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☆ Convicted Assassin Is a Russian Security Agent, Kremlin Acknowledges
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The convicted assassin who was the linchpin of the biggest prisoner swap in decades is a member of the most powerful security agency in Russia, the Kremlin acknowledged on Friday, and had served in a special unit with some agents who now guard President Vladimir V. Putin. The ties help explain Mr. Putin’s determination to free the assassin, Vadim Krasikov, from the German prison where he was serving time for murder. The effort culminated on Thursday when Mr. Krasikov and seven other former prisoners returned to Moscow after an exchange with Western nations that involved 24 adults and seven countries. Mr. Putin has not hid his admiration for Mr. Krasikov, who had been jailed in Germany since 2019 for the murder of a Chechen former separatist fighter in Berlin. In an interview in February, Mr. Putin referred to Mr. Krasikov as “a patriot” who was doing his duty by eliminating an enemy of the Russian state.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Vadim Krasikov, Krasikov, Dmitri S, Mr, ” Organizations: Kremlin, Federal Security Service, Mr Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Soviet, Germany, Chechen, Berlin

☆ Opinion | Reflections About the Prisoner Swap
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “Journalists and Dissidents Freed From Russia in Swap of 24 Inmates” (front page, Aug. 2):As a former U.S. journalist in Moscow, I am naturally delighted that Evan Gershkovich is back at home after 16 months of wrongful detention in Russia. But it is galling to see him and other innocent Americans being exchanged in a Cold War-style spy swap for a trained assassin and long-term sleeper agents. Engaging in hostage diplomacy only encourages hostile governments to seize more Americans as hostages whenever they want to recover one of their own killers or spies. Even at the height of the Cold War, American journalists in Moscow never feared arbitrary detention in a K.G.B. It seems that the only language that authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin understand is reciprocity.

Persons: Freed, Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Putin, ” Organizations: “ Journalists Locations: Russia, U.S, Moscow, American, Russian

☆ Opinion | The Joyful Release of Evan Gershkovich Came at a High Price
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Serge Schmemann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That more than a dozen people unjustly incarcerated in Russia have been released is obviously great news. As a journalist who spent a decade reporting from Moscow, I am particularly elated to know that Evan Gershkovich, a fine reporter for The Wall Street Journal, does not have to spend another day in Russian detention. Any independent information, especially critical information, is considered an attack on their authoritarian rule. Putin came to power after the domestic and foreign press had thrown off the muzzles of the Soviet era, and he proceeded, especially since the invasion of Ukraine, to deliberately crush it. Many foreign journalists now try to report from outside Russia; Gershkovich tried valiantly to report from within and paid a heavy price.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Putin’s, Gershkovich, Putin Organizations: Wall Street, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Moscow, American, Ukraine

☆ Mikhail Baryshnikov on Leaving Everything Behind
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Javier C. Hernández | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On the night of June 29, 1974, after a performance with a touring Bolshoi Ballet troupe in downtown Toronto, Mikhail Baryshnikov made his way out a stage door, past a throng of fans and began to run. Baryshnikov, then 26 and already one of ballet’s brightest stars, had made the momentous decision to defect from the Soviet Union and build a career in the West. agents — and audience members seeking autographs — as he rushed to meet a group of Canadian and American friends waiting in a car a few blocks away. “That car took me to the free world,” Baryshnikov, 76, recalled in a recent interview. “Soviet Dancer in Canada Defects on Bolshoi Tour,” The New York Times declared on its front page.

Persons: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Baryshnikov, —, ” Baryshnikov Organizations: Bolshoi Ballet, Tour, The New York Times Locations: Toronto, Soviet Union, West, Soviet, Canada

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia replaced his minister of defense on Sunday as he shook up his national security team for the first time since his invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Putin kept the minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, in his inner circle, tapping him to run the country’s security council. Andrei R. Belousov, an economist who served as first deputy prime minister in the last government and previously was the economic development minister, was nominated to become the new defense chief. It is unclear how much authority over the war effort Mr. Shoigu will retain. colleague of Mr. Putin who has headed the Russian security council for 16 years, would be moved to another position to be announced in the coming days.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Sergei K, Andrei R, Shoigu, Nikolai P, Mr Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ Ukraine Says It Foiled Russian Plot to Kill Zelensky
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Constant Méheut | More About Constant Méheut | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine’s security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason. According to the Ukrainian agency, the agents working at Russia’s direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelensky’s security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him. It is not the first time that Ukraine has reported a potential assassination attempt aimed at its top leaders. Mr. Zelensky himself said in an interview with an Italian television channel earlier this year that his security services had told him of more than 10 such attempts.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, —, Vasyl Malyuk, Kyrylo Budanov, Zelensky Organizations: Russia’s Federal Security Service Locations: Ukrainian, Ukraine, Italian

