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  • Moscow has stepped back from civil war with Wagner. But the danger’s not over, experts warn | CNN

    Moscow has stepped back from civil war with Wagner. But the danger’s not over, experts warn | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Within a remarkable day and a half, Russia faced the very real threat of an armed insurrection, with President Vladimir Putin vowing to punish Wagner fighters marching toward Moscow and occupying cities along the way – before a sudden deal with Belarus seemed to defuse the crisis as rapidly as it emerged.

    But much remains uncertain, with experts warning the rare uprising isn’t likely to disappear so quickly without consequences down the line.

    Putin must now navigate the aftermath of the most serious challenge to his authority since he came to power in 2000, following a series of dizzying events that was closely – and nervously – watched by the world and cheered by Ukraine.

    Outspoken Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is being sent to Belarus, apparently unscathed, but he may have painted a target on his own back like never before.

    Here’s what we know.

    Prigozhin, the bombastic head of the Wagner group, agreed to leave Russia for neighboring Belarus on Saturday, in a deal apparently brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

    The deal includes Prigozhin pulling back his troops from their march toward the capital, said a Kremlin spokesperson on Saturday.

    The criminal charges against him will be dropped, said the spokesperson. Wagner fighters will face no legal action for their part in the insurrection, and will instead sign contracts with Russia’s Ministry of Defense – a move Prigozhin had previously rejected as an attempt to bring his paramilitary force in line.

    Wagner troops previously claimed they had seized key military facilities in two Russian cities; by Saturday, videos authenticated and geolocated by CNN showed Prigozhin and his forces withdrawing from one of those cities, Rostov-on-Don.

    It’s not clear where Prigozhin is now. The Kremlin is unaware of his whereabouts, the spokesperson said Saturday.

    The crisis in Russia erupted Friday when Prigozhin accused Russia’s military of attacking a Wagner camp and killing his men – and vowed to retaliate by force.

    Prigozhin then led his troops into Rostov-on-Don and claimed to have taken control of key military facilities in the Voronezh region, where there was an apparent clash between Wagner units and Russian forces.

    Prigozhin claimed it wasn’t a coup but a “march of justice.” But that did little to appease Moscow, with a top security official calling Prigozhin’s actions a “staged coup d’état,” according to Russian state media.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation after an insurrection led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 24.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry denied attacking Wagner’s troops, and Russia’s internal security force opened a criminal case against Prigozhin.

    Then came a remarkable national address from Putin.

    In a speech that was broadcast across Russia on Saturday morning local time, a visibly furious Putin vowed to punish those “on a path to treason.”

    Wagner’s “betrayal” was a “stab in the back of our country and our people,” he said, likening the group’s actions to the 1917 Russian Revolution that toppled Tsar Nicholas II in the midst of WWI.

    Things were tense on the ground, with civilians in Voronezh told to stay home. Meanwhile, Moscow stepped up its security measures across the capital, declaring Monday a non-workday. Photos show Russian forces in body armor and wielding automatic weapons near a highway outside Moscow.

    All signs pointed to an impending armed confrontation in the capital as rumors and uncertainty swirled.

    Then almost as suddenly as it began, the short-lived mutiny fizzled out with the Belarus deal seeming putting out the fire – at least for now.

    Much remains unclear, such as what will happen to Prigozhin’s role within Wagner and the Ukraine war, and whether all his fighters will be contracted to Russia’s military.

    The Kremlin spokesperson said on Saturday he “cannot answer” what position Prigozhin will take in Belarus. Prigozhin himself has provided little detail about his agreement to halt the advance on Moscow.

    The Wagner group is “an independent fighting company” with different conditions than the Russian military, said retired US Army Maj. Mike Lyons on Saturday. For instance, Wagner fighters are better fed than the military – meaning a full assimilation would be difficult.

    “Maybe some will splinter off,” he added. “Those people are loyal to the man, Prigozhin, not to the country, not to the mission. I think we’ve got a lot more questions that are not answered right now.”

    exp russia hertling acosta robertson warlord 062406PSEG1 cnni world_00004001.png

    Chaos in Russia: A throwback to previous centuries?

    The danger isn’t over for the Wagner boss, either, experts say.

    “Putin doesn’t forgive traitors. Even if Putin says, ‘Prigozhin, you go to Belarus,’ he is still a traitor and I think Putin will never forgive that,” said Jill Dougherty, CNN’s former Moscow bureau chief and a longstanding expert on Russian affairs.

    It’s possible we could see Prigozhin “get killed in Belarus,” she added – but it’s a tough dilemma for Moscow because as long as Prigozhin “has some type of support, he is a threat, regardless of where he is.”

    Putin now faces real problems, too.

