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☆ Biden Pays Silent Tribute to Victims of Hiroshima Bomb
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden was 2 years old when the nuclear era opened with a blast of devastation unlike any the world had ever seen. Seventy-eight years later, he came on Friday to ground zero of the first atomic bomb used in warfare to pay tribute to the dead. Mr. Biden and other world leaders met privately with a survivor, toured a museum, laid wreaths at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and planted a tree. The president stared solemnly at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims as the city’s mayor described the monument. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has hinted ominously that he may yet unleash nuclear weapons to salvage his flailing invasion of Ukraine.

☆ An Erdogan Loss in Turkey Would Stir Relief in the West and Anxiety in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Steven Erlanger | Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More broadly, for the European Union and Washington there is the strong feeling that Turkey under Mr. Erdogan has moved farther away from European values and norms like the rule of law and freedom of the press. Kaja Kallas, Estonia’s prime minister, said in an interview that NATO and the European Union viewed the election differently. It is a defense alliance, she said, and “Turkey is one of the allies that has great military capacities” to help NATO in a key part of the world. In Washington, Mr. Erdogan’s drift toward authoritarianism, his ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and his disputes with NATO have exasperated officials — and even led some members of Congress to suggest that Turkey should be banished from the NATO alliance. While the United States, the European Union and, to a lesser extent, NATO stand to gain from an opposition victory, Mr. Putin almost certainly will be seen as the loser if Mr. Erdogan is ousted.

Russian service members rehearsing last week for the military parade in Moscow on Tuesday, when Russia celebrates the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. More recently, he has tried to wrap Ukraine into that narrative, falsely depicting it as a Nazi redoubt. The parade is likely to be subjected to closer scrutiny than usual, both inside Russia and beyond its borders. This year, the jets have skipped their usual practice runs over Moscow, raising questions about whether they will participate. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the march was canceled as a “precautionary measure” against possible attacks.

☆ After Years in the Shadows, Prigozhin Becomes a Player in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Ben Shpigel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin quietly profited from his personal ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, winning lucrative catering and construction contracts with the Russian government while building a mercenary force known as Wagner. After throwing his fighters into Ukraine, their ranks swelled with prisoner recruits, Mr. Prigozhin emerged as a public power player, using social media to turn tough talk and brutality into his personal brand. In a scorching video posted Friday on social media, Mr. Prigozhin threatened to pull his fighters next week out of Bakhmut, the embattled city where he has thrown thousands of convicts into the maw of Ukraine’s defenses, taking extraordinary casualties in a stubborn effort to wear down the other side. Citing a lack of ammunition, Mr. Prigozhin delivered the ultimatum after walking among rows of bodies that he claimed were Wagner fighters killed in the battle for Bakhmut. He called out Russia’s defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, and Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief of the military general staff, as responsible for their deaths.

☆ Blinken says the U.S. is ‘intensely engaged’ in efforts to free Evan Gershkovich.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Edward Wong | Daniel Victor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that the U.S. government remained “intensely engaged” in efforts to get Moscow to free Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held for more than a month on espionage charges that his employer and American officials vehemently deny. Speaking at a World Press Freedom Day event at The Washington Post, Mr. Blinken reiterated that President Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had a “special channel” for discussing prisoners. “I wish I could say in this moment there was a clear way forward,” he said. “I don’t have that in this moment.”“We have a country in the case of Russia that like a handful of other countries around the world is wrongfully detaining people, using them as political pawns, using them as leverage in a practice that is absolutely unacceptable and that we’re working both broadly to try to deter — but also at the same time to try to secure the release of those who are being unjustly detained,” Mr. Blinken said.

☆ U.S. Wires Ukraine With Radiation Sensors to Detect Nuclear Blasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United States is wiring Ukraine with sensors that can detect‌‌ bursts of radiation from a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb and can confirm the identity of the attacker. In part, the goal is to make sure that if Russia detonates a radioactive weapon on Ukrainian soil, its atomic signature and Moscow’s culpability could be verified. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago, experts have worried about whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would use nuclear arms in combat for the first time since the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The preparations, mentioned last month in a House hearing and detailed Wednesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a federal agency that is part of the Energy Department, seem to constitute the hardest evidence to date that Washington is taking concrete steps to prepare for the worst possible outcomes of the invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s second largest nation. The Nuclear Emergency Support Team, or NEST, a shadowy unit of atomic experts run by the security agency, is working with Ukraine to deploy the radiation sensors, train personnel, monitor data and warn of deadly radiation.

☆ Russian Pranksters Trick the Fed Chair, Based on Internet Videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jeanna Smialek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Pranksters posing as Ukraine’s president tricked Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, into a conversation in January about the U.S. and global economy, based on video clips covered on Russian state television and posted online. The footage shows Mr. Powell answering an interviewer’s questions on a video call, apparently thinking that he is talking to Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s leader. The ruse appears to have been carried out by Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, pranksters who are supporters of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The clips — now circulating on the internet — were earlier reported on by Bloomberg News. They show Mr. Powell answering questions about central banking and inflation.

