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☆ Russia's war in Ukraine began in Crimea. It could end there, too, defense experts say.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-16 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Read previewIf there is one place Ukraine is winning in the war against Russia, it's Crimea, experts say. Ukrainians have since referred to the Black Sea peninsula as "occupied Crimea," and Zelenskyy has continually stated that any peace agreement must see it returned to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine, which lost its traditional naval fleet during the annexation of Crimea, has targeted Russia's Black Sea fleet with great success using sea drones. Ukraine even claimed to have sunk the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the Moskva. "Crimea allows for power projection over the rest of the Black Sea.

Persons: —, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin, Olga Khvostunova, ", Zelenskyy, Elina Beketova, Russia's, VASILY MAXIMOV, Maria Snegovaya, Beketova, Putin, Dmitry Pletenchuk, OLGA MALTSEVA, Catherine the Great, Snegovaya, Alexei Volkov, DVIDS Frederik Mertens, Ukraine's, Budanov Organizations: Service, Business, Eurasia, Foreign Policy Research, Federal Assembly, NATO, Centre for, Fleet, Getty, Center for Strategic, Studies ', Eurasia Program, Black, Ukraine, Security, Anadolu Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, Guardian, UK Ministry of Defence, MoD, Getty Images, National Union of Hospitality Industries, Reuters, Wing Public Affairs, Hague, Strategic Studies Locations: Ukraine, Russia, it's Crimea, Crimea, Sevastopol, Moskva, AFP, Studies ' Europe, Kerch, Ukraine's, Ukrainian, Rostov, Crimean, Russian, Saki

☆ Crypto billionaire Michael Novogratz's firm has tokenized a 316-year-old violin owned by Catherine the Great in order to back a loan
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mike Novogratz's firm has tokenized an 18th-century violin as collateral against a loan, Galaxy said in a press release. Tokenizing the instrument is a way to boost liquidity, and make it more available to interested investors. AdvertisementThe crypto-focused firm Galaxy Digital has tokenized an 18th-century violin, creating a blockchain version of the instrument to use as collateral for a multimillion loan, Bloomberg reported. It is now in the care of Galaxy, which provided Siu a loan, and is using the violin to back it. He added that he is open to eventually fractionalizing the tokenized instrument, allowing investors to purchase a claim.

Persons: Mike Novogratz's, Galaxy, Yat Siu, —, Catherine the Great, Siu, Michael Novogratz Organizations: Animoca Brands, Service, Galaxy, Bloomberg

☆ Isolated From West, Putin Projects Domestic Power at Inauguration
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vladimir V. Putin was inaugurated for a fifth term as president on Tuesday in a ceremony filled with pageantry and a televised church service, as the Russian leader tried once more to depict his invasion of Ukraine as a religiously righteous mission that is part of “our 1,000-year history.”Mr. Putin took the presidential oath — he swore to “respect and safeguard the rights and freedoms of man and citizen” — with his hand on a red-bound copy of Russia’s constitution, the 1993 document that guarantees many of the democratic rights that he has spent much of his 25-year rule rolling back. Mr. Putin claimed his fifth term in March in a rubber-stamp election that Western nations dismissed as a sham. If he serves the full six years of his new term, he will become the longest serving Russian leader since Empress Catherine the Great in the 19th century. “Together, we will be victorious!” Mr. Putin said at the end of a speech after he took the oath in the Kremlin’s gilded St. Andrew’s Hall.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, —, ” —, Empress Catherine the Great Organizations: Andrew’s Locations: Russian, Ukraine

☆ Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan says it wants to "reintegrate" breakaway region. What does that mean?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Karabakh officials said their forces were outnumbered and had no choice but to surrender. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has long been explicit about the choice that confronts Karabakh officials. In a speech delivered in May, he told Karabakh Armenians they needed to “bend their necks” and accept full integration into Azerbaijan. “It’s a mess.”It is also unclear where Karabakh Armenians will travel to, if evacuations are able to begin. Azerbaijani officials met with ethnic Armenian representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh in Yevlakh, Azerbaijan, September 21, 2023.