    Multiple experts told CNN that while the Russian president survived the stand-off, he now looks weak – not only to the world and his enemies, but to his own people and military. That could pose a risk if there are skeptics or rivals within Moscow who see an opportunity to undermine Putin’s position.

    “If I were Putin, I would be worried about those people on the streets of Rostov cheering the Wagner people as they leave,” said Dougherty.

    Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the backseat of a vehicle departing Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24.

    One video, geolocated and verified by CNN, showed crowds cheering as Prigozhin’s vehicle departed Rostov-on-Don. The vehicle stopped when one individual approached and shook Prigozhin’s hand.

    “Why are average Russians on the street cheering people who just tried to carry out a coup?” Dougherty said. “That means that maybe they support them or they like them. Whatever it is, it’s really bad news for Putin.”

    Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the headquarters of the Southern Military District amid the group's pullout from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

    Video shows Prigozhin leaving Russian military headquarters

    Prigozhin has known Putin since the 1990s, and was nicknamed “Putin’s chef” after winning lucrative catering contracts with the Kremlin. But Russian-backed separatist movements in Ukraine in 2014 set the foundation for Prigozhin’s transformation into a warlord.

    Prigozhin founded Wagner to be a shadowy mercenary outfit that fought both in eastern Ukraine and, increasingly, for Russian-backed causes around the world.

    Wagner was thrust into the spotlight during the Ukraine war, with the fighters appearing to win tangible progress where regular Russian troops failed. However, its brutal tactics are believed to have caused high numbers of casualties.

    As the war dragged on, Prigozhin and Russia’s military leadership have engaged in a public feud, with the Wagner boss accusing the military of not giving his forces ammunition and bemoaning the lack of battlefield successes by regular military units.

    He was repeatedly critical of their handling of the conflict, casting himself as ruthless and competent in comparison.

    Prigozhin was always careful to direct his blame towards Russia’s military leadership, not Putin, and had defended the reasoning for the war in Ukraine.

    That was, until Friday as the insurrection kicked off.

    In a remarkable statement, Prigozhin said Moscow invaded Ukraine under false pretenses devised by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Russia was actually losing ground on the battlefield.

    Steve Hall, a former CIA chief of Russia operations, said even seasoned Russia watchers were taken aback by recent events.

    “Everybody is scratching their heads,” he told CNN. “The only sense I can make from a day like today, you have two guys who found themselves in untenable situations and had to find their way out.”

    Hall said Prigozhin may have felt he had bitten off more than he could chew as his column of troops marched towards Moscow. But at the same time Putin faced the very real prospect of having to defeat some 25,000 Wagner mercenaries.

    Sending Prigozhin to Belarus was a face saving move for both sides.

    But Hall said Putin comes out ultimately worse off and weakened.

    “Putin should have seen it coming literally months ago. We’ll see how it ends up. I don’t think the story is over yet,” Hall said.

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  • Rebellion in Russia could trigger selloff in U.S. stocks and flight to safe assets, analysts say. Here’s what investors should know.

    Rebellion in Russia could trigger selloff in U.S. stocks and flight to safe assets, analysts say. Here’s what investors should know.

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    Watch what happens over the next 36 hours.

    That was the advice from one financial analyst as U.S. investors awoke on Saturday to news of an apparent armed rebellion against Moscow led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the powerful Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group.

    Others speculated that the crisis in Russia could drive U.S. stocks lower, as some traders were already betting on a selloff once markets reopen on Monday due to this sudden spike in geopolitical risk.

    “The developments in Russia are ultimately going to suggest President Putin’s leadership is weakening quickly and that resources may shift away from the war with Ukraine. It is too early to say how this will impact Wall Street, but the risk of desperate measures from Putin might make some investors nervous,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said Saturday.

    A simmering feud between Prigozhin, the leader of the military contractor whose mercenary forces have been fighting alongside Russian military troops in Ukraine, and the Russian Defense Ministry came to a head early Saturday as Prigozhin led his troops to successfully overtake a Russian military outpost near the Ukrainian frontier, which the Kremlin has used as its command center for overseeing the war in Ukraine.

    Amid the mixture of reliable information and unfounded speculation, market analysts have scrambled to make sense of the situation and what it might mean for financial markets and the global economy.

    The main theme that has emerged so far is that U.S. stocks would suffer unless the Russian military managed to quickly suppress the rebellion, as may have occurred with reports late Saturday that Prigozhin had halted a Wagner advance on Moscow and, in fact, might be relocating to neighboring Belarus. But how would something that could potentially cut short the war in Ukraine — which has been a bugbear for markets since the full-scale invasion by Russian forces in February 2022 — be a negative for stocks?

    The answer is that chaos leads to uncertainty, and that uncertainty is anathema to markets — especially when it could disrupt global oil and food supplies.