☆ South Africa’s Shifting Stance on a Sensitive Question: Quit the I.C.C.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said on Tuesday that his party, the African National Congress, had decided “it is prudent” to withdraw from the International Criminal Court — only for representatives for him and the party to later clarify that neither was actually advocating quitting the court, at least for now. The shifting statements underscore the complexities and sensitivity of the matter at a fraught geopolitical moment, when South Africa and other countries are pushing back against a world order dominated by the United States and the West. has issued an arrest warrant on war crimes charges for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has been invited to a summit in South Africa in August. South African officials have not said whether they would honor their commitment to the I.C.C. and arrest Mr. Putin, and Mr. Ramaphosa said his government was still considering what to do.

☆ Ukraine-Russia War: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

As she told her story with the help of an interpreter, some members of the House committee grew visibly emotional. At one point, the turret of an armored vehicle was pointed at them, Ms. Bobrovska said. Ms. Bobrovska said he and other Ukrainian children were visited by Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who informed them that they would be adopted. Roman eventually managed to return to Ukraine with the help of volunteers, Ms. Bobrovska said, but she did not detail how, citing safety concerns. The prosecutor general of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, addressed the Republican-led House committee after the survivors’ testimony to urge increased international pressure on Russia to return the children.

As a result, farmers in Poland, Hungary and other nations have seen their incomes plummet. measures,” his country would follow Poland in restricting Ukrainian grain imports until the end of June, according to Hungarian news reports. The announcement came after Warsaw reached a deal with Kyiv on Friday to strictly limit and, for a time, halt Ukrainian grain deliveries to Poland. Image Ukrainian grain being loaded onto a cargo ship near Odesa, Ukraine, in August. Image A Ukrainian soldier loading shells inside an American-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer to be fired toward Russian positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Friday.

☆ Russia Detains Wall Street Journal Reporter, Accusing Him of Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Daniel Victor | Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Russian authorities said on Thursday that they had detained an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal and accused him of espionage, marking a new escalation in Moscow’s tensions with the United States and with foreign media organizations since its invasion of Ukraine. The journalist, Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, is believed to be the first American reporter to be held as an accused spy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. His detention comes as relations between Russia and the United States continue to deteriorate, with Washington leading a coalition of nations supporting Ukraine’s military defense and pushing for Moscow’s further diplomatic and economic isolation. Hours later, the Kremlin endorsed Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest. “We’re not talking about suspicions,” Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, said, adding, “He was caught red-handed.” Mr. Peskov said he could not provide further details.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Gershkovich “, ”, “ We’re, ” Dmitri S, Peskov, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Mr Organizations: Wall Street Journal, Soviet Union, Washington, Russian Federal Security Service, Kremlin Locations: American, United States, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, Soviet, Yekaterinburg

☆ Xi and Putin share a deep resentment of the US, but China's new dominance over Russia could eventually shatter the alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russia and China have formed closer ties to counter the power of the US. But China is the dominant one in the partnership, with Russia weakened by the Ukraine war. At last week's summit, Xi proposed a peace plan in Ukraine that critics said mainly reflected Russian demands. Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. But despite such tensions, the Russia-China alliance will likely persist because of the deep resentment Putin and Xi share over the US' status as the world's top superpower.

☆ Fear, Anger, Love: See Ukrainians’ Texts From the First Hours of War
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Maria Varenikova | Gray Beltran | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

The messages are a snapshot of a fateful day for Ukraine and Europe — capturing the fear, love and support shared in the first hours of war. Ira YeroshkoOh Girls:((( I can’t believe it started friend one yeah. Oleksandr StarunThe war started. Lilia TurchynSvitlanka, the war started Be careful, and tell our mom to be careful with Myroslav Where did you read that? On Feb. 24, she was in Lviv with her husband and 4-year-old son, Ustym.

For much of the winter, the war in Ukraine settled into a slow-moving but exceedingly violent fight along a jagged 600-mile-long frontline in the southeast. Now, both Ukraine and Russia are poised to go on the offensive. They are looking for vulnerabilities, hoping to exploit gaps, and setting the stage for what Ukraine warns could be Moscow’s most ambitious campaign since the start of the war. Ukraine must now defend against the Russian assault without exhausting the resources it needs to mount an offensive of its own. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has given an order to take all of the Donbas region by March, Ukrainian intelligence says.

☆ Boris Johnson says Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an 'extraordinary' phone call weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Boris Johnson said Putin threatened the UK with a missile strike before it invaded Ukraine. He said Putin told him: "I don't want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute." He added that he told Putin that war would be a "utter catastrophe" and that Russia's apparent fear that Ukraine would join the NATO military alliance would not come true "for the foreseeable future." He also told Putin that invading Ukraine would result in sanctions from the West and more NATO troops stationed along Russia's borders, according to his recollection. Johnson was seen as one of Ukraine's biggest allies following the Russian invasion, and has made multiple trips to the country, both during his time as prime minister and after.

