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☆ Russian Pilot Who Defected to Ukraine Is Believed Dead in Spain
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Michael Schwirtz | Constant Méheut | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Maksim Kuzminov pulled off a daring escape last summer when he defected to Ukraine and handed his military helicopter over to Ukrainian commandos in exchange for half a million dollars. Ukrainian intelligence officials warned Mr. Kuzminov that his life was in danger and urged him not to leave the country. But he ignored them, and was believed to have moved with his money to a small resort town of pastel houses on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. Now Mr. Kuzminov, 28 at the time of his defection, appears to have met the harsh fate Ukrainian officials warned of. Two Spanish police officials with knowledge of the case said the body of a man found riddled with bullets last week in the coastal town of Villajoyosa belonged to Mr. Kuzminov.

Persons: Maksim Kuzminov, Vladimir V, Kuzminov Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Villajoyosa

☆ Trump Breaks Silence on Navalny Death, but Doesn’t Condemn Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Anjali Huynh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Days after the death of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny was first reported, Donald J. Trump broke his silence in a social media post on Monday that barely mentioned Mr. Navalny and that did not condemn President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Instead, he used Mr. Navalny’s death to suggest that his own legal battles amounted to political persecution. It was a note he hit first on Sunday, when he shared screenshots of an opinion essay that compared his relationship with President Biden to the one between Mr. Navalny and Mr. Putin. “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” the former president wrote on Truth Social on Monday, using an alternative spelling of Mr. Navalny’s given name. Instead, Mr. Trump cited “Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions” in casting the U.S., in all capital letters, as a “nation in decline, a failing nation.”

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, Donald J, Trump, Vladimir V, Putin, Biden, Alexei Navalny, Navalny’s, ” Organizations: Prosecutors Locations: Russia, United States

☆ As Putin Threatens, Despair and Hedging in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( David E. Sanger | Steven Erlanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As the leaders of the West gathered in Munich over the past three days, President Vladimir V. Putin had a message for them: Nothing they’ve done so far — sanctions, condemnation, attempted containment — would alter his intentions to disrupt the current world order. Aleksei Navalny’s suspicious death in a remote Arctic prison made ever clearer that Mr. Putin will tolerate no dissent as elections approach. And the American discovery, disclosed in recent days, that Mr. Putin may be planning to place a nuclear weapon in space — a bomb designed to wipe out the connective tissue of global communications if Mr. Putin is pushed too far — was a potent reminder of his capacity to strike back at his adversaries with the asymmetric weapons that remain a key source of his power. In Munich, the mood was both anxious and unmoored, as leaders faced confrontations they had not anticipated. Warnings about Mr. Putin’s possible next moves were mixed with Europe’s growing worries that it could soon be abandoned by the United States, the one power that has been at the core of its defense strategy for 75 years.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Aleksei Navalny’s, Mr, Putin’s Locations: Munich, Russia, Ukraine, Avdiivka, United States

☆ The Death Throes of a Ukrainian City
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Marc Santora | Tyler Hicks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even from a few miles away, the death rattle of another Ukrainian city echoed through the mist and fog. Russian warplanes were dropping more thousand-pound bombs on Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, reducing an already battered city to rubble and ashes. Since Jan. 1, President Vladimir V. Putin’s forces have dropped around one million pounds of aerial bombs on an area encompassing just 12 square miles, according to estimates by Ukrainian officials and British intelligence. In the end, Russia’s superior firepower and manpower overwhelmed Ukrainian forces over many months, even as Russia incurred a staggering number of casualties. Russian warplanes bombed the hulking coke-processing plant on Avdiivka’s northern outskirts, using incendiary munitions to blow up fuel tanks at the plant, unleashing a toxic smog, according to Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the plant.

Persons: Vladimir V, Avdiivka Organizations: Ukrainian Locations: Ukraine, British, Russia

