Ireland fines LinkedIn 310 mn euros over EU data breach

Dublin (AFP) – An Irish regulator helping to police European Union data privacy said Thursday it had fined professional networking platform LinkedIn 310 million euros ($335 million) over breaching users’ personal data for targeted advertising.

LinkedIn was ordered to bring its processing into compliance with the EU’s strict General Data Protection Regulation, launched in 2018 to protect European consumers from personal data breaches © Martin BUREAU / AFP/File

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) issued the Microsoft-owned website its first EU fine saying "the consent obtained by LinkedIn was not given freely".

Targeted advertising provides tailored ads to users based on their personal information.

Regulators around the world, especially the EU, have been trying for years to regulate tech giants when it comes to data protection and other matters, notably unfair competition.

The DPC told AFP it has given LinkedIn three months to bring its processing into compliance with the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), launched in 2018 to protect European consumers from personal data breaches.


"The processing of personal data without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation of a data subjects’ fundamental right to data protection," said Graham Doyle, DPC head of communications.

LinkedIn said in a statement Thursday that while it believed it has "been in compliance with" GDPR, the group is "working to ensure" its practices meet the decision.
Tech fines

Ireland is home to the European headquarters of several tech giants including Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook-parent Meta.

In 2018, a French association which defends internet users against digital surveillance by tech giants or states -- "La Quadrature du Net" -- filed five collective complaints against LinkedIn but also Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, accusing them of illegally exploiting the personal data of their users without their consent.

The complaints, which at the time included the names of nearly 12,000 people, were initially filed to CNIL, the French data protection agency, before being transferred to the Irish regulator.

In a statement Thursday, La Quadrature du Net welcomed the decision but said the amount of time the regulator took to issue the fine was a "sign of failures in the European system".

The Irish regulator has imposed a number of big fines against tech companies as the EU seeks to rein in big tech firms over privacy, competition, disinformation and taxation.

In September, it fined Meta 91 million euros for failing to put in place appropriate security measures to protect users’ password data and for taking too long to alert the regulator of the issue.

It came after the European Commission scored two major legal victories in separate cases that left Apple and Google owing billions of euros.

At the same time, an EU court scrapped a 1.49-billion euro fine imposed by Brussels against Google over abuse of dominance in online advertising.

In the United States, the US Consumer Protection Agency last year ordered Microsoft to pay $20 million to settle lawsuits for collecting personal data from minors registered on the Xbox console's online gaming platform, without informing their parents.

© 2024 AFP

Google urged to step up efforts to demonetize climate falsehoods

Washington (AFP) – Civil society groups implored Google on Thursday to rigorously enforce its policy to demonetize environmental disinformation, saying ads placed alongside climate denial content persistently popped up despite the tech titan's pledge to crack down.

Environmentalists are urging Google to crackdown on climate denialism.

 © JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP


The open letter, addressed to Google chief Sundar Pichai and endorsed by thousands of signatories, comes in the wake of major hurricanes in the United States sparking an avalanche of disinformation and just weeks before the UN COP29 climate summit.

In 2021, Google announced a policy prohibiting ads alongside content that denied the existence and causes of climate change, seeking to ensure disinformation peddlers cannot monetize its influential platforms, including YouTube.

But the letter from a dozen groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and tech watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate, said the ads have not stopped.

"We are urging Google to enforce the policy thoroughly and immediately to ensure it is credible, as we see climate change adversely affecting communities right now," the letter said.

While Google has demonetized some content by the Heartland Institute, a conservative US think tank, watchdogs have continued to find ads alongside its misleading climate messaging on YouTube, the letter said.

It urged Google to "immediately and permanently demonetize Heartland Institute" as well as other outlets that spread climate disinformation.

Nonprofit watchdog Check My Ads, which also signed the letter, said in a report last month that ad exchanges helped three conservative websites, including The Epoch Times, to profit from climate denialism.

Last month, another investigation by the campaign group Global Witness estimated that The Epoch Times generated around $1.5 million in combined revenue for Google and the website owners over the past year.

YouTube has also allowed the monetization of climate denial content peddled by influencers on the payroll of a Russian influence campaign, the environmental group Friends of the Earth said in a report last month.

