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☆ Putin references Russian hitman in German jail as he suggests ‘agreement can be reached’ on detained US reporter Gershkovich
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Nathan Hodge | Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested “an agreement can be reached” with the United States to release detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich, as he brought up the conviction of a “patriotic” Russian hitman in Germany. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested last March while on a reporting trip in the country. When Putin said Gershkovich was working with US special services, Carlson did push the Russian president, saying: “This guy is obviously not a spy, he’s a kid. In fact, journalists have repeatedly been requesting interviews with Putin, but the Russian President had declined to grant access. The Russian President suggested that the path to ending the war in Ukraine was through direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Evan Gershkovich, Tucker Carlson, Putin’s, Carlson, Putin, “, ” Putin, ”, Natalia Kolesnikova, Gershkovich’s, “ He’s, Evan, ” Danielle Gershkovich, Biden, Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, He’s, Vadim Krasikov, Krasikov, Viktor Bout, Brittney Griner, Whelan, “ Evan, ” “ Evan, “ We’re, Viktor Orbán, Javier Milei, Volodymyr Zelensky, “ Putin, railroaded Tucker Carlson, Jill Dougherty, Dougherty, Armin Wolf, Joe Biden, Dmitry Medvedev Organizations: CNN, Fox News, Street Journal, Federal Security Service, Novosti, US State Department, Getty, White, Russian, Street, Big Tech, International Criminal Court, Rights Watch, Russia’s, Kremlin, NATO, Republicans Locations: United States, American, Russian, Germany, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, Russia, US, AFP, Berlin, Chechen, Ukrainian, Mariupol, Austrian, Washington, Poland, Belarus, Israel

Russian President Vladimir Putin used an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to urge Washington to recognize Moscow's interests and persuade Ukraine to sit down for talks. Most of the interview, released Thursday, focused on Ukraine, where the war is nearing the two-year mark. It was Putin’s first interview with a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Two journalists working for U.S. news organizations — The Wall Street Journal’s Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Alsu Kurmasheva — are in jail. Asked by Carlson whether Russia would release Gershkovich, Putin said Moscow is open to talks but repeated that the reporter was charged with espionage, an accusation Gershkovich has denied.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Tucker Carlson, Putin, Evan Gershkovich, Volodymyr Zelenskyy's, “, ” Putin, John Kirby, Carlson, Gershkovich, Vadim Krasikov, Zelimkhan, Krasikov, We’re, Evan Organizations: Fox News, NATO, Ukrainian, Kremlin, Kyiv, Putin, House, Radio Free, Street Locations: Washington, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Germany, Poland, Radio Free Europe, U.S, Russian, Caucasus

☆ Ukraine says it flew a drone over Putin's woodland palace, evading its heavy defenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine launched a drone attack on a St Petersburg oil terminal on Thursday, per multiple sources. AdvertisementUkraine sent a drone flying over President Vladimir Putin's palace at Lake Valdai during an attack on a St Petersburg oil depot, a military source claimed on Friday. Set next to Lake Valdai, halfway between Moscow and St Petersburg, the vast woodland complex is considered one of Putin's favorite boltholes. The strike, Kamyshin said, showed that St Petersburg was now "within reach of Ukrainian forces," per the Kyiv Independent's translation. "We are able to produce something that flies and costs $350 per item, something that flew to St Petersburg this night," he said.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin's, Oleksandr Kamyshin, couldn't, Alina Kabayeva, Vladimir Putin, Alina Kabaeva, Sasha Mordovets, Navalny.com Kamyshin, Baza, Kamyshin, Ukraine's Organizations: RBC, Service, Kyiv Independent, St, Moscow Times, Russia's Ministry of Defence, Popular, Russian Telegram, Economic, Pentagon Locations: Ukraine, St Petersburg, Valdai, Russia, Lake, Ukrainian, Moscow, Russian, Petersburg, Baltic, Leningrad, Davos, Switzerland

☆ Russia Says Dual Russian-Italian National Arrested for Train Bombing on Behalf of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Dec. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian investigators said on Friday a dual Russian-Italian national had been detained for planting bombs on railway tracks as part of a sabotage campaign orchestrated by Ukrainian military intelligence. After his arrest, the man, born in 1988 and a resident of Ryazan, confessed to planting home-made bombs that derailed a freight train in central Russia on Nov. 11, according to investigators. The Committee said the detained man admitted undergoing "sabotage training in Latvia with the direct participation of the Latvian special services." Ukrainian military intelligence could not be reached for immediate comment. (Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Jamie Freed)

