The UN has confirmed that the last ship is due to depart a port in Ukraine en route to Turkey under a deal that allows the safe export of Ukraine grain, a day before Russia could quit the pact over obstacles to grain and fertiliser exports. Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN make up a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, which implements the Black Sea export deal. Given Russia's warning that it will not approve of any new vessels to take part in the deal after 18 May, it appears unlikely that any ship owners or insurance companies would be willing to continue transporting Ukrainian grain exports if Russia does not agree to an extension of the deal.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has caused alarm at the Kremlin after it published a video calling for Russians to make contact using a secure internet channel. The film was accompanied by text urging military officers, intelligence specialists, scientists, diplomats and others with information about the Russian economy and its leadership to “contact us. Perhaps the people around you don’t want to hear the truth." The video was published on social media, including Russia’s Telegram. Treason carries the penalty of life imprisonment in Russia; Russian authorities were quick to respond that their special services were monitoring the situation.
Leaders from Japan, South Korea and the US will discuss strengthening ties as a response to North Korea and Chinese assertiveness during a meeting today on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima. Top of their agenda will be North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threat, with tensions increasing after a string of missile tests, including five ballistic missile launches last month. The three countries have doubled down on deterrence measures, such as the linking of radars for tracking North Korean missiles, and will discuss details of the real-time intelligence-sharing plans during their meeting in Hiroshima. They will also discuss economic security, strengthening supply-chains and "friendshoring" while looking to reduce dependence on China for critical materials. Earlier this month, officials from Tokyo and Seoul held their first consultation on economic security.
A Chinese envoy has arrived in Ukraine as part of a European tour aimed at bolstering President Xi Jinping’s peacekeeping credentials. The envoy will travel to Ukraine ahead of this week’s annual Group of Seven meeting and ahead of talks to export grain from Ukraine, while Russia threatens to withdraw from the pact. Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have advanced into the suburbs around Bakhmut in the face of heavy fighting, while Russian forces press on despite artillery and reinforcement. It is unclear if the Chinese envoy will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's report confirms the Mueller report's finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to aid Trump and harm Clinton. Putin personally ordered the hack and “Moscow’s intent was to harm the Clinton campaign, tarnish an expected Clinton presidential administration, help the Trump Campaign after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and undermine the U.S. democratic process,” the report said. Neither report found evidence of direct coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller and the Senate report found that Trump campaign officials "welcomed" any foreign assistance, even though it was illegal and against US election norms.
In the summer of 2016, the FBI opened its Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation based on a tip from an Australian diplomat who was concerned that George Papadopoulos had hinted that Russia had dirt on Clinton. After WikiLeaks released the Democratic National Committee emails, the Australian government sent a cable to the State Department summarizing what Papadopoulos had said, and the FBI quickly upgraded its probe into examining four Trump campaign advisers - Papadopoulos, energy consultant Carter Page, foreign policy expert Michael Flynn and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
There were concerns that the FBI failed to follow investigative norms, the Durham report concluded. The report acknowledged four previous inquiries into Russian interference in 2016, but focused on the FBI’s handling of intelligence received from the Australia tip, claiming the investigation could have been opened more appropriately as an assessment or preliminary investigation.
African countries, including Zambia, Senegal, Egypt and South Africa, have drawn up a peace initiative to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The proposed mission will visit Moscow and Kiev as part of the peace process. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who represented the initiative, also said that UN Secretary-General Antonio Gruterres and the African Union (AU) had been briefed and welcomed the initiative.
Three critics of Russia have reportedly been targeted in suspected poisoning attacks since 2021, including the head of US-based non-profit the Free Russia Foundation, Natalia Arno. Arno, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was poisoned while on a trip to Europe according to the Daily Beast. Two other Kremlin critics also faced likely poisoning attacks. The news follows the 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny with Novichok nerve agent, which prompted further sanctions on Russia.
