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Tag: Russia

  • Russia-Ukraine conflict: NATO unity to be tested at annual summit in Lithuania

    Russia-Ukraine conflict: NATO unity to be tested at annual summit in Lithuania

    As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with no end in sight, NATO’s much-celebrated unity faces fresh strains when leaders gather for their annual summit this week in Vilnius, Lithuania.

    The world’s biggest security alliance is struggling to reach an agreement on admitting Sweden as its 32nd member. Military spending by member nations still lags behind longstanding goals. And an inability to compromise over who should serve as NATO’s next leader forced an extension of the current secretary general’s term for an extra year.

    Perhaps most thorny are questions over how Ukraine should be eased into the alliance. Some maintain admitting Ukraine to NATO would be the fulfillment of a promise made years ago and a necessary step to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe. Others are fearful it would be seen as a provocation that could spiral into an even wider conflict.

    Bickering among friends is not uncommon, and the current catalogue of disputes pales in comparison to past fears that Donald Trump would turn his back on the alliance during his presidency. However, the challenges come at a moment when President Joe Biden and his counterparts are heavily invested in demonstrating harmony among members.

    “Any fissure, any lack of solidarity provides an opportunity for those who would oppose the alliance,” said Douglas Lute, who served as US ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is eager to exploit divisions as he struggles to gain ground in Ukraine and faces political challenges at home, including the aftermath of a brief revolt by the Wagner mercenary group.

    “You don’t want to present any openings,” Lute said. “You don’t want to present any gaps or seams.”

    By some measures, the Ukraine conflict has reinvigorated NATO, which was created at the beginning of the Cold War as a bulwark against Moscow. Members of the alliance have poured military hardware into Ukraine to help with its ongoing counteroffensive, and Finland ended a history of nonalignment to become NATO’s 31st member.

    The US announced Friday it will provide Ukraine with the controversial cluster munitions. Such a bomb poses a higher risk of civilian harm as it opens in the air releasing smaller “bomblets” across a wide area, hitting multiple targets simultaneously. Ukraine has promised to use it carefully.

    In a statement on Saturday evening, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of Western Europe’s staunchest backers of Ukraine in the war, reiterated her country’s condemnation of the Russian aggression but called for the “universal application of the principles” of the international convention banning the production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions.

    UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “wants countries to abide by the terms of that convention and so as a result, of course, he does not want there to be continued use of cluster munitions on the battlefield.”

    But the ongoing war has allowed other challenges to fester or bubble to the surface.

    In particular, NATO leaders said back in 2008 that Ukraine would eventually become a member, but little action has been taken toward that goal. Putin occupied parts of the country in 2014 and then attempted to capture Kyiv in 2022, leading to the current war.

    “A gray zone is a green light for Putin,” said Daniel Fried, a former US ambassador to Poland, and now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.

    The US and Germany insist that the focus should be on supplying weapons and ammunition to help Ukraine win the current conflict, rather than taking the more provocative step of extending a formal invitation to join NATO.

    However, countries on NATO’s Eastern flank, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, want firmer assurances on future membership.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing for that as well. During a visit to Prague on Thursday, he said the “ideal” result of the Vilnius summit would be an invitation for his country to join the alliance.

    NATO could use the occasion to elevate its relationship with Ukraine, creating what would be known as the NATO-Ukraine Council and giving Kyiv a seat at the table for consultations.

    Also in the spotlight in Vilnius will be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the main obstacle blocking Sweden’s attempts to join NATO alongside its neighbor Finland.

    Erdogan accuses Sweden of being too lenient on anti-Islamic demonstrations and militant Kurdish groups that have waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye.

    Sweden recently changed its anti-terrorism legislation and lifted an arms embargo on Turkiye. However, a man burned a Qur’an outside a mosque in Stockholm last week, and Erdogan signaled that this would pose another obstacle. He equated “those who permitted the crime” to those who perpetrated it.

    Turkiye and the US are also at an impasse over the sale of F-16 fighter jets. Erdogan wants the upgraded planes, but Biden says that Sweden’s NATO membership has to be dealt with first.

    Sullivan said the US is confident that Sweden will join NATO “in the not-too-distant future,” but it’s unclear if the matter will be resolved during the summit.

  • Russian media watchdog blacklists outlets linked to wagner mercenary chief

    Russian media watchdog blacklists outlets linked to wagner mercenary chief

    Russia’s media watchdog blacklisted at least five media outlets affiliated with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and blocked their websites in Russia.

