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REUTERS/Tyrone SiuTAIPEI, March 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence spending this year will focus on preparing weapons and equipment for a "total blockade" by China, including parts for F-16 fighters and replenishing weapons, the military said in a report. Xi also said that when it came to Taiwan, China must oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces. Taiwan's defence ministry said China has systematically increased the strength of its "joint combat readiness" actions around Taiwan. That is more than double the number from a year earlier and poses a "substantial threat" to Taiwan's defence, the ministry said. China has been "normalising" no-navigation zones around the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added.

☆ 'Executed' Russian Wagner fighter shown unharmed in new video
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 15 (Reuters) - A Russian mercenary shown on video this week ostensibly being executed for desertion by the Wagner private militia has appeared, unharmed, with Wagner's chief on another clip aired on Wednesday. Russian war correspondent Alexander Kots posted footage on his Telegram channel of the fighter, who had identified himself as Dmitry Yakushchenko, answering questions from journalists about time he had spent in Ukrainian captivity. Wagner, which promotes itself as Russia's premier fighting force, says it is the main unit fighting to seize the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk province. Wagner has adopted the sledgehammer as its symbol after reportedly using it to execute a defector from its ranks last year. A video posted on Monday by Grey Zone, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner, appears to show a man swinging a sledgehammer into Yakushchenko's head and Yakushchenko collapsing, although the video blurs at the crucial moment.

☆ Russia Claims Advances, Strengthens Southern Front
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Ian Lovett | Georgi Kantchev | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia claimed further advances along the front line in Ukraine on Monday, as Western intelligence said the Kremlin’s forces have strengthened defensive positions in the country’s southern Zaporizhzhia region in recent weeks. Meanwhile, footage apparently showing the sledgehammer execution of a Russian mercenary defector was posted to the Grey Zone Telegram channel by an account affiliated with Wagner Group, the Russian paramilitary organization.

☆ Sledgehammer execution of Russian mercenary who fled shown on video
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - A video showing the sledgehammer execution of a former Russian mercenary who fled the Wagner mercenary group while fighting in Ukraine was shared on social media on Monday. Grey Zone said that he was later captured in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Facing the camera in a seated position, Yakushchenko appears to recite his name and year of birth. After this, the person behind him raises the sledgehammer and appears to swing it into his head. A caption then appears on the video which says "The court session is declared closed."

☆ Analysis: Kremlin moves to rein in Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

"The position of the (Kremlin) political bloc is not to let him into politics. Prigozhin told a Russian interviewer on Friday that he had "zero" political ambitions. Markov, who described Prigozhin as extremely confrontational, said he believed Putin had told Prigozhin to halt public criticism of the top brass at a St Petersburg meeting around Jan. 14. It advised recipients to stop mentioning Prigozhin or Wagner and suggested generic phrases to describe his forces instead. After years of denials, Prigozhin stepped out of the shadows in September to admit he had founded Wagner in 2014.

☆ Russia likely lost dozens of armoured vehicles in failed attack on Vuhledar: UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Russian forces likely lost dozens of armoured vehicles during a failed attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Vuhledar, British intelligence said on Friday. "Russian troops likely fled and abandoned at least 30 mostly intact armoured vehicles in a single incident after a failed assault," Britain's defence ministry said in a daily briefing. Russia's defence ministry has not commented on the report but it says military operations near Vuhledar and the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine - which Russia has been trying to encircle - are progressing well. "Thirty-one armoured vehicles of the 155th Separate Guards Marine Brigade from the Russian Pacific Fleet were destroyed during an assault on Vuhledar," the Moscow Calling military blogger said. Grey Zone, the semi-official Telegram channel of the Wagner mercenary group, said in a post that "a disaster is unfolding around Vuhledar, and it is unfolding again and again".

☆ Alibaba, Tencent 'golden shares': China is pulling different strings to control Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

According to a person familiar with the matter, the Chinese government is also discussing taking a similar stake in a mainland Chinese subsidiary of Tencent (TCEHY), the group that includes WeChat and a vast gaming business. The headquarters of the Cyberspace Administration of China in Beijing, China on July 16, 2021. “Golden shares” give their owners, usually governments, some level of control over companies, often those that were previously state-owned. In April 2021, a government entity acquired a 1% stake in a Beijing subsidiary of TikTok’s parent company Bytedance, according to Qichacha. The Communist Party may be easing off on fines and penalties, but the “golden shares” approach seeks the same end, which is “control and tight oversight,” said Capri.

