Menteri Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif Sandiaga Uno mengemukakan alasan pemerintah membatalkan rencana kenaikan harga tiket masuk Pulau Komodo sebesar Rp 3,75 juta per orang. Menurut dia, kebijakan yang semula akan berlaku per 1 Januari 2023 itu telah menjadi sorotan banyak pihak.
Pernyataan tersebut disampaikan oleh Sandiaga dalam Weekly Press Briefing Kementerian Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif (Kemenparekraf), pada hari Senin, 19/12/2022).
"Penyelenggaraan konservasi di Taman Nasional Komodo ini sudah menjadi perhatian dunia," kata Sandiaga dalam press briefing di kantor Kemenparekraf, Jakarta Pusat, Senin, 19 Desember 2022.
Sandiaga melanjutkan, setelah kebijakan kenaikan tiket masuk kawasan konservasi batal, pemerintah memberlakukan harga tiket seperti semula. Namun secara paralel, pemerintah akan mengkaji ulang kebijakan tarif yang disesuaikan dengan tujuan konservasi.
"Kami sangat mengapresiasi Pemerintah Provinsi NTT yang secara resmi mencabut Peraturan Gubernur Nomor 85 Tahun 2022 yang tentunya ini akan dikaji kembali berkaitan dengan konservasi," ujar Sandiaga.
Menanggapi hal tersebut, Pemerintah Provinsi NTT membantah adanya pembatalan penerapan tarif kontribusi bagi konservasi saat masuk Pulau Komodo, Pulau Padar serta kawasan perairan sekitar di Taman Nasional Komodo, Kabupaten Manggarai Barat, NTT.
Penjabat Sekretaris Daerah NTT, Johanna E Lisapaly, menyampaikan bahwa diterapkan atau tidaknya tarif tambahan bagi pengunjung ke Pulau Komodo dan Padar, saat ini tengah dibicarakan dengan Kementerian.
Mengingat sebelumnya KLHK meminta Peraturan Gubernur terkait hal tersebut dievaluasi.
"Hal ini bagi Pemprov NTT bukanlah merupakan sebuah pembatalan, tetapi merupakan penyesuaian kebijakan dengan semua komponen. Ketentuan dari peraturan gubernur sebagai landasan, disebut akan dievaluasi dari aspek narasi," ujar Johanna, saat dikonfirmasi, pada hari Selasa, 20/12/2022.
"Yang terpenting adalah NTT ikut ambil bagian dalam menjaga konservasi. Kan bukan tidak pasti (penerapan tarif TNK), tapi ditunda sementara dan dilakukan evaluasi," lanjutnya.
Ia mengatakan, salah satu hal penting dalam evaluasi itu yakni keterlibatan pemerintah daerah dalam hal konservasi di Taman Nasional Komodo.
Sementara itu, Direktur Operasional PT Flobamor, Abner Runpah Ataupah mengatakan, dari tarif Rp 3,75 juta, porsi paling besar adalah untuk biaya konservasi.
Ia menyebutkan dalam perjanjian kerja sama (PKS) antara Flobamor dan Balai Taman Nasional Komodo (BTNK), Flobamor mempunyai kewajiban untuk menjalankan program penguatan fungsi dengan mayoritas program yang dilakukan untuk kepentingan konservasi.
"Dari total tarif Rp 3,75 juta tersebut, 52 hingga 60 persen tarif tersebut dialokasikan untuk kepentingan konservasi," jelas Runpah saat ditemui di Labuan Bajo, hari Rabu 14/12/2022.
Adapun dengan pembatalan rencana kenaikan tarif masuk kawasan Taman Nasional Komodo, Sandiaga mengatakan pemerintah tidak akan menurunkan target wisatawan. Jumlah kunjungan wisatawan mancanegara alias wisman ke TN Komodo tetap dipatok 3,5-7,44 juta per tahun. Sedangkan pergerakan wisatawan Nusantara atau wisnus diproyeksikan sekitar 1,2-1,4 miliar.
"Target lainnya mengacu kepada apa yang sudah disepakati bersama sebelumnya pada rapat kerja Komisi X (DPR RI)," tuturnya.
Ketentuan harga tiket masuk Taman Nasional Komodo kini masih mengacu pada Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 12 Tahun 2014. Beleid itu mengatur tentang jenis dan tarif atas jenis penerimaan negara bukan pajak yang berlaku pada Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan. Sesuai dengan beleid yang berlaku, tiket masuk Pulau Komodo Rp 150 ribu.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the country’s special services to intensify work in all areas amid new challenges and risks.