Discussions are taking place to renew the Black Sea grain deal that allows wartime exports of Ukrainian grain. The deal ends on Thursday, and Russia is requesting more support for its own sales of fertilisers and food. However, a Turkish source claimed to see a high probability that the grain deal would be extended. Meanwhile, leaders of the Group of Seven nations intend to further tighten sanctions on Russia at their summit this week. In addition, fighting continues between Russian forces and Ukrainian rebels.
India has denied claims that it is reselling refined Russian oil to Europe in circumvention of sanctions against Moscow for its war in Ukraine. During a press conference, the country’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar countered claims made by European Union foreign minister Josep Borrel that the bloc would “have to act” if sanctioned diesel and gasoline continued to make its way to the EU via India. Jaishankar said that the oil in question could not be considered Russian if it had been refined in a different country. India is the largest buyer of Russian oil since the Ukraine invasion in early 2022.
Elon Musk has said that working from home is "morally wrong" and attacked the "laptop classes" for "living in la la land". The founder of Tesla commented that it was unfair to those who have no choice, such as builders, mechanics or delivery drivers. He continued, stating that remote working was a case of staff asking for others not to work from home while they themselves do so. Musk said that he believes productivity to be higher "in person", but that he was happy for staff to take vacations.
The last ship containing grains from Ukraine has left the port of Chornomorsk under an agreement known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which permits the safe passage of agricultural exports. The ceasefire is up for renewal on Thursday and has allowed in excess of 30.3 million tonnes of grains to be shipped and has permitted 625,000 tonnes of aid to go to countries including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen. The Ukraine and Russia are both major suppliers of wheat, barley and sunflower oil, as well as other affordable food products for Asian and African countries. The deal was initially reached in July 2021 and later renewed in March.
The wider conflict in the region continued on 17 May, with the Ukrainian General Staff reporting that over 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed as a result of Moscow’s aggression. The number is unverified and caution has been urged with regards overstated official claims from both sides. Meanwhile, European leaders approved a “Register of Damage” to record the damages caused by Russia in Ukraine, with the plan being called the “first, necessary, urgent step” in making Moscow liable for compensation relating to damages. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Sholz said that the register would help to punish “war crimes” and demand “accountability for the damage that Russia inflicts” in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army reported that a US-supplied Patriot air defence system used to deter Russian aerial attacks “is working fine”, despite Moscow’s claim that it had struck the weapon. Ukraine has received support from other coalition nations, including Germany, particularly in terms of military equipment of late.
Russia may quit the grain agreement with Ukraine on Thursday unless a list of demands for its own agricultural trade are met, however, the Kremlin has declined to enter into the "hypothetical discussions" on the topic. Moscow allows Ukraine to export their grain safely from Black Sea ports despite the war ongoing on land, which was agreed under the arrangement that the United Nations and Turkey brokered for a 120 day period last July.
Russian film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev have been issued an arrest order for “spreading false information” about the Russian army. The trial against the two was held last month but its outcome was not made public until recently. Rodnyansky, an influential cinema figure, left Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was declared a “foreign agent” in October. Vyrypaev, a respected playwright and actor, has been living and working in Warsaw for many years and has also spoken out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The arrests form part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman with close links to President Vladimir Putin, has been uploading photos, videos and audio files for months to his Telegram channel. In his most recent clip, posted last week, he filmed himself in a bloodied field, with rows of corpses laid out behind him, berating the Russian military leaders for failing to give him the munitions he needed to fight in Ukraine’s Donbass region. Prigozhin, who is the leader of the notorious mercenary unit, the Wagner Group, has given a face to the brutalisation of the Putin regime, but some have wondered if he is a megalomaniac. The video shows the story of one man’s rise to unimaginable power, a man who can promise people their freedom or send them to their deaths.