☆ Nijole Sadunaite, Lithuanian Nun Who Opposed Soviet Rule, Dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Sam Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Nijole Sadunaite, a fearless but forgiving Roman Catholic nun and anti-Soviet Lithuanian nationalist who was inspired by Pope John Paul II and publicly hailed by President Ronald Reagan, died on March 31 in Vilnius. Her death was confirmed by Sister Gerarda Elena Suliauskaite, laureate of the Freedom Prize of the Republic of Lithuania, which was also given to Sister Sadunaite in 2018 for her defense of democracy and human rights. In 1975, Sister Sadunaite (pronounced sah-DOO-nay-teh) was arrested by K.G.B. agents who had stormed an apartment where she was writing an underground newspaper, The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, which documented abuses against Christians in the Baltic state. “I had typed six pages when I was caught, so I effectively got one year for every page,” she told The Atlantic in 1994.

Persons: Nijole, Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Sister Gerarda Elena Suliauskaite, Sadunaite, “, ” Organizations: Catholic Church Locations: Soviet Lithuanian, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania, Lithuania, Baltic

☆ Navalny Is Dead, but Putin Can’t Kill His Vision of the Future - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Nadya Tolokonnikova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I hear my quiet voice join others screaming, “Russia without Putin.” We lock our arms and together push the police out of the street. He gave us something else, too: a vision he called the “beautiful Russia of the future.” This vision is immortal, unlike us humans. President Vladimir Putin may have silenced Aleksei, who died last week. But no matter how hard he tries, Mr. Putin won’t be able to kill Aleksei’s beautiful dream. For all of us in that packed room, Aleksei made it feel not only that a free Russia was possible but also that we could get there with joy, laughter and camaraderie.

Persons: Putin, Aleksei Navalny, Aleksei, Vladimir Putin, Putin won’t, Young, ” Organizations: Mr Locations: Moscow, Russia

☆ Review: A Shady Documentary Becomes a Weapon of War in ‘Spain’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Jesse Green | More About Jesse Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In Silverman’s telling, the filmmaker, Joris Ivens, a Dutchman working in the United States, is already an undercover infiltrator for Soviet interests when the Spanish Civil War breaks out in 1936. Ivens was a real filmmaker, and his movie “The Spanish Earth,” released in 1937, was a real cause célèbre among leftists and artists. The frenemies Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos did write the screenplay, as Silverman relates. (He imagines shooting part of the documentary from an ant’s point-of-view, or a raindrop’s.) Nor, for all his faults, was Hemingway (Danny Wolohan) so complete a buffoon, given to shouting such hollow nonsense.

Persons: ”, Jen Silverman’s “, ” That’s, Joris Ivens, “, Rich, Franco, Ivens, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Silverman, Andrew Burnap, Hemingway, Danny Wolohan, Dos Passos, Erik Lochtefeld Organizations: Republican, Rich Fascist Locations: Jen Silverman’s “ Spain, United States, Spanish, Spain, Dos

☆ France Links Conversation in Russian to Star of David Graffiti
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | More About Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

The Moldovan pair told investigators that they had acted on the orders of a third party in exchange for payment “as evidenced by a conversation in Russian on their phone,” Ms. Beccuau said. Telephone data led investigators to believe that both couples “were in contact with the same third party,” Ms. Beccuau added. France has reported over 1,100 antisemitic acts since Oct. 7. orchestrated the painting of swastikas and antisemitic slogans in West Germany to spark anti-Jewish sentiment and tarnish the country as neo-Nazi, he said. “Stars of David are part of it, too.”Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting from Tbilisi, Georgia.

Persons: David, Laure Beccuau, Beccuau, Ms, “, ”, Olivier Véran, Laurent Nuñez, Mr, Nuñez, ” Dimitri Minic, Minic, ” Antibot4navalny, Ivan Nechepurenko Organizations: Moldovan, Foreign Ministry, French Institute of International Relations, Nazi Locations: Paris, Europe, Israel, France, Moldova, Gaza, Russia, West Germany, Ukraine, “, Moscow, Russian, Tbilisi , Georgia

☆ Putin’s Beast That Would Now Devour Him
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Roger Cohen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over the course of a month I spent in the Russian capital, the red-and-black billboards of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin’s Wagner paramilitary group multiplied. “Join the team of victors!” they said, beneath an image of menacing mercenaries in balaclavas and masks, only their eyes visible. A possible implication was that the Russian forces on the other mushrooming Moscow billboards — regular soldiers recruited by the Ministry of Defense pictured above slogans like “Real Work!” or “Be a hero!” — were the losers of President Vladimir V. Putin’s reckless gamble in Ukraine. Easier to order a latte than dwell on lost lives in Mariupol. officer, abruptly emerged as the inscrutable president and Mr.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Prigozhin’s Wagner, ”, ” —, Vladimir V, heedless Muscovites, Prigozhin, Putin Organizations: Ministry of Defense Locations: Russian, balaclavas, Moscow, Ukraine, Mariupol