In a transcript of his video address on Security Agency Worker’s Day, published by the Kremlin on Tuesday, the Russian leader said, "Today’s rapidly changing global situation and the emergence of new threats and challenges impose high demands on the entire system of Russia’s security agencies. This means that you need to significantly improve your work in key areas, and use your operational, technical and personnel potential to the fullest."
He laid a special emphasis on security agency units in the new Russian regions where he said the situation was extremely complicated. However, he said it was their duty to do all it takes to ensure the safety of Russian people living there.
Outlining the priorities of all special services, primarily the Federal Security Service (FSB), Putin focused on the fight against terrorism. "You have vast experience in countering terrorism; therefore, it is necessary to continue the efforts to prevent terrorist attacks in a system-wide and consistent way," he insisted.
The Russian president also urged the country’s counterintelligence agencies, including the military ones, to show "utmost readiness and concentration. It is necessary to put a firm stop to the activities of foreign special services, and to promptly identify traitors, spies and diversionists," he said.
Putin made the remarks while congratulating Russian security agencies' officers on their professional holiday, which is celebrated on December 20. He said that in recent years Russia's security services have been working with high efficiency.
Putin also said the fight against terrorism remains one of the main priorities for all Russian security agencies, primarily the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Ukrainians being pushed into area of Maryinka where they would be unable to defend — DPR
Russia’s armed forces are about to push Ukrainian troops into the countryside part of Maryinka where the Kiev regime’s militants will find it very hard to defend, acting leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin told Zvezda television channel.
"Maryinka will be liberated very soon.... We have a few blocks of flats to go, and as soon as we mop those up, we will be able to drive the enemy to the countryside part [of the city], which is almost completely destroyed, and the enemy will have nothing to cling at there," he said. "Therefore, several areas will open up for our advance - both Kurakhovka and Krasnogorovka," he specified.
This he said would enable Russian forces "to accomplish tasks as part of the liberation of those territories, and to take [the enemy] into ticks near Avdeyevka." According to Pushilin, this would be vital, for the Ukrainians have been shelling Donetsk and Yasinovataya from near Avdeyevka.
He also said the Ukrainians had been building up powerful defenses near Maryinka for the past eight years and had set up numerous firing positions, and dug trenches both along the houses there and under them. Besides, basements were converted to bases and shelters, Pushilin added.
DPR people’s militia forces began their operation to liberate Maryinka, a community west of Donetsk from where the Ukrainian military shelled the republic’s capital, on March 19. The DPR earlier said that the liberation of Maryinka would place the settlement of Aleksandrovka, the Petrovsky district and the Tekstilshchik neighborhood of Donetsk outside the reach of the Ukrainian army’s shelling.
Russia's MoD Briefing on Progress of Special Military Operation in Ukraine
Russian MoD’s briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:
▪️The Russian Army eliminated more than 20 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle, and two cars in the Kupyansk direction.
▪️Russian troops eliminated up to 70 militants, two armored combat vehicles, and two pickup trucks in the Krasny Liman direction
▪️Russian forces eliminated more than 130 Ukrainian servicemen, two tanks, three armored combat vehicles, and three cars in the Donetsk direction.
▪️The Russian Army hit Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade and 108th Territorial Defense Brigade groups in the South Donetsk direction.
▪️Russian troops eliminated two Ukrainian sabotage groups in the DPR, with Ukrainian Army losses amounting to 80 servicemen killed and wounded, as well as two armored combat vehicles and three pickup trucks destroyed.
▪️Russian air defenses shot down eight Ukrainian UAVs in the LPR, DPR, and the Kherson region, six HIMARS and Uragan rockets were intercepted in the DPR, LPR, and in the Zaporozhye region.
▪️Russian troops shot down four US-made HARM anti-radar missiles in the Belgorod region.
PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) atau KAI menerapkan syarat naik kereta api jarak jauh untuk periode Natal dan tahun baru atau Nataru. Aturan yang berlaku mulai 19 Desember ini membebaskan anak usia 6-12 tahun yang belum vaksin melakukan perjalanan dengan kereta api.
"Perubahan dalam aturan terbaru ini adalah sebelumnya pelanggan dengan usia 6 sampai 12 tahun yang belum vaksin kedua dengan alasan medis wajib menunjukkan surat keterangan dokter dari rumah sakit pemerintah," ujar Vice President Public Relations KAI Joni Martinus dalam keterangannya, Senin, 19 Desember 2022.
