Several European countries, including France, are expected to be affected by the fumes from this Monday, June 26, caused by the gigantic fires that are devastating Canada’s forests.

Since the beginning of June, Canada’s forests have been ravaged by gigantic fires that have already burned more than 6 million hectares since January.

After Montreal, New York and Oslo, the smoke from these major fires could reach Paris this Monday, June 26th. A westerly wind is indeed expected today, according to the Keraunos Observatory, which should drive the smoke across the Atlantic to reach France and the United Kingdom.

– Smoke out #Fire At #Canada –
The concentrations are heterogeneous, more pronounced over the Atlantic and partly mixed with low-lying clouds, as the satellite image shows @eumetsat from this noon. #Quebec pic.twitter.com/B3r5gPUgcV

— Keraunos (@KeraunosObs) June 26, 2023

According to La Chaîne Météo, the Bay of Biscay – which stretches from the tip of Brittany to Cape Finistère – is likely to be particularly affected and this plume of smoke will make for hazy skies and “vivid sunrises and sunsets”.

Smoke from the wildfires currently ravaging eastern Canada is being picked up by the westerly winds over the Atlantic and will hit part of France this week. https://t.co/sOWueMhzpX

– The Weather Channel (@lachainemeteo) June 25, 2023

Also read:
Fires in Canada: At the head of the French department on site, the former chief of the Aveyron firefighters testifies

Earlier on Friday June 23, Mark Parrington, Scientific Director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, announced that “significant smoke from wildfires in Canada is crossing the Atlantic and is expected to reach Ireland, the UK and Western Europe on June 26”. .

Significant smoke (DOA > 1) from Canada #Forest fires Crossing the Atlantic and expected to arrive in Ireland/UK/Western Europe on 26th June #SaharanDust On June 23rd it goes in the other direction @CopernicusECMWF Atmosphere Monitoring Service @ECMWF AOD forecast https://t.co/v6vsPaJVCQ pic.twitter.com/tqGsPDYXVk

— Mark Parrington (@m_parrington) June 23, 2023

Canadian weather broadcaster Météo Média had warned that “these plumes of smoke will obscure skies in Ireland and England on Sunday and Monday”.

If she wanted to reassure, she said that “the smoke will be mostly found at altitude,” but indicated that some “could descend closer to the ground, affecting air quality.”

The march towards Moscow was not intended to overthrow Vladimir Putin, but to prevent Wagner from being “destroyed”. After two days of secrets and speculation, Yevgeny Prigozhin breaks his silence with an 11-minute audio broadcast on his Telegram channels, revealing the truth about Saturday’s mutiny that for several hours seemed to bring Russia to the brink of civil war.

Russia, Prigozhin’s reasons in an 11-minute audio

However, it is not yet clear what really happened and what the consequences will be. Evidence of this is the fact that Prigozhin himself continues to be charged by the Prosecutor General’s Office with armed insurrection, and at the same time his company has “normally” resumed its activities at the headquarters in St. Petersburg and in several other cities where recruitment is carried out. The Wagner boss also gave no information about where he is at the moment. One of the biggest question marks after the Kremlin announced on Saturday night that Prigozhin would go to Minsk on the basis of the agreement negotiated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

ANSA agency

The New York Times writes it, citing intelligence sources (ANSA)

Some Telegram channels and the Kyiv Post wrote that he had already been spotted in a hotel in the Belarusian capital, the Green City Hotel. However, management contacted by Russian TV Rtvi said it could not confirm the news. Lukashenko’s press service also announced that they had no information about it. Prigozhin repeated the official version of the Russian authorities, saying that it was Lukashenko who brokered the ceasefire and offered a solution “for the continuation of Wagner’s operations in a legitimate place of jurisdiction”.

ANSA. it

The front pages of the main foreign newspapers (ANSA)

Therefore, Belarus is not explicitly mentioned. While Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assured that the Wagner fighters could continue their activities at least in Mali and the Central African Republic, without naming Ukraine. It remains a mystery how the insurgent mercenaries – some 25,000 – captured the strategically important city of Rostov in the south of the country two days ago without a shot being fired, and then ascended hundreds of kilometers across Russia towards Moscow almost undisturbed. The official version says that the authorities wanted to avoid bloodshed. Other sources put forward a more conspiratorial explanation: that is, the lack of resistance to Wagner, guaranteed by forces directly dependent on the Kremlin, such as the domestic intelligence agency FSB and the National Guard, would have served the purpose of allowing Prigozhin to score in the clash with the army of Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, with whom not even Putin would have idyllic relations.