☆ Factbox: What do we know about the Ukrainian New Year's Eve attack on Russian troops?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

What do we know, and what do we not know, about what happened? Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine struck with six U.S.-made HIMARS rockets. The ministry acknowledged the attack only in the final paragraph of a 528-word daily roundup, more than 36 hours after the attack took place. Grey Zone, a Telegram channel linked to the Wagner mercenary outfit, said that around 500 men were billeted in the complex. You see, they turned on their phones and got spotted," wrote Grey Zone, a Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Group mercenary outfit.

☆ Sledgehammer execution of Russian mercenary who defected to Ukraine shown on video
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - A video purportedly showing the sledgehammer execution of a former Russian mercenary who switched sides to back Ukraine was circulated on Russian social media on Sunday, with pro-Russian bloggers saying it was revenge for his alleged treachery. In an unverified video distributed on Telegram channels which Russian media said were linked to the Wagner mercenary group, the man identified himself as Yevgenny Nuzhin, 55, and said he had changed sides to "fight against the Russians". Wagner group, originally staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces, has fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine, among other countries. Wagner has been recruiting convicts in Russian jails in recent months, according to a video which showed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, speaking to convicts in a Russian jail. Asked to comment on the execution video, Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, said in remarks released by his spokeswoman that the video should be called "A dog receives a dog's death."

☆ Russian soldiers say leaders threw them into 'incomprehensible battle' where they lost 300 men and half their equipment
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian soldiers say hundreds of men died in "incomprehensible battle" in eastern Ukraine. The letter also accused Russian officials of "hiding these facts and skewing the official casualty statistics for fear of being held accountable." A second soldier told The Guardian that "hundreds" of Russian reservists had died in the battle. Accusations of heavy Russian losses prompted a rare response from Moscow. Many of these soldiers were drafted as part of Russia's mass mobilization of 300,000 reservists, per a report from Insider's Matthew Loh.

LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry took the rare step on Monday of denying allegations that a naval infantry unit had suffered disastrous losses of men and equipment in a futile offensive in eastern Ukraine. It was addressed to Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the far eastern Primorye region, thousands of miles from Ukraine, where the unit is based. Kozhemyako appeared to acknowledge the letter was genuine but said it exaggerated the scale of the true losses. The defence ministry statement, quoted by state-owned RIA news agency, rejected the assertion that the marines unit had suffered "high, pointless losses in people and equipment". I am sure that in any case the situation will be analysed and the competent authorities will give their assessment," he said.

☆ Taiwan says China looking at Ukraine war to develop 'hybrid' strategies
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TAIPEI, Oct 12 (Reuters) - China is looking at the experience of the war in Ukraine to develop "hybrid warfare" strategies against Taiwan including using drones and psychological pressure, a senior Taiwanese security official said on Wednesday. "This year, the communist military has borrowed from the experience of the Russia-Ukraine war to develop 'hybrid warfare' against Taiwan and strengthen its combat training and preparation against strong enemies," he told lawmakers. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chen said China's military threats had coalesced support from the United States and its allies for Taiwan to ensure what happened to Ukraine would not be repeated across the Taiwan Strait. This will enhance Taiwan's ability to deal with China and deter "their plots to attack Taiwan", he said.

☆ China is using civilian ships to enhance navy capability and reach
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Aerial view of fishing boats setting sail to South China Sea for fishing on August 16, 2022 in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province of China. Hundreds of fishing boats anchored for months at a time among disputed islands in the South China Sea. The civilian vessels do more than just augment the raw numbers of ships, performing tasks that would be difficult for the military to carry out. "Because they are ostensibly civilian fishing vessels, navies' ships are unable to deal with them lest China accuse the Philippines of provoking an incident and using force against civilians," he said. In the event of a conflict, China's use of civilian vessels would complicate the rules of engagement, he said.

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