Persons: ” Olesya, “, ”, Ilham Aliyev, Aliyev, AZA, Nikol Pashinyan, Miroslav Jenca, Siranush Sargsyan, Sargsyan, Reuters Olesya Vartanyan, Vartanyan, –, Armenia doesn’t, Farid Shafiyev, Shafiyev, Anna Ohanyan, Ohanyan, ” Ohanyan, …, Catherine the Great Organizations: CNN, Azerbaijan’s, Karabakh, Armenian, United Nations, UN, UN Security, Russian, Russian Defence Ministry, Reuters, ICRC, ”, International Relations, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace, gaslight Locations: Azerbaijan, Armenian, Nagorno, Karabakh, South Caucasus, Armenia, Soviet Union, Baku, Yevlakh, Stepanakert, ”, Russian, Soviet Azerbaijan, Russia, Eurasia

CNN —Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has tapped Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, to become his next defense minister, replacing Oleksii Reznikov at a critical time for Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Umerov will have a bulging in-tray if and when the Ukrainian parliament approves his appointment. The Defense Minister is also Ukraine’s main interlocutor with western allies through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Zelensky chose Umerov for the top defense job even though Umerov is not a member of his political party, the Servant of the People. I also explained to colleagues that they should have no hesitation because the invaders are coming to kill.”Rustem Umerov is expected to become Ukraine's next defense minister.

Persons: CNN —, Volodymyr Zelensky, Rustem, Oleksii, Zelensky, Umerov, Stalin, Forbes, “, Catherine the Great, ”, Dogukan, Reznikov, –, impinge, ” Reznikov Organizations: CNN, Defense Ministry, Defense, Ukraine Defense Contact, US, Group, State Property Fund, Center, Humanitarian Dialog, Turkish, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Ukrainian Emerging, Stanford University, Analysts, NATO, Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Twitter Locations: Crimean, Kyiv, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Crimea, Soviet, Russian, Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian, Norway, Turkey

☆ Russia's Bolshoi, performing in China, vows to return to the West
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - The artistic director of Moscow's state-owned Bolshoi Ballet has vowed that his company will eventually perform in the West again, having been subject to a cultural boycott since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The storied ballet company performed at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts on Tuesday in its first international tour since the pandemic. Speaking in Beijing on the eve of the performance, artistic director Makhar Vaziev insisted the troupe was "not suffering" from being unable to perform in the West. Cancellations in other Western cities soon followed, and creative collaboration with Western venues and choreographers evaporated. Several Russian and foreign leading dancers also quit the company in opposition to the Ukraine war, including former principal ballerina Olga Smirnova.

Persons: Makhar Vaziev, Empress Catherine the Great, Don Quixote, Vladimir Putin's, Olga Smirnova, Elizaveta Kokoreva, Laurie Chen, John Geddie, Raju gopalakrishnan Organizations: Bolshoi Ballet, National, Performing Arts, Reuters, London's Royal Opera House, Western, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, Ukraine, Beijing, Russia, Minsk, Oman, Moscow

☆ Russia's Bolshoi, shunned in West, heads to Beijing for first tour since COVID
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/7] Principal dancers of the Bolshoi Theatre Elizaveta Kokoreva and Dmitry Smilevsky take part in a rehearsal in Moscow, Russia July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File PhotoMOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, grounded by COVID-19 and then shunned in the West since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, returns to international touring next week for the first time since the pandemic with a trip to Beijing. "I believe that we will perform again (in the West), and others will come to (Russia) to perform. Vladimir Urin, the Bolshoi's director, said in April that he was saddened by the loss of what had been regular creative cooperation with Western theatre companies and artists. Reporting by Reuters Writing by Lucy Papachristou Editing by Andrew Osborn and Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bolshoi Theatre Elizaveta Kokoreva, Dmitry Smilevsky, Evgenia, Makhar Vaziev, Empress Catherine the Great, Don Quixote, we'll, Elizaveta Kokoreva, Vladimir Urin, Lucy Papachristou, Andrew Osborn, Peter Graff Organizations: Bolshoi Theatre, REUTERS, Bolshoi Ballet, Reuters, London's Royal Opera House, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, MOSCOW, Ukraine, Beijing, China, Western, Italian, Minsk, Oman

Traditional dishes are served for lunch at a Crimean Tatar restaurant in Kyiv. The Crimean Tatars were accused of collaborating with the Nazis and were taken off in cattle trucks to the Ural Mountains and to Uzbekistan, thousands of kilometers away. I see now how stupid it is to hold back on making new friends and acquaintances.”Crimean Tatar history books -- Viktor Shevchenko's reading during frontline deployments. According to Shevchenko, Crimean Tatars are grateful Ukraine allowed them to return in the 1990s. Ukraine’s politicians, too, were too often guilty of making empty pledges, Shevchenko said, promising greater freedoms for Crimean Tatars that never materialized.

