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☆ Dismissing Rebellion as ‘Minor,’ Kremlin Dismantles Prigozhin’s Empire
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | Cassandra Vinograd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The mercenary rebellion that shook Russia was merely “a minor trouble,” the foreign minister said on Friday, warning the West not to think that President Vladimir V. Putin’s grip on power had weakened, even as the Kremlin continued to move against the leader of the mutiny. Speaking at a news conference, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov asserted that Russia would emerge “stronger and more resilient” after the short-lived putsch last Friday and Saturday by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his Wagner group troops, who have played a vital role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Lavrov dismissed the rebellion, which drove an armored column to within 125 miles of Moscow before turning back, as insignificant. “If someone in the West has doubts about this, then that’s their problem,” he said. But it is clear that the government is still cleaning up its aftermath.

Persons: Vladimir V, Sergey V, Lavrov, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Wagner, ”, Putin Organizations: Kremlin, Mr Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow

News of General Surovikin’s detention was earlier reported by The Financial Times. There were conflicting reports in the Russian news media about General Surovikin’s fate. One popular account posted a recording of an interview with a woman it said was General Surovikin’s daughter, who denied that her father had been arrested. The question is a critical one for Mr. Putin as well. For years, Mr. Putin has allowed different factions to exist inside the Russian military.

Persons: Wagner Group’s, Sergei Surovikin, Surovikin, Yevgeny V, Dmitri S, Peskov, Surovikin’s, ”, “ He’s, Vladimir V, Putin, Sergei K, Prigozhin, Putin’s, Shoigu, Valery V, Prigozhin’s, Shoigu’s, ’, Samuel Charap, “, Mr, Charap, ” Steven Erlanger, Anton Troianovski Organizations: New York Times, The Financial, RAND Corporation Locations: U.S, Russia, Ukraine, NATO

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

And they clearly had little interest in helping Mr. Putin avoid a major, embarrassing fracturing of his support. While it is not clear exactly when the United States first learned of the plot, intelligence officials conducted briefings on Wednesday with administration and defense officials. Placing Wagner forces under the control of Mr. Shoigu was “out of the question” for Mr. Prigozhin, Ms. Stanovaya said. But it was only in recent days that intelligence officials got the initial warnings that Mr. Prigozhin might take action. President Biden, speaking in October, talked of the dangers that Mr. Putin would pose if he felt cornered and said the United States was looking for “off ramps” for Mr. Putin.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Prigozhin, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Prigozhin’s, “, ”, Sergei K, Valery Gerasimov, Wagner ., Tatiana Stanovaya, Shoigu, Stanovaya, Gerasimov, Biden, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Wagner Group, United, CNN, United States, Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Associated Press, Intelligence, Russian, Ukrainian, Mr, Ministry of Defense, Defense Ministry, Carnegie Endowment, International Locations: Rostov, Don, Russia, United States, Ukraine, St . Petersburg, Moscow, Belarus, United, U.S, Russian, Bakhmut, Wagner . Russia

Image Mr. Prigozhin and President Vladimir Putin at one of Mr. Prigozhin’s factories in St. Petersburg in 2010. Mr. Prigozhin accused the Russian military of attacking his forces, vowed to retaliate, on Friday. In an earlier videotaped speech, Mr. Prigozhin did not explicitly impugn Mr. Putin, instead casting him as a leader being misled by his officials. But, during the battle for Bakhmut, Mr. Prigozhin also emerged as a populist political figure, excoriating Russia’s military leadership for corruption. Others theorized that the Kremlin had orchestrated Mr. Prigozhin’s tirades against Mr. Shoigu, the defense minister, to deflect blame from Mr. Putin himself.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Vladimir V, Putin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Mr, ” Gen, Vladimir Alekseyev, ” Mr, Prigozhin’s Wagner, Russia’s, ’, “, ”, GOH, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, Adam Hodge, Vladimir Putin, —, Sergei K, Shoigu, Dmitri S, diatribes, excoriating, Prigozhin’s, Igor Girkin, Girkin, ” Julian E, Barnes, Cassandra Vinograd Organizations: Russian, ., Reuters, Russian Defense Ministry, Russia’s, Defense Ministry, Telegram, Twitter, National Security, Associated Press, Bakhmut, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Rostov, Don, Russia, White, St . Petersburg, St, Petersburg, Syria, Africa, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Prigozhin, Russian, Ukraine’s, “

