europe, has already grappled with severe headwinds from the global energy crisis and soaring fuel prices in recent years. The ongoing institutional vacuum has also blocked Kosovo’s access to much-needed European Union and international development funds, deepening economic strain for ordinary citizens.

Kosovo’s modern political history has been shaped by its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, a step that came nine years after the 1998-1999 Kosovo War, which concluded with a NATO bombing campaign that forced Serbian military forces to withdraw from the territory. While the United States and most EU member states recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty, Serbia continues to claim the region as its own, backed by key allies Russia and China. Both Pristina and Belgrade have been明确 told by EU officials that normalizing bilateral relations is a non-negotiable prerequisite for advancing their respective EU membership applications.

The current governing party, Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s center-left Vetevendosje movement, has held a solid parliamentary majority since December’s early election. However, Kosovo’s constitution requires presidential candidates to win the support of at least 80 of the 120 members of the national assembly, meaning no candidate can secure the position without cross-party consensus that has remained out of reach throughout the crisis.

Kurti and Vetevendosje now face sharp challenges from the country’s two largest opposition blocs: the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). The opposition has levied accusations that Kurti is aggressively pursuing unilateral control over all of Kosovo’s governing institutions, a charge the ruling party has rejected. Former President Osmani, who fell out with Kurti after he refused to support her bid for a second presidential term, is running for parliament in this election as part of the LDK’s opposition candidate list.

As key political actors have traded blame for the ongoing deadlock, widespread frustration has bubbled up among Kosovo’s electorate. Voters across the country have repeatedly expressed that they want political leaders to set aside disagreements to focus on urgent priorities: boosting economic growth, raising living standards, and expanding access to jobs and public services, rather than being stuck in repeated cycles of electoral conflict.

Political analysts broadly agree that the outcome of Sunday’s vote is unlikely to deliver a major shakeup compared to December’s election, with few signs of a dramatic shift in voter support that would break the current balance of power between ruling and opposition blocs. Ahead of voting, European Council President António Costa used an official visit to Pristina last week to deliver a clear message: Kosovo’s political leaders must end the stalemate and unify around the shared national goal of EU integration to move the country forward.

Normandy, France — The 82nd anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings, a landmark event that marked the start of Western Europe’s liberation from Nazi occupation, became the stage for a heated political intervention by senior Trump administration officials over the weekend, drawing swift condemnation for framing migration as an existential threat to the freedom Allied troops fought to secure.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered his address from the hallowed grounds of the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, where more than 9,000 U.S. service members killed during the invasion are buried. In his speech, he drew a provocative parallel between the 1944 Allied amphibious landing that freed Europe and what he framed as a modern-day “invasion” reaching European shores. Though he never explicitly used the word “immigration” in his remarks, his language left little room for ambiguity: he referenced “different dangerous ideologies” storming Europe’s beaches today, naming coastlines in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria where migrant boats regularly arrive, and challenged European leaders to act before it is too late.

Hegseth’s comments align closely with broader Trump administration pressure on European governments over migration policy, border security, and the Trump White House’s criticism of what U.S. officials claim is unfair censorship of nationalist and far-right political voices across the continent. A December 2024 update to the Trump administration’s national security strategy amplified this framing, warning that Europe faces the risk of “civilizational erasure” and could become “unrecognizable” to current generations within two decades if current trends continue.

The controversy did not end with Hegseth’s speech. Separate remarks by U.S. Vice President JD Vance drew sharp rebuke from 10 Downing Street, the official office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Vance had linked the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old British student Henry Nowak in Southampton to immigration, a claim that fell apart under basic factual scrutiny: both Nowak and his suspected killer are British citizens. Starmer’s spokesperson issued a clear public condemnation of Vance’s inaccurate and exploitative comments in the wake of the tragedy.

The dual controversies have thrown a spotlight on the Trump administration’s increasingly sharp rhetorical approach to European migration issues, turning a solemn commemoration of wartime sacrifice into a platform for advancing nationalist policy priorities that have divided transatlantic allies.

In a dramatic escalation of the ongoing conflict that has gripped Eastern Europe since 2022, Ukraine launched what Russian authorities have labeled an “unprecedented attack” using drones targeting locations in and around St. Petersburg, timed to coincide with the final day of Russia’s flagship annual international economic forum. This major offensive came just 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a long-awaited call for direct, face-to-face peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, setting off a new cycle of military action amid stalled diplomatic efforts.