A Culture in theCross Hairs Russia’s invasion has systematically destroyed Ukrainian cultural sites. It has also dealt a grievous blow to Ukrainian culture: to its museums and monuments, its grand universities and rural libraries, its historic churches and contemporary mosaics. This is how empires always work.” The war in Ukraine is a culture war, and the extent of the destruction is becoming clearer. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion.

☆ Xi Jinping is standing by Putin despite his invasion of Ukraine, and recently ordered China to forge closer ties with Russia, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China's President Xi Jinping ordered closer economic ties with Russia, the WSH reported. It comes as the West seeks to economically isolate Russia over the Ukraine invasion. China has positioned itself as Russia's key international ally, with Moscow and Beijing announcing "no limits" to their cooperation just before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February. In a visit to China by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November, Xi criticised Putin's nuclear rhetoric, and called on Germany to help mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. But despite the public statements, Xi in private has continued strengthen China's ties with Russia, the Journal said, and sees it as a partner for the long term.

☆ Erdogan, Putin discuss grain corridor, gas hub in phone call
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISTANBUL, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Presidents Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia discussed grain supplies and a potential regional gas hub in Turkey on Sunday, both countries said. "President Erdogan expressed his sincere wish for the termination of the Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible," the Turkish presidency said on Sunday. In the call, Erdogan said Ankara and Moscow could start work on exporting other food products and commodities through the Black Sea grain corridor, Erdogan's office said. The Kremlin said the two also discussed an initiative to create a base in Turkey for exports of Russian natural gas. Gazprom (GAZP.MM) chief Alexei Miller held talks with Erdogan in Istanbul in the past week.

WASHINGTON — Month after month, as American diplomats pushed for the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan from Russian prisons, they received the same, infuriating answer: If you want both prisoners, we want Vadim Krasikov as part of the deal. Mr. Krasikov is an assassin who murdered a Chechen fighter in a park in Berlin in broad daylight in 2019, a brazen killing that the German authorities say was committed at the behest of Russia’s intelligence services. Convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Germany, Mr. Krasikov was not in U.S. custody to be traded to Russia. It was, the Americans thought, hardly a viable request for a swap that would include Ms. Griner, a W.N.B.A. star, and Mr. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who were being detained on what Biden administration officials considered trumped-up charges.

Persons: Griner, Paul Whelan, Vadim Krasikov, Krasikov, Whelan, Berlin, Vladimir V, Putin, Biden Organizations: U.S . Marine, Biden Locations: WASHINGTON, Chechen, Berlin, Germany, Russia, U.S, United States, Washington

☆ Russia-Ukraine War U.S. Rushes to Secure Aid for Ukraine to Repair Energy Grid Before Winter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

On Tuesday, American officials pledged to give Ukraine $53 million to repair the electrical grid, and sought to rally other allies to make similar offers. Western officials say the Ukrainian energy reconstruction campaign should be considered a second front in the war. In April, not long after Russian troops swept into Ukraine, American officials marshaled dozens of allies to furnish Ukraine with long-term military aid, and organized the countries into the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The United States is organizing a working group to help Ukraine repair energy equipment and to better defend its power plants and grid from attack. That energy “contact group” is centered on those nations and their close partners, and is expected to meet again next month in Paris.

☆ How Ukraine Blew Up a Key Russian Bridge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Marco Hernandez | James Glanz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Last month, a truck laden with explosives drove across the Kerch bridge, a critical artery connecting Russia with its troops fighting in southern Ukraine. Structural and explosive experts who reviewed the bridge’s design and imagery of the blast offered new details on how the bridge was damaged. There are few direct parallels to such a spectacular act of sabotage on a bridge behind enemy lines in wartime. The blast ignited a train carrying large fuel tanks on an adjacent bridge, creating flames and a plume of smoke. “If it were a suicide truck bomb,” Mr. Nair said, “I would think the guy would have destroyed the main span.”But the trigger for the bomb is still unknown.

☆ China Will Benefit From Cheap Russian Gas—Eventually
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Nathaniel Taplin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The “limitless” friendship between China and Russia notwithstanding, President Xi Jinping of China appears to be at least somewhat miffed at President Vladimir Putin of Russia. For a hint of why that might be, consider the energy sector. But there is a problem: For now, China is a coal- and oil-powered economy, and the transition to moving toward gas will be long and expensive. In the meantime, Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine has helped push coal and petroleum prices through the roof. All this comes as China’s economy is already struggling with a punishing property downturn and deeply discouraged consumers.

☆ Can Ukraine Break Through Again?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Marco Hernandez | Denise Lu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

After mostly defending for months, Ukraine is now dictating the war, choosing where it wants to press new offensives. After mostly defending for months, Ukraine is now dictating the war, choosing where it wants to press new offensives. But even if it helps, the “partial mobilization” could take months to change the battlefield, giving Ukraine time to push forward. Now that Ukraine has recaptured Izium, Ukrainian forces are freed up to attack Russian forces to the east. Now that Ukraine has recaptured Izium, Ukrainian forces are freed up to attack Russian forces to the east.

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