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☆ An American Held in Afghanistan Tests U.S. Resolve to Negotiate With Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ryan Corbett, standing in the back with his family, is being held in Afghanistan. Photo: Ballenger PhotographyIn the summer of 2022, nearly a year after the Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan, American Ryan Corbett and a German colleague traveled to Sheberghan, a remote city 300 miles northwest of Kabul. The two men weren’t there long before a Taliban security force took them into custody. The Taliban charged Corbett, 40 years old, and his colleague with proselytizing Christianity, which Corbett’s family and colleague have denied. In September, the State Department designated Corbett wrongfully detained, which unlocks diplomatic and intelligence resources across the highest levels of government to secure the release of U.S. citizens through swaps or other means.

Persons: Ryan Corbett, Corbett Organizations: State Department Locations: Afghanistan, German, Sheberghan, Kabul

☆ Some Americans Jailed in Russia Fear Being Left Behind
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/some-americans-jailed-in-russia-fear-being-left-behind-483cf3ff

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: russia

☆ Ex-Marine Trevor Reed, Freed From Russia Last Year, Injured in Ukraine Fighting
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-marine-trevor-reed-freed-from-russia-last-year-injured-in-ukraine-fighting-e99456c4

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: russia, ukraine

☆ Ukraine to Seize Russian-Controlled Bank in Bid to Curb Moscow’s Influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-to-seize-russian-controlled-bank-in-bid-to-curb-moscows-influence-871ce321

Persons: Dow Jones, 871ce321 Locations: ukraine

☆ Who Is Lukashenko, the Belarusian Leader Who Played Peacemaker for Putin?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-lukashenko-the-belarusian-leader-who-played-peacemaker-for-putin-8c56fc8b

Persons: Dow Jones, lukashenko, 8c56fc8b Organizations: putin Locations: belarusian

☆ Russia’s Grim ‘Fashion Colony’: Americans Describe Harsh Life in Remote Labor Camp
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-grim-fashion-colony-americans-describe-harsh-life-in-remote-labor-camp-9324bb80

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ How Russia Turned to Imprisoning Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. professional basketball player Brittney Griner appears in a Russian court last year after being imprisoned there; she was later freed in a swap. Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty ImagesRussia’s detention in March of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was a breach of international norms, but it also was the latest chapter in a long history. For more than a decade, Moscow has been expressing outrage over several cases in which the U.S. arrested and convicted Russian citizens for various crimes. Over the past five years, the Kremlin has turned to seizing Americans and trading them to reclaim those prisoners.

Persons: Brittney Griner, KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV, Evan Gershkovich Organizations: Getty, Wall Street, Kremlin Locations: AFP, Moscow

☆ The Navy SEAL Who Went to Ukraine Because He Couldn’t Stop Fighting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ian Lovett | Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Daniel Swift’s nerves were shot. By the start of 2019, his Navy SEAL colleagues said, he was hardly eating or sleeping. He had separated from his wife. A court had barred him from seeing his four children, and he was facing legal charges for false imprisonment and domestic battery.

Ukraine is trying to convince the West to provide it with F-16s, modern jet fighters capable of traveling twice the speed of sound. Here is how the planes compare with Russia’s Soviet-designed aircraft and what difference they could make in the war. Illustration: Adam AdadaThe U.S. and allied nations are scrambling to buttress Ukraine’s air defenses for its upcoming counteroffensive after waves of Russian missile attacks whittled down Kyiv’s stockpile of antiaircraft missiles. Neither side has been able to take firm control of the skies over Ukraine throughout the brutal war, now in its second year, and the success of Ukraine’s forthcoming counteroffensive depends on its ability to keep Russia’s warplanes from pummeling its troops and infrastructure.

☆ From the Soviet Union to Putin’s Russia, American Journalists Have Navigated Clampdowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Four weeks after Russia’s arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich , Moscow has taken aim at other American reporters working in the country, the latest sign of how once-collegial ties between the Russian government and foreign correspondents have frayed under Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. denial of visas to two Russian journalists seeking to cover last week’s United Nations meeting in New York prompted Moscow to threaten retaliation against American reporters. Citing privacy concerns, a State Department spokeswoman said the agency couldn’t comment on individual visa applications. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that “such sabotage, aimed at preventing normal journalistic work, will not remain unanswered.”

At Lefortovo prison, the interrogations start with the clanging of metal. Guards patrolling hundreds of cells at the sprawling facility on the outskirts of Moscow bang their keys together to signal that an inmate is being escorted from their cells to an interrogation room, according to former prisoners, their families and their lawyers. Others snap their fingers in the hallways, where fluorescent lights buzz day and night, a warning there should be no other prisoners in sight and as few personnel as possible.

WASHINGTON—Ukraine’s insatiable demand for artillery has for months outpaced Western forecasts, setting off a global hunt for more ammunition and forcing the U.S. to raid its stocks abroad to help Kyiv prepare for its counteroffensive later in the spring. With some U.S. allies unwilling or unable to supply enough ammunition for Ukraine, the U.S. military is pulling from its munition supplies in a number of locations, including in Israel, South Korea, Germany and Kuwait. These sites, known as prepositioned stocks, are where the U.S. stores everything from trucks to bandages to support American forces around the world.

☆ How a Penny-Stock Company Sold the Pentagon on Small Drones for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the U.S. has approved more than $32 billion in security assistance for Kyiv, with most of that money going to weaponry produced by major defense companies. Small drones have provided an opening for lesser-known firms to compete, and at least one has succeeded.

☆ Russian Spy or Ukrainian Hero? The Strange Death of Denys Kiryeyev
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Days after Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian intelligence agents left a corpse on a sidewalk in the center of Kyiv with a bullet hole in the back of the skull. The dead man, 45-year-old banker Denys Kiryeyev , was killed as a traitor. The Security Service of Ukraine—the country’s primary domestic intelligence agency, known as the SBU—shot Mr. Kiryeyev because he was allegedly spying for Moscow, an agency official said.

☆ Ukraine Looks for Opportunity Amid Titanium Supply-Chain Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia’s VSMPO-Avisma, which operates this facility in Verkhnyaya Salda has been the world’s largest titanium exporter. U.S. officials for years have worried that the global market for titanium is too reliant on Washington’s chief rivals: Russia and China. Now, Ukraine, one of the leading producers of the critical metal, is hoping it can play a role in helping to lower that dependence. But Kyiv’s efforts to become an alternative supplier are being hampered by domestic political squabbles and the continuing war, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ U.S. Defense Strategy Casts China as Greatest Danger to American Security
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Michael R. Gordon | Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Biden administration unveiled a new defense strategy Thursday, casting China as the greatest danger to American security and calling for an urgent, concerted effort to build the military capabilities to deter Beijing in the decades to come. The strategy document warns that China is seeking to undermine U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific, engaging in coercive activity on Taiwan and is posing a potential threat to the U.S. homeland through its ability to mount cyberattacks against the U.S. industrial base and the system used to mobilize American forces.

☆ As Russia Pummels Ukraine, U.S. Counterdrone System Months Away From Delivery
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon has yet to approve a contract to deliver a counterdrone system it promised over the summer to Kyiv, despite Russia’s surge of recent attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure using Iranian-made unmanned aircraft. In late August, the Pentagon said the U.S. had included a weapons system known as the Vampire in a nearly $3 billion military aid package for Ukraine. The portable, laser-guided missile system is designed to be quickly installed in the bed of a civilian truck and has the ability to destroy drones and other targets beyond the range of standard weapons.

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