    “I’d bet on this creating more uncertainty which is generally going to be negative for risk … in the short term at least you see higher geopolitical risk premia — longer term the risks are on both sides really: does this precipitate the collapse of the Russian front and the war ends?” said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Finalto, in a note to clients on Saturday.

    Others noted that the crisis is coming at a vulnerable time for U.S. markets, while Michael Antonelli, a market strategist at R.W. Baird & Co., suggested in a tweet that the crisis “has to be” bearish for U.S. stocks.

    The S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    -0.77%
    closed out its worst week since March on Friday as a series of interest-rate hikes in the U.K. and across Europe last week sparked fresh fears of a global recession. Some analysts noted that the pullback swiftly followed signs that investors are growing more bullish following a powerful rally that sent stocks to their highest levels in 14 months. There are concerns that this shift in sentiment could presage investors’ final capitulation.

    Sven Henrich, founder and lead strategist of Northman Trader, noted that the Cboe Volatility Index
    VIX,
    +4.11%    ,
    the market’s so-called fear gauge, which measures the stock market’s expectations for volatility over the next 30 days, managed to finish last week below 13.5, its lowest level since January 2020, even as stocks pulled back.

    If stocks do continue to slide, that would mean new lows for the Vix have proved to be a reliable counterindicator, suggesting that investors had grown complacent before being walloped by a fresh shock.

    Asian markets will be the first to react to ongoing developments by Sunday evening Eastern time, but derivatives traders using CME Group’s Globex platform to trade swaps tracking the value of U.S. equity indexes are already betting on a selloff.

    Meanwhile, bitcoin
    BTCUSD,
    +0.11%    ,
    an asset that does reliably trade 24/7, was down just 0.8% at $30,675, a slight pullback after achieving its highest level in a year late last week. By Saturday evening the leading cryptocurrency has reversed that earlier dip.

    Where might investors turn for safety if markets do become chaotic?

    Finalto’s Wilson said investors could seek shelter in the currency market, where the U.S. dollar
    DXY,
    +0.47%    ,
    Swiss franc
    USDCHF,
    -0.02%
    and maybe the euro
    EURUSD,
    +0.32%
    and British pound
    GBPUSD,
    +0.02%
    could benefit from a spike in demand. More “de-risking” could send investors into ultrasafe government bonds like U.S. Treasurys
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.741%    ,
    which could help to push yields lower, as bond yields move inversely to prices.

    Wilson anticipated that European indexes could be “more exposed to de-risking due to makeup and proximity to Russia and the war in Ukraine.” He also noted the possibility that this latest crisis could send the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    -1.01%
    higher if investors decided to seek shelter in high-quality growth names like Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    -0.17%    ,
    Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -1.90%
    or Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    -1.38%    ,
    which have helped to drive this year’s equity-market rally.

    Whatever happens, the outcome of the crisis should be more clear within the next 35 hours, Wilson said.

    “[H]ow the market opens after the weekend will depend on what happens in the next 36 hours. … [I]t could all be over by then,” Wilson said.

    Regardless, one of the first to interpret the market’s reaction on Monday will be Melbourne-based Chris Weston, head of research at online broker Pepperstone.

    Until then, he cautioned investors against reading too much into the Wagner situation, since analysts’ visibility into a very complicated geopolitical situation is “poor.”

    “The humble market participant would simply say they have no edge in knowing how this plays out and our visibility to read this through to markets is currently poor — the information is often biased and it’s hard to truly know what is fact and what is fed to influence. … [W]ill this lead to genuine regime change, fail or perhaps inflame and lead to a market shock?” Weston said in comments provided to MarketWatch.

    “At this point we simply don’t know, but it feels like we get enough clarity on potential outcomes and even timelines in the next 24-48 hours — at this point the prospect of modest downside risk on Monday is elevated and naturally we’ll be watching crude and EU assets most closely,” he said.

    Terry Haines, founder of Pangea Policy, said in an email to clients that the ongoing uncertainty fueled by the Wagner rebellion reveals the fragility of the Putin regime, and might marginally boost chances of a Ukraine victory.

    But Haines also conceded that it’s a “developing and unstable situation with various facets that on net add to geopolitical uncertainties, to which markets usually react negatively.” Investors must also consider that, should that rebellion fail, it could be “replaced by stronger Russian control” or create further instability as “Wagner disintegrates.”

    In that same vein, Jim Bianco, head of Bianco Research, offered up a joke aimed at all the armchair geopolitical analysts suddenly flocking to Twitter.

    Markets may take a look at this crisis and view it as a “bullish development after some initial volatility, the Kobeissi Letter’s editor in chief and founder, Adam Kobeissi, told MarketWatch in Saturday comments.

    “After all, the end of the war in Ukraine is the market’s top geopolitical driver right now, and if this increases the odds of a peace agreement and/or Russia withdrawing from Ukraine, it is likely to be perceived as bullish over the next few weeks,” he said.