Namun, pelanggan dengan rentang usia tersebut perlu menunjukkan surat keterangan belum mendapatkan vaksinasi dari puskesmas atau fasilitas pelayanan kesehatan dengan alasan tertentu. Atau, pelanggan harus didampingi oleh orang dewasa yang telah mendapatkan vaksinasi booster.
Aturan tersebut menyesuaikan dengan terbitnya SE Kementerian Kesehatan Nomor HK.02.02/II/3984/2022 tentang Kesiapsiagaan Menghadapi Libur Hari Raya Natal Tahun 2022 dan Tahun Baru 2023.
Berikut ini persyaratan lengkap perjalanan menggunakan kereta jarak jauh.
Usia 18 tahun ke atas:
Wajib vaksin ketiga (booster)
WNA yang berasal dari perjalanan luar negeri, wajib vaksin kedua
Tidak/belum divaksin dengan alasan medis wajib menunjukkan surat keterangan dokter dari rumah sakit pemerintah
Usia 6-12 tahun:
Wajib vaksin kedua
Berasal dari perjalanan luar negeri, tidak wajib vaksin
Tidak/belum divaksin harus memiliki surat keterangan belum mendapatkan vaksinasi dari puskesmas/fasilitas pelayanan kesehatan dengan alasan tertentu atau harus didampingi oleh orang tua/orang dewasa yang telah mendapatkan vaksinasi lengkap (vaksin 1, vaksin 2, dan booster 1) selama melakukan perjalanan. Jika orang tua/orang dewasa pendamping belum mendapatkan vaksinasi lengkap karena alasan kesehatan, mereka harus mengantongi surat keterangan dari dokter penanggung jawab pelayanan sesuai dengan ketentuan protokol Kesehatan bagi pelaku perjalanan.
Usia 13-17 tahun:
Wajib vaksin kedua
Berasal dari perjalanan luar negeri, tidak wajib vaksin
Tidak/belum divaksin dengan alasan medis wajib menunjukkan surat keterangan dokter dari rumah sakit pemerintah.
Pelanggan dengan usia di bawah 6 tahun tidak wajib vaksin dan tidak wajib menunjukkan hasil negatif rapid tes Antigen atau RT-PCR, namun wajib dengan pendamping yang memenuhi persyaratan perjalanan.
Syarat Naik KA Lokal dan Aglomerasi
Vaksin minimal dosis pertama
Tidak diwajibkan untuk menunjukkan surat keterangan hasil negatif rapid test antigen atau RT-PCR
Tidak/belum divaksin dengan alasan medis wajib menunjukkan surat keterangan dokter dari rumah sakit pemerintah
Pelanggan dengan usia 6-12 tahun tidak/belum divaksin harus memiliki surat keterangan belum mendapatkan vaksinasi dari puskesmas/fasilitas pelayanan kesehatan dengan alasan tertentu atau harus didampingi oleh orang tua/orang dewasa yang telah mendapatkan vaksinasi lengkap (vaksin 1, vaksin 2, dan booster 1) selama melakukan perjalanan. Jika orang dewasa pendamping belum mendapatkan vaksinasi lengkap karena alasan kesehatan, mereka harus menunjukkan surat keterangan dari dokter penanggung jawab pelayanan sesuai dengan ketentuan protokol kesehatan bagi pelaku perjalanan
Pelanggan dengan usia di bawah 6 tahun tidak wajib vaksin namun wajib dengan pendamping yang memenuhi persyaratan perjalanan.
Ketua Umum Ikatan Alumni Institut Teknologi Bandung (IA-ITB) Gembong Primadjadja/Net
Ketua Umum Ikatan Alumni Institut Teknologi Bandung (IA-ITB) Gembong Primadjadja menegaskan bahwa terdapat sekelompok orang yang mengatasnamakan IA-ITB menyelenggarakan webinar kebangsaan bertajuk “Pemilu Berintegritas atau Gagalkan Pemilu” yang digelar pada 13 Desember 2022 lalu.
“Ada sekelompok orang yang mengaku-ngaku sebagai pengurus pusat IA-ITB telah menyelenggarakan live zoom webinar kebangsaan dengan topik Pemilu Berintegritas atau Gagalkan Pemilu yang diselenggarakan pada 13 Desember 2022 pukul 7.30 PM dengan Nara sumber, Dr Syahganda Nainggolan dan Dr Ferry J Juliantono dengan menggunakan nama PP IA-ITB “tanpa izin” dari Pengurus Pusat IA-ITB yang sah,” kata Gembong dalam keterangan tertulis, pada hari Senin, 19/12/2022.