"Google ads are directly contributing to the spread of outright lies about our planet's changing climate –- with dire impacts," the letter said.

Google did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

The groups behind the letter said they have requested a meeting with Google's trust and safety team to discuss the violations of its demonetization policy and were waiting to hear back.

The letter follows destructive hurricanes that slammed the United States in recent weeks, triggering a torrent of misinformation that officials said hampered relief efforts.

The COP29 summit is set to start November 11 in oil-and-gas-rich Azerbaijan, where nearly 200 nations will gather in the hope of reaching a deal to boost financial assistance to help developing countries adapt to global warming.

© 2024 AFP

American Airlines reports loss on costs from new labor contract

BULLSHIT

New York (AFP) – American Airlines reported a loss Thursday on costs connected to a new labor contract, but described travel demand as solid as it lifted its full-year earnings forecast.

American Airlines reported a third-quarter loss, but said efforts to restore bookings programs with travel agencies are on track 

© JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

The big US carrier reported a third-quarter loss of $149 million. Revenues edged up one percent to $13.7 billion.

The results were dragged lower by one-time costs of more than $500 million due to the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement with flight attendants.

American Airlines executives said the company was benefitting from an improving pricing environment for carriers after airlines trimmed US plane capacity to address a glut of seats earlier in the year.

A large amount of unsold seats is a boon for consumers who can purchase lower fares but represents a problem for airlines seeking to maximize profits.

"Demand for American's product remains strong," said American Airlines Chief Executive Robert Isom on a conference call with analysts.

Isom said the company has also made progress in restoring programs with travel managers and corporate programs after suffering lost revenue from a failed attempt at direct bookings.

In May, American ousted an executive responsible for the revamp and said it would pivot back to its traditional system.

In a press release, Isom said the company had taken "aggressive action" to right the booking operation.

"We have heard great feedback from travel agencies and corporate customers as we work to rebuild the foundation of our commercial strategy and make it easy for customers to do business with American," Isom said.

American lifted its full-year profit forecast to between $1.35 and $1.60 per share, compared with the earlier range of 70 cents to $1.30 per share.

Shares rose 4.4 percent in early trading.

© 2024 AFP

Mangrove-planting project to hold flooding at bay in Sierra Leone

Issued on: 24/10/2024

Video by: Caitlin KELLY

Over the past few decades in Sierra Leone, thousands of acres of mangroves have been destroyed by erosion, construction and other man made threats. The forests are critical defences against flooding and their disappearance has left coastal communities struggling to maintain their ways of life. However, a new push is planting hope in the heart of millions. Caitlin Kelly, our correspondent in the region, has more.

Peru bus drivers strike over violent attacks and extorsion

Issued on: 24/10/2024

Video by: Matthew-Mary Caruchet

In Peru, widespread racketeering has become the main source of income for criminal gangs. Fed up with the violence, residents have taken to the streets, demanding that the government get it under control. A story by Matthew-Mary Caruchet.

'Our pride': Lone child brings hope to Japan's puppet village

Ichinono (Japan) (AFP) – Riding his tricycle with cheerful abandon, Kuranosuke Kato is the only child in his tiny, depopulated Japanese village overrun by life-sized puppets.

The puppets in the village of Ichinono were created to ease the loneliness of residents caused by depopulation 

© Philip FONG / AFP

Revitalising rural areas is one of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's key campaign pledges as he fights to retain a majority in a general election on Sunday.

Ishiba has called Japan's low birth rate a "quiet emergency", one that is starkly evident in places like Ichinono, a bucolic hamlet home to fewer than 60 people.

"If the village is left as it is now, the only thing that awaits us is extinction," said 74-year-old Ichiro Sawayama, head of its governing body.

Rie Kato playing with her son Kuranosuke Kato in their house in the village of Ichinono, in the city of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture © Philip FONG / AFP

Many developed nations are facing the same demographic timebomb, but Japan, which allows relatively low levels of immigration, already has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco.


Silence pervades the air in Ichinono, where residents have handcrafted stuffed mannequins to create a semblance of a bustling society.

Some puppets ride swings while others push a cart of firewood, smiling eerily at visitors.

