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☆ Russia’s ‘Merchant of Death’ Is Looking to Forge a New Life in Politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As an arms trafficker, he operated in some of the world’s most dangerous places, becoming one of the world’s most wanted men and earning the nickname “Merchant of Death,” not to speak of a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S. But now, nine months after returning to Russia in a prisoner exchange, Viktor A. “I’ve been for 15 years locked up in your federal system,” he said in an interview conducted in somewhat stilted English at his party’s Moscow headquarters. “So what do you expect for me, that I have to take time to take vacation? He was long suspected of having links to Russia’s military intelligence agency, the G.R.U.

Persons: Merchant of, ”, Viktor, Vladimir V, “ I’ve, I’ve Locations: U.S, Russia, Ulyanovsk, Moscow, Thailand, Manhattan

☆ Rumors and Misdirection Keep Crowds Away From Prigozhin Burial
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

All that could be seen of the grave from a bridge over the cemetery were a large Russian flag, a Wagner flag, and the top of a wooden cross. Then in June he led a brief mutiny against the Russian military leadership, leading to widespread speculation that his days were numbered. On Aug. 23, a business jet carrying Mr. Prigozhin fell, smoking, from the sky northwest of Moscow. All ten people aboard were killed, including the three top figures in Wagner, leaving the group’s future in doubt. The confusion about his burial and heavy security presence at Porokhovskoye ensured that the throng of supporters expected to attend never materialized.

Persons: Wagner, Prigozhin, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Times Locations: Russian, Ukraine, East, Africa, Moscow

☆ Wagner Says Its Chief Has Been Buried, Ending Days of Speculation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Details about Mr. Prigozhin’s funeral, including the date and whether members of the public would be allowed to attend, were unclear for days. The secrecy reflected the sensitivities surrounding Mr. Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Mr. Putin who launched a failed mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership in June. Its cause remains unclear, but U.S. and Western officials believe it was prompted by an explosion on board. Many Western officials have said they think it is likely that Mr. Putin may have played a role in having Mr. Prigozhin killed as retribution for the mercenary chief’s short-lived mutiny in June. That left room for days of speculation about whether Mr. Prigozhin was really on the plane.

Persons: Pokhorovsky, Prigozhin, Mr, Putin, Wagner Locations: Moscow, Russia, Russian

For five weeks, almost everything seemed to go wrong for one commercial vessel waiting in the Danube River to load Ukrainian grain bound for Spain via the Black Sea. First, Russian drones exploded mere miles away from where the vessel was anchored. Then, heavy congestion on the river led to weeks of delays, costing the vessel’s operator $8,000 a day in extra running costs. Finally, around midnight after its cargo of over 12,000 metric tons of grain had finally been loaded, Russian drones hit grain warehouses in an hourlong raid at the port the vessel had just left. For months, ships traversed the Black Sea and the Danube River without incident to load Ukrainian grain and deliver it around the world, even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine intensified.

Persons: “, ”, Alan Locations: Spain, Russian, Ukraine, Russia

Still, without the Kremlin’s clear imprimatur, the group’s operations risk falling apart. Even after the mutiny, Mr. Prigozhin, who handled the business side of the group, was flying to locations in Africa trying to reassure clients and continue operations. His travels came amid reports that the Russian Defense Ministry was trying to assert direct control over some of his foreign operations. But she suspected that future such operations might be more fractured. She said that going forward there could be “many different actors fulfilling these roles, rather than one monopoly.”

Persons: Putin, Prigozhin, Catrina, ” Ms, Doxsee Organizations: Central African, Russian Defense Ministry, Center for Strategic, International Studies Locations: St . Petersburg, Russia, Mali, Central African Republic, Libya, Africa, Moscow

He calls for a return of the Russian Empire, and has repeatedly denied the existence of a Ukrainian identity. Mr. Malofeyev has been cut off from most Western financial systems since 2014, when the Treasury Department and other international regulators accused him of financing Russian proxy forces inside Ukraine. Mr. Malofeyev, though, has continued to use his charity, the St. Basil the Great Foundation, to raise money for orphanages in the Russian-occupied Donbas and Zaporizhzhia regions. In an interview, Mr. Malofeyev said he did not know whether those orphanages hosted Ukrainian children who had been forcibly relocated, but said the resettlement effort had been unfairly demonized.

