Category Archives: Russia

‘Day of great joy’: Wall Street Journal’s crusade to free Gershkovich succeeds

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Newspaper mounted a high-profile campaign to stress reporter’s innocence and ensure he was not forgotten

The reporter Evan Gershkovich’s release from a Russian prison on Thursday was celebrated across US and global media but perhaps most happily by journalists at his own paper, the Wall Street Journal in New York.

In an email to staff after news of Gershkovich’s release as part of a large-scale prisoner swap, Emma Tucker, the Journal editor-in-chief, said: “A few moments ago, Evan walked free from a Russian plane. He will shortly be on a flight back to the US.

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Who’s who among the prisoner exchange between Russia and the west?

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Deal includes political prisoners and journalists held in Russia and Belarus being swapped for Russians held in west

Evan Gershkovich
A Wall Street Journal reporter, Gershkovich became the first western correspondent to be arrested for espionage since the fall of the Soviet Union. Detained in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to Ekaterinburg, Russian authorities claim he was collecting information for the CIA, but have never made public any of their supposed evidence. Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US state department have all denied the charges. He was sentenced to 16 years in jail in July in a speedy, closed trial.

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Biden says ‘welcome home’ as Americans land in the US – as it happened

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As part of the deal, according to the Turkish presidency, Belarus has released German citizen Rico Krieger.

Krieger was sentenced to death but granted a pardon this week by the country’s autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko.

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Russia frees Evan Gershkovich and others in biggest prisoner swap since cold war

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Several foreigners and Russian political prisoners released as Germany frees hitman Vadim Krasikov as part of deal

The largest prisoner swap between Russia and the US since the cold war has taken place, as 16 people were freed from Russian custody including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Several other foreign citizens held in Russia and numerous Russian political prisoners were also freed.

The exchange took place at Ankara airport on Thursday in a complicated operation in which planes arrived from and departed to multiple countries.

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Russia prisoner swap involving US journalist Evan Gershkovich under way

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Gershkovich and ex-marine Paul Whelan have been freed and are en route to a destination outside Russia, say reports

A major prisoner exchange between Russia and the west is under way involving the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been freed from a Russian prison, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Sources with knowledge of the planned exchange confirmed to the Guardian that a major swap would take place on Thursday in a location outside Russia. They declined to make further details public until after the swap had taken place owing to sensitivity of the matter.

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Russian spies sentenced in Slovenia after pleading guilty

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Pair’s conviction could pave way for inclusion in any future prisoner exchange between Russia and west

Two Russian deep-cover spies arrested in Slovenia have pleaded guilty in a swift court case that potentially paves the way for them to be included in a prisoner exchange between Russia and the west.

The pair, whose real names are thought to be Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, were arrested in late 2022, and are believed to be “illegals” – deep-cover Russian spies trained to impersonate foreigners, who spend years living abroad in their cover identities. They posed as Ludwig Gisch and Maria Mayer, an Argentinian couple, and spoke to their two children in Spanish. She ran an online art gallery and he had an IT business, but all the while they secretly worked for Russian intelligence.

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German man sentenced to death in Belarus pardoned by president

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Rico Krieger, found guilty on terrorism charges in case held behind closed doors, to be freed on orders of Alexander Lukashenko

A German man sentenced to death in Belarus has been pardoned by the country’s president, just a few days after news of the case became public. Rico Krieger, 30, was found guilty on terrorism charges in a case that was held behind closed doors and only became public last week.

Krieger, who formerly worked for the German Red Cross, was accused of placing explosives on a rail track in the country on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence.

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Ukraine military intelligence claims role in deadly Wagner ambush in Mali

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Malian rebels ‘received necessary information’ to kill fighters from Russian military group last week, GUR says

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has claimed it was involved in an ambush that killed fighters from Russia’s Wagner group in the west African nation of Mali, thousands of miles away from the frontline in Ukraine.

A Telegram channel linked to the Wagner leadership on Monday admitted the group had suffered heavy losses during fighting in Mali last week.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russia says forces have seized control of village of Vovche in Donetsk region – as it happened

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Russian defence ministry says troops continue to make gains in Donetsk province, as Ukrainian president visits frontline in Kharkiv

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had arrived in the area of Vovchansk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have been trying to advance since May.

“Today, I had the honour to be there to congratulate our special forces warriors on their professional day and to present them with state awards,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.

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Putin warns US against deploying long-range missiles in Germany

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Russian leader says Washington risks triggering cold war-style missile crisis and promises to respond in kind

Vladimir Putin has warned the US that if Washington deploys long-range missiles in Germany from 2026, Russia will station similar missiles within striking distance of the west.

The US would start deploying long-range fire capabilities in Germany in 2026 in an effort to demonstrate its commitment to Nato and European defence, Washington and Germany said earlier this month.