Certainly, Shoigu, Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, and other Defense Ministry officials remain the characters Prigozhin hates most, especially after private militias, including Wagner, were ordered to sign contracts to comply with Ministry orders within the first week to subdue July. “I and the other Wagner officers,” said Prigozhin, “refused and wanted to lay down our arms in Rostov on June 30. But then they bombed us, and then we went on the March of Justice to Moscow to protest.” The advance was stopped 200 kilometers from the capital in order “not to shed Russian blood,” Prigozhin repeated, thanking Lukashenko again for the solution found. However, according to other sources, the real mediator would have been Alexei Dyumin, governor of the Tula region, who enjoys the trust of both President Vladimir Putin and Prigozhin. And that’s now seen as a favorite for the post of new secretary of defense to replace Shoigu, albeit not in the short term.

Havana-. Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, today commemorated the 115th birthday of former Chilean President (1970-1973) Salvador Allende.

The head of state described the politician on Twitter as a cabal revolutionary, an example of dignity and courage, a great friend of Cuba, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution.

Roberto Morales Ojeda, organizing secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, emphasized the validity of Allende’s legacy and commemorated the anniversary with Allende’s phrase: “History belongs to us and people make it.”

Salvador Allende (1908-1973) was President of Chile from November 1970 and during his tenure he passed the law nationalizing the large copper mines, established a policy of drastic income redistribution and reactivation of the economy and gave the first steps towards, among other important changes, he built the social ownership sector of the economy and restored bilateral relations with Cuba.

On September 11, 1973, he was overthrown when Augusto Pinochet carried out a military coup against his government because of his ideas about social change in favor of the Chilean people.

Annalena Baerbock (Green)

Germany’s foreign minister said the EU will continue to closely monitor the situation in Russia.

(Photo: IMAGO/photothek)

Brussels The European Union (EU) is reluctant to assess the attempted uprising of the Wagner mercenaries against Russian President Vladimir Putin. At their meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, several EU foreign ministers stressed that it was still too early to draw conclusions and that the situation must continue to be closely monitored.

“We do not interfere,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens). “It’s still not clear what’s going on there.”

However, Baerbock apparently assumes that the power struggle in Russia is not over yet. The weekend’s events are “just one act in this Russian drama,” she said. However, it is already clear that the Russian war of aggression will hit the country. “We see huge cracks in Russian propaganda.”

Baerbock emphasized that it was not yet possible to assess the risks this would entail for Ukraine and Europe. The EU can only continue to support Ukraine. That’s why the European Union is increasing the EU peace fund by €3.5 billion. The federal government will also send 45 more Gepard tanks to Ukraine by the end of the year.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn warned of a “major destabilization” in Russia. “It would be dangerous for Europe if the biggest country in the world with the most nuclear weapons in Europe collapsed,” he said. Putin has lost his “omnipotence”. This could have negative consequences for Ukraine. The war in Ukraine is Putin’s sole raison d’être, and now it could happen that he will wage the war even more brutally, the Luxembourger said.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lökke Rasmussen said the weekend’s events could change the course of the war. But whether they are a “game changer” he doesn’t know. At least Putin is weakened. Representatives of the Baltic countries appealed to their colleagues to increase support for Ukraine and other neighbors of Russia. “We must keep the pressure on Russia and win the war,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.

Lithuania: Russians manage regime change alone

His Lithuanian colleague Gabrielius Landsbergis called for more European troops to be stationed in his country. Over the weekend, we saw how quickly Russian troops could get to Moscow, he said. They could just as quickly advance through Belarus to the EU’s borders. Russia is unpredictable, as the events of the weekend showed. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) declared on Monday that he was willing to permanently station a brigade of 4,000 Bundeswehr troops in Lithuania.

Annalena Baerbock, Gabrielius Landsbergis (from right) and other ministers from EU member states

The Baltic states are in favor of protecting NATO’s eastern flank.

(Photo: IMAGO/photothek)

Landsbergis expects more rebellions in Russia. Wagner’s revolt underscores that there are doubts in Russia about the war against Ukraine. “History shows that whenever Russia is overwhelmed in a foreign war, there are problems in Russia,” he said.

For Landsbergis, the most important lesson of the riot is that regime change in Moscow does not have to be initiated from the outside. “The Russians can do it themselves.” Both Baltic ministers spoke out in favor of confiscating the Russian central bank’s frozen reserves and using them to rebuild Ukraine. Tsahkna announced that Estonia would submit a legally clean bid. The EU could use this as a guide.

>> Read here: For Putin, the troubles are just beginning

The EU Commission intends to present a corresponding bill before the summer break. However, access to Russian reserves is highly controversial among member states. While Poland and the Baltic countries are in favor, most others warn against breaking the law.

In principle, we are in favor of helping Ukraine as much as possible, said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. However, there is a clear limit: “We will never break the law.” The federal government sees it similarly, even if Baerbock did not speak out on Monday. The issue will be discussed at the summit of EU heads of government on Thursday.

More: ECB warns EU against accessing Russian state assets