    He recommended that investors keep an eye on prices of oil and gold, which could be particularly sensitive to any fresh developments.

    “If this means more conflict,” he said, “then oil
    CL.1,
    +0.51%    ,
    bonds
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.741%
    and gold
    GC00,
    +0.04%
    are poised to rally.”

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  • Wagner chief to leave Russia for Belarus in deal that ends armed insurrection | CNN

    Wagner chief to leave Russia for Belarus in deal that ends armed insurrection | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, has agreed to leave Russia for Belarus, the Kremlin said Saturday, in a deal that ends an armed insurrection, which posed the greatest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority in decades.

    In a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said an agreement was struck with Prigozhin, referring to an apparent deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

    “You will ask me what will happen to Prigozhin personally?” Peskov said. “The criminal case will be dropped against him. He himself will go to Belarus.”

    The Wagner boss had earlier turned his troops around “toward our field camps, in accordance with the plan.” Peskov said those troops would face no “legal action” for marching to Moscow, and Wagner fighters will sign contracts with Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

    The announcement defuses a crisis that began when Wagner troops took control of a key military facility in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and some fighters advanced towards the capital.

    Prigozhin has been publicly critical of Russia’s military leadership and their handling of the war in Ukraine – with few consequences. But he crossed numerous red lines with Putin over the weekend.

    A somber-looking Russian president addressed the nation and called Wagner’s actions “a stab in the back of our country and our people.”

    The president described events as an insurrection and Moscow began to scale up its security measures.

    But by Saturday evening, Prigozhin’s calculus appeared to have changed, and the mercenary said his troops, who were 124 miles (200 kilometers) from Moscow, were stopping their advance in order to avoid bloodshed.

    Videos, authenticated and geolocated by CNN, also showed Prigozhin and Wagner forces withdrawing from their positions at Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don.

    In the video, Prigozhin is seen sitting in the backseat of a vehicle. Crowds cheer and the vehicle comes to a stop as an individual approaches it and shakes Prigozhin’s hand.

    Saturday’s dramatic events come off the back of Prigozhin’s very public and months-long feud with Russia’s military leadership. He has previously accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov of not giving his forces ammunition and was critical of their handling of the conflict, but has always defended the reasoning for the war.

    On Friday, Prigozhin accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp and killing “a huge amount” of his fighters – a claim Russia’s Ministry of Defense has denied and called an “informational provocation.”

    The private military chief seemingly built influence with Putin over the course of the conflict, with his Wagner forces taking a leading role in the labored but ultimately successful assault on Bakhmut earlier this year. The capture of that city was a rare Russian gain in Ukraine in recent months, boosting Prigozhin’s profile further.

    But it appears that Prigozhin had turned not merely against the military leadership’s handling of the invasion of Ukraine, but also against the longtime Russian leader and his strategy.

    On Friday, he said Moscow invaded Ukraine under false pretenses devised by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Russia is actually losing ground on the battlefield.

    “There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country. There are 25,000 of us waiting as a tactical reserve and a strategic reserve. It’s the whole army and the whole country, everyone who wants to, join us. We must end this debacle,” he said on Telegram.

    Wagner upped the gambit and went on to take control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh, a city that lies some 600 kilometers (372 miles) to the north of Rostov. Russia’s domestic intelligence service, FSB, opened a criminal case against Prighozhin for his threats, accusing him of calling for “an armed rebellion.”

    Wagner troops were then reported to be moving towards the capital, prompting a major security operation in the Moscow region and a counter-terrorist regime being put in place, according to Russian officials.

    Russian security forces in body armor and equipped with automatic weapons took a position near a highway linking Moscow with southern Russia, according to photos published by Russian media. Monday was declared a non-working day and public and other large-scale events have been suspended until July 1 in the Moscow region, according to Russian state run media TASS.

    During his speech Saturday, Putin said Wagner’s “betrayal” and “any actions that fracture our unity,” are “a stab in the back of our country and our people.”

    Responding to Putin’s speech, Prigozhin said on Telegram that the president was “deeply mistaken.”

    “We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting,” he said in audio messages.The Wagner chief claimed his forces seized the Russian Southern Military Headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don “without firing a single shot,” suggesting that “the country supports us.”

    The Rostov base plays a key role in Russia’s war on Ukraine, due to its proximity to the countries’ shared border.

    The temperature cooled following the deal apparently brokered by Belarus’ leader. Yet Prighozhin has provided scant details about his agreement to about-face.

    When asked what position Prigozhin would take in Belarus, Peskov said he “cannot answer the question.” Peskov said Lukashenko was able to draw on a personal relationship with Prigozhin to broker the deal.

    “The fact is that Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] has known Prigozhin personally for a long time, for about 20 years,” he said. “And it was his personal proposal, which was agreed with Putin. We are grateful to the President of Belarus for these efforts.”