    The move came after Wagner fighters took control of a Russian military headquarters and advanced on Moscow in what appears to have been an attempted insurrection.

    As of Saturday, websites of the RIA FAN news agency and four online news portals controlled by Prigozhin’s Patriot media holding company “People’s News”, “Neva News”, “Politics Today” and “Economy Today”, were listed on a register of blacklisted sites maintained by the communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor.

    Unconfirmed reports in Russian news outlets Friday claimed that Prigozhin himself had ordered a shut down of St. Petersburg-based Patriot. Prigozhin has not directly confirmed or denied the reports.

    Patriot, founded in 2019 to bring together Prigozhin’s media and Internet assets, included the Internet Research Agency, the so-called “troll farm” linked to Russian attempts to meddle in US elections.

    Patriot director Yevgeny Zubarev said this week that the Internet Research Agency, which was tasked with conducting online influence operations to advance Russian interests, had operated under Prigozhin’s control since 2009 before being brought under the Patriot umbrella. .

    In the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, IRA employees regularly posed as Americans to offer financial help to US protest movements tackling socially divisive topics, according to a 2017 investigation by Russian newspaper RBC.

    The investigation, based on accounts from several IRA employees, identified more than 100 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts it said were used to contact US-based activists offering help with organising protests and events, focusing on race relations and gun rights among other front-page issues.

    Prigozhin admitted in November that he had interfered in the 2016 election.

    He and his fighters escaped prosecution and were offered refuge in Belarus last week after the president of Belarus helped broker a deal to end what appeared to be an armed insurrection by the mercenary group.

    Prigozhin’s media group encompassed dozens of media outlets, including RIA FAN, the news agency whose US subsidiary USA Really pilloried “mainstream media” and praised then-President Donald Trump in its mission statement.

  • Moscow has taken 700,000 children out of Ukraine conflict zones- Russian lawmaker

    Moscow has taken 700,000 children out of Ukraine conflict zones- Russian lawmaker

    Russia has brought some 700,000 children from the conflict zones in Ukraine into Russian territory, Grigory Karasin, head of the international committee in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, said late on Sunday.

    “In recent years, 700,000 children have found refuge with us, fleeing the bombing and shelling from the conflict areas in Ukraine,” Karasin wrote on his Telegram messaging channel.

    Russia launched a full-scale invasion on its western neighbor Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow says its programme of bring children from Ukraine into Russian territory is to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

    However, Ukraine says many children have been illegally deported and the United States says thousands of children have been forcibly removed from their homes.

    Most of the movement of people and children occurred in the first few months of the war and before Ukraine started its major counter offensive to regain occupied territories in the east and south in late August.

    In July 2022, the United States estimated that Russia “forcibly deported” 260,000 children, while Ukraine’s Ministry of Integration of Occupied Territories, says 19,492 Ukrainian children are currently considered illegally deported.

  • 3 Children among 8 dead after Russia missile strike hits Ukraine restaurant

    3 Children among 8 dead after Russia missile strike hits Ukraine restaurant

    Death count from a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in eastern Ukraine rose to eight on Wednesday, as Kyiv played down the effect of a brief mutiny by the head of the Wagner mercenary group on the conflict.

    The blast at the Ria Pizza restaurant also killed three children and wounded at least 56 at the eatery, popular with both soldiers and journalists in the town of Kramatorsk, one of the largest still under Ukrainian control in the east.

    Days after the aborted rebellion of Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin, widely seen as the biggest threat to Kremlin authority in decades, Kyiv said the mutiny’s influence on fighting was minimal.

    “Unfortunately, Prigozhin gave up too quickly. So there was no time for this demoralising effect to penetrate Russian trenches,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN in a video published Wednesday.

    As Belarus welcomed Prigozhin into exile on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to shore up his authority by thanking regular troops for averting a civil war.

    But as Moscow announced preparations to disarm Wagner fighters, Putin’s arch-foe, jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, launched a stinging attack on the president in his first comments since the aborted mutiny by the paramilitaries.

    “There is no bigger threat to Russia than Putin’s regime,” Navalny said on social media.

    “Putin’s regime is so dangerous to the country that even its inevitable demise will create the threat of civil war,” he wrote.

    In the Hague, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said it was still too early to draw conclusions from the move to Belarus of Prigozhin and, likely, some of his forces, but he vowed that the alliance was ready to defend its members.

    “What is absolutely clear is that we have sent a clear message to Moscow and to Minsk that NATO is there to protect every ally and every inch of NATO territory,” Stoltenberg said.