Persons: Konstantin Malofeyev, Malofeyev, Basil the Organizations: Hague, Treasury Department, Basil the Great Foundation Locations: Russian, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Wagner Mourners in Moscow Reflect Prigozhin’s Appeal Among Russians
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I’ve been following the activities of Wagner Group leaders. The improvised memorial predates Mr. Prigozhin’s death but has grown rapidly in recent days. Mr. Prigozhin, Alyona said, was unique in his generation in his ability and willingness to openly discuss the issues plaguing Russian society. “In our history, there was only one Lenin, one Stalin and one Prigozhin,” she said. “If someone else like Lenin, Stalin, or Prigozhin appears, we will consider ourselves lucky.”Milana Mazaeva contributed reporting from Washington.

Persons: ”, “ I’ve, Prigozhin, Putin, Wagner, Vladlen Tatarsky, Daria Dugina, Mr, Alyona, Lenin, Stalin, Milana Mazaeva Organizations: Wagner Group, Ministry of Defense Locations: St . Petersburg, Russian, Washington

☆ Yevgeny Prigozhin, Renegade Mercenary Chief Who Rattled Kremlin
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Although his death has not been officially declared by the Russian authorities or confirmed by family members or business associates, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia spoke of Mr. Prigozhin in the past tense on Thursday and offered condolences to the families of the crash’s 10 victims. And Pentagon officials for the first time openly said they believe that Mr. Prigozhin did not survive the crash, in which all on board were killed. Mr. Prigozhin had long leveraged a close relationship with the Kremlin to gain lucrative government construction and catering contracts, and he built up the paramilitary force, known as Wagner, in close cooperation with Russia’s military intelligence services. For years he kept a low public profile. Even as Wagner conducted operations on Moscow’s behalf in Syria and in several African countries, he denied any affiliation.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Vladimir V, Putin, Russia, Prigozhin, Wagner Organizations: Pentagon, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Africa, Russia, Syria

Just as the news broke on Wednesday of the presumed death of the mercenary chief Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was presiding over a televised World War II anniversary ceremony on a dark stage lit dramatically in red. He held a moment of silence, flanked by service members in dress uniforms, while a metronome’s beats sounded, like the slow ticking of a clock: Tock. The eerie split screen — the reported fiery demise of the man who launched an armed rebellion in June and the Russian president telegraphing the state’s military might — may have been coincidental. But it underscored the imagery of dominance and power that Mr. Putin, 18 months into his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, appears more determined than ever to project. His internet “troll farm” helped the Kremlin interfere in the 2016 American presidential election, while his mercenary empire helped Russia exert influence across Africa and the Middle East.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Vladimir V, Putin, telegraphing Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Bakhmut, Africa

The plane that listed Mr. Prigozhin as a passenger left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Wednesday at about 6 p.m. local time, bound for St. Petersburg. The paint and a partial registration number, RA-02795, visible on the aircraft match a jet that Mr. Prigozhin is known to use. Was Mr. Prigozhin killed? American officials said they could not confirm Mr. Prigozhin had been killed in the plane crash, or why the jet went down. Emerging from jail as the Soviet Union was collapsing, Mr. Prigozhin began his post-criminal career selling hot dogs on street corners in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Russian Wagner, Prigozhin, Prighozin, Dmitri Utkin, Wagner, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, ”, Prighozhin, Putin’s Organizations: RIA Novosti, Embraer, Russian, Kremlin, Central African Locations: Russian, Moscow, Sheremetyevo, St . Petersburg, Kuzhenkino, Tver, Western, Kremlin, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Soviet Union, Bakhmut, Syria, Libya, Mali, Central African Republic, Belarus

Independence Day in Ukraine commemorates the country’s 1991 break from the Soviet Union, but also increasingly serves as a rallying point for Ukrainians to assert their identity and aspirations. Ukraine declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991, a few days after communist hard-liners tried to depose the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and reverse his efforts to liberalize the Soviet Union. Celebrations of Independence Day have often featured military parades and festive crowds wearing vyshyvankas, the traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts. But Mr. Szporluk, the historian, said that Ukrainians see Independence Day not so much as a day of remembrance as one to reassert their commitment to democracy and sovereignty. On Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky took part in a ceremony on the occasion of the Day of the National Flag, which precedes Independence Day.