    Many top Russian officials had rallied to Putin’s side over the past day. Russian intelligence official, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseev, posted a video about Prigozhin’s actions that day, describing it as a coup attempt.

    Sergei Naryshkin, who heads Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, described the events as an “attempted armed rebellion.”

    Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, another key player in the war, spoke of a “vile betrayal” by Prigozhin on Telegram. “The rebellion must be crushed, and if this requires harsh measures, then we are ready!” he said.

    Russian officials said detachments of Chechen special forces had been seen in Rostov to suppress the rebellion. However, CNN was unable to independently confirm that Chechen units have arrived in Rostov.

    Wagner fighters stand guard near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24.

    The FSB also responded on Friday, urging Wagner fighters to detain their leader and opening a criminal case against the militia boss accusing him of “calling for an armed rebellion.”

    As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stalled earlier this year, top US officials said they saw indications of tensions between the Kremlin and the Prigozhin. Officials said the US determined as early as January there was an internal power struggle underway and have been gathering and closely monitoring intelligence on the volatile dynamic ever since.

    But US and Western officials are being careful not to weigh in on the events because of how Putin could weaponize any perceived outside involvement in the escalating crisis, sources familiar with the administration’s thinking told CNN.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned Western countries against using Prigozhin’s rebellion “to achieve Russophobic goals.”

    The European Union, which borders Russia, has activated its crisis response center to coordinate between member nations in reaction to the developments in Russia.

    Meanwhile, Ukraine took advantage of Russia’s chaotic security situation on Saturday, launching simultaneous counter-offensives in multiple directions, Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy Defense Minister, said in a Telegram post.

    “The eastern grouping of troops today launched an offensive in several directions at the same time,” Maliar said, naming Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut, Bohdanivka, Yahidne, Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka among the places where the offensive was launched.

    Maliar said that “there is progress in all directions” without giving any further detail. Maliar said that “heavy fighting continues in all directions of the offensive in the south.” In the South “the enemy is on the defensive, making great efforts to stop our offensive actions,” Maliar added.

    A spokesperson for the Ukrainian military in eastern Ukraine earlier told CNN that Ukraine will benefit from the events in Russia. “The fact that Prigozhin took all his Wagner fighters into Russia now will definitely have an effect on our frontline,” Serhii Cherevatyi said.

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  • Wagner chief says he ordered his Russian mercenaries to halt march on Moscow and return to Ukraine

    Wagner chief says he ordered his Russian mercenaries to halt march on Moscow and return to Ukraine

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    The head of the private Russian military force Wagner said Saturday he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine to avoid shedding Russian blood.

    The announcement from Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to defuse a dramatically escalating crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s leadership in his more than two decades in power.

    See: Rebellion in Russia could trigger selloff in U.S. stocks and flight to safe assets, analysts say.

    Moscow had braced for the arrival of a private army led by the rebellious mercenary commander by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on its southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads.

    Prigozhin said that while his men were just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood.”

    He didn’t say whether Moscow has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.

    The announcement followed a statement from the office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko saying that he had negotiated a deal with Prigozhin after discussing the issue with Putin.

    Prigozhin agreed to halt the advance in a proposed settlement that contains security guarantees for Wagner troops, Lukashenko’s office said. It didn’t elaborate.

    Putin had vowed harsh consequences for organizers of the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, who brought his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key military facility in southern Russia and advanced toward Moscow earlier Saturday.

    In a televised speech to the nation, Putin called the rebellion a “betrayal” and “treason.”

    “All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”

    Authorities declared a “counterterrorist regime” in the capital and its surrounding region, enhancing security and restricting some movement. On the southern outskirts, troops erected checkpoints, arranged sandbags and set up machine guns.

    Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin warned that traffic could be restricted in parts of the capital and declared Monday a non-working day for most residents.

    Crews dug up sections of highways to slow the march of the Wagner mercenary army. Access to Red Square was closed, two major museums were evacuated and a park was shut.

    Prigozhin’s private army appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow that runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.

    Wagner troops and equipment also were in Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of Moscow, where authorities “are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population,” said regional Gov. Igor Artamonov, via Telegram. He did not elaborate.

    The dramatic developments came exactly 16 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, which has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble.

    Ukrainians hoped the Russian infighting would create opportunities for its army to take back territory seized by Russian forces.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow was suffering “full-scale weakness” and that Kyiv was protecting Europe from “the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”

    The Federal Security Service, or FSB, called for Prigozhin’s arrest Friday night after he declared the armed rebellion.

    Prigozhin said earlier Saturday that his fighters would not surrender, as “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”

    “Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland,” he said in an audio message on his Telegram channel.