    Putin’s supporters, however, insisted that his rule was not weakened by the revolt.

    Asked whether Putin’s power was diminished by the sight of Wagner’s rebel mercenaries seizing a military HQ, advancing on Moscow and shooting down military aircraft along the way, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused political commentators of exaggerating, adding that: “We don’t agree.”

    Putin himself attempted to portray the dramatic events at the weekend as a victory for the Russian army.

    “You de facto stopped civil war,” Putin told troops from the defence ministry, National Guard, FSB security service and interior ministry gathered in a Kremlin courtyard to hold a minute’s silence for airmen killed by Wagner.

  • Any plan to destabilise Russia will fail – Putin

    Any plan to destabilise Russia will fail – Putin

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again reiterated that any attempt to blackmail Russia or foment unrest would fail after an armed rebellion shook his more than two decades of rule.

    There has been a case of anticipated Mutiny from the Wagner group in the country.

    “Civilian solidarity showed that any blackmail, any attempts to organize internal turmoil, is doomed to fail,” Putin said in a televised address.

    He warned that fighters employed by the mercenary outfit Wagner could join the military or leave for Belarus after the group carried out an armed revolt.

    “Today you have the possibility to continue serving Russia by entering into a contract with the ministry of defence or other law enforcement agencies, or to return to your family and close ones… Whoever wants to can go to Belarus,” Putin said.

    He also thanked his security officials for their work during an armed rebellion in a meeting that included Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu — a main target of the mutiny.

    “I gathered you to thank you for the work that was done,” Putin told the officials after a revolt by Wagner mercenaries that aimed to bring down Moscow’s top brass.

    It was the first time Shoigu was seen in public since the rebellion, while Moscow’s top general Valery Gerasimov — who Wagner fighters also wanted to unseat — was not seen in footage of the meeting released by the Kremlin.

  • Putin accuses Wagner mercenaries of treason, vows to punish takeover of Russia

    Putin accuses Wagner mercenaries of treason, vows to punish takeover of Russia

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the armed rebellion, led by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, is a `stab in the back`

    Putin, in a televised address to the Russians on Saturday, said that necessary orders have been given to the troops to neutralise those who have orchestrated the armed rebellion.

    The president addressed the nation as Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed forces declared to have gained control over the Russian city of RostoV and his army continued to ‘march’ towards the capital to oust the military leadership of the country.

    Putin appeals for ‘unity’, says won’t allow civil war
    “I appeal to the citizens of Russia, to the personnel of the Armed Forces, law enforcement agencies and special services, to the soldiers and commanders who are now fighting in their combat positions, repelling enemy attacks – they are doing it heroically. I know. Today, I once again spoke with the commanders of all directions. I also appeal to those who, by deceit or threats, were dragged into a criminal adventure, pushed onto the path of a grave crime – an armed rebellion,” Putin said, in his address.

    “This is a battle when the fate of our people is being decided, it requires the unity of all forces, unity, consolidation and responsibility, when everything that weakens us, any strife that our external enemies can use and use to undermine us from the inside must be thrown aside”.

    Putin calls Wagner chief’s actions ‘stab in the back’, ‘betrayal’
    “The actions that split our unity are, in fact, apostasy from our people, from our comrades-in-arms who are now fighting at the front. This is a stab in the back to our country and our people. We will protect both our people and our statehood from any threats, including from internal betrayal, and what we are faced with is precisely betrayal to the cause for which, side by side with our other units and subunits, the fighters and commanders of the Wagner group fought and died,” the Russian president said.

    “I believe that we will save and defend what is dear and sacred to us. Together with our homeland, we will overcome any trials, we will become even stronger. Everyone who deliberately took the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed rebellion, took the path of rebellion and terrorist methods will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer before the law and before our people,” he added.

    The Wagner chief is facing accusations of “incitement to armed rebellion” as he asked Russians to support his 25,000 Wagner fighters against Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. Prigozhin has been charged with armed mutiny and can face up to 20 years of imprisonment, as per TASS.

    “Amid the seriousness of the situation and the threat of escalation of confrontation in the Russian Federation the FSB has opened a criminal case into the fact of a call for an armed rebellion on the part of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” the Federal Security Service’s Public Relations Centre said.

    Russia, which has been engaging with Ukraine in one of the longest wars, is on the brink of civil war and feared a coup as it faced a rebellion from the Wagner group. Amid the escalating situation, an “anti-terrorist operation regime” has been declared in Moscow and all public events have been cancelled.