Russian regional officials confirmed that more than 140 unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted and shot down across the Leningrad Oblast, the administrative region surrounding St. Petersburg. In an extraordinary step not seen since the full-scale invasion began, St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov issued an urgent order for all local residents to stay indoors throughout the attack, a directive that underscored the severity of the incursion deep into Russian territory.

Shortly after the strikes, Zelenskyy confirmed the operation via a social media video post, framing the action as a proportional and just response to repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory. He detailed that Ukrainian military forces targeted Russian weapons arsenals and a key Russian naval base located in Kronstadt, a strategically significant port just off the St. Petersburg coast. The drone sortie marked an extraordinary 1,000-kilometer deep strike into Russian heartland, demonstrating Ukraine’s expanding long-range strike capabilities. Zelenskyy added that a second target, an oil storage depot in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Krai, roughly 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, was also successfully hit in coordinated operations.

The attack capped off three days of rapid diplomatic developments. On Thursday, Zelenskyy released an open letter formally calling for direct one-on-one negotiations with Putin to end the full-scale war Russia launched in February 2022. He argued that waiting for external intervention, specifically renewed focus from the United States, was a strategic mistake that only prolonged the conflict. A day later, during his keynote address at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin flatly rejected the overture. He reaffirmed Russia’s longstanding position that formal peace negotiations must precede any ceasefire agreement, and stated that Russia would only end military operations once all of its stated war goals had been achieved. Those goals, Moscow has repeatedly made clear, require Ukraine to cede full control of four partially occupied regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—and permanently abandon its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Alongside the strike on St. Petersburg, Ukrainian drone operations have intensified in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine in recent weeks, specifically targeting Russian military logistics networks. In occupied Luhansk Oblast, the Moscow-installed puppet administration was forced to suspend intercity bus service along two major motorways, issuing a public warning for locals to avoid the routes “for security reasons” following a string of successful Ukrainian strikes. The administration also suspended regional commuter rail service and implemented a ban on group travel for minors across the occupied region. This disruption comes despite Putin’s prior claims that Russia holds full and complete control over the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic.”

Speaking to the BBC, one regional security analyst noted that the scale of Ukraine’s targeting campaign has been substantial: since the start of May, Ukrainian drones have destroyed or damaged more than 200 military cargo trucks and over 30 fuel tankers supporting Russian frontline operations, severely straining Russian supply lines in occupied areas.

PARIS – Bernadette Chirac, the unflappable, politically sharp former first lady of France who stood beside President Jacques Chirac throughout his 12-year tenure at the Élysée Palace from 1995 to 2007, has passed away at the age of 93. French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed her death on Saturday, noting that he and First Lady Brigitte Macron learned of her passing with “great sadness,” honoring her as a transformative figure in French history whose decades of charity work touched the lives of millions of citizens. “A great lady of the heart has departed,” Macron stated in his official tribute.

For over half a century, Bernadette Chirac was the steady anchor of her husband’s decades-long political ascent, which saw him rise through parliamentary ranks, serve two terms as prime minister, hold 18 years as mayor of Paris, and ultimately claim the French presidency in 1995. Far from being limited to the largely ceremonial role of a presidential spouse, Bernadette built an independent political legacy of her own, earning widespread attention both for her quiet influence over her husband’s administration – and for her dry, unapologetic handling of his well-documented reputation as a womanizer, a topic she would later address with unusual candor.

In 1998, when swarmed by photographers in the rural department of Corrèze amid rumors that Jacques Chirac had been unreachable the night of Princess Diana’s death because he was with a famous actress, Bernadette stepped out of her car and delivered a characteristically sharp quip: “Calm down. I’m not Claudia Cardinale. Or Lollobrigida.” The moment encapsulated the quick wit and unshakable poise that would define her public image for decades.

To much of the French public, she was long known for her iconic, almost institutional public persona: perfectly coiffed blond hair, a structured handbag slung over her arm, an upright posture in every official photograph, paired with tailored Chanel suits, dark sunglasses, a distinct nasal tone, and biting, memorable judgments. But this popular caricature never captured the full scope of her ambition or skill: beneath the polished exterior was a relentless worker and shrewd political operator, one of the only spouses of French presidents to build an independent base of political power entirely her own.