Gembong menjelaskan, bahwa IA-ITB yang sah dan diakui oleh negara, peradilan tingkat pertama dan peradilan tingkat ke dua (judex actie) hingga peradilan tingkat akhir (judex yuris) adalah IA-ITB yang diketuai oleh dirinya sendiri sebagaimana dikuatkan oleh SK Menkumham No. AHU-0000720.AHA.01.08.2021.
Kemudian, lanjut Gembong, berdasarkan sertifikat HAKI dengan nomor pendaftaran IDM001018323 yang diterbitkan pada tanggal 27 Oktober 2022 oleh Direktorat Jenderal Kekayaan Intelektual Kementerian Hukum dan HAM menyatakan secara tegas dan sah Logo IA-ITB adalah resmi milik IA-ITB yang di ketuai oleh Gembong Primadjaja.
Gembong menegaskan, jika masih terdapat sekelompok orang menggunakan logo resmi IA-ITB tanpa seizin pemilik sah Hak Sertifikat HAKI dengan nomor pendaftaran IDM001018323 yang diterbitkan pada tanggal 27 Oktober 2022 oleh Direktorat Jenderal Kekayaan Intelektual Kementerian Hukum dan HAM, dirinya akan menempuh jalur hukum.
“Maka kami akan melakukan somasi final dan melakukan upaya hukum terkait perbuatan tersebut berdasarkan ketentuan peraturan perundang-undangan yang berlaku,” demikian Gembong.
Moscow has warned that Brussels’ talk of a bloc-wide cap on natural gas prices would increase market instability. Who controls gas prices? Who sets them? What factors, economic and geopolitical, impact them? The answer is: it’s a bit complicated. As Russia’s president once said, gas isn’t a commodity “like watches, underwear or neckties.”
European Union energy ministers’ discussion of a “market correction mechanism,” or a cap on natural gas prices, cannot but lead to the destabilization of the market and will result in heightened uncertainty, says Russian Ambassador-at-Large Yuri Sentyurin.
“There may be a variety of mad ideas on this matter, these are definitely not measures which can be classified as market measures,” Sentyurin, an energy market specialist, told Sputnik in an interview, referring to the ongoing EU price cap talks. “These are counter-market tools. In my view, all of this will lead to the unpleasant consequence of the degradation of markets,” Sentyurin said.
EU energy ministers are continuing gas price cap talks Monday, with Estonian Economy Minister Riina Sikkut explaining last week that the proposed capping mechanism could be triggered if European prices hit 35 euros per megawatt hour above those of global LNG prices over three days. Sikkut expressed “hope” that a deal could be reached soon, “in the spirit of Christmas.” Alternative price cap rates have been floated, and disagreements over the rate are at the core of ongoing discussions.
How are Natural Gas Prices Determined?
In ordinary circumstances and under market conditions, natural gas prices are roughly linked to oil and other sources of energy and heating, such as coal. Typically, as oil prices rise or fall, natural gas prices follow suit, often with a lag of between one and six months. The correlation is stronger in some markets (such as Europe) than in others (such as the United States).
Gas demand is also affected by a variety of other factors, including:
Weather. (The colder seasonal low temperatures are, the more natural gas is used, meaning higher demand.)
Economic activity. For instance, global gas consumption fell from 3.9 trillion cubic meters in 2019 to 3.84 trillion cubic meters in 2020 due to the economic slowdown caused by COVID lockdowns, before surging in 2021 to over 4.03 trillion cubic meters as economies opened back up and Europe and Asia ramped up competition for limited supplies.
Alternative sources of energy. In Europe, natural gas is used for power generation (26 percent), to make energy for industry (23 percent), and heating for buildings (most of the remainder). As alternatives to gas come online (solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal), the proportion of gas in the overall energy balance could decline, even as absolute values typically do not, since overall global energy consumption tends to rise year after year and decade after decade. Poorer than expected performance of alternative energy sources in 2021 caused by cloudy weather and weak winds showed that these are not the "green energy" panacea some officials hoped they would be, and that traditional hydrocarbons are likely to remain a mainstay for humanity well into the 22nd century, unless some cutting-edge energy generation technology such as fusion power is quickly developed and widely adopted.