  • Threat of Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is ‘real’ – Biden

    Threat of Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is ‘real’ – Biden

    President Joe Biden said the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is “real”, days after denouncing Russia’s deployment of such weapons in Belarus.

    On Saturday, Biden called Putin’s announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus “absolutely irresponsible”.

    “When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday.

    “They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It’s real,” Biden said.

    Last week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country has started taking delivery of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

    The deployment is Russia’s first move of such warheads – shorter-range, less powerful nuclear weapons that could be used on the battlefield – outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

    The United States has said it has no intention of altering its stance on strategic nuclear weapons in response to the deployment and has not seen any signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.

    In May, Russia dismissed Biden’s criticism of its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying the U.S. had for decades deployed such nuclear weapons in Europe.

    The Russian deployment is being watched closely by the United States and its allies as well as by China, which has repeatedly cautioned against the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.

  • Russia accuses G7 leaders of turning summit into Propaganda Show

    Russia accuses G7 leaders of turning summit into Propaganda Show

    Russian Foreign Ministry have accused the Group of Seven top economies, (G7) leaders of turning their summit in Hiroshima, Japan into a “propaganda show”.

    Nations at the G7 summit held over the weekend, agreed to place more bans on Russian energy and Russian diamonds. Also the G7 countries agreed to give Ukraine the much needed f-16 fighter jets to help in it’s invasion against Russia.

    “The leaders of the G7 brought to their meeting the ringleader of the Kyiv regime they control and turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

    The summit’s “main conclusion was a bunch of announcements filled with hateful anti-Russian and also anti-Chinese messages,” a statement said.

    The Russian foreign ministry said the G7 has become “an incubator in which, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives that undermine global stability are worked out.”

    The West’s decline in global influence “is forcing the members of this body to put all their efforts into whipping up anti-Russian and anti-Chinese hysteria,” the statement said.

    “We are certain that our evaluation of the G7 and its destructive actions is shared by the majority of the international community,” it added.

  • Russia places entry ban on 500 Americans including Obama

    Russia places entry ban on 500 Americans including Obama

    Moscow has placed an entry ban on 500 Americans including former president Barack Obama, in response to sanctions imposed by Washington.

    “In response to the anti-Russian sanctions regularly imposed by the Biden administration… entry into the Russian Federation is closed for 500 Americans,” the foreign ministry said, adding that Obama was among those on the list.

    Recall that earlier on Friday, the United States added hundreds more companies and individuals to its sanctions blacklist as it broadened efforts to choke off Russia’s economy over the Ukraine offensive.

    “Washington should have learned a long time ago that not a single hostile step against Russia will be left unanswered,” the foreign ministry said.

    Among those listed were television hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.

    CNN anchor Erin Burnett and MSNBC presenters Rachel Maddow and Joe Scarborough were also included.

    Russia said it blacklisted senators, congressmen and members of think tanks “involved in the spread of Russophobic attitudes and fakes” and the heads of companies that “supply weapons to Ukraine.”

    In the same statement Russia said it had denied consular visit to detained US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March on claims of spying.

    The refusal was triggered by a refusal from Washington to issue visas to journalists travelling to the United Nations with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in April.

  • European court orders Russia to pay compensation

    European court orders Russia to pay compensation

    Russia has been ordered to pay around 142.7 million dollars in compensation to Georgia, almost 15 years after the war in the South Caucasus.

    The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced this in Strasbourg on Friday.

    The order follows a ruling by the court in 2021, when the judges found that Russia had been responsible for “inhumane’’ acts against Georgian citizens after the end of the fighting, which lasted from Aug. 9, 2008 until August 12, 2008.

    Georgia lost control of its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the war against Russia.

    The court concluded that Russia could not be held responsible for human rights violations during the five-day war.

    After the ceasefire, however, the Russian authorities were responsible for the situation in the conflict region and should have enforced the Human Rights Convention, the judges said at the time.

    Russia, however, had allowed looting, pillaging, abuse and torture by South Ossetian forces.

    Georgian civilians had been taken prisoners, driven from their homes or killed. Until now, the question of compensation had remained unanswered.

    Whether Georgia will actually get the money seems doubtful.

    Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe because of its war against Ukraine and is, thus, no longer a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the ECHR ensures is observed.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced that he would no longer recognise rulings by the court.

    The Council of Europe, the Human Rights Convention and the court are all independent of the EU.