Persons: —, “, ” Vitali Klitschko, ”, Roman Szporluk, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lenin, Szporluk, Mr, Zelensky Organizations: Harvard Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Soviet Union, Europe, Moscow, ”, Independence, Russian, Ukrainian

A billboard at the main entrance to the city of Kupiansk illustrates the tenuous nature of Ukrainian control in a region that has become one of the most active parts of the 750-mile front line in the war. “Kupiansk is Ukraine!! !” it proclaims to anyone entering the city. The other side of the sign, visible to those in the city center, hints at why the first proclamation is so urgent. It shows an armed soldier standing in front of a helicopter, along with a phone number and a question: “Do you have information about traitors to Ukraine?”At the outset of the war, Kupiansk, only 25 miles from the Russian border, fell to Moscow’s forces without a fight and remained under occupation for six months before being retaken in a lightning Ukrainian thrust in the Kharkiv region in the country’s northeast in September.

Persons: Kupiansk Organizations: ” Locations: Kupiansk, Ukraine, Russian, Kharkiv

☆ As Russia Strikes Ports, Ukraine’s Farmers Scramble to Keep Exporting
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, Valentin Pavlenko loaded two tipper trucks with grain from his farm in southern Ukraine. The high-stakes standoff over grain that is escalating tensions in the Black Sea and raising worries over the global food supply is also creating challenges for farmers across southern Ukraine. Not only must Mr. Pavlenko and others like him find alternate shipping points, but they also have to worry about whether they are secure. Mr. Pavlenko’s farm had already donated some of its trucks to the military. But when the Russians struck Reni, too, last week, the farmers’ collective he belonged to scrambled to collect money to buy three flatbed trucks for the Ukrainian army, so they could install air defense systems that would protect the Danube ports.

Persons: Valentin Pavlenko, Pavlenko, Pavlenko’s, Reni Locations: Ukraine, Odesa, Reni, Russia

The mansion’s destroyed gardens spilled down over a ruined residential complex, and burned bricks lay strewn across the sidewalk. “I feel pain, and I want revenge,” said Ms. Sulzhenko, 74. “I don’t have the words to say what we should do to them.”She gestured toward other buildings in various stages of ruin. The fact that those who live next to us, and lived among us, could do this to us — we can never forgive this. Never.”Hers was a common sentiment in Odesa this past week after a series of missile strikes damaged the city’s port and 29 historic buildings in its Belle Époque city center, including the Transfiguration Cathedral, one of Ukraine’s largest.

Persons: Nina Sulzhenko, ”, Sulzhenko, “ Organizations: Scientists Locations: Russian, Ukrainian, Belle Époque

There are no longer walls behind the main altar of the Transfiguration Cathedral, a landmark heavily damaged when Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa. Detritus floated down from the roof as building inspectors, United Nations employees and priests donned hard hats to assess the damage to a cultural icon. Outside, residents gathered around the entrance to the cathedral, which is now boarded up with plywood. Many stopped to kiss an icon of the patroness of their city, which an employee of the church said had been pulled from the rubble. Others came simply to witness the destruction, walking by the church with smartphones in hand filming videos, their mouths wide open.