"We're probably outnumbered by puppets," Hisayo Yamazaki, an 88-year-old widow, told AFP.

Rice harvesting and sake brewing used to keep Ichinono afloat. Most families in the village used to have children, Yamazaki recalled.

Silence pervades the air in Ichinono, where residents have handcrafted stuffed mannequins to create a semblance of a bustling society © Philip FONG / AFP

But "we were afraid they would become unmarriageable if they remained stuck in a remote place like this", so they were encouraged to attend city colleges.

"Out they went, and they never came back, getting jobs elsewhere. We're now paying the price," she said.
Pastoral living

One family in Ichinono is a bit different: 33-year-old Rie Kato and 31-year-old Toshiki Kato moved from big city Osaka to Ichinono in 2021, then they had Kuranosuke.

The couple decided to ditch urban life for the countryside as the pandemic allowed for more flexible working.

Rie Kato and Toshiki Kato with their son Kuranosuke Kato cooking dinner in their house in the village of Ichinono, in the city of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture © Philip FONG / AFP

As the youngest resident by far, their son is adored by the other villagers, who bring him home-cooked meals and collectively look after him.

The toddler is "our pride", village head Sawayama beams, while widow Yamazaki says he is "practically my great-grandchild -- such a sweet thing".

The Katos say it is a good thing that he is growing up with the community of Ichinono instead of the anonymity of an Osaka apartment.

"Just by being born here, our son benefits from the love, support and hope of so many people -- even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet," laughed his father Toshiki.

Many developed nations are facing a demographic timebomb, but Japan, which allows relatively low levels of immigration, already has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco © Philip FONG / AFP

His mother Rie said neighbours in the tight-knit village sometimes ask her a favour or invite her to play the croquet-like sport gateball. The family also helps harvest edamame beans with their neighbours.

"I feel like my self-worth, as an individual, is recognised here," she said. "I'm sure that's how Kuranosuke will feel about himself growing up."
'Recreate' Japan?

But Ichinono's insularity can be a turn-off for outsiders.

Outdated rules still exist on paper requiring aspiring newcomers to be vouched for by at least three long-term residents, and proffer sacks of rice or cash.

Those edicts -- meant to "keep the village cohesive" -- are no longer applied to avoid scaring people away, Sawayama said.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called Japan's low birth rate a "quiet emergency", one that is starkly evident in places like Ichinono, a bucolic hamlet home to fewer than 60 people © Philip FONG / AFP

While rural decline is a global phenomenon, Japan's topography may worsen the problem, said Taro Taguchi, a community development professor at Tokushima University.

"Probably nowhere do people live on hillsides as much as in Japan," due to a large population and the scarcity of flat farmland, he told AFP.

But the "higher risk of natural disasters and greater proximity to vermin" on mountains make them less attractive when people can choose where they live.

Prime Minister Ishiba has vowed to "recreate Japan" with policies including doubling subsidies for struggling regions.

A puppet stands outside a village home in Ichinono © Philip FONG / AFP

But Taguchi cautioned that similar subsidies were often approved by the central government in the past to fund "flashy" revitalisation projects like fancy cafes.

"These initiatives did little to support locals' livelihoods," he said.

"My humble hope is to help add some new value to these homes, and keep Ichinono's death at bay even just a year longer," he said.

tmo/kaf/stu/lb/hmn

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© 2024 AFP

Biden to issue historic apology for abuse of Native American children

Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden said Thursday he will issue a formal apology for the treatment of Native American children who were forcibly removed from their families by the US government and put into an abusive boarding school system.

For over 150 years, the schools sought to forcibly assimilate Native Americans, with a recent government report detailing numerous cases of physical, mental and sexual abuse, as well as the deaths of over 950 children.

"I'm heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago," the president said as he left the White House. "To make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years."

Biden is scheduled to make the official apology Friday on a visit to the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, one of the states with the highest Native American populations in the country and a key battleground in the US election.

The boarding schools, which were run by the US government, were in operation from the early 19th century until the 1970s.

The report found at least 973 children died at these schools, many of which were far from their original homes.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history, was a major force behind the investigation that produced the report.