☆ Missiles Strike Russian-Held Bridge Far Behind Ukraine Front Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Cassandra Vinograd | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian-held bridge far behind the front lines that helps Moscow resupply its forces in Ukraine was hit by missiles on Thursday, Kremlin-backed local officials said. The bridge, which connects the occupied Crimean Peninsula to the rest of Ukraine, was struck by several missiles in an overnight attack that some of the officials blamed on Kyiv. While Ukrainian forces have stepped up their strikes on the peninsula, which Moscow seized long before launching its full invasion, the Ukrainian government has generally declined to officially confirm them, and that was the case again on Thursday. The bridge — which consists of two spans — crosses the Chonhar Strait to connect Crimea and the Kherson region.

Organizations: Ukrainian Locations: KYIV, Ukraine, Moscow, Crimean, Kyiv, Crimea, Kherson

Registering for aid and receiving instructions after arriving in Mykolaiv from Kherson, Ukraine, on Tuesday following damage to the Kakhovka dam. Evacuees, who fled after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed, exiting a train in Mykolaiv on Tuesday. In Mykolaiv, the southern port city, an emergency train pulled out of the station to collect people fleeing the rising waters in Kherson, about 40 miles to the east. The city of Kherson straddles the Dnipro River, which has become a front line in the war, dividing the warring armies. It mostly sits on elevated land but there are some neighborhoods close to the river bank where flooding has already been reported.

Persons: ”, don’t, “, Brendan Hoffman, The New York Times Alim, Chupyna, Olha Napkhanenko, Serhiy Prytula, ” Svitlana, Sitnik Organizations: Volunteers, Red Cross, ., The New York Times, Foundation, Telegram, “ Local Locations: Mykolaiv, Kherson, Ukraine, Dnipro, Vasyl, Ostriv, ”, Ukrainian, Russian, Oleshky, Crimea

A barrage of attack drones were downed over Moscow on Tuesday, the first time civilian areas of the Russian capital have been touched directly by the Ukrainian conflict and a signal that a distant war may soon begin to feel somewhat less so for ordinary Russians. “If the goal was to stress the population, then the very fact that drones have appeared in the skies over Moscow has contributed to that,” wrote one pro-war Russian blogger, Mikhail Zvinchuk, who posts under the name Rybar. The drones, numbering at least eight, came as Russia has been engaged in a particularly sustained aerial assault on Ukraine’s own capital, Kyiv. And while President Vladimir V. Putin blamed Ukraine for what he branded “terrorist activity,” no one was killed in Moscow on Tuesday. The same could not be said for Kyiv, where one person died in the Russian attacks.

Persons: ”, Mikhail Zvinchuk, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Kyiv Locations: Moscow, Ukrainian, Russian, Russia, Kyiv, Ukraine

☆ What We Know About the Drone Attack on Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Moscow came under a drone attack early Tuesday, according to Russian officials, the first strike to hit civilian areas in the capital city and another sign that the war in Ukraine is increasingly touching the heart of Russia. Here is what we know about the attack. Explosions were reported in Moscow early on Tuesday morning, with Russia’s Defense Ministry saying that at least eight drones had targeted the capital city and the surrounding region. All of the drones were intercepted, the ministry said in a statement, saying that electronic jamming measures forced some to deviate from intended targets and that others had been shot down outside the city limits by air defenses. It did not specify what the targets may have been.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine was behind what it described as a “terrorist attack” and that all eight were intercepted. Several buildings in Moscow were damaged, and some residents were evacuated early Tuesday, the city’s mayor said. At least two of the drones crashed into residential towers, Russian state media reported, citing state emergency services. It was the 17th assault on the city this month, a spate of attacks that has taken a toll on residents. On Monday, Kyiv was targeted with 11 ballistic missiles shortly after 11 a.m.