Persons: ”, Oleksii Organizations: United Nations Locations: Russian, Ukrainian, Odesa

☆ As Tensions Rise, Zelensky and Erdogan Discuss Collapsed Grain Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Moscow pulled out of the deal, which was reached under the auspices of Turkey and the United Nations, this past week, and any efforts to revive it have been plunged into doubt. Since its collapse, Russia has bombarded Ukrainian ports, including striking grain stores and other infrastructure, although it was largely quiet in the area overnight into Saturday. “Due to Russia’s actions, the world is once again on the brink of a food crisis,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on Twitter late Friday. “A total of 400 million people in many countries of Africa and Asia are at risk of starvation. Mr. Erdogan is expected to meet with Mr. Putin next month.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr, Zelensky, “, Erdogan, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Turkish, United Nations, Twitter, NATO, Mr Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Turkey, Russia, Ukrainian, Africa, Asia

The recent high school graduate selected her wardrobe carefully as she headed off to a summer folk festival. She dressed all in white, as is customary for the event, and wore a large flower wreath in her golden hair. But when it came to choosing a sash for her skirt, she grabbed a brown leather band, avoiding the color red. In Belarus, red and white are the colors of the protest movement against the country’s authoritarian leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko. After claiming victory in a widely disputed presidential election three years ago — and violently crushing the outraged protests that followed — Mr. Lukashenko has ushered in a chilling era of repression.

Persons: Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, ”, — Mr Locations: Belarus

☆ Their City in Ruins, a Ukrainian University and Its Students Persevere
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the before times, there were caps and gowns and canapés, but Mariupol State University could offer only a pared-down ceremony on Thursday for the class of 2023 on its campus in exile almost 400 miles from its ravaged home city. Of the 500 graduates, only about 60 attended here in Kyiv to collect their diplomas in person at a new university home that is a work in progress. The rest took part online if they could, scattered by war around Ukraine and abroad. It was a bittersweet moment for the graduates of Mariupol, a city that became synonymous with the war’s brutality and devastation before falling to the Russian invasion last year. Valeriya Tkachenko, 21, continued her studies in ecology and education, even as her husband, Vladislav, underwent treatment and rehabilitation after losing a leg in the battle for Azovstal, the sprawling steelworks where Mariupol’s defenders made their last stand before surrendering in May 2022.

Persons: Valeriya Tkachenko, Vladislav Organizations: Mariupol State, Mariupol, Azovstal Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine

Mr. Lukashenko said last week that Wagner might use an old Belarusian military base, but despite the speculation spurred by the new tents, it was not clear that he meant this one, in the village of Tsel’. He also said that Mr. Prigozhin was in Belarus, though there was no confirmation of that. On Thursday, in a rare session with foreign journalists, Mr. Lukahsenko said Mr. Prigozhin was in Russia, a free man. On Friday, a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military intelligence, said Mr. Prigozhin was believed to be in Moscow, with no apparent restrictions on his movements. He said it would be used for a military training exercise in September, and insisted that the tents and bunks were erected so quickly as part of an exercise in rapid field camp construction.

Persons: Lukashenko, Wagner, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Lukahsenko, General Kasinsky Organizations: Pentagon Locations: Belarus, Ukraine, Tsel, Russia, Moscow

☆ Prigozhin Is Said to Be in Russia, as Wagner Mystery Deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a rare news conference with local and foreign journalists at the marbled presidential palace in Minsk, Mr. Lukashenko, always eager to be seen as an international statesman, clearly enjoyed the limelight cast on him by the most dramatic challenge to Mr. Putin’s authority in his 23 years in power. But days after offering a haven to Wagner fighters and their leader in his country, Mr. Lukashenko gave no clarity about where they would go or what role they would play. He added that he had spoken to Mr. Prigozhin on Wednesday, and that Wagner would continue to “fulfill its duties to Russia for as long as it can,” though he did not elaborate. Mr. Putin has long sought to pull Belarus deeper into the Russian political, economic and military orbits. For years, Mr. Lukashenko, whose power depends heavily on managing that relationship, did well enough to maintain some independence and even tried to build trade ties to the West.