The Native American boarding schools run by the US government -- such as this one in Genoa, Nebraska -- were in operation from the early 19th century until the 1970s © Stacy Revere / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

"For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children as young as four years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools," Haaland told reporters. "This includes my own family."

"For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books," she continued. "But now our administration's work will ensure that no one will ever forget."

The apology follows formal declarations in Canada, where thousands of children died at similar boarding schools, and other countries around the world where historic abuses of Indigenous populations are increasingly being recognized.

In a statement, the White House said the apology was being issued in order to "remember and teach our full history, even when it is painful."

"That the president is taking that step tomorrow is so historic, I'm not sure I could adequately put its impact into words," Haaland said.

Biden's visit to Arizona, a state he narrowly won in 2020, comes in the midst of an extremely close presidential campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump.

© 2024 AFP

Gaza war, settler attacks ruin Palestinian olive harvest

Middle East

© AFP

Issued on: 24/10/2024 - 
Video by: Juliette MONTILLY

After a year of relentless war, Gaza's olive harvest is set to suffer, while in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian farmers fear to tend their groves due to settler attacks. "Day after day, the settlers repeat their attacks on the village of Burqa every day. Every day they enter and attack, cutting down trees, burning trees, and picking their fruit," says Sael Kanaan, council head of Burqa, a village east of Ramallah.

We have documented cases of sexual violence in Israeli prisons: Palestinian activist

Issued on: 24/10/2024 

Video by: Sharon GAFFNEY

Palestinian women's rights activist, Joharah Baker, is among five women who are at the UN in New York this week to speak about gendered violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. They claim Israeli forces are using sexual violence as a 'weapon of genocide'. Joharah Baker tells FRANCE 24 that they have documented cases of sexual violence against women in Israeli prisons from Gaza and the West Bank.

Commonwealth presses UK to atone for brutal past

Apia (Samoa) (AFP) – Britain's King Charles faced calls to reckon with his country's colonial past Friday, as a summit of Commonwealth allies turned into a factious debate about the legacy of slavery and empire.

Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa © Manaui Faulalo / POOL/AFP

Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa, hoping to prove the bloc is still relevant.

But instead of uniting to tackle pressing issues like climate change, Charles III's maiden summit as king has been overshadowed by history.

Many African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want to see Britain -- and other European powers -- pay financial compensation for slavery, or to at least make political amends.

They want this summit in particular to commit to a discussion on the topic of reparatory justice -- a debate Britain's cash-strapped government has tried to stymie.

The Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Davis told AFP that a debate about the past was vital.

"The time has come to have a real dialogue about how we address these historical wrongs," he said.

"Reparatory justice is not an easy conversation, but it's an important one," Davis added.

"The horrors of slavery left a deep, generational wound in our communities, and the fight for justice and reparatory justice is far from over".

The British royal family, which benefited from the slave trade over centuries, has also faced calls to apologise.

But the monarch stopped well short of that on Friday, asking summit attendees to "reject the language of division".

"I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said.

"None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure."
'Honesty and integrity'

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected calls to pay reparations over Britain's colonial past © Fiona GOODALL / POOL/AFP

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has publicly rejected calls to pay reparations, and aides have ruled out an apology at the summit.

A draft summit communique calling for debate on colonialism is the subject of fierce negotiations.

One diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that developed countries were trying to water down the language in the final communique.

"The call for reparations isn't simply about financial compensation; it's about recognising the enduring impact of centuries of exploitation and ensuring that the legacy of slavery is addressed with honesty and integrity," Davis insisted.

Joshua Setipa from Lesotho -- who is one of three candidates vying to be the next Commonwealth's secretary-general -- said reparations could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate financing.

"We can find a solution that will begin to address some injustices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today," he told AFP ahead of the summit.

Kingsley Abbott, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London said the apparent inclusion of the text on reparatory justice was a "significant advancement" for the Commonwealth.

He told AFP it "reveals the door to meaningful dialogue is opening".

The British monarch is concluding an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth states -- the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

© 2024 AFP

Commonwealth struggles to overcome splits over brutal past

Apia (Samoa) (AFP) – Britain's King Charles deflected calls to atone for his country's colonial past Friday, as a summit of Commonwealth allies turned into a factious debate about the legacy of slavery and empire.