☆ U.S. Fears Russia Might Put a Nuclear Weapon in Space
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( David E. Sanger | Julian E. Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Russia conducted a series of secret military satellite launches around the time of its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, American intelligence officials began delving into the mystery of what, exactly, the Russians were doing. Later, spy agencies discovered Russia was working on a new kind of space-based weapon that could threaten the thousands of satellites that keep the world connected. In recent weeks, a new warning has circulated from America’s spy agencies: Another launch may be in the works, and the question is whether Russia plans to use it to put a real nuclear weapon into space — a violation of a half-century old treaty. The agencies are divided on the likelihood that President Vladimir V. Putin would go so far, but nonetheless the intelligence is an urgent concern to the Biden administration. Even if Russia does place a nuclear weapon in orbit, U.S. officials are in agreement in their assessment that the weapon would not be detonated.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Biden Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ From Frigid Cells to Mystery Injections, Prison Imperiled Navalny’s Health
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Paul Sonne | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny portrayed himself as invincible, consistently using his hallmark humor to suggest that President Vladimir V. Putin couldn’t break him, no matter how dire his conditions became in prison. But behind the brave face, the reality was plain to see. Since his incarceration in early 2021, Mr. Navalny, Russia’s most formidable opposition figure, and his staff regularly suggested his conditions were so grim that he was being put to death in slow motion. The cause of Mr. Navalny’s death in prison at 47 has not been established — in fact his family has not yet even been allowed to see his body — but Russia’s harshest penal colonies are known for hazardous conditions, and Mr. Navalny was singled out for particularly brutal treatment. “As Navalny’s doctor told me: the body cannot withstand this.”

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, Vladimir V, Putin, Navalny’s, “ Aleksei Navalny, Dmitri A, Muratov, ” Locations: Russian

☆ Haley Calls Navalny a ‘Hero,’ Saying Trump Must Answer for His Death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Jazmine Ulloa | More About Jazmine Ulloa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nikki Haley on Saturday called Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken Russian opposition leader, “a hero” and amped up the pressure on former President Donald J. Trump to respond to the news of his death. She said Mr. Navalny had died at the hands of President Vladimir V. Putin and that Mr. Trump needed to “answer to that.”Speaking with reporters outside her rally at a park in Irmo, S.C., Ms. Haley praised Mr. Navalny for calling out Mr. Putin for corruption and fixing elections. “And Trump needs to answer to that. Does he think Putin killed him? Does he think Putin was right to kill him?

Persons: Nikki Haley, Aleksei A, “, ”, Donald J, Trump, Navalny, Vladimir V, Putin, Haley, Mr, —, Ms Organizations: United Nations, Mr Locations: Irmo, South Carolina

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on world leaders not to abandon his country, citing the recent death of a Russian dissident as a reminder that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would continue to test the international order, and pushing back against the idea of a negotiated resolution to the war. Mr. Zelensky, speaking on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, said that if Ukraine lost the war to Russia, it would be “catastrophic” not only for Kyiv, but for other nations as well. “Please do not ask Ukraine when the war will end,” he said. “Ask yourself why is Putin still able to continue it.”The two topics that have loomed over nearly every discussion at the yearly meeting of world leaders have been Russia and the potential weakening of trans-Atlantic relations, amid an increasingly pessimistic assessment of Kyiv’s ability to beat Moscow.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Organizations: Munich Security, Kyiv, Moscow Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Russia

☆ In Prison or Out, Navalny Was the Thorn in Putin’s Side
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The death of Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Aleksei A. Navalny, at a remote Arctic prison on Friday ended one of the most audacious political careers of modern times and left wartime Russia without its most charismatic antiwar voice. After surviving a poisoning widely seen as the Kremlin’s doing in 2020 and recovering in Germany, Mr. Navalny returned to Russia in 2021, and was immediately arrested. But Mr. Navalny, a joking, gregarious, straight-talking former real estate lawyer, stayed relevant even from prison, publishing Instagram posts via messages relayed by his lawyers that were at once humorous and outraged. Mikhail Vinogradov, a Moscow political analyst, described it as the most shocking death of a Russian politician in the country’s post-Soviet history. Russians gathered for impromptu vigils in cities around the world, while images of people laying flowers at memorial sites in Russian cities ricocheted across social media.

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, Vladimir V, Putin, Mikhail Vinogradov Organizations: Russian, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian

☆ Where does Navalny’s reported death leave Russia and Putin?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The death of Aleksei A. Navalny, as reported by authorities in Moscow on Friday, ushers in a new turning point for President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, underscoring both the Kremlin’s power and the potential for instability that continues to threaten it. The announcement came just a month before Russia’s rubber-stamp presidential elections, when the Kremlin will look to portray Russians as united behind Mr. Putin and his bid for a fifth term. As the third year of the war nears, Mr. Putin’s control of domestic politics appears nearly total, with his most prominent surviving opponents either in jail or in exile. Street protests are immediately snuffed out, and thousands of Russians have been prosecuted for criticizing the war. The West’s far-reaching sanctions have not crippled Russia’s economy.

Persons: Aleksei A, Vladimir V, underscoring, Putin Organizations: Mr, Russian, Ukrainian Army, Kremlin Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Tucker Carlson’s Lesson in the Perils of Giving Airtime to an Autocrat
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tucker Carlson left Moscow more than a week ago, riding high from an interview with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that returned him to the spotlight after his abrupt cancellation by Fox News last spring. But the interview with the wartime autocrat, mocked in various corners of the political-media world for its soft touch, continues to have a long and tortured afterlife — becoming a trending topic all over again on Friday after Mr. Putin’s most vocal domestic opponent, Aleksei A. Navalny, turned up dead in a Russian prison. “This is what Putin’s Russia is, @TuckerCarlson,” Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, wrote on X after the news of Mr. Navalny’s death broke on Friday. “And you are Putin’s useful idiot.”Naomi Biden, President Biden’s granddaughter, also weighed in, pointing to a video that Mr. Carlson had recently posted in which he contrasted the supposed splendors of Russia under Mr. Putin’s leadership with the “filth and crime” of the United States. “Has anything aged so poorly, so quickly before?” Ms. Biden wrote on X.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Vladimir V, Putin, Aleksei A, ” Liz Cheney, Navalny’s, ” Naomi Biden, Biden’s, Carlson, Ms, Biden Organizations: Fox News Locations: Moscow, Russia, Wyoming, United States

The news of Mr. Navalny’s death shocked many at the conference and could add new urgency to the discussion. Ms. Harris said at the start of her address to the conference — which had already been expected to focus on Russia — that the United States was still trying to confirm the reports of Mr. Navalny’s death, but that it held Russia’s government responsible. “I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Mr. Biden told reporters after meeting with Mr. Putin in Geneva in 2021. “What do you think happens when he’s saying it’s not about hurting Navalny, all the stuff he says to rationalize the treatment of Navalny, and then he dies in prison?” Mr. Biden continued. “I saw Yulia Navalnaya and Leonid Volkov last night here in Munich,” said Michael McFaul, a former American ambassador to Moscow.

Persons: Aleksei A, Yulia Navalnaya, clampdown, Navalnaya, Leonid Volkov, Kamala Harris, Antony J, Blinken, Vladimir V, Putin, Navalny’s, Harris, ”, Mr, Biden, Navalny, “, ” Mr, it’s, Ms, Michael McFaul, Aleksei, ” Edward Wong Organizations: Munich Security Conference, ” Locations: Munich, Europe, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, United States, Geneva, American

☆ Aleksei Navalny, Putin Critic, Dies in Prison, Russian Authorities Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, died Friday in a prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to Russian authorities. His death was announced by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, which said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the prison where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes.

Persons: Aleksei A, Vladimir V, Navalny Organizations: Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service Locations: Russia

☆ Aleksei Navalny, Russian Opposition Leader, Dies in Prison at 47
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia while enduring arrests, assaults and a near-fatal poisoning, died Friday in a Russian prison, according to Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service. The prison authorities said that Mr. Navalny lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the Arctic penal colony where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes. Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary, said in a live broadcast Friday that Navalny’s advisers were not yet able to issue an official confirmation of his death but believed that he had perished. Despite increasingly harsh conditions, including repeated stints in solitary confinement, he maintained a presence on social media, while members of his team continued to publish investigations into Russia’s corrupt elite from exile.

Persons: Aleksei A, Vladimir V, Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, Biden, “, Putin, ” Mr Organizations: Russia’s Federal, Service, White House Locations: Russia, Russia’s, United States

☆ Who was Aleksei Navalny? Here’s a timeline.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Gaya Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken activist who Russian authorities said died in prison on Friday, was born on June 4, 1976, according to his website, and grew up outside Moscow to liberal parents who opposed Soviet rule. Starting his political career as an anticorruption blogger who organized street protests, Mr. Navalny mobilized a generation of young Russians through social media and rose to prominence for investigations into Russia’s elite. Here’s a look at Mr. Navalny’s career:2000Mr. Navalny, who had studied law and finance and worked as a real estate lawyer, joined the liberal Yabloko party the same year that Vladimir V. Putin was first elected president of Russia. Looking to organize grass-roots opposition to the Kremlin, he took aim at what he called lawless Moscow construction projects, moderated political debates, started a radio show and criticized pro-Putin tycoons on a widely read blog.

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, Navalny’s, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Kremlin Locations: Moscow, Russia

☆ Biden Condemns ‘Putin and His Thugs’ for Navalny’s Death as Allies ‘Panic’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden blamed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia personally on Friday for the reported death of the imprisoned Russian dissident Aleksei A. Navalny, and cited the case in pressing House Republicans to approve military aid to Ukraine in its war with Moscow. “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Mr. Biden said in a televised statement from the White House. “Putin is responsible. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world.”Asked if Mr. Navalny had been assassinated, Mr. Biden said the United States did not have a full understanding of the circumstances. “The answer is, we don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Persons: Biden, Vladimir V, Putin, Aleksei A, Navalny, ” Mr, “ Putin, Mr, ” Organizations: “ Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Moscow, United States

☆ Navalny’s Wife Makes Dramatic Appearance After Reports of His Death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just hours after her husband was reported dead, Yulia Navalnaya made a dramatic, surprise appearance at a gathering of world leaders in Munich on Friday. Conference organizers quickly wrapped up a session with Vice President Kamala Harris and turned the microphone over to Ms. Navalnaya. “We cannot believe Putin and his government,” Ms. Navalnaya told the audience. They will be brought to justice, and this day will come soon.”Ms. Navalnaya spoke clearly and calmly, with remarkable composure, her face etched with evident pain but under complete control. Standing at the lectern, she clasped her hands in front of her and stared straight ahead as if willing herself to focus on her message.

Persons: Yulia Navalnaya, Vladimir V, Putin, ”, Aleksei A, Navalny, Kamala Harris, Navalnaya, ” Ms Organizations: Munich Security Conference, Conference Locations: Munich, Russia, Russian

☆ Aleksei Navalny Outspoken Putin Critic Is Dead, Russian State Media Reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

ETAleksei A. Navalny, the most outspoken domestic critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, has died in prison, Russian state media said on Friday. Mr. Navalny’s death was reported by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, according to Russian state media. In a statement carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, the penitentiary service said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday taking a walk in the Arctic prison where he was moved late last year. “The facility’s medical staff immediately arrived and an ambulance brigade was called,” the penitentiary service’s statement said. The ambulance doctors confirmed the death of the convict.” Mr. Putin’s spokesman said that the death had been reported to Mr. Putin, according to the Tass state news service.

Persons: Aleksei, Vladimir V, Putin, Navalny’s, Navalny, ” Mr, Putin’s, Mr Organizations: Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, RIA Novosti, Tass

☆ Putin Says He Prefers Biden Over Trump. Commentators Are Skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin said on Wednesday that it was in Russia’s interest for President Biden to win a second term, calling his American counterpart experienced and predictable, and dismissing concerns about Mr. Biden’s age. Mr. Putin made the comments in a brief interview with Russian state television released late Wednesday. “Who is better for us: Biden or Trump?” the interviewer asked. “Biden,” Mr. Putin responded. “He is a more experienced person, he is predictable, he is a politician of the old school.”Mr. Putin added, with a smile, “But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people have confidence in.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Biden, Donald J, Trump, Mr, “, “ Biden, ” Mr, ” Organizations: U.S, Republican

☆ After Fighting Ukraine Aid, Trump Says Biden Will ‘Give’ Ukraine to Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For many months, President Biden has been rallying global leaders to provide more military aid to Ukraine and pressing Congress to pass a multibillion-dollar aid package to help the country beat back Russian aggression. Former President Donald J. Trump has been undermining that effort, pressing Republicans to thwart it. But on Wednesday, Mr. Trump tried to flip the script, suggesting that he would do more to protect Ukraine than Mr. Biden, who he said would effectively cede Ukraine as a gift to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Speaking at a campaign event in North Charleston, S.C., Mr. Trump said that, under a Biden presidency, Mr. Putin is “going to be given everything he wants, including Ukraine. He’s got a gift.”Then Mr. Trump — who often positively invokes Mr. Putin as an authoritarian strongman, and who acknowledged in his speech that they got along — doubled down, saying that Mr. Biden “is going to give” Ukraine to Mr. Putin.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, He’s, Trump —, Biden “ Organizations: Biden Locations: Ukraine, Russia, North Charleston, S.C

☆ Biden Denounces Trump’s Support for Russian Attack on Allies as ‘Un-American’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden denounced former President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday for encouraging Russia to attack some NATO allies, calling the comments “dumb,” “shameful,” “dangerous” and “un-American” as he implored House Republicans to defy their putative nominee and pass new security aid for Ukraine and Israel. In a televised statement, Mr. Biden said a $95 billion spending package passed earlier in the day on a bipartisan vote in the Senate was imperative to help defeat the “vicious onslaught” of President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia against Ukraine. And he linked the legislative debate to Mr. Trump’s campaign speech siding with Moscow over European allies he deemed “delinquent.”“Can you imagine?” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House. No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Not only would he not help them, Mr. Trump said, he would “encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” against them.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Vladimir V, ”, Mr, “, ” Mr, Putin, Russia “ Organizations: NATO, Ukraine, White Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Moscow, United States, Russian

☆ An Outburst by Trump on NATO May Push Europe to Go It Alone
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Long before Donald J. Trump threatened over the weekend that he was willing to let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” against NATO allies that do not contribute sufficiently to collective defense, European leaders were quietly discussing how they might prepare for a world in which America removes itself as the centerpiece of the 75-year-old alliance. Even allowing for the usual bombast of one of his campaign rallies, where he made his declaration on Saturday, Mr. Trump may now force Europe’s debate into a far more public phase. So far the discussion in the European media has focused on whether the former president, if returned to office, would pull the United States out of NATO. But the larger implication of his statement is that he might invite President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to pick off a NATO nation, as a warning and a lesson to the 30 or so others about heeding Mr. Trump’s demands.

Persons: Long, Donald J, Trump, Vladimir V, Putin, Trump’s Organizations: NATO Locations: Russia, America, United States

☆ U.S. Rejects Putin’s Latest Call for Ukraine Negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration dismissed on Friday a call by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, showing no sign that flagging political support for American military aid to Kyiv had made President Biden more inclined to make concessions to Moscow. During his two-hour interview at the Kremlin with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who now broadcasts independently online, Mr. Putin offered long defenses of his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but said he was prepared to settle the conflict diplomatically. “We are willing to negotiate,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Carlson in the interview, which was released on Thursday. “You should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to the negotiating table,” he added, referring to the U.S. government. The Russian leader spoke at a moment of apparent leverage, following the failure of a vaunted Ukrainian summer counteroffensive to achieve substantial gains and as the Biden administration is struggling to win congressional approval for desperately needed additional military aid for Kyiv.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Biden, Tucker Carlson, ” Mr, Carlson, “ Organizations: Biden, Fox News, ., Kyiv Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow

☆ Putin to U.S.: Let’s Make a Deal on Ukraine (on My Terms)
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Paul Sonne | Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia kept returning to one message over and over in his meandering, two-hour interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson: Russia wants to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine, albeit on the Kremlin’s terms. That message seemed aimed at the American right and Republicans in Congress, with an eye to undermining support for aid to Ukraine. If so, the day after the long-anticipated interview, it seemed lost in the muddle. The Russian leader’s discursive historical diatribes, delving into everything from the Rurik dynasty to the Golden Horde, dominated commentary about the interview online and overshadowed the message he intended to deliver. In Russia on Friday, experts and even some of Mr. Putin’s allies were also puzzling over why he gave short shrift to his main ideological commonality with Mr. Carlson’s followers: opposition to L.G.B.T.Q.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Tucker Carlson, Rurik, Putin’s, Carlson’s Organizations: Fox News, Golden Horde Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ Trump, Putin, Carlson and the Shifting Sands of Today’s American Politics
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The idea was to isolate him, to make him a pariah, to put him in a box as punishment for brazen violations of international law. They kicked him out of their world leaders’ clubhouse, cut off his country’s economy, even issued an arrest warrant against him for war crimes. Mr. Putin, the Russian president with czar envy who invaded neighboring Ukraine without provocation, killing or injuring hundreds of thousands, is having something of a moment in the United States. With the help of a populist former Fox News star and America’s richest man, Mr. Putin is gaining a platform to justify his actions even as Russian and American journalists languish in his prisons. His favored candidate is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination while Congress weighs abandoning Ukraine to the tender mercies of Russian invaders.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, languish, Tucker Carlson, Donald J Organizations: Fox News, Elon, Capitol, Trump, Republican Party Locations: Russian, Ukraine, United States, Russia, Moscow

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