    Prigozhin’s private army has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine. His goals weren’t immediately clear, but the rebellion marks an escalation in his struggle with Russian military leaders, whom he accused of botching the war in Ukraine and hobbling his forces in the field.

    “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin said.

    See: Who is the head of the mercenary group calling for an armed rebellion in Russia?

    Prigozhin said he had 25,000 troops under his command and urged the army not to offer resistance.

    He posted video of himself at the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and claimed his forces had taken control of the airfield and other military facilities in the city. Other videos on social media showed military vehicles, including tanks, on the streets.

    “We didn’t kill a single person on our way,” Prigozhin said in one of his several messages posted as the day went on, adding that his forces seized the military headquarters “without a single gunshot.” His claims could not be independently verified. The Russian authorities haven’t reported any casualties so far, either.

    The rebellion came as Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” Putin said, with the West piling sanctions on Moscow and arming Ukraine.

    “The entire military, economic and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin said.

    A Muscovite who gave only his first name of Khachik called the situation “scary.” Another man who didn’t want to be identified at all denounced Prigozhin’s move as a betrayal and said he supports the Defense Ministry.

    State-controlled TV networks led their newscasts with Putin’s statement and reported the tense situation in Rostov-on-Don. Some showed social media videos of residents denouncing Wagner troops. Broadcasters also carried statements from top officials and lawmakers voicing support for Putin and condemning Prigozhin.

    In announcing the rebellion, Prigozhin said he wanted to punish Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu after he accused Russian government forces of attacking Wagner field camps in Ukraine with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery. He claimed that “a huge number of our comrades got killed.” Prigozhin said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation.

    He alleged that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, ordered the attacks following a meeting with Shoigu, where they decided to destroy the military contractor. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.

    The 62-year-old Prigozhin, a former convict, has long ties to the Russian leader and won lucrative Kremlin catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef.”

    He gained attention in the U.S. when he and a dozen other Russian nationals were charged with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord ahead of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. He formed the Wagner mercenary group, which sent military contractors to Libya, Syria, several African countries and eventually Ukraine.

    After Putin’s address, in which he called for unity, officials sought to reiterate their allegiance to the Kremlin and urged Prigozhin to back down.

    Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said lawmakers “stand for the consolidation of forces” and support Putin. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed that, saying in a Telegram post that “we have one commander in chief. Not two, not three. One.”

    Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of the Chechnya region who used to side with Prigozhin in his criticism of the military, also expressed his full support of Putin’s “every word.”

    “The mutiny needs to be suppressed,” Kadyrov said.

    While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort as Kyiv’s forces probed Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.

    Wagner forces have played a crucial role, capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, an area where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized the military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of munitions.

    Zelenskyy noted the rebellion in his Telegram channel and said “anyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself.”

    “For a long time, Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government. And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it,” he said.

    Prigozhin’s actions could have significant implications for the war. Orysia Lutsevych, the head of the Ukraine Forum at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the infighting will create confusion and potential division among Russian military forces.

    “Russian troops in Ukraine may well now be operating in a vacuum, without clear military instructions, and doubts about whom to obey and follow,” Lutsevych said.”This creates a unique and unprecedented military opportunity for the Ukrainian army.”

    Ukrainian soldier Andrii Kvasnytsia, attending a funeral for a comrade, said Prigozhin’s intentions toward Ukraine might be worse than Putin’s, but that the infighting would still benefit the country.

    Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that his forces sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. He said Friday he was ready for a compromise but “they have treacherously cheated us.”

    In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War said “the violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would cause irreparable damage to the stability of Putin’s perceived hold on power.”

    Western countries monitored developments closely. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his counterparts in the other G7 countries and the European Union’s foreign affairs representative, his spokesman said, adding that Blinken “reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change.”

    Latvia and Estonia, two NATO countries that border Russia, said they were increasing security at their borders.

    The Kremlin said Putin spoke by phone with the leaders of Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan about the events.

    Although there was speculation that Putin had left Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied it.

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  • Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief turned rebel? | CNN

    Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief turned rebel? | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Yevgeny Prigozhin is the founder and bombastic leader of Russia’s private military group Wagner. His organization is now in the midst of an apparent insurrection, after claiming control of military facilities in two cities and threatening to march on Moscow.

    Prigozhin was once a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Kremlin leader has now vowed punishment on those involved in “an armed rebellion.”

    Typically a figure who has preferred to operate in the shadows, Prigozhin and his fighters were thrust into the spotlight following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, with Wagner mercenaries playing a key role in multiple battles.

    Putin and Prigozhin share relatively humble beginnings, and the Wagner chief grew up in the tougher neighborhoods of St. Petersburg, also the president’s hometown.

    The men have known each other since the 1990s. Prigozhin became a wealthy oligarch by winning lucrative catering contracts with the Kremlin, earning him the moniker “Putin’s chef.”