Britain's King Charles III watches as dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa 

© WILLIAM WEST / POOL/AFP

Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa, hoping to prove the bloc is united and still relevant.

But instead of finding common cause on pressing issues like climate change, Charles III's maiden summit as king has been overshadowed by history.

Many African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want to see Britain -- and other European powers -- pay financial compensation for slavery, or to at least make political amends.

They want UK leaders to commit to a discussion on reparatory justice -- which could involve financial payments.

It is a debate Britain's cash-strapped government has worked hard to avoid.

Performers dance during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa © Fiona GOODALL / POOL/AFP

But the Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Davis told AFP that a real discussion about the past was vital.

"The time has come to have a real dialogue about how we address these historical wrongs," he said. "Reparatory justice is not an easy conversation, but it's an important one."

"The horrors of slavery left a deep, generational wound in our communities, and the fight for justice and reparatory justice is far from over".

Experts estimate that over four centuries about 10-15 million slaves were brought from Africa to the Americas.

The true figure, and human toll may never be known. The practice finally ended around 1870.

The British royal family, which benefited from the slave trade over centuries, has faced calls to itself apologise.

The Parliament of Samoa during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa © William WEST / AFP

But the monarch stopped well short of that on Friday, asking delegates to "reject the language of division".

"I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said.

"None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts, to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure."
'Honesty and integrity'

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also dismissed calls to pay reparations, and aides have ruled out an apology at the summit.

"The slave trade, slave practice was abhorrent and it's very important that we start from that place," Starmer told UK public broadcaster the BBC at the summit.

"The question then is 'where do we go from there?' My posture, if you like, is that we should look forward, that we should look at what are today's challenges."

A draft summit communique calling for debate on colonialism is still the subject of fierce negotiations.

One diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that developed countries were trying to water down the language in the final text.

"The call for reparations isn't simply about financial compensation; it's about recognising the enduring impact of centuries of exploitation and ensuring that the legacy of slavery is addressed with honesty and integrity," Davis insisted.


Lesotho's Joshua Setipa -- one of three candidates vying to be the next Commonwealth's secretary-general -- said reparations could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate financing.

"We can find a solution that will begin to address some injustices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today," he told AFP ahead of the summit.

He told AFP it "reveals the door to meaningful dialogue is opening".

The British monarch is concluding an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth states -- the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

© 2024 AFP

-- -- -

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Eric Williams Capitalism and Slavery - fnac-static.com

colonial world without an engagement with Eric Williams's Capitalism and ... tion of the Slave Trade', was published as Capitalism and Slavery in 1944,.

- -- -

'Freedom': Russian anti-war sisters find new home in exile

Nienburg (Germany) (AFP) – In a Russian forest, the Grigoryeva sisters had found a comforting refuge in their old wooden house, their "izba".

The twin siblings, who were active in their homeland against the war in Ukraine, left Russia and started a new life in Germany 

© FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

It was an isolated spot where the twins felt safe despite the war in Ukraine and Kremlin repression.

It was there that their father, a Russian paratrooper, spoke to them of his disgust at the actions of the Russian army during the battle for Kyiv in which he took part in 2022.

Months into Russia's invasion, he was already deeply psychologically scarred, haunted by his demons.

In August 2022, AFP spoke to Anastasia and Yelizaveta Grigoryeva in Pskov in western Russia, a garrison city for the 76th Guards Air Assault Division where their father served.


The 18-year-olds asked him then if he had committed war crimes. He assured them he had never killed anyone.

According to various media, the 76th division was involved in the massacre of hundreds of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, that has become a symbol of alleged Russian atrocities.

While their father was away fighting, the girls protested against the invasion in Pskov on March 6, 2022.

The sisters' story gave an insight into the human and moral cost of the war for Russians, even as President Vladimir Putin's regime imprisoned or exiled critics of the invasion 

© FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

They were arrested and fined.

The sisters' story gave an insight into the human and moral cost of the war for Russians, even as President Vladimir Putin's regime imprisoned or exiled critics of the invasion.

The Grigoryevas swore they would continue their anti-war activism.

They said their father planned to quit the army on medical grounds.