Prigozhin made the conquering of Bakhmut in the Donbass his personal mission. Russian and Ukrainian media outlets say that Prigozhin, together with army commanders, developed a suicidal battle plan. It was his idea to attack the city before Ukrainian supply lines were cut, thus turning it into a battle of attrition – from the standpoint of both personnel and material. He was also allowed to recruit his fighters from the prisons of Russia. Of 30 men who were recruited for the mission from Rustam’s colony, he was apparently among the most able-bodied. Only nine of them managed to complete the required fitness test, the sit-ups and the pull-ups. Prigozhin’s troops have been butchered, and he is no longer receiving the munitions he needs.
There are up to 10,000 Wagner fighters currently in Ukraine, according to a senior official in the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, and most of them have been deployed in and around Bakhmut where housing block by housing block, destroyed home by destroyed home, the Ukrainians have pulled back. Prigozhin poses as Putin’s loyal bloodhound, but has threatened the very system the president has built up. While he takes care of dirty work for Putin, Prigozhin has given a face to the brutalisation of the Putin regime, although his grip on power is unclear.
Russia's hypersonic missile programme risks collapse due to the detention of multiple researchers as treason suspects, several senior scientists have warned in a public open letter. The head of the Novosibirks’ hypersonic missile technology lab, Alexander Shiplyuk, and aerodynamics specialist 76-year-old Anatoly Maslov, have been detained since last summer. In a warning to the Kremlin and to the public, scientists from Novosibirsk-based Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics urged Russian authorities to cease the detention of their colleagues, arguing that it risked damaging national research into hypersonic weapons.
Activist jailed for 7 years in Russia for "justifying terrorism"
Reuters
23-05-17 13:53
A Ukrainian-born activist, Mikhail Krieger, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by a Russian court. He was found guilty of "justifying terrorism" in social media posts made last year praising two men who attacked buildings of Russia's Federal Security Service. Prosecutors accused him of "inciting hatred" in statements on social media that President Vladimir Putin should be hanged. Krieger denied the charges and used the trial as an opportunity to speak out against the war in Ukraine. Russian rights groups have designated him a political prisoner.
The final vessel containing Ukrainian grain left a port last week, sent under a deal whereby UN mediators and Turkey brokered a 120-day agreement in July 2021 allowing four countries in the Black Sea region to export wheat again. The move followed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which has caused a global food crisis, seeking to halt a rapid economic downturn caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. This extension was due to expire on 21 March, when Russia imposed new restrictions on Black Sea grain shipments. The Kremlin granted a 60-day extension, due to expire on 18 May, threatening the renewal of Black Sea exports. UN officials met in Istanbul last week to discuss the Black Sea pact; Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu suggested the deal could be extended for two more months at least, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Pesko called for 'decisions to be made.' The Joint Coordination Centre, made up by representatives from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the UN in Istanbul, typically authorizes and inspects each ship permitted to travel Black Sea waters.
The arrests of three Russian academics who work on hypersonic missile technology on the same faculty in Siberia have drawn a rare public outcry against the Russian government from the country's scientific community. The academics are reportedly being held on charges of high treason under Russian law, which can carry a 20 year prison sentence. The open letter warns that such arrests could stunt scientific research in the long-term. Meanwhile, the UK's Department of Defense has claimed that Ukraine's defence systems successfully downed six of Russia's Kinzhal hypersonic missiles during a recent missile strike on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
The wife of jailed Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza has accused authorities of subjecting him to psychological torture by denying him calls with his three children. Speaking to Reuters at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, Evgenia Kara-Murza said her husband's requests for communication with his family had been rebuffed for more than a year due to their living in the US. Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of treason he says are politically motivated, following his criticism of Russia's leadership and the war in Ukraine.
Britain has said it will support all countries that want to send F-16 jets to Ukraine, subject to US approval for the transfer of the military technology. It is part of the effort to set up an international coalition with the Dutch and other nations to come to the aid of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. It was announced amid a web of diplomatic efforts over the invasion of Ukraine, including the extension of a deal with Turkey that would allow the country to export millions of tonnes of grain through the Black Sea, which would otherwise be blocked by Russian warships. China has also sent peace envoys to mediate talks in Russia, Poland, France, and Germany about the conflict.