    His apparent transformation into a brutal warlord came in the aftermath of the 2014 Russian-backed separatist movement in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

    Prigozhin founded Wagner as shadowy mercenary outfit that fought both in Ukraine and, increasingly, for Russian-backed causes around the world.

    CNN has tracked Wagner mercenaries in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Ukraine and Syria. Over the years they have developed a gruesome reputation and have been linked to multiple human rights abuses.

    After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine the group was thrust to center stage. Wagner forces were heavily involved in taking the Ukrainian towns of Soledar and Bakhmut.

    As the regular Russian army campaign was bogged down by setbacks and disorganization, Wagner fighters appeared to be the only ones capable of delivering tangible progress for the Russian side.

    Known for its disregard for the lives of its own soldiers, Wagner’s brutal and often lawless tactics are believed to have resulted in high numbers of casualties, as new recruits are sent into battle with little formal training – a process described by retired United States Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling as “like feeding meat to a meat grinder.”

    Prigozhin has used social media to lobby for what he wants and often cast himself as competent and ruthless in contrast to the Kremlin’s military establishment.

    In recent months, Prigozhin has created a dilemma for Putin by becoming an outspoken critic of Russia’s military leaders.

    Prigozhin, left, serves food to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, center, during dinner at Prigozhin's restaurant outside Moscow, Russia in November 2011.

    In one particularly grim video from early May, Prigozhin stood next to a pile of dead Wagner fighters and took aim specifically at Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

    “The blood is still fresh,” he says, pointing to the bodies behind him. “They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices.”

    After complaining for well over a month of receiving insufficient support from the Kremlin in the grueling fight for the eastern city of Bakhmut, he announced in May that his troops would withdraw.

    Now, Prigozhin has launched an all-out rebellion against the Kremlin – after his increasingly outrageous outbursts sparked speculation that he could be going too far.

    The Wagner mutiny began when Prigozhin unleashed a new tirade against the Russian military on Friday and then marched his troops into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

    Staring down a sudden and staggering escalation of internal tensions that have simmered for months, Putin called Wagner’s actions “treason.”

    “It is a stab in the back of our country and our people,” the president said in an address to the nation on Saturday.

    Prigozhin responded on Telegram saying that Putin was “deeply mistaken.”

    “We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting,” the Wagner chief said in audio messages.

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  • Putin vows to punish ‘armed uprising’ by Wagner militia as Russia is plunged into crisis | CNN

    Putin vows to punish ‘armed uprising’ by Wagner militia as Russia is plunged into crisis | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Vladimir Putin is facing the greatest threat to his authority in two decades after the head of the Wagner paramilitary group launched an apparent insurrection, claimed control of military facilities in two Russian cities, and warned that his troops would head for Moscow.

    Staring down a sudden and staggering escalation of internal tensions that have simmered for months, the Russian president said on Saturday that those on “path of treason” or armed rebellion would be punished.

    “It is a stab in the back of our country and our people,” he said in an address to the nation, threatening a harsh response for those planning “an armed rebellion.”

    Putin was speaking after the militia chief and his one-time ally Yevgeny Prigozhin dramatically stepped up his feud with Moscow’s security establishment over the handling of the invasion of Ukraine, throwing the country into crisis with a series of military moves that seemingly took Moscow by surprise.

    After Putin’s speech, Prigozhin said on Telegram that the president was “deeply mistaken.”

    “We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting,” he said in audio messages. “And no one is going to turn themselves in at the request of the president, the FSB or anyone else.”

    Prigozhin, who heads private military group Wagner, said his forces had taken control of Russian military facilities in the city of Rostov-on-Don, an important operations base for Russia’s war in Ukraine. He threatened to march on Moscow if defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov did not meet with him in Rostov.

    The Wagner group also claimed to have seized Russian facilities in a second city, Voronezh, some 600 kilometers (372 miles) to the north of Rostov-on-Don. The governor of the Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, said the Russian military were engaging in “combat measures” in the area.

    In its daily intelligence update, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Prigozhin’s insurrection “represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times.”

    The briefing said some Russian forces had “likely remained passive, acquiescing to Wagner.”

    And it predicted that individual decisions to support or betray Putin could tip the balance of the showdown. “Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia’s security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how the crisis plays out,” the report said.

    The developments leave Putin’s grip on power looking suddenly perilous, 16 months after he launched an invasion of Ukraine that has been beset by military setbacks, strategic failure and disorganization.

    In his remarks, Putin described events in Rostov as an insurrection. “The situation in Rostov-on-Don remains difficult during the armed uprising. In Rostov, the work of civil and military administration is basically blocked,” Putin said, adding that “decisive action” would be taken.

    Prigozhin has been notoriously critical of the Russian military hierarchy since the war in Ukraine started. But he had spared Putin from direct criticism, instead directing his ire towards the President’s commanders.