☆ Belarus Pardons Opposition Activist Who Was Hauled Off a Ryanair Flight, State Media Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Belarus has pardoned an opposition activist who was arrested in 2021 after the Belarusian government forced the landing of a commercial flight he had been on that was transiting its airspace, state media reported on Monday. The activist, Roman Protasevich, 28, was the editor of Nexta, a channel on the Telegram messaging app that was instrumental in organizing mass protests against President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko after his disputed election victory in 2020. The details of Mr. Protasevich’s arrest drew international attention. A Belarusian court in May sentenced Mr. Protasevich to eight years in prison for crimes including acts of terrorism and insulting the president. But on Monday, Belta, the Belarusian state news agency, reported that Mr. Protasevich had told journalists he had been pardoned, calling it “great news.”Such leniency for someone who had been an active member of the opposition is unusual in Belarus, where, during nearly three decades in power, Mr. Lukashenko has a longstanding pattern of silencing dissent and violently suppressing opponents.

☆ Tensions Flare in Georgia as Direct Flights Resume With Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As passengers on the first direct flight from Russia to Georgia in more than three years disembarked on Friday, they were met by protesters cursing their arrival. Your country is an occupier!” echoed through the arrivals hall at Tbilisi International Airport. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, and it wields military control over 20 percent of its territory. Graffiti that says “Russians go home” is commonplace in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. A determination to join NATO is enshrined in the former Soviet republic’s Constitution.

☆ The Wagner leader disputes a report that he offered to betray Russia.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The head of the Wagner private military group on Monday rejected a report that he had offered to share with Ukraine the positioning of Russian Army troops around Bakhmut in exchange for a withdrawal of Kyiv’s forces from the area in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner group has been a driving force behind Russia’s monthslong battle to take Bakhmut, which has cost thousands of lives on both sides and reduced much of the city to rubble. Its founder, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, has publicly clashed with Russia’s military leadership over the fight for the city, accusing them of starving his forces of ammunition. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a U.S. intelligence document leaked on the messaging platform Discord said that Mr. Prigozhin told contacts in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate that he was willing to betray the Russian army’s locations around Bakhmut if Kyiv agreed to withdraw from around Bakhmut. A Ukrainian official told The Post that Mr. Prigozhin’s offer — made “more than once” — had been rejected.

☆ On Muted War Holiday, Putin Tries to Justify Invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Anatoly Kurmanaev | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin on Tuesday used a scaled-down commemoration of triumph in World War II as a platform to denounce the West and make fictitious claims about Ukraine, equating his war of choice against that country with the Soviet Union’s fight for survival against Nazi Germany. With Russia struggling on the battlefield, the annual celebration of Victory Day, Russia’s most important and deeply emotional secular holiday, was far more muted than in the past. But Mr. Putin tried to seize on his nation’s proud memory of what it calls the Great Patriotic War to rally support for the war he launched against Ukraine last year, explicitly comparing the two. “A real war has been unleashed against our motherland again,” Mr. Putin said in a 10-minute speech in Moscow’s Red Square, whose themes were quickly repeated by state media. But his rhetoric has shifted from talk of a limited war — in his telling, one of self-defense — to drawing direct parallels to the colossal fight against Nazism.

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.

☆ Wagner Leader Threatens to Pull Out of Bakhmut: Russia-Ukraine War Live News
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Matt Surman | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“These are Wagner guys who died today; the blood is still fresh,” Mr. Prigozhin said, in a speech marked by frequent bleeped-out expletives. The Wagner chief has long criticized Russian military leadership openly, with some analysts attributing the tensions to rivalries for President Vladimir V. Putin’s favor. Mr. Prigozhin has never pointed a finger directly at Mr. Putin over Russia’s setbacks in the war. In February, Mr. Prigozhin accused Mr. Shoigu and General Gerasimov of treason, claiming they were starving Wagner of ammunition. The problem for Wagner was not a lack of ammunition, Mr. Cherevaty said, but a shortage of people to fight and die.

Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was detained by Russian authorities in March on charges of espionage. He is one of hundreds of journalists currently in custody around the world. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the killings of 14 journalists and media workers have been confirmed there, the committee said. But “we cannot withdraw from reporting about the world,” Mr. Latour said. In total, the event was likely to present a story of “a worldwide assault on journalists, their work and the public’s right to know,” Mr. Sulzberger said.

☆ Navalny, Top Kremlin Critic, Says New Charge Could Jail Him for Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, said on Wednesday that Russian authorities had initiated “absurd” new terrorism charges against him that could lead to life in prison. Mr. Navalny’s comments, which were posted on his team’s Twitter account, came as he appeared via video link at a court hearing over separate extremism charges that are widely seen as politically motivated. Mr. Navalny, who started as an anticorruption activist before becoming one of the Kremlin’s most prominent critics, is already serving a sentence in a penal colony for fraud and contempt of court. Since returning to Russia after recovering in Germany from a poisoning attempt that the West has blamed on the Kremlin, he has repeatedly faced new charges from Russian authorities. The Russian authorities did not confirm the charges.

☆ Russian Lawyers Ask Court to Ease Crackdown on Speaking Out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A group of leading Russian lawyers on Tuesday asked the country’s highest court to declare unconstitutional a law banning criticism of the armed forces, in a rare display of opposition to the draconian censorship imposed by the Kremlin in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. The complaint, filed by three lawyers and supported by 10 more, most of whom are still in Russia, asked the Constitutional Court to strike down the measure, which has emerged as the Kremlin’s most effective tool for stifling dissent in the country. “This law was passed with only one goal — to suppress antiwar activism,” said Violetta Fitsner, a lawyer with OVD-Info, a Russian rights group, and one of the authors of the complaint. “Such restrictions cannot exist in a democratic society.”The censorship laws effectively ban anything that does not correspond to the Kremlin’s depiction of the war, which it continues to call a “special military operation.” They have virtually silenced debate in Russia.

☆ Three people are injured after Russia says it accidentally bombs its own city.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | Jeffrey Gettleman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Russian warplane accidentally dropped a bomb on one of its own cities, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday. The blast wounded three people and spread panic in a major city along the border with Ukraine. Reports first came in on Thursday night that an explosion had ripped through central Belgorod, a southern Russian city of 400,000 just across the border with Ukraine. The attacks have put Belgorod on edge; some residents have said that they’re worried the Ukrainians might even invade. The jet was identified as an Su-34, considered one of the most advanced Russian aircraft.

☆ Evan Gershkovich declares his innocence in a Moscow court, but his detention is upheld.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Evan is wrongfully detained, and the charges of espionage against him are false,” the leaders of the Journal and Dow Jones, the paper’s publisher, said in a statement. The case represents one of Mr. Putin’s most dramatic attacks to date on freedom of the press. Mr. Putin’s spokesman has claimed that Mr. Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” and signaled that the Russian president personally approved of the arrest. Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Mr. Gershkovich’s legal team said that the court had rejected an offer from Dow Jones to post a 50 million ruble — $600,000 — bond on Mr. Gershkovich’s behalf. Tatiana Nozhkina, a lawyer for Mr. Gershkovich along with Ms. Korchagina, said he was not guilty and later, in response to written questions, added that the legal team would appeal his arrest by filing a complaint about the lower courts’ decisions.

☆ What’s in Our Queue? Björk and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

What’s in Our Queue? Björk and MoreI’m a reporter with The Times based in Tbilisi, Georgia, where I cover the war in Ukraine and Russia’s resulting transformation. I consider culture essential: a way to reflect and an engine for new ideas. Here are a few things that have enriched me lately →

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

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