Persons: Viktor Shevchenko, Volodymyr Zelensky, Shevchenko, ” Zelensky, Zelensky, ”, Andrew Carey, Catherine the Great, Joseph Stalin, –, Vladimir Putin’s, I’ve, “, ” Viktor Shevchenko, Viktor Shevchenko's, Ukraine’s, Ukraine Zelensky, Victor, Berkut Organizations: CNN, Crimean Tatars, Hitler’s Wehrmacht, Crimean, Tatars, United Nations General Assembly, Rights Watch, European Union Locations: Kyiv, Crimean Tatar, Crimea, Russian, Crimean, Hitler’s, Uzbekistan, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Crimean Tatars, Russia, Poland, Bilohorivka, Tatars, Moscow

☆ Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +17 min

Now the main Russian Cossack organisations are loyal to Putin, and they are fighting alongside Russia’s forces in Ukraine. He is regularly pictured on his and other social media pages at Cossack gatherings, often wearing Cossack military uniform. Felk has worked as a security guard and has run a logistics firm, according to posts on Felk’s OK social media account. Photos shared by Kharkovsky on social media show him and other participants standing in front of a Great Don Army flag. Eremenko confirmed to Reuters that he worked for Russian military intelligence, the GRU.

☆ Ukraine's Odesa votes to remove Catherine the Great statue
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Dan Peleschuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The city council announced the decision to remove the statue on its website on Wednesday. Local lawmakers had also voted to remove and relocate a monument to an 18th century Russian general, Alexander Suvorov. A slim majority of Odesa residents had already voted - in an online poll organised by city authorities - to remove the statue to Catherine the Great, who was empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. First erected in 1900, the statue to Cetherine the Great was dismantled in 1920 under Soviet rule but restored by Ukrainian authorities in 2007. Since Moscow's invasion, Ukrainian authorities have been removing monuments associated with Russia and renamed some streets linked with Russia under a process of "derussification".

☆ Russia says it has completed retreat from Kherson
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's defence ministry said all Russian forces and equipment had been transferred to the eastern bank of the Dnipro. "The transfer of Russian troop units to the left bank of the Dnipro river has been completed," the defence ministry said in a statement. This time, General Sergei Surovikin, the commander in chief of Russian forces, said it was futile to waste more Russian blood on Kherson. Russian military bloggers said it was probably blown up as Russian troops withdrew. Peskov said the decision to retreat was taken by the defence ministry.

☆ Analysis: Russia's planned Kherson retreat a double-edged sword for Kyiv
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/2] Civilians evacuated from the Russian-controlled part of Kherson region of Ukraine arrive at a local railway station in the town of Dzhankoi, Crimea November 10, 2022. If it happens, the planned retreat could make life easier for the Russian army, in some respects, and harder for Ukraine. Both men publicly accepted that Russia's position in Kherson had become untenable. Regardless of any potential military upside, retreat would represent a humiliating defeat for Russia's political and military leadership. Kherson is the first and only regional capital Moscow's forces have captured, at great cost, since their Feb. 24 invasion.

The pullout proposed by General Sergei Surovikin, appointed last month to take overall charge of Russia's war effort, means Moscow is giving up a strategic city just north of annexed Crimea, the only Ukrainian provincial capital it had captured since its Feb. 24 invasion. The decision - described by one Russian military blogger as "a black page in the history of the Russian army" - was nonetheless quickly defended by some of the most high-profile proponents of the war as a wise and necessary action. But he said that ceding Kherson to Ukraine would put Russian-annexed Crimea within range of Ukrainian guided missile systems and U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets. As Shoigu and Surovikin announced the retreat on Wednesday, Putin was congratulating employees of a leading scientific institute on its 75th anniversary. And after that, to understand who is right, who to blame and what is the essence of the problem".

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