Russian opposition leader’s death described as political assassination attributable to president
Western leaders have held Vladimir Putin directly responsible for the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as the US president, Joe Biden, called it “yet more proof of Putin’s brutality”.
Navalny, 47, died while being held in a jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle, where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a “special regime”.
Continue reading...Wife of Alexei Navalny addresses hushed crowd of politicians and vows Putin will be brought to justice
A geopolitical conference turned deeply personal on Friday as senior officials from around the globe heard first-hand from Alexei Navalny’s wife hours after news broke of his reported death.
Yulia Navalnaya was in Germany for the Munich security conference, which brings together national leaders, foreign ministers and experts, when Russia’s prison service announced that Navalny had died in jail.
Continue reading...Perhaps he might have been able to coordinate from abroad a powerful anti-war movement. Instead he is silenced for ever
For years, Alexei Navalny remained clear on a key message: he was a Russian opposition politician and he was determined to stay in Russia. Exile, he believed, would lead to political irrelevance, and calling on Russians to oppose Vladimir Putin from the safety of the west would mark him as a hypocrite.
Navalny stuck to this belief as the political climate in Russia deteriorated and the space for dissent narrowed ever further, and even after he was poisoned with novichok in 2020, leading to his ill-fated decision to return early the next year.
Continue reading...Jens Stoltenberg believes Congress will finally vote for package but meanwhile Russian forces are advancing near Avdiivka
The US failure to vote through a fresh military aid package for Ukraine is already having an impact on the battlefield, Nato’s secretary general has warned at the end of a defence ministers’ meeting.
Jens Stoltenberg said he still believed Congress would eventually approve the stalled $60bn (£50bn) package, but his cautious remarks came as Nato officials warned Russia was making “significant gains” near the frontline town of Avdiivka.
Continue reading...Moscow has massively ramped up its industry, giving it advantages in Ukraine and leading to a redistribution of wealth
As Ukraine has scrambled to source ammunition, arms and equipment for its defence, Russia has presided over a massive ramping up of industrial production over the last two years that has outstripped what many western defence planners expected when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion.
Total defence spending has risen to an estimated 7.5% of Russia’s GDP, supply chains have been redesigned to secure many key inputs and evade sanctions, and factories producing ammunition, vehicles and equipment are running around the clock, often on mandatory 12-hour shifts with double overtime, in order to sustain the Russian war machine for the foreseeable future.
Continue reading...Russian president says Biden is ‘more predictable’, in remarks likely to be attempt to make mischief in US election
Vladimir Putin has said he would prefer a Joe Biden presidency to a Donald Trump one and mocked the former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson for a “lack of sharp questions” during their interview at the Kremlin last week.
Asked by a Russian state journalist on Wednesday to choose between Biden and Trump, Putin said without hesitation that the current US president was “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician”, but added: “We will work with any US president who the American people have confidence in.”
Continue reading...Hit on Tsezar Kunikov, in waters off the occupied peninsula, hailed by Ukrainian military
The Netherlands is joining a military coalition with allies including Britain that will supply Ukraine with advanced drone technology and bolster its offensive capabilities in the war against Russia, the Dutch defence minister said.
The pledge from the Netherlands comes in addition to F-16 fighter jets, artillery, ammunition and air defence systems provided by the Dutch to Kyiv, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary wants an increase in European defence output and to give profits from seized Russian assets in Europe to Kyiv
David Cameron will discuss strengthening Ukraine’s defences and finances against further Russian aggression with European partners in light of the continuing threat of the US Congress refusing to provide further financial support.
The foreign secretary is due to visit Bulgaria and Poland before meeting a host of European foreign ministers at a security conference in Munich on Friday.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says bill envisaging $61bn in aid brings a 'just peace’ closer, but it still faces opposition in the Senate
The Democratic-led US Senate has voted to pass a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, criticised it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
Continue reading...Lithuanian minister also among those accused of ‘destroying Soviet monuments’, as Tallinn fears Russian military buildup
Moscow has put the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and other Baltic states officials on a wanted list, as Tallinn warns of an imminent Russian military buildup along its border.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the Estonian state secretary, Taimar Peterkop; the Lithuanian culture minister, Simonas Kairys, and Kallas were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers”, a reference to the removal of Soviet-era second world war memorials
Continue reading...Network operating in western Europe is ‘paving way for new wave of online manipulation’ in crucial election year, French agency says
French military and cybersecurity experts say they have identified a Moscow-based network spreading propaganda and disinformation in western Europe.
France’s Viginum agency, which was set up in 2021 to detect digital interference from foreign entities aimed at influencing public opinion, says Russia is paving the way for a new wave of online manipulation in the run-up to the European elections and other crucial votes this year.
Continue reading...Tom Cotton echoes fellow GOP senators, saying former president was ‘simply ringing the warning bell’
A leading Republican senator said Donald Trump was “simply ringing the warning bell” when he caused global alarm by declaring he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who did not pay enough to maintain the alliance, as Trump’s party closed ranks behind its presumptive presidential nominee.
“Nato countries that don’t spend enough on defense, like Germany, are already encouraging Russian aggression and President Trump is simply ringing the warning bell,” Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a former soldier, told the New York Times.
Continue reading...Ukrainian air force says 14 out of 17 drones and one Kh-59 cruise missile destroyed after Russia launched them
German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday said defence companies could count on his government ramping up military spending and that it would meet its commitment to spend 2% of GDP on Nato defence.
