标签： North America

A secretive meeting in late October between Trump administration officials and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy under U.S. sanctions, has sparked widespread concern among U.S. lawmakers and officials. The meeting, held in Miami, included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a major Russian sovereign wealth fund, is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and has been central to U.S.-Russia discussions on the Ukraine conflict. The U.S. government granted Dmitriev a special waiver to attend the meeting, which resulted in a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine. The plan, leaked this week by Axios, has drawn criticism for appearing to favor Russian interests, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowing not to compromise Ukraine’s sovereignty. The proposal calls for significant concessions from Ukraine, including territorial compromises and a pledge not to join NATO, which contradicts the Trump administration’s recent tough stance on Russia. The plan was presented to Ukraine via the Turkish government before being directly delivered to Kyiv. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt defended the plan, stating it aimed for a ‘win-win scenario’ for both Ukraine and Russia. However, many U.S. officials, including those at the State Department and National Security Council, were reportedly unaware of the discussions, raising concerns about the bypassing of standard interagency processes. Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the plan, calling it problematic and unlikely to achieve peace. The meeting has also reignited concerns about Dmitriev’s influence, given his history of leveraging RDIF to build ties with Western governments despite U.S. sanctions. The CIA declined to comment on intelligence community concerns regarding Dmitriev. The situation underscores the complex and contentious nature of U.S.-Russia relations amid ongoing efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

In a landmark decision, North Dakota’s state Supreme Court has upheld a stringent law that criminalizes abortion, classifying it as a felony offense. This ruling overturns a previous lower court decision that had temporarily halted the implementation of the law. The court’s decision, issued on Friday, saw three out of five justices deem the law invalid, but it required the support of four justices to nullify it entirely. Consequently, the law remains in effect, imposing severe penalties, including up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for violators. This development aligns North Dakota with 12 other states that have enacted total abortion bans following the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn the federal right to abortion, thereby delegating regulatory authority to individual states. The law was challenged by an abortion clinic in the state, which argued against its enforcement during ongoing legal proceedings. While the law includes exceptions for cases where the mother’s life is at risk, it restricts abortions for rape and incest victims to the first six weeks of pregnancy—a timeframe critics argue is often before many women realize they are pregnant. The court’s ruling emphasized that the state constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion and that the law provides sufficient notice to those seeking to comply. North Dakota Republican Attorney Drew Wrigley lauded the decision, stating that the high court has upheld crucial pro-life legislation enacted by the state’s legislature. The Red River Women’s Clinic, North Dakota’s last abortion provider before relocating to Minnesota in 2022, has yet to respond to the ruling. This decision underscores the ongoing and deeply polarized national debate over abortion rights in the United States.