Born Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chodron de Courcel in Paris on May 18, 1933, she came from a privileged, devout Catholic family with deep roots in French public life: her paternal lineage included soldiers, industrialists, and diplomats, and one of her uncles served as an aide to Charles de Gaulle during wartime London. The turning point of her life came during her studies at the elite Sciences Po university in Paris, where she met Jacques Chirac, a charming, politically ambitious young man whose hunger for power would shape their shared life for decades.

The couple married in March 1956, and their 63-year union was, in Bernadette’s own words, a lifelong lesson in endurance. While Jacques was famous for his easy warmth, charisma, and instinctive connection with voter crowds, political observers noted Bernadette’s strengths were far different: she was disciplined, socially formidable, devout, exacting, and often unforgettably witty. Catholic philosopher Jean Guitton once called her “the last queen of France,” a label she did little to push back against.

Her husband’s well-known reputation as a womanizer was an open secret in French political circles, and after years of heartache, Bernadette chose to address it with characteristic dry humor. “At first, it was hard. I was very heartbroken, and then I got used to it,” she shared in a television documentary years later. “I told myself that was how things were and that I had to accept it with as much dignity as possible.”

When she was sent to manage her husband’s rural political stronghold in Corrèze while he pursued power in Paris, she far exceeded expectations of merely maintaining the seat. She was elected municipal councilor of the small town of Sarran in 1971, won a seat as a general councilor for Corrèze in 1979, and held that position until 2015, building deep grassroots loyalty over four decades.

Her influence grew exponentially after Jacques Chirac won the presidency in 1995. While the role of first lady in France holds no formal constitutional power, Bernadette turned her position at the Élysée into a space where her approval carried serious political weight. She was known for being unwaveringly loyal to allies, unforgiving to rivals, and deeply attuned to the unspoken dynamics of political life – understanding that electoral success depends as much on personal debts, grudges, and alliances as it does on speeches and opinion polls. In doing so, she carved out a space for legitimate female authority within a heavily male-dominated political culture that had long refused to share power, quietly refusing to be reduced to nothing more than “the wife of” the president. By 2023, her legacy and persona were prominent enough to inspire a major commercial film: the comedy *Bernadette*, focused on her years at the Élysée, starred legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve in the title role.

Bernadette kept her deepest personal grief largely private from the public eye. The Chiracs’ elder daughter, Laurence, developed severe anorexia after contracting meningitis as a teenager, survived multiple suicide attempts, never fully recovered her health, and died in 2016 at the age of 58. This devastating personal experience led Bernadette to the charity work that would eventually redefine her public image. In 1994, she took leadership of a medical charity that collected loose change to support children receiving care in French hospitals. Over the next 25 years, she transformed the organization and became the public face of pediatric hospital care, endearing herself to millions of French families who had previously seen her as aloof. She led the charity until 2019, when she handed over leadership to Brigitte Macron, becoming honorary president of the organization.

Long before her retirement from public life, Bernadette had firmly established herself as a political force in her own right. “My husband no longer does politics, but I do,” she told reporters after Jacques Chirac left the presidency in 2007. She famously gave Dominique de Villepin, an Élysée official she distrusted, the cutting nickname “Nero,” yet was also widely reported to have helped broker the reconciliation between her husband and Nicolas Sarkozy, the former protégé who had betrayed Jacques Chirac politically to claim the presidency. Her 2001 memoir *Conversation*, co-written with journalist Patrick de Carolis, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and introduced the French public to a far more frank, funny, and independent woman than many had previously assumed.

After Jacques Chirac left the Élysée, his health declined rapidly and he withdrew from public life, but Bernadette retained her sharp voice and wit well into old age. When asked by reporters how her husband was doing, according to French media, she delivered a characteristically dry one-liner: “He keeps the dog.”

Eventually, age and cumulative grief pulled her out of public view. When Jacques Chirac died in 2019, she was too frail to take part in the large public farewell attended by French and international leaders honoring his legacy. On Saturday, the Élysée Palace announced that President Macron would invite the French public to pay tribute to Bernadette Chirac in a public space opposite the presidential palace.