Scholz was speaking after former US president Donald Trump sparked outrage among US allies by suggesting the United States might not protect fellow Nato members who are not spending enough on defence against a potential Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 14 out of 17 drones that Russia launched overnight and one Kh-59 cruise missile, Ukraine’s Air Force said. The air force said on the Telegram messaging app that Russia also launched missiles from S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems, but it did not say how many or whether they hit any targets, Reuters reported.
Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine’s northeast, said late on Sunday that Russia attacked his region with missiles launched from the S-300 systems in Russia’s Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. He said that according to preliminary information, there were no casualties, but the facades of some non-residential buildings were damaged.
Serhiy Lisak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said late on Sunday that Russia attacked the region’s city of Pavlohrad with drones. There were no casualties, but some parts of the city lost electricity. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.
Russian forces in occupied Ukraine are using Starlink terminals produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for satellite internet in what is beginning to look like a “systemic” problem, Kyiv’s main military intelligence agency has claimed. Starlink terminals were rushed in to help Ukraine after Russia’s February 2022 invasion and have been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications. Starlink says it does not do business of any kind with Russia’s government or military.
Russian forces are obtaining Starlink terminals illicitly from third countries and they are increasing their use on the front line, the Ukrainian military spy agency’s spokesperson told Reuters on Monday, without explaining how he knew. Andriy Yusov, the military official, also said that work was underway to counter Russia’s use of the terminals in occupied parts of Ukraine as the full-scale war with Russia nears the two-year mark.
The Kremlin has said that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system was neither certified for use in, nor officially supplied to, Russia, and therefore could not be used. Ukraine, which has used Starlink for military communications throughout its conflict with Russia, said on Sunday that Russian troops were using Starlink in parts of Ukraine they control, Reuters reported.
Russia on Monday imposed sanctions on 18 British citizens for what Moscow said was demonising Russia and escalating the war in Ukraine. Russia imposed what it called personal sanctions against deputy defence minister James Cartlidge, and a number of other officials and academics including historians Orlando Figes and Norman Davies and Russia specialist James Sherr.
The US Senate on Monday will attempt to steer a $95.34 billion package containing aid for Ukraine and Israel to passage this week following months of delays, even as it lacked any guarantee that the House of Representatives will support the measure. On Sunday, the bill got a boost when the Senate voted 67-27 to move it past an important procedural hurdle. Also over the weekend, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set a course for passage by Wednesday.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said on Monday that France and Poland are on the same page as regards the geopolitical situation and support for Ukraine, Reuters reported. “We want us to send a common signal that we are ready for solidarity in all the most difficult situations ... we are rebuilding the Weimar Triangle,” Tusk said during a joined press conference in Paris with president Emmanuel Macron.
Continue reading...Elon Musk and Starlink deny selling to Russia but do not address whether its soldiers might be using terminals
Russian forces in occupied Ukraine are using Starlink terminals produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for satellite internet in what is beginning to look like a “systemic” problem, Kyiv’s main military intelligence agency has claimed.
Starlink terminals were rushed in to help Ukraine after Russia’s February 2022 invasion and have been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications. Starlink says it does not do business of any kind with Russia’s government or military.
Continue reading...Jens Stoltenberg says Nato ‘ready and able to defend all allies’, after Trump invited Russia to attack member countries
The Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, has said that any attack on the western military alliance would be met with a “united and forceful response”, after the former US president Donald Trump invited Russia to attack member countries he perceived as not meeting their financial obligations.
Stoltenberg said in a statement: “Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk. I expect that regardless of who wins the presidential election, the US will remain a strong and committed Nato ally.”
Continue reading...Event has already been widely used as PR opportunity for notorious Chechen unit accused of war crimes in Ukraine
Led out by a beaming Adam Kadyrov, the son of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a group of muscular men sporting black beards strode on to the brightly illuminated stage in Dubai last week to receive gold medals and a $5,000 (£3,960) cheque.
The men were members of the notorious Chechen Akhmat Kadyrov special police regiment, a group that Ukrainian officials have said was responsible for some of the worst atrocities in the war with Russia. The unit had just won one of the contests at the international Swat Challenge games, which are held each year in the United Arab Emirates.
Continue reading...With Republicans blocking US military aid, if Europe does not plug the gap Ukraine risks slow-motion defeat
Ukraine began 2024 on the defensive and Kyiv’s battlefield prospects are dimming further as Republicans in the US Congress appear increasingly to be intent on blocking future military aid. If Europe does not plug the gap, Ukraine risks slow-motion defeat from 2025.
A simple figure sums up the problem. Ukraine is once again being outgunned in this near two-year-old war: the current estimate is that Russia is firing 10,000 artillery shells a day to Ukraine’s 2,000, a dismal ratio that may yet worsen in the absence of future US gifts of ammunition.
Continue reading...The Joe Biden White House rebuked the former president’s comments as ‘appalling and unhinged’
Donald Trump has said he would “encourage” Russia to attack any of the US’s Nato allies whom he considers to have not met their financial obligations.
The Joe Biden White House immediately rebuked the former president’s comments, saying in a statement: “Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home.”
Continue reading...Three children among the dead, governor says, after strike on petrol station causes burning fuel to spray out, igniting 14 houses
Seven people, including three children, were killed in a Russian drone attack on a petrol station in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said on Saturday.
“Unfortunately the death toll from the occupiers’ attacks on Kharkiv has risen to seven,” Oleg Synegubov said on the Telegram social network.
Continue reading...Wide-eyed former Fox host tagged along as Russian president steered the conversation through Russian history and justifications for war
“Are we having a talkshow or a serious conversation?” Vladimir Putin asked Tucker Carlson at the start of their interview on Thursday.
By the end of the two-hour conversation, the answer was clear: neither.
Continue reading...