After telling AFP in 2022 that she felt a "huge feeling of guilt" for the suffering of Ukrainians and denouncing Russian "war crimes", Anastasia was called in for questioning by the authorities.

She did not go. Then a court ordered her to pay a fine for "discrediting the army", under a law used by Moscow to silence dissent. She did not pay it.

Yelizaveta moved to St Petersburg, where she was arrested at a protest against mobilisation in September 2022. She spent three days in jail.
'A feeling of freedom'

From time to time, Yelizaveta would send news about her and Anastasia to the AFP journalists who had interviewed her. Two years went by.

On October 2, AFP caught up with them in Nienburg/Weser, a town in the German state of Lower Saxony.

Yelizaveta said the town is known for "its museum and asparagus festival".

The twins talked about their new lives as they walked through Nienburg's historic centre and showed their apartment, which had little furniture and smelled of washing.

They planned to go to the Munich beer festival later with some new Russian friends -- young exiles like them.

A court ordered Anastasia to pay a fine for "discrediting the army", under a law used by Moscow to silence dissent © FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

Now aged 20, the sisters have grown up.

Their once hesitant voices are clearer now. They resemble each other more and more with their black clothes, long copper-red hair and piercings.

But they are still different.

Yelizaveta is more impulsive and extrovert. Anastasia, who now likes to be known as "Stas", measures her words and often speaks with irony.

Back to September 2022. The sisters felt in danger and feared being charged for crimes punishable by prison time for their activism.

An association put them in touch with a man who could take them to Estonia, across the border from the Pskov region, by crossing over illegally.

Fearing a trap by the FSB security service, they turned down the offer.

They thought of hiding away in their izba where there was no mobile network and where, Yelizaveta said, "sometimes the wolves and bears roam".

"There's no real road to get there, so the police would not have been able to reach it," Stas said.

They finally left Russia in November 2022 for Georgia, which they could enter without a visa.

Tens of thousands of Russians also fled there to escape mobilisation and growing repression.

The sisters lived there for a year.

Helped by a non-governmental organisation, Stas applied for a humanitarian visa to Germany.

Six months later, she received a positive reply. In December 2023, they arrived in Lower Saxony, spent a month in a refugee centre, then got their lodging in Nienburg, paid for by the region, and a living allowance.

"We finally have some stability" and "a feeling of freedom", said Stas, who is now learning German in school.

'Destroy myself'

Yelizaveta's face tenses up.

She is not doing as well as her sister. While living in St Petersburg in the autumn of 2022 she suffered "serious physical and psychological trauma".

While Russia was mobilising hundreds of thousands of men and hundreds of thousands more were fleeing, she found herself in a spiral of sex and drugs.

"It was an unstable time, the world was collapsing around me and it was like I wanted to destroy myself," she said.
Yelizaveta (R) was diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress and eating disorders © FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP

One night, facing money problems, she was taken in by a man who "posed as a kind person" who, she said, drugged and raped her.

She kept the emotions pent up inside. It then all came out during a meeting in German in June 2024 with a councillor.

She spent two and a half months in a psychiatric hospital. She was diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress and eating disorders.

Yelizaveta still goes to a hospital in the nearby city of Hanover several times a week. She goes to therapy.

The sisters talk about their father. He never left the army but "he is no longer fighting", said Yelizaveta, adding that he is still "very sick".

He calls them in his dark hours and tells them "details full of blood".

They also keep in touch with their mother, their grandmothers and their aunt.

Stas said she feels the family understands "the ongoing horror" in Russia but tries to live "in a bubble" by saying nothing in public for fear of government repression.

In Germany, the sisters said they do not feel any "Russophobia" -- an accusation frequently used by the Kremlin against the Western world.

"The main russophobe is the Russian government which detests its own people," Yelizaveta said.

They are also critical of the infighting within Russia's exiled opposition and said they plan to meet with and help Ukrainians.

"Slava Ukraini -- and that's it," said Yelizaveta, using a slogan of support for Kyiv.

In their sitting room hangs a large yellow and blue Ukrainian flag.

Yelizaveta said her dream was to heal and find "a reliable partner".

Stas said she just wanted to live in "a hut in a pine forest".

"Really?" Yelizaveta said. "Then me too."

© 2024 AFP