    The private military chief seemingly built influence with with Putin over the course of the conflict, with his Wagner forces taking a leading role in the labored but ultimately successful assault on Bakhmut earlier this year. The capture of that city was a rare Russian gain in Ukraine in recent months, boosting Prigozhin’s profile further.

    But his rhetoric on Friday and Saturday indicated that Prigozhin had turned not merely against the military leadership’s handling of the invasion of Ukraine, but also on the longtime Russian leader.

    On Friday, he said Moscow invaded Ukraine under false pretenses devised by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Russia is actually losing ground on the battlefield. That was a significant change from his previous criticism. In the past, he defended the reasoning for the war but was critical of how it was being done by the defense minister, Shoigu.

    “When we were told that we were at war with Ukraine, we went and fought. But it turned out that ammunition, weapons, all the money that was allocated is also being stolen, and the bureaucrats are sitting [idly], saving it for themselves, just for the occasion that happened today, when someone [is] marching to Moscow,” Prigozhin said in his Saturday Telegram messages.

    This dramatic escalation came after Prigozhin accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp and killing “a huge amount” of his fighters – a claim Russia’s Ministry of Defense has denied and called an “informational provocation.”

    The militia chief, whose forces have played a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warned of retribution in a series of Telegram messages Friday and Saturday, where he announced his forces were moving into the Rostov region neighboring Russian-occupied Ukraine, ready to “destroy everything” in their way.

    “There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country. There are 25,000 of us waiting as a tactical reserve and a strategic reserve. It’s the whole army and the whole country, everyone who wants to, join us. We must end this debacle,” hte said, in a radical escalation of a longstanding feud with Russia’s military leaders.

    Russia’s domestic intelligence service, Federal Security Service (FSB), responded on Friday, urging Wagner fighters to detain their leader and opening a criminal case against the militia boss accusing him of “calling for an armed rebellion.” Authorities in the capital Moscow, meanwhile, tightened its security measures.

    Many officials quickly rallied to Putin’s side. Russian intelligence official, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseev, posted a video about Prigozhin’s actions that day, describing it as a coup attempt.

    “Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority. This is a coup d’etat. There is no need to do this now, because there is no greater damage to the image of Russia and to its armed forces,” he added.

    Prigozhin denied his acts were a coup, saying instead they were a “march of justice” that would “not interfere with the troops in any way.”

    Another key figure, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov spoke of a “vile betrayal” by Prigozhin on Telegram. “The rebellion must be crushed, and if this requires harsh measures, then we are ready!” he said.

    But in Ukraine, authorities watched one of the most significant developments since the war began with intrigue and defiance. “The internal Russian confrontation… is a sign of the collapse of the Putin regime,” said Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

    He said the events are “a direct consequence of the Putin regime’s criminal military aggression against Ukraine.”

    Russia’s Ministry of Defense appealed to Wagner forces on Saturday to “safely return to their points of permanent deployment.”

    “You were tricked into Prigozhin’s criminal adventure and participation in an armed rebellion,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in their official Telegram Channel.

    Russian security forces cordoned off Wagner’s headquarters in St. Petersburg on Saturday, as the state mobilized in response to Wagner’s moves.

    The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee also announced the introduction of a counter-terrorist operation regime in Moscow, the Moscow region and Voronezh region.

    The counter-terrorist regime includes but is not limited to document checks, strengthened protection of public order, monitoring telephone conversations and restricting communications, restricting the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on the streets.

    Moscow officials said in a statement that entry and exit to the city are not being restricted, but said there “there may be difficulties with the movement of traffic.”

    Social media posts showed military vehicles were seen driving around the main streets of the Russian capital in the early hours of Saturday.

    Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communication regulator, said the government may restrict the internet in areas of the “counter-terrorist operation,” according to Russian state media agency TASS.

    Prigozhin has asserted that his forces would receive wide backing from Russian soldiers, claiming they were given a hero’s welcome when they entered the Rostov region and that by Saturday morning 60 to 70 had already joined up with his fighters.

    “The border guards came out to meet and hugged our fighters,” he claimed.

    Military activity became obvious in Rostov-on-don Saturday morning, when images began emerging on social media of military vehicles going through the streets and helicopters flying overhead, though it was not clear whose control they were in.

    Rostov region Governor Vasily Golubev earlier Saturday asked residents to stay calm and not leave their homes in a Telegram post. The Rostov region is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Moscow. Its capital Rostov-on-Don has a population of around 1 million.

    In the first suggestion of open armed conflict between the two sides Saturday morning, Prigozhin on Saturday said his units were hit by a helicopter on a highway. It’s unclear exactly where the units were.

    “The Wagner units are intact, the helicopter is destroyed and is burning in the forest,” Prigozhin said, adding “we will take it as a threat and destