Europe

MOSCOW, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday dismissed warnings that the United States could restrict electronics supplies if Moscow attacks Ukraine, saying any such measures would mostly hurt the manufacturers.

Washington has threatened wide-ranging sanctions to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine after Moscow massed tens of thousands of troops near its neighbour. Russia denies planning a new military offensive. 

PARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - France's parliament passed an opposition-led motion asking the government to condemn China for "crimes against humanity and genocide" against its Uyghur Muslim minority and to take foreign policy measures to make this stop.

The non-binding motion, led by the Socialist party and supported by several other opposition parties, was adopted with 169 votes for and one vote against.

Jan 20 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden's "minor incursion" comment was not a green light to a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Not at all," Stoltenberg told CNN in an interview when asked if Biden's remarks gave a green light to Russian aggression.

"Russia will be held accountable if it invades - and it depends on what it does," Biden told reporters a day earlier. "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do," Biden said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine would expect Russia's army to fight with them against Ukrainian government forces if Moscow follows through on a parliamentary proposal to recognise their independence, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker said on Thursday.

Alexander Borodai made the comment after 11 lawmakers proposed that parliament ask President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

BERLIN/KYIV, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The United States and Western countries sought to project unity and a tough stance over Ukraine on Thursday, after U.S. President Joe Biden suggested allies were split over how to react to any potential "minor incursion" from Russia.

Biden rowed back on his comments, made during a Wednesday news conference, saying on Thursday that "I have been absolutely clear with President (Vladimir) Putin, he has no misunderstanding. If any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border that is an invasion".

BERLIN (AP) — Top American and European diplomats sought to project a united front to Russia on Thursday over concerns that it may be planning an invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine, and U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday he thinks Moscow will invade. He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would pay a “dear price” in lives lost and a possible cutoff from the global banking system if it does.

20 Jan 2022; MEMO: Britain's highly controversial Nationality and Borders Bill has been slammed as "unconstitutional" by expert immigration lawyers. The bill has been approved by the House of Commons and is currently in the committee stage in the House of Lords. If it is passed into law, it will give the home secretary — the UK's Interior Minister — the right to revoke British citizenship without warning from those born overseas.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia accused the West on Thursday of plotting “provocations” in Ukraine even as it blames Moscow of planning aggressive military action in the neighboring country.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that Ukrainian and Western claims of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine were a “cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character.”

“They may have extremely tragic consequences for the regional and global security,” Zakharova said.

(AP) --- At some of the world’s most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to China’s military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party.

The World Economic Forum in Davos. Europe’s largest ports. Airports from Amsterdam to Athens. NATO’s borders with Russia. All depend on equipment manufactured by Nuctech, which has quickly become the world’s leading company, by revenue, for cargo and vehicle scanners.

VIENNA, January 19. /TASS/: The West faces the moment of truth, which has started the countdown in wait for the adoption of Russian proposals on security guarantees addressed to the United States and NATO, Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control, said on Wednesday.

Gavrilov spoke at the meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, which is first in 2022.