Storage capacity. Storing natural gas is far more difficult than storing other hydrocarbons, like oil and coal. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said in late 2021 while discussing the causes of Europe’s energy crisis, “gas isn’t watches, underwear or neckties, not cars, and not even oil, which can be built or pumped and then stored anywhere, including in tankers in anticipation of a certain on the market. Gas is not traded this way, it cannot be stored this way.” 80-90 percent of the EU’s natural gas is held in special, pressurized underground facilities, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs, aquifers or salt caverns. The EU has over 250 gas storage facilities, and in ordinary circumstances, most bloc members require that at least 15 percent of the nation’s energy needs be available in the form of reserves. Consequently, the less storage capacity a country has, or the longer it waits to refill depleted reserves while prices ebb, typically in the spring and summer months, the higher price it may be forced to pay when winter comes around and demand skyrockets.
Plain old supply and demand. Like most other energy sources, natural gas is an exhaustible resource, meaning its supply isn’t limitless. As new natural gas fields are discovered, developed, or exhausted, markets react and prices fluctuate up or down.
Artificial intervention. Geopolitics can also play a major role, as this year’s events have shown. If a major supplier of natural gas becomes unavailable for some reason (if the European Union sets restrictions on Russian gas deliveries, for example), prices go up. If a country’s gas fields are occupied and production infrastructure is destroyed or damaged (the US occupation of northeastern Syria, for example), prices go up.
Russia is the world’s second-largest producer of natural gas, producing over 700 billion cubic meters of gas (bcm) per year and exporting over 200 bcm of that in 2021. If and when an artificial, politicized intervention results in Russian gas exports dropping significantly, prices will go up, and alternative suppliers, such as the United States, will wriggle their way into the market, and sell their fracking-derived liquefied natural gas to the Europeans for “three to four times” more than US consumers are made to pay, as French President Emmanuel Macron recently complained.
How do Spot Gas Prices Differ From Long-Term Contracts?
There are two main methods of setting prices for natural gas: reliance on "spot" market prices, which can fluctuate wildly by the month, the week, the day, or even the hour, or dependence on long-term contracts, which are negotiated between countries, and which can be inked for years or even decades at a time.
Until the 2000s, gas prices in Europe were largely set by long-term contracts linked to oil prices. As demand, and subsequently prices, for the commodities began to shift, and as more and more alternative sources of supply became available, so too did some countries’ perspective on long-term contracts, with buyers hoping to take advantage of a perceived glut in the market to buy up gas on the cheap. In 2021, these hopes withered, and the International Energy Agency estimated that the EU overpaid about $30 billion thanks to reliance on spot prices than they would have using long-term contracts.
Russian energy giant Gazprom, which until the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine had supplied the EU with as much as 40 percent of its natural gas supplies, has a well-known penchant for long-term contracts, as this means more stability, and the ability to plan ahead when making costly investments like developing new gas fields, pipeline and storage infrastructure, etc. For example, the Nord Stream network, which increased available Russian energy to Europe by some 110 bcm, cost Gazprom and its partners over $20 billion to build – an expense easier to swallow when you have partners ready to agree to long-term contracts.
Why is Natural Gas Valuable?
Natural gas is the cleanest of the fossil fuels and, along with nuclear power, one of the cleanest "traditional" sources of energy available to humanity today. Anthracite coal produces about 228 pounds of CO2 per million British thermal units (Btus), with diesel fuel making 161 pounds, gasoline 157 pounds, and propane 139 pounds. Natural gas, on the other hand, creates just 117 pounds of CO2 per million Btus. The energy source may be more polluting, particularly if it’s derived using techniques like fracking. However, using conventional well drilling, it’s by far the least polluting of all the fossil fuels.
Until the escalation of the Ukraine crisis in February, natural gas was among the most dependable sources of energy for Europe, with the massive network of pipelines, both offshore and onshore, together with LNG terminals, accounting for nearly 13,700 petajoules (1 petajoule = 278 gigawatt hours) of energy, or 24 percent of the region’s total gross available energy, in 2020.
The ongoing dispute with Russia has already resulted in a European energy price and supply crunch unseen since the 1970s Arab oil embargo, resulting in a variety of unpleasant consequences for ordinary Europeans, from outrageously high costs for heating and hot water, to higher prices of fuel for vehicles, to a jump in food prices, and galloping inflation.
Potentially far more serious are the dispute’s long-term consequences – which could include the EU’s deindustrialization as manufacturers flock to regions where energy is cheaper. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned as far back as May that a politicized rejection of Russian oil and natural gas by the Europeans would constitute economic suicide.