Persons: Lukashenko, Wagner, Putin, ”, Prigozhin Organizations: Mr, Russia Locations: Minsk, Russia, Belarus

Days after an aborted rebellion in Russia by a mercenary group presented a dramatic challenge to his leadership, President Vladimir V. Putin made highly choreographed public appearances in an effort to project power and control, even as U.S. officials said early intelligence reports suggested that a top general had been detained in connection with the failed uprising. In Moscow, Mr. Putin attended a technology fair on Thursday, sitting in a gaming chair and joking with other panelists onstage. The day before, he strode through a crowd of well-wishers in southern Russia, shaking hands, kissing a girl on the head and posing for selfies. It was a display that Russians had not glimpsed from their leader in years. But amid the Kremlin’s efforts to emphasize popular support for Mr. Putin and the message that Russia was back to business as usual, U.S. officials said that the Russian authorities appeared to have detained a general, Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, who American officials say had known in advance about the rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, strode, “, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Surovikin, Wagner Locations: Russia, Moscow, Derbent, Ukraine

The 56-year-old officer, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media because of his reputation for ruthlessness, has not been seen publicly since early Saturday. Fighters from Mr. Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group were on the ground in Syria at the time, and reports indicate that both Wagner and General Surovikin used the civil war for financial gain. Besides leading Russian forces in Syria, General Surovikin was in Chechnya in the early 2000s, according to state news media and his biography on the Russian Defense Ministry’s website. Human Rights Watch said in 2020 that he was among military leaders who might bear “command responsibility” for human rights violations in Syria. He was placed on a European Union sanctions list on Feb. 23, 2022, a day before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Persons: Sergei Surovikin, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Surovikin, Bashar al, Assad, Prigozhin’s Wagner, Wagner, General Surovikin, General Surovikin’s, Aleksei Navalny, Russia’s, Valery Gerasimov, Prigozhin’s, ” Samuel Ramani, “, ”, Ramani, Mikhail Gorbachev Organizations: New York Times, Fighters, Islamic State militants, Russian Army, Russian Defense Ministry, Royal United Services Institute, Russian Defense, Human Rights Watch, Jamestown Foundation, Union Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Syria, Russia, Ukrainian, Kherson, British, Rostov, Chechnya, Washington

But now, as Mr. Putin seeks to project an image of restored stability and control, he has been putting his defense minister on display, even if Mr. Shoigu has not addressed the public or even been heard speaking. Mr. Shoigu was also present on Monday as Mr. Putin convened a meeting of his top security chiefs. On Tuesday, as Mr. Putin praised his security forces in a grandly choreographed speech, Mr. Shoigu was again present, wearing his military uniform. Mr. Shoigu, who was a very popular minister of emergency situations before becoming defense minister in 2012, has had a long and friendly relationship with Mr. Putin. Mr. Putin may have kept both men in charge as part of his decades-long efforts to place the sprawling Russian military more under his control.

Persons: Vladimir V, Sergei K, Shoigu, Valery V, Putin, Yevgeny V, Wagner, ” Mr, Gerasimov, Mr, Prigozhin, Ramzan Kadyrov, —, ”, ” Andrei Guryulov, Aleksandr Dugin, Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, Dugin, Long, General Gerasimov, It’s, Andrei Soldatov, Putin “, ” Oleg Matsnev Organizations: Putin, Cuban, National Defense Control Center of Russia, Russian military’s Zvezda, United, Defense Ministry, General Staff Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, United States, Cuba, Russian, Ukrainian, Lyman, Chechnya, United Russia, Belarus

☆ Putin Says Russia Is United Behind Him, After Quelling Rebellion
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A visibly angry Vladimir V. Putin on Monday denounced as “blackmail” a weekend rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group even as he defended his response to the mutiny and hinted at leniency for those who took part, saying that “the entire Russian society united” around his government. Speaking publicly for the first time in two days, Mr. Putin, in an address broadcast on Monday night, refused to utter the name of the Wagner boss behind the insurrection, Yevgeny V. Prighozhin. But his contempt was clear for those who had seemed, briefly, to threaten civil war and upend Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are mounting a counteroffensive. “They wanted Russians to fight each other,” said Mr. Putin, Russia’s president. Instead, at the core of his five-minute speech on Monday was his insistence that he leads a nation and a government that present a united front to all threats.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ”, Wagner, Yevgeny V, “, Mr Organizations: Kremlin Locations: Russian, Ukraine

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