Persons: Felix Light, Guy Faulconbridge, Jamie Freed Organizations: Main Intelligence, Ministry of Defense, Reuters Locations: MOSCOW, Russian, Ukrainian, Ryazan, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Latvian, Rybnoe, Moscow

☆ A 2-year-old girl who was seized from a Ukrainian orphanage was adopted by a Putin ally: BBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The child was stolen from a Ukrainian orphanage, according to the BBC. Russia has abducted thousands of Ukrainian children, says the UN. AdvertisementA political ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin adopted a girl who was taken from an orphanage in occupied Ukraine, according to a BBC investigation. AdvertisementAccording to the Ukrainian government, around 20,000 children have been taken by Russian authorities since the war began. The International Criminal Court in the Hague earlier this year issued arrest warrants for Putin and his children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Persons: Sergey Mironov, —, Vladimir Putin, Mironov, Inna Varlamova, Margarita Prokopenko, Marina Sergeevna Mironova, Putin, Maria Lvova Organizations: BBC, UN, Service, Criminal Court Locations: Ukrainian, Russia, Ukraine, Kherson Oblast, Kherson, Podolsk, Moscow, Hague

☆ Ukrainian politician suspected of treason says he has been detained
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Dubinsky is seen during a parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine November 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 14 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian lawmaker who was formally notified this week that he was suspected of treason for allegedly cooperating with Russia's military intelligence said on Wednesday a Kyiv court had ordered him detained for 60 days. Oleksandr Dubinsky, who is on a U.S. sanctions list, was told on Monday he was also suspected of spreading misinformation about Ukraine's political leadership, officials said. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, on Monday said on Telegram that a politician was under suspicion of treason, but did not name the suspect. "Dubinsky received a (notice of) suspicion of state treason.

Persons: Oleksandr Dubinsky, Gleb Garanich, Dubinsky, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Oleksiy Honcharenko, Honcharenko, SBU, Trump's, Joe Biden, Yuliia Dysa, Lidia Kelly, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, People, European Union, NATO, State, Bureau, Thomson Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, U.S, Russian, Lincoln

☆ Putin wants the world to think the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are a Western plot — and it’s working
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Putin sought to blame Western meddling for an antisemitic riot at a Dagestan airport. The Russian president has long blamed global unrest on Western plots. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. It is the current ruling elites of the US and their satellites who are the main beneficiaries of world instability," Putin said. Russia is exploiting an widening riftOne of Putin's core objectives is to break Western attempts to isolate Russia as punishment for the Ukraine invasion.

Persons: Putin, —, Vladimir Putin, Putin's, Clifford Kupchan, Tatiana Kastueva, Jean, Le, Nathalie Tocci, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Service, Russian Security, AFP, Israel, Analysts, Eurasia Group, New York Times, US, Eurasia Center, French Institute of International Relations, Italian Institute of International Affairs, Guardian, Iran, Gulf, Israel's Locations: Dagestan, Russia, Tel Aviv, Russian, Makhachkala, Ukraine, Israel, AFP, Europe, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, China, New York, Gaza, Moscow, Syria, Washington, Leningrad

☆ Russia Detains a U.S. Journalist
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Russian authorities have detained an editor working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an American broadcaster funded by the United States government, on charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent,” the media company said on Thursday. The editor, Alsu Kurmasheva, who holds both Russian and United States citizenship, is the second American journalist to be detained in Russia this year. In March, Russian special services detained Evan Gershkovich, a Russian correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, on espionage charges, which he and The Journal have denied. He remains in a high-security prison in Moscow awaiting trial. “Another hostage has been taken,” Dmitri Kozelev, a prominent Russian journalist, said in his channel on the Telegram messaging app.

Persons: Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, “, ” Dmitri Kozelev Organizations: Radio Free, Radio Liberty, United, Wall Street Locations: Radio Free Europe, American, United States, States, Russia, Russian, Moscow, Kazan

☆ Kremlin says damage to Baltic pipeline is 'disturbing', mentions Nord Stream attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ELERING/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday described news of damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland as disturbing and said that the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline last year was a dangerous precedent. The damage to the gas pipeline was believed to have taken place in Finnish waters, while the telecoms cable breach was in Estonian waters, Finnish authorities said. Peskov added that there had been dangerous precedents in the Baltic - blasts on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 that Moscow blames on the United States and Britain. It is still a mystery who was behind the attack on Nord Stream. The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines have a joint annual capacity of 110 billion cubic metres - more than half of Russia's normal gas export volumes.

Persons: Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Seymour Hersh, Joe Biden, Hersh's, Gareth Jones, Emelia Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Wednesday, The Washington Post, The New York Times, U.S . Central Intelligence Agency, Ukraine, White, Nord, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Paldiski, Estonia, Handout, Finland, Nord, Baltic, Estonian, Moscow, United States, Britain . Washington, London, Norway, Russia, Germany

☆ Sudan: Ukraine's special services 'likely' behind strikes on Wagner-backed forces, a Ukrainian military source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Victoria Butenko Nima Elbagir Gianluca Mezzofiore Tamara Qiblawi Allegra Goodwin Andrew Carey Pallabi Munsi Mahamat Tahir Zene Barbara Arvanitidis Alex Platt Lauren Kent | Victoria Butenko | Nima Elbagir | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Covert strikes by Ukraine in Sudan would mark a dramatic and provocative expansion of Kyiv’s theater of war against Moscow. Aside from a string of Ukrainian drone attacks that hit deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive has been focused on the country’s occupied east and south. A high-level Sudanese military source said he had “no knowledge of a Ukrainian operation in Sudan” and did not believe it was true. What appears to be a DJI MAVIC 3 drone can be seen in the videos filming the drone strikes. Six drone strikes targeted pickup trucks driving on Shambat bridge.

Persons: Wagner, Sudan ”, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo –, Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, Wim Zwijnenburg, ” Zwijnenburg, Zwijnenburg, Hemedti, Gen, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Wagner’s, General Khalifa, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin’s, Prigozhin, Yunus, Bek Yevkurov, Andrey Averyanov, Dmytro Kuleba, ” Kuleba Organizations: Chad CNN, CNN, Sudanese, Kyiv, Rapid Support Forces, Ukrainian, Central African, PAX, AK, CAR, PMC Wagner, Reuters Analysts, Kremlin, Agence France, Presse Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, N'Djamena, Chad, Ukrainian, Sudan’s, Russian, Sudan, Moscow, Omdurman, Khartoum, balaclava, British, al, Zurug, Russia, Africa, Mali, Central African Republic, Libya, Ombada, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Latakia, Bangui, “, Syria, Burkina Faso, St . Petersburg, Eritrea

☆ Seven Charged in Polish Visa Irregularity Probe - Prosecutor
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

WARSAW (Reuters) - Seven people have been charged over alleged irregularities in the granting of Polish work visas, a prosecutor said on Wednesday, amid a deepening scandal on the hot-button subject of migration ahead of Oct. 15 elections. On Wednesday opposition lawmakers said knowledge about the irregularities was widespread in government, stretching as far as Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. The opposition has said the irregularities could concern hundreds of thousands of visa applications, but prosecutors have said that their investigation concerns several hundred. Deputy coordinator of special services Stanislaw Zaryn said that none of the visa applicants concerned by the investigation posed a security threat to Poland. According to Eurostat data cited by Rzeczpospolita daily on Wednesday, Poland issued almost 2 million work visas over the past three years, including 600,000 in 2020, more than a quarter of the EU total that year.

Persons: Daniel Lerman, Piotr Wawrzyk, Wawrzyk, Lerman, Zbigniew Rau, PiS, Rafal Bochenek, Stanislaw Zaryn, Alan Charlish, William Maclean Organizations: Law and Justice, Department for, National Prosecutor's, Corruption Bureau, Union, Rzeczpospolita, EU Locations: WARSAW, Poland

CNN —A Russian official claimed Thursday that a Ukrainian sabotage operation had been foiled in Bryansk, southwestern Russia, with several Ukrainians killed or captured. Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Bryansk region that borders both Ukraine and Belarus, said on his Telegram channel that two of the group had died and five were detained in the Navlinsky district on Wednesday. Bryansk neighbors northern Ukraine and eastern Belarus, Moscow’s close ally that helped facilitate Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. This marks the second alleged sabotage attempt by Ukraine in the region this month. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on August 16 that it had stopped an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group to enter Bryansk.

Persons: Alexander Bogomaz, “, ” Bogomaz, Moscow’s, ” Organizations: CNN, Ukrainian Security Service, Main Intelligence Directorate, NATO, TASS, Russian National Guard, RIA Novosti, Federal Security Service, Ministry of Defense, Russian Federation Locations: Ukrainian, Bryansk, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Navlinsky, Russian

☆ Old video sparks wild theories on fate of Russia's Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Kremlin said Western suggestions he had been killed on its orders were an "absolute lie." "Today we have reached the boiling point," he said in the clip published on Grey Zone, Wagner's Telegram channel. He added, "But I will not lie, I must say honestly that Russia is on the brink of disaster. Some posts speculated Prigozhin was alive. One post said Ukraine had killed Prigozhin by order of US special services "and the Anglo-Saxons" and added, "it is inconvenient for us to lose such a hero," to which someone responded with three crying-laughing emojis.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Semyon Pegov, Prigozhin, Sergei Surovikin, pina colada, Vladimir Putin, Elaine Monaghan Organizations: Kremlin, Grey, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Jamaica, France, Ukraine

☆ Poland detains two Russians for distributing Wagner Group propaganda
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Two Russians accused of disseminating propaganda on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group in two Polish cities have been arrested and charged with espionage, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Monday. They fly-posted around 300 leaflets in Krakow and Warsaw, which were among around 3,000 pro-Wagner items of propaganda in their possession, the press office of the minister responsible for coordinating special services said in a statement. "Both were charged with espionage, among other things," Kaminski wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Mercenaries of the Wagner Group have served as shock troops in Ukraine and are expanding their presence in West Africa. ($1 = 101.3925 roubles)Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Toby Chopra and John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Wagner, Mariusz Kaminski, Kaminski, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Pawel Florkiewicz, Toby Chopra, John Stonestreet Organizations: WARSAW, Wagner Group, Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: Krakow, Warsaw, Ukraine, West Africa, Russian, Belarus, Poland

Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down on Saturday afternoon, the Russia-appointed Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov wrote in a post on Telegram, adding that the bridge was undamaged. “Another enemy missile was shot down over the Kerch Strait. Meanwhile, traffic has resumed on the Crimean bridge, according to the Crimean bridge operative information Telegram account, after it was temporarily blocked. The Kremlin was quick to blame Kyiv for that explosion, and Putin alleged that it was an act of “sabotage” by Ukrainian security services. The bridge was also hit by two strikes in July in an attack a Ukrainian security official told CNN Kyiv was responsible for.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, Aksyonov, Oleg Kryuchkov, ” “, Maria Zakharova, ” Zakharova, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Vasyl Maliuk, ” Maliuk, ” Organizations: CNN, Ukrainian, Kyiv, CNN Kyiv, Ukrainian Security Service Locations: Crimea, Russia, Kerch, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Ukrainian

☆ Russian prosecutors seek 20 more years for opposition politician Navalny
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

July 20 (Reuters) - Russian state prosecutors on Thursday asked a court to sentence jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny to a further 20 years in a penal colony on criminal charges, including extremism, at the close of his trial, his supporters said. Court records show they relate to six different articles of the Russian criminal code, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation. Navalny's aides said the verdict would be announced on Aug. 4; acquittals of opposition figures are practically unheard-of in Russia. In his closing statement, Navalny told the court: "I continue to fight against that unscrupulous evil that calls itself 'the state power of the Russian Federation'." "We are not following this trial," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters last month.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, Navalny's, Navalny, Putin's, Dmitry Peskov, Kevin Liffey, Andrew Cawthorne, Andrew Osborn, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: IK, Russian Federation, United, Kremlin, Moscow, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russian, Melekhovo, Moscow, Russia, United Russia, Germany, Soviet, Ukraine

☆ Why the Crimean Bridge is so important to Vladimir Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Lauren Kent | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Also known as the Kerch Bridge, it holds personal value for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here’s what you need to know:Why is the bridge so important to Russia? The Kerch Bridge is strategically important because it links Russia’s Krasnodar region with Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. Rail traffic across the Crimea bridge is continuing to operate on Monday, albeit with delays, according to video on social media, a Russian official and Russian state media. A widely circulating video, which appears to have been captured this morning from a train passing on the parallel rail bridge, shows significant damage to one of the bridge’s road spans.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Staff, ” Vladimir Konstantinov, Boris Rozhin, “, ” Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Marat Khusnullin, Ukraine Andrii Yusov, ”, ” Yusov Organizations: CNN, CNN Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukrainian military’s, State Council of, Novosti, TASS, Russian, Ukraine’s Security, Defense Intelligence Locations: Russia, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Moscow, Kerch, Crimea, Russian, Kyiv, Krasnodar, Europe, Kherson, Republic of Crimea