In the war-torn Chechnya region, Mr. Kadyrov built up a private fiefdom while professing loyalty to no official but Mr. Putin himself. A judo sparring partner from Mr. Putin’s youth became a construction billionaire and built Mr. Putin’s landmark bridge to Crimea. And then there was Mr. Prigozhin, who has said that he met Mr. Putin in 2000 as a St. Petersburg restaurateur. In Ukraine, as Mr. Prigozhin tells it, Wagner troops were only called in after Mr. Putin’s initial invasion plan failed. But Mr. Putin seemed to vacillate on his own support for Mr. Prigozhin.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Putin’s, “, ”, —, “ Putin, Tatiana Stanovaya, ” Mr, Ramzan Kadyrov, Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, Mr, Wagner, tycoons, Boris N, Yeltsin, Kadyrov, Prigozhin’s, K.G.B, Donald J, Trump, Weeks, ’, Putin “, Andrei Soldatov, Prigozhin “, ” Mark Galeotti, ” Neil MacFarquhar, Valerie Hopkins Organizations: Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, ., Reuters, Federal Security Service, Kremlin, Television, Defense, Defense Ministry, Center for Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Rostov, Chechnya, Belarus, Russia’s, Don, Ukraine, Putin’s, Crimea, St, Petersburg, United States, Syria, Africa, Ukrainian, Bakhmut

☆ A Russian court upholds a Wall Street Journal reporter’s detention.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Moscow court denied an appeal on Thursday by Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who asked to end his pretrial detention in Russia, where he was jailed and charged with espionage 12 weeks ago. Mr. Gershkovich, an American journalist who has been based in Russia for nearly six years, was arrested in late March and charged with spying, which he denies. The American ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracey, was present, as were Mr. Gershkovich’s parents, Ella Millman and Mikhail Gershkovich. The United States government and The Journal have vehemently rejected the charges. The White House has said that Mr. Gershkovich is “wrongfully detained,” tantamount to being a political prisoner.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Gershkovich, ’, Lynne Tracey, Gershkovich’s, Ella Millman, Mikhail Gershkovich Organizations: Street, United Locations: Moscow, Russia, American, Moscow’s, United States

☆ Opinion | I Wrote a Book About the End of Dictatorships, and It Became a Best Seller in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Alexander Baunov | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Those who remain in Russia have lost the opportunity to engage in an open dialogue on the country’s future. in Moscow, placed copies of “The End of the Regime” right next to “Putin’s Path,” a hagiography devoted to the Russian leader, and a book on Stalin. Most important, the book gives readers a new, more accurate perspective on the country they live in. It is difficult to imagine a defeat along the lines of that suffered by Germany being experienced by a nuclear power such as Russia. Similarly, the collapse of the Soviet regime came about first and foremost because of its sclerotic economic system, which left the population behind the Iron Curtain without food and consumer goods.

How Putin and Friends Stalled Climate Progress A handful of powerful world leaders rallied around Russia and undercut global cooperation. Mr. Putin has gained from this as the increasingly autocratic Mr. Xi finds common cause with the Kremlin. “Much depends on whether authoritarian leaders perceive climate action to be in their self-interest.”Though their actions help Mr. Putin, their track records on climate are mixed. Mr. Xi called Mr. Putin his “best friend.”He was returning the favor from a year earlier, when Mr. Putin hosted Mr. Xi at the Grand Kremlin Palace and awarded him one of Russia’s highest medals for foreign dignitaries. At a news conference with Mr. Putin, Mr. Bolsonaro thanked his “dear friend,” saying that Mr. Putin had offered him support when other world leaders were criticizing his Amazon policy.

☆ (VIDEO) Jurnalistul Protasevici, cu fața plină de vânătăi, apare într-un video în care spune că se află în spatele tulburărilor civile și că este tratat bine
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-25 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Lukașenko a dat ordin personal ca avionul Ryanair să fie detrunat către aeroportul din Minsk, după o așa-zisă amenințare cu bombă. A fost atât de activ încât în noiembrie anul trecut a fost acuzat de incitare la ură socială și la tulburarea ordinii publice. Pe vremea când era adolescent, mai notează New York Times, Protasevici a devenit disident intrând în atenția forțelor de ordine. El a fost exmatriculat de la o școală de renume pentru că participase la un protest în 2011. Ulterior, a fost exmatriculat și de la cursurile de jurnalism pe care le urma la Universitatea de Stat din Minsk.

Persons: Roman, Lukașenko, Vladimir Putin, american Antony Blinken, Protasevici, El Organizations: Reuters, Ministerul, Interne, UE, Universitatea de Stat Locations: Minsk, american, Belarus, Protasevici, Lituania, New York Times

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