Greek voters propel new far-right Spartans group into parliament

Kyriakos Mitsotakis of centre-right New Democracy party wins second term as prime minister but unheard-of group delivers shock

Greece’s general election has propelled a far-right group called the Spartans, a previously unheard-of political force, into the Athens parliament with the help of an imprisoned, neo-Nazi leader of the now-disbanded Golden Dawn party.

While the centre-right politician Kyriakos Mitsotakis has won a second term as prime minister, the Spartans have emerged as the fifth biggest group in the 300-seat parliament.

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Wagner fighters said to be returning to Ukraine bases as recruitment continues

Mercenaries are ‘recovering, eating and repairing gear’, says source, as some Russian officials call for them to be disarmed

The Wagner group appeared to be continuing some of its operations on Monday, with recruitment centres open and fighters returning to their bases, as the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, made his first public comments since abandoning his armed mutiny.

In an audio recording, Prigozhin made no mention of his whereabouts or those of his fighters. Nor did he confirm any plans to exile himself to Belarus as had been announced as part of a settlement supposedly negotiated with the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko.

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EU accused of whitewashing Tunisian regime in bid to stem migration

Bloc is set to give country £860m despite rapid erosion of democracy since President Kais Saied took power in 2021

The children of prominent jailed Tunisian judges and politicians have accused the European Union of betraying its values by whitewashing the regime of President Kais Saied in the vain hope that he can stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

The EU is set to provide Tunisia with €1bn (£860m) in aid despite the obliteration of democracy in the country over the past two years.

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Wagner mercenaries will not be withdrawn from Africa, says Russia

Sergei Lavrov moves to reassure sub-Saharan allies after recent armed mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has moved to reassure allies in Africa that thousands of Wagner group fighters deployed to the continent will not be withdrawn after the mutiny led by their commander Yevgeny Prigozhin over the weekend.

In an interview with Russia Today, Lavrov pledged that “instructors” and “private military contractors” would remain in Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, the two countries in sub-Saharan Africa where Wagner has the biggest presence.

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Guatemala election takes unexpected turn as centrist claims place in runoff

Bernardo Arévalo will face off for presidency against Sandra Torres, a veteran politician who has faced corruption accusations

Guatemala’s presidential election has thrown up a major surprise with the centrist Bernardo Arévalo claiming a spot in the second round amid growing anger over political corruption and the erosion of democracy in Central America’s most populous nation.

Alongside El Salvador and Nicaragua, Guatemala is one of several Central American countries which has taken an alarming authoritarian turn in recent years, with activists denouncing growing attacks on the media and more than two dozen judges and prosecutors forced into exile.

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Ukrainian troops reportedly reclaim territory in Kherson province

Pro-Russian Telegram channels say Ukrainians crossed Dnipro River in apparent advance towards Crimea

Ukrainian forces have reportedly crossed the Dnipro River and retaken territory on the left bank of Kherson province, in a move that paves the way for a future possible advance towards Crimea.

According to pro-Russian Telegram channels, Ukrainian troops have seized the village of Dachi, opposite the city of Kherson, and near the destroyed Antonivskyi Bridge. They have dug in and are seeking to establish a bridgehead, the channels said.

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New Zealand PM sparks row after flying to China with backup plane

Reserve aircraft flew to Manila amid reliability concerns after ex-leaders Ardern and Key suffered breakdowns

The New Zealand defence force plane ferrying the country’s prime minister to China this week has been judged so unreliable that a backup plane flew in reserve, prompting criticism of Chris Hipkins by the opposition.

The use of a backup plane follows previous mishaps involving aircraft carrying New Zealand leaders.

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UK aid should not fund private hospitals in developing countries, says Oxfam

Development charity says patients denied treatment or held hostage until fees paid in private facilities in India and Kenya

Private hospitals in India and Kenya accused of refusing people on low incomes vital healthcare, or holding them hostage until bills have been paid, benefit from UK government investment funds, according to a report by Oxfam.

Investments worth hundreds of millions of pounds by government-backed agencies are used to facilitate the “impoverishment and even the imprisonment of the very people [the private hospitals] are supposed to be helping”, said the development charity.

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Prigozhin mutiny was monster acting against his creator, says top EU diplomat

Josep Borrell says Putin is facing consequences of working with Wagner and Russian military power ‘is cracking’

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted mutiny in Russia was “the monster acting against his creator”, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said.

“The political system is showing fragilities, and the military power is cracking,” Josep Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg as he arrived for a meeting with ministers from across the 27-member bloc.

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Russia shows defence minister on TV in bid to restore calm after Wagner mutiny

Footage released showing Sergei Shoigu visiting troops in Ukraine as counterterror measures ended

Russia’s defence minister has appeared on state TV and emergency counterterrorism measures have been cancelled in Moscow and surrounding regions as the Kremlin seeks to restore calm following Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed mutiny.

The defence ministry released footage on Monday that it claimed showed Sergei Shoigu “visiting the forward command post of one of the formations of the ‘Western’ group of troops”. In the video, Shoigu is shown riding in a vehicle and arriving at a command post, where he listens to reports from officers and pores over a battlefield map.

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Obama remarks on India’s treatment of Muslims ‘hypocritical’ – minister

Indian finance minister hits out after former US president said Modi government should protect rights of Muslims

India’s finance minister has derided comments by the former US president Barack Obama that Narendra Modi’s government should protect the rights of minority Muslims, accusing Obama of being hypocritical.

During the Indian prime minister’s state visit to the US last week, Obama told CNN that the issue of the “protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India” would be worth raising in Modi’s meeting with the US president, Joe Biden.

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Aston Martin agrees deal to make electric vehicles with US firm Lucid

British carmaker to use components from Lucid to produce luxury high-performance battery electric models

Aston Martin has struck a deal with the US firm Lucid to start making “ultra-luxury high-performance electric vehicles” from 2025.