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Putin ‘peddling lies’ about ailing Russian economy, say EU ministers

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Group of finance ministers call for sanctions to be ratcheted up amid signs Moscow’s war machine is weakening

Vladimir Putin is “peddling lies” about the strength of the Russian economy that must be refuted, finance ministers from eight EU member states have said, with growing signs of deterioration in the face of biting sanctions.

They say there are signs that the economy is being “sovietised” with many hallmarks of the former USSR including expropriation of private assets to fund public spending, a “total disregard to the social and economic wellbeing of the population” and reorientation of the economy towards its war in Ukraine.

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Army chief says UK must double its lethality or be prepared for war in 2027

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Gen Sir Roly Walker says west faces ‘axis of upheaval’ with increasing threats from Russia, China and Iran

Britain must be prepared to fight a war in three years’ time and double the lethality of its army as the separate threats of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea come to a head, the new chief of the army has warned.

Gen Sir Roly Walker, the chief of the general staff, told reporters that the west faced “an axis of upheaval” with increasing military ambition and that a conflict involving one of the countries could lead to “a significant detonation” in another theatre.

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Spanish man sentenced to 18 years for letter bombs over Ukraine war

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Pompeyo González Pascual, 76, sent explosive packages to Spain’s prime minister and US and Ukrainian embassies

A Spanish court has sentenced a man to 18 years in prison over letter bombs sent to Spain’s prime minister and the US and Ukrainian embassies in 2022.

Pompeyo González Pascual, 76, who opposed western support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, was found guilty of terrorism and manufacturing explosives by Spain’s top criminal court, the audiencia nacional.

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Large-scale and intense wildfires carrying smoke across northern hemisphere

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Late spring and early summer blazes in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia add to carbon emissions

The northern hemisphere has had a large number of intense wildfires in the first half of summer, carrying vast amounts of smoke across Eurasia and North America.

Research by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) showed large-scale and intense wildfires had been developing throughout the late spring and summer, with numerous fires burning in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia.

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Hong Kong is global trade hub for world’s most brutal regimes, report says

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Pro-democracy campaign group finds exports of goods to Russia, vital to its war efforts, roughly doubled in a year

Hong Kong has become a global trade hub for “the world’s most brutal regimes”, according to a report examining the city’s role in facilitating the flow of goods to countries under sanctions by the west, including Russia, Iran and North Korea.

A report published on Monday by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a campaign group, found that between 2021 and 2022, exports of semiconductors from Hong Kong to Russia roughly doubled to $400m (£310m), second only to shipments from mainland China. Semiconductors are vital to Russia’s war effort as they are a component in weaponry such as drones and cruise missiles.

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World leaders react to Biden’s decision to exit presidential race

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Polish prime minister Donald Tusk and UK PM Keir Starmer among US allies to pay tribute to US president’s decades of public service

Leaders from around the world have begun to react to Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election this year, endorsing vice-president Kamala Harris in the most unorthodox US presidential campaign in generations.

US allies largely offered tributes to Biden’s work over decades of government service, discussing his work as a partner in international security, without addressing the tense political debate still unfolding in the US.

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Donald Trump says Xi Jinping wrote him a ‘beautiful note’ after rally shooting

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US presidential contender’s reference echoes the ‘love letters’ he received from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as he calls authoritarian leaders ‘smart, tough’ people

Donald Trump has said China’s president wrote him a “beautiful note” after the assassination attempt a week ago, as he continued to court leaders whom Joe Biden has criticised as dictators.

In his first campaign rally since narrowly escaping the attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, Trump told a crowd in Michigan on Saturday: “[President Xi Jinping] wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened.”

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German national sentenced to death in Belarus, Berlin confirms

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Secretive trial of Rico Krieger, 30, may be linked to Belarusian volunteer unit fighting alongside Ukraine against Russia

A German national has been sentenced to death in Belarus, the German foreign ministry has said, hours after a Belarusian human rights group said a German combat medic had been sentenced to death by firing squad.

The German ministry did not name its national but the Viasna Human Rights Centre said earlier on Friday that Rico Krieger, 30, had been convicted under six articles of Belarus’s criminal code in a trial held at the end of June. It said he had been in custody since November.

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Nationalist campaigner for the Ukrainian language is shot dead in Lviv

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Iryna Farion, 60, a former MP known for her opposition to officials speaking in Russian, was attacked on the street

A nationalist former member of Ukraine’s parliament known for her vociferous campaigns to defend the Ukrainian language has died after being shot in Lviv.

Police launched a wide search for the gunman alleged to have shot Iryna Farion, 60, on a street in the western city.

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Russian court sentences US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison

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Reporter found guilty of spying in trial thought to have been rushed in preparation for prisoner swap

A Russian court has found the US journalist Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison, after a trial widely described as a sham.

Gershkovich, 32, denied the charges and pleaded not guilty during the secretive court proceedings in Yekaterinburg, mostly held behind closed doors. His employer, the Wall Street Journal, described the verdict as a “disgraceful, sham conviction”.

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