As 2022 comes to a close and the Biden administration is now openly enticing European industries to move to America via subsidies in the US’ "Inflation Reduction Act," Brussels’ talk of a new cap on natural gas seems aimed at speeding up the region’s descent into an economic dark age.
In September, it was reported that the government of the Netherlands was preparing to issue an official apology for the European nation’s key role in slave trade history. In addition, the Dutch government was said to launch a 200-million-euro fund for projects aimed at raising the public’s awareness of the legacy of slavery
On Monday, the Netherlands is expected to issue an official apology for the Dutch nation’s key role in slave trade in the past, becoming the first European country to apologize formally for its role in the dark history of trading enslaved people.
The apology is expected to be made by the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a speech in The Hague.
Apart from that, the PM is reportedly set to launch a 200-million-euro fund (about $213 million) aimed at education people about the legacy of slavery.
Last week, Rutte said that the fund was not intended for reparation, adding that the move, which he described as an “important moment”, would not be the “end point” of the Dutch government’s efforts to settle the country’s colonial past.
The Dutch government stressed that the fund is meant to “strengthen knowledge about the meaning of discrimination in everyday life and take legal measures to combat racism and xenophobia.
Critics, according to local media reports, view the Dutch government’s unprecedented move as coming too late, arguing that apologizing for salve trade would not address institutional racism in the country.
Jesse Klaver, the leader of the Green Left Party, argued that PM Rutte’s apology would have been more effective if the descendants of slavery trade victims would be involved in the conversation.
“I am positive about the fact that they are going to apologize, but not about the way in which they are doing this,” Klaver stated, as cited by media. “An apology is a process you start together, you discuss what is needed.”
The Netherlands was among the biggest slave traders in the world in the period between the 16th and the 19th centuries, having colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
As the country reckons with its colonial past, in July 2021, the mayor of the Netherlands’ capital Amsterdam officially apologized for “the active involvement of the Amsterdam city council in the commercial system of colonial slavery and the worldwide trade in enslaved people”.
Earlier this year, the Dutch Central Bank and ABN AMRO Bank NV, the third-largest Dutch bank, also issued formal apologies for their historical role in slave trade.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernandez, to congratulate him on the victory of the Argentine national team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Vladimir Putin has just held a phone conversation with President Fernandez of Argentina and warmly congratulated him on the victory of the Argentine national team at the FIFA World Cup," Peskov told reporters on Sunday.
Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also congratulated Argentina with its victory. Brazil lost to Croatia in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
"Happy with the victory of the Argentine neighbors. Great game from Messi, who really deserved (victory), and Di Maria. Congratulations to the players, the coaching staff from Argentina and my friend Alberto Fernandez," Lula da Silva said on Twitter on Sunday.
Feliz com a vitória dos vizinhos argentinos. Grande jogo de Messi, que merecia muito, e Di Maria. Parabéns jogadores, comissão técnica da Argentina e meu amigo @alferdez 🇦🇷
Earlier in the day, Argentina defeated France 4-2 on penalties, following a 3-3 draw after extra time, and won the World Cup for the third time (previous victories in 1978 and 1986).
French President Emmanuel Macron offered "Congratulations to Argentina for their victory" in a Twitter post on Sunday.
In the semifinal game on Wednesday France defeated Morocco 2-0. On Saturday, Croatia won the World Cup bronze medal, beating Morocco 2-1 in the third-place playoff.
Argentine President, Alberto Fernandez, to watch World Cup final from home
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said he watched Sunday's World Cup final match between his national team and France from home, and not in person from Qatar.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez. AFP file photo
"Like millions of my compatriots, I will enjoy the final of the World Cup at home," he said Sunday on Twitter.
"I will live this fantastic moment as I have up to now, together with my people," he said. "Our best will be on the field, and our glorious fans in the stands."
Fernandez is a passionate fan of Argentinos Juniors, the team from which football superstar Diego Maradona emerged.
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández tweeted: “Thanks to the players and coaching team. They are the example that we should not give up. That we have great people and a great future.”
Even Brazil, La Albiceleste’s great rival, sent congratulations.
La alegría del tamaño del mundo ❤️ Así nos sentimos y así lo compartimos con todos nuestros pueblos hermanos @DiazCanelB. https://t.co/rtNoAMv4jI
Gracias por este saludo presidente Putin. Que la alegría que hoy une a la Argentina con tantos pueblos del mundo sirva como ejemplo: nuestras sociedades necesitan unidad y paz. https://t.co/g13PYw5iMM
