March 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview that investment in Russia is currently “under a lot of review” and Qatar is not thinking about increasing its investments there until there is a “better environment and more political stability.”

“Right now with the current situation we are not thinking about any new investments there. Even in Europe, until we have some clarity on the stability of the situation … Well, not entire Europe, but the areas where we are feeling that there are some tensions or we might have any political risk, because we have to look at it from all the dimensions,” Al-Thani told CNN on the sidelines of the Doha Forum.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has sizable investments in the Russian oil giant Rosneft, which Al-Thani said was a decision made based on “commercial assessment and is still ongoing,” however, will not increase for the time being.

While Qatar’s stance is against any act of aggression or the use of power against a sovereign country, the foreign minister says he has been keeping his communication channels open with all parties. He said he speaks to his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts frequently to “offer our help or contribution to de-escalate the situation and put an end to this war," and was in Moscow recently meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Qatar has often played a mediation role in de-escalating conflicts and bringing adversaries to the table, especially between the Taliban and the United States and between the West and Iran over the JCPOA. The Foreign Minister told CNN he believes this policy is the best way forward. 

The French foreign minister Jean Yves Le Drian said during the Doha Forum that there will be "collective guilt" if we do nothing to help Mariupol.

"Mariupol is the new Aleppo," Le Drian said. 

Speaking at the Doha Forum to CNN's Becky Anderson, Le Drian said "there is an invading power, which to reach its own ends, it is taking a population hostage in Mariupol. This is truly unacceptable."

"I think we're at a tipping point where beyond the Ukrainian crisis, the parameters of stability and security in Europe are challenged," he added. 

The next round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia will be held live from March 28-30 in Turkey, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said on Facebook. 

He did not specify where in Turkey the two delegations would meet as of Monday.

Previous negotiations have yielded little result.

US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner avoided directly criticizing President Biden's remark Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," instead shifting focus onto Putin, saying, "There is one individual that's trying to make regime change in Europe, and that's Vladimir Putin trying to change the regime in Ukraine."

Asked by CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" if he thinks the United States' policy should be for a regime change, Warner said, "The stated policy is the White House's point and that has not changed. It is up to the Russian people to determine who's going to be in power in the Kremlin."

Rep. Michael McCaul, lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was more forceful in his interview a short time later on the show, saying "I know it was off the cuff, but whatever the President says, it carries a lot of weight ... In this case, it sends a very provocative message to Mr. Putin.”

Warner said he was surprised Russia has not launched "their A-team cyberattacks against Ukraine," which Warner called, "top-notch." Asked why he thinks they haven't, Warner said, "We don't honestly have a good answer yet," adding, "I don't think it's the lack of capability but this is a question that we are constantly posing."

Asked whether cyberattacks would invoke NATO’s Article 5, Warner said, "There are cyberattacks from Russia and China going on on a daily basis for years," but added that if a cyberattack results in the loss of life, that would be "uncharted territory"

"In terms of literally causing loss of life, there's always been what we call strategic ambiguity about what is defined as an Article Five violation. I think that it is still an appropriate grayness at this point."

Reactions continue to come in on Sunday after US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "butcher" and said Putin "cannot remain in power." French President Emmanuel Macron responded saying: "I wouldn't use terms like that because I'm still in talks with President Putin."  

US ambassador to the NATO Julianne Smith called Biden's surprising comments a "principled human reaction," made after he spent the day seeing the firsthand tragedies of war, when he visited with hundreds of Ukrainian refugees, in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" with Dana Bash. Still, Smith added that the "US does not have a policy of regime change in Russia, full stop." 

Here are more of the latest headlines from the Ukraine-Russia conflict:

Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova on Sunday tore into Russia over its invasion of her country, saying it’s “a terrorist state led by a war criminal.”

“And everyone should be brought to justice. So, I think it will be difficult to run a state from The Hague,” she added, referring to the International Criminal Court located in the Netherlands.

Markarova told Bash that Russian forces “are killing civilians, killing children, destroying our hospitals, you know, civilian infrastructure, residential homes, everywhere. It's an act of war criminal, that's why we have opened (an) investigation in Ukraine, that's why Ukraine submitted all the application to all international courts.”  

“And, yes, (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, together with everyone, every Russian that is responsible for it, will have to end up in jail for this war crimes,” she said.

The comments come just a month after Russia began its war in Ukraine, and several days after the US also declared that members of the Russian armed forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. In doing so, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited "credible reports" of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, including the destruction of apartment buildings, schools and hospitals. The State Department specifically cited attacks on a maternity hospital and theater in Mariupol. The theater, the State Department said, was marked with the Russian word for "children" in letters visible from the sky.

Chef José Andrés praised Ukrainians who are helping supply and distribute food to fellow citizens, calling them "food fighters" and "heroes" who are battling the war in their country in a different way.

Andrés' non-profit, World Center Kitchen, has provided more than 4 million meals in Ukraine and surrounding countries to where refugees have fled, he told CNN.

Andrés met with US President Joe Biden on Saturday as he toured the food distribution site in Warsaw, Poland.

Julianne Smith, the US's ambassador to NATO, discussed Russia's supposed changing focus, on Sunday with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."

Smith said she didn't think "we have evidence of that quite yet," that the Kremlin will limit their sights on the Donbas region, but that the US and allies will be looking for it. 

Smith also defended the new actions NATO and the US introduced to continue to punish Russia in the wake of the US President's trip, even as Ukrainian officials have voiced disappointment in the lack of support. Asked if NATO will give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fighter jets, Smith said, "this is an evolving conversation," but ultimately no.

"We've spoken with President Zelensky many times in recent weeks. We've heard their requests for assistance. In many cases, we've delivered those anti-aircraft, anti-armor capabilities, we are assessing their air defense needs," she said. "But the answer is no if you're asking about the Soviet-era jets, the United States has decided that the particular proposal put forward by Poland is untenable. But honestly, if any NATO ally wanted to provide those types of pieces of equipment, the fighter jets, the MiGs, that is a sovereign decision, they can take that sovereign decision. But right now, the United States is very much focused on their air defense needs. And we're delivering multiple capabilities to try and address those requirements."

On the potential for cyberattacks to be included into the NATO charter, Smith declined to "walk through hypotheticals," but said she did not doubt that if an ally were to "come forward," and invoke Article 5, the alliance "would be ready to respond and take action."

US President Joe Biden's administration continued on Sunday to clean up his off-the-cuff remark that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," made on his final day in Europe.

Julianne Smith, the US's ambassador to NATO, called Biden's surprising comments a "principled human reaction," made after he spent the day seeing the firsthand tragedies of war, when he visited with hundreds of Ukrainian refugees, in a Sunday interview with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."

Still, Smith said, the "US does not have a policy of regime change in Russia, full stop."

Her comments come hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken also tried to downplay the President's remarks while in Israel, saying, "I think the President, the White House, made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else."

Asked by Bash to clarify if the US believes Putin should remain in power, Smith pivoted to the White House talking point that "the full administration, the President included, believes that we cannot empower Putin right now to wage war in Ukraine or pursue these acts of aggression."

Smith did not agree that the quick walk back from White House officials over the President's comments show his aides undermining him on the world stage, instead she said officials "feel great," about the President's snap trip.