☆ Ukraine attacked Crimean bridge with surface drones, Russia says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine attacked the Crimean bridge overnight using unmanned drones on the water surface, Russia's Anti-Terrorist Committee said on Monday, according to state media. Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement that Ukrainian "special services" were responsible for the attack, and that it had opened a criminal investigation. Reporting by ReutersOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Organizations: Russia's, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Ukraine

☆ Ukraine, Poland say Wagner fighters arrive in Belarus
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A fighter from Russian Wagner mercenary group conducts training for Belarusian soldiers on a range near the town of Osipovichi, Belarus July 14, 2023 in this still image taken from handout video. "Wagner is in Belarus," Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border agency, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. Some Wagner fighters have been in Belarus since at least Tuesday, two sources close to the fighters told Reuters. The Belarusian defence ministry released a video on Friday, showing what it said were Wagner fighters instructing Belarusian soldiers at a military range near the town of Osipovichi. Poland's deputy minister coordinator of special services, Stanislaw Zaryn, said Warsaw also has confirmation of Wagner fighters' presence in Belarus.

Persons: Russian Wagner, Wagner, Andriy Demchenko, Wagner's, Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Stanislaw Zaryn, Zaryn, Alexander Lukashenko, Hajun, Lidia Kelly, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: Belarusian Defence Ministry, REUTERS, Fighters, Reuters, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Russian, Osipovichi, Belarus, Russia, Minsk, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Moscow, Rostov, Warsaw, Poland, Ukraine, Donetsk, Luhansk, Tsel, Melbourne, London

☆ Kramatorsk: Ukraine accuses man of treason over deadly Russian missile attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, June 29 (Reuters) - Ukraine has arrested a man suspected of committing treason by helping Russia carry out a missile strike on a busy restaurant that killed 12 people in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. Local officials said 12 people were killed and 60 hurt when a Russian missile slammed into the restaurant on Tuesday evening, reducing it to rubble. "Anyone who helps Russian terrorists destroy lives deserves the maximum punishment," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video message on Wednesday. Asked about the attack on Kramatorsk, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia attacked only military targets, not civilian ones. Kramatorsk lies west of front lines in Donetsk province and would be a likely objective in any westward advance by Russia.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Twin, Vedant Patel, Pavel Polityuk, Aleksandaar, Timothy Organizations: Kremlin, Russia, Deputy State, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Kramatorsk, Moscow, Russian, Ukrainian, Donetsk province

☆ There's blood in the water after Prigozhin's revolt shattered the façade of Putin's invincibility
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Jason Corcoran | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

It represented the most significant affront to President Vladimir Putin's 23-year reign. It has also fed paranoia and put a spotlight on Aleksey Dyumin, Putin's ex-bodyguard turned governor. A brief and ultimately aborted attempt at a coup d'état by Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin represented the most significant affront to President Vladimir Putin's 23-year reign. President Vladimir Putin (L) and Aleksey Dyumin, the governor of Tula and Putin's former personal bodyguard, in Moscow in 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Tula Governor Aleksey Dyumin visit Russian writer Lev Tolstoy's former home in 2016.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin's, Aleksey Dyumin, Putin's, —, Vladimir Putin —, Prigozhin, Vladimir Fesenko, trundling, Sergey Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, There's Prigozhin, Wagner, Putin, Belarus —, defenestration, Dyumin, Shoigu, Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Svetlov, Igor Girkin, Alexander Lukashenko —, Dyumin's, Dmitry Peskov, Boris Yeltsin, Viktor Yanukoyvch, Girkin, Andrei Gurulyov, Russia's, Lev Tolstoy's, Tatiana Stanovaya, Alexandra Prokopenko, Prokopenko, Sergei Surovikin, Surovikin, Viktor Zolotov, Zolotov, Alexander Lukashenko, Chris Weafer Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Kommersant, Angry Patriots, Russia's First Channel, Prigozhin, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, Central Bank, Washington Post, New York Times, Defense Ministry, Moscow Times, National Guard, Ministry, Macro Locations: Russian, Russia, Rostov, Ukraine, Moscow, Voronezh, Lipetsk, St, Petersburg, Minsk, Belarus, Russia's Tula, Kremlin, Tula, Dyumin's Tula, St Petersburg, Prigozhin, Crimea, Berlin, Novosibirsk, Osipovichi, Africa, Syria

Flightradar24 showed an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet appeared in Rostov region at 0232 GMT and began a descent at 0420 GMT near Minsk. The identification codes of the aircraft match those of a jet linked by the United States to Autolex Transport which is linked to Prigozhin by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. Under a deal mediated by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday to halt a mutiny by Prigozhin's mercenary fighters, Prigozhin is meant to move to Belarus. Prigozhin, who has bragged about meddling in U.S. elections, said last week his fighting force was 25,000 strong. Speaking from the Kremlin on Monday, Putin vowed to stand by his promise to allow Wagner fighters to leave for Belarus, though he did not mention Prigozhin by name.

Persons: Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin's, Flightradar24, Dmitry Peskov, Flightradar, Alexander Lukashenko, WAGNER'S, Prigozhin, Sergei Shoigu, Shoigu, Russia's, Gleb Stolaryov, Guy Faulconbridge, Angus MacSwan, Jon Boyle Organizations: Belarus Russia, Prigozhin, Embraer, U.S . Office, Foreign Assets Control, Kremlin, Central African Republic, Federal Security Service, Thomson Locations: Belarus, Russia, Prigozhin MOSCOW, Prigozhin, Russian, Rostov, Minsk, United States, Belarusian, Africa, Central African, Mali, Ukraine, Kremlin

☆ Biden says the US and its allies had nothing to do with Wagner Group’s rebellion against Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Kevin Liptak | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Over the weekend, Biden remained silent on the events unfolding in Russia. He consulted with European allies by telephone on Saturday before traveling to Camp David with his national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “We’re going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine,” he said. Biden continued speaking with his national security aides on Monday as they continued to process the consequences of the rebellion. The White House declined to speculate on the future of the Wagner group following this weekend’s events in Russia.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, “ It’s, ”, Vladimir Putin, David, Jake Sullivan, “, Putin, ” Biden, Sergey Lavrov, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, it’s, “ We’re, Wagner, John Kirby, Kirby, they’re, ” Kirby Organizations: CNN, White, Wagner Group, NATO, National Security Council, Russian, Kremlin, National Security, Ukraine Locations: United States, Russia, Europe, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian

☆ Putin: Bizarre and chaotic 36 hours in Russia feels like the beginning of the end for Kremlin leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

These were 36 hours that provided a glimpse of the end of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Two hours earlier, Wagner were at the gates of the capital (almost), and then suddenly everything is forgiven. Did he accept entering the capital would leave his men vulnerable, even to a weak Russian military response? While on the surface, Prigozhin’s climbdown makes him appear weak, even finished, he has been the decision-maker over the past 36 hours. The most optimistic assessment you could make is that Russian military morale must have felt a hiccup while watching its commander-in-chief and most prominent military figure engage in a 24-hour game of chicken.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Peskov, Wagner, climbdown, he’s, didn’t, Putin’s, – Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Justice, NATO, NATO – Locations: Moscow, Belarus, Minsk, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, Russian

It is still unclear exactly what happened to Nord Stream, a multibillion-dollar project that carried Russian gas to Germany. Some U.S. and European officials initially suggested Russia had blown up its own pipelines, an interpretation dismissed as idiotic by President Vladimir Putin. Sub-sea cables which criss-cross the world's oceans have become the arteries of global communications. The intelligence chief of the NATO military alliance cautioned in May that Russia may sabotage undersea cables to punish the West for supporting Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly said the West was behind the Nord Stream blasts - particularly the United States and Britain, which both deny involvement.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Medvedev, Dmitry Peskov, Pulitzer, Seymour Hersh, Joe Biden, Peskov, Philippa Fletcher, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: Russia, CIA, U.S, The Washington Post, The New York Times, U.S . Central Intelligence Agency, Ukraine, Russia's Security, ., NATO, Reuters, White House, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Moscow, Nord, Baltic, Germany, Russia, Russian, China, United States, Ukraine, NORD, Britain

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