The British luxury carmaker, whose losses more than doubled last year to almost £500m, has struck a cash and shares deal valued at £182m in which Lucid will take a 3.7% stake in London-listed Aston Martin.

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Monday briefing: How Russia pulled back from the brink of civil war

In today’s newsletter: Over the weekend, Russian mercenary group Wagner marched on Moscow – only to turn back at the last moment. Why did one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies turn on him – and how was bloodshed averted?

Good morning.

Months of simmering tension between the Russian military and the Wagner group, a Russian mercenary organisation, came to the boil over the weekend after the group’s leader, hitherto Vladimir Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed to have seized control of all military sites in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

NHS | Britons die sooner from cancer and heart disease than people in many other rich countries, partly because of the NHS’s lack of beds, staff and scanners, a study has found. The UK “underperforms significantly”, in part because the NHS has been weakened by years of underinvestment, according to the King’s Fund health thinktank.

Strikes | The government is prepared to overrule and block the pay rises that public sector review bodies recommend, a senior minister has confirmed, as unions threaten to strike over the issue.

Tax | More than 180,000 people on low incomes were fined for not filing a tax return on time last year, even though they received so little that they had no tax to pay in the first place. Many of these people, already in severe financial difficulties, misunderstood the initial fine and were then subjected to further fines and interest.

Greece | The New Democracy Party has won a comfortable victory in Greece’s second election in five weeks. The centre-right party won 40.5% of the vote, giving them an outright majority and their leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a second four-year term in office.

UK news | The musicians Fatboy Slim, Billy Bragg, and Olugbenga Adelekan of Metronomy – in a letter to home secretary Suella Braverman – have called for the government to allow the resumption of tests of confiscated pills at music festivals. A cross-party group of MPs have condemned the Home Office’s decision to block onsite drug testing as “shortsighted and dangerous”.

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UK urged to speed evacuation of hundreds of British children in Sudan

Merseyside charity worker whose children are stuck in Khartoum says Foreign Office delays have trapped many in conflict zone

A British charity worker has called on the government to help evacuate his children from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, stressing that hundreds of people with the right to reside in the UK remain stuck in the conflict zone.

Alhussein Ahmed, 32, who works for the Merseyside Refugee Support Network in Liverpool, is concerned that the Foreign Office should be doing more to assist hundreds of people who have UK residency rights who remain stuck in Sudan.

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China downplays Wagner rebellion as Russia’s ‘internal affairs’

Beijing says it supports Russia in maintaining national stability, without explicitly referring to Vladimir Putin personally

Chinese officials have described an aborted rebellion by the Wagner group of mercenaries as Moscow’s “internal affairs”, while one state media mouthpiece dismissed the divisions in Russia as an “illusion” being exploited by the west.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko held talks in Beijing on Sunday after the most serious challenge to president Vladimir Putin’s grip on power since he came to power in 2000.

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New Greek PM vows to press ahead with ambitious reforms

Kyriakos Mitsotakis of centre-right New Democracy party says he now has ‘strong mandate’ to modernise nation

Greece’s new prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, vowed to immediately press ahead with his ambitious reform programme after winning a decisive victory in the general elections on Sunday.

The New Democracy leader said his commanding 24-point lead over the leftist main opposition Syriza party had given him a “strong mandate” to modernise a country long seen as resistant to reform.

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Wagner rebellion reveals ‘cracks’ in Putin government, says Blinken

Secretary of state says mutiny may help Ukraine counteroffensive after Yevgeny Prigozhin calls off advance on Moscow

A day after renegade Wagner mercenaries almost sparked a civil war in Russia, the top US diplomat has said the uprising showed “real cracks” in Vladimir Putin’s government and may offer Ukraine a crucial advantage as it conducts a counteroffensive that could influence the outcome of the war.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said the upheaval triggered by the aborted advance on Moscow by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries on Saturday was far from over. Neither Prigozhin nor Putin have been heard from since coming to a last-minute agreement on Saturday to avert clashes near Moscow between mercenaries and regular Russian troops.

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‘It was an emotional day’: calm returns to Moscow after Wagner stand-down

Muscovites tell of shock and anxiety in city blindsided by Prigozhin’s short-lived revolt

A sense of normal returned to Moscow on Sunday after Yevgeny Prigozhin halted his assault on the Russian capital under a deal that defused an unprecedented challenge to the authority of president Vladimir Putin.

Security forces were seen disassembling barricades that had been hurriedly put up as Prigozhin’s Wagner troops approached along the M4 road from Rostov-on-Don, while workers began repairing roads leading up to the capital that were destroyed to stop the warlord’s advances before he ordered their withdrawal.

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Queen was asked to block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage, claims documentary

Exclusive: Channel 4 film says officials contacted the palace in 2020 owing to concerns about Lord Lebedev’s father’s links to Putin regime

Government officials asked whether the late Queen would block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage because of concerns that he could be a national security risk due to his father’s links to the Putin regime, a documentary has claimed.

The aides contacted Buckingham Palace in July 2020 to request that the monarch intervene, which she was constitutionally entitled to do, after Boris Johnson decided to press ahead with the controversial peerage despite warnings from the intelligence agencies, according to the film-makers.

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What does the future hold for Prigozhin and Wagner after the mutiny?

Despite ending his revolt, the mercenary chief will continue be a thorn in the Kremlin’s side unless he retires quietly to Belarus

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that the Wagner head had agreed to leave Russia for Belarus as part of a deal to end his armed revolt, while charges against him for organising the rebellion would be dropped. Peskov added that Vladimir Putin and the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko had guaranteed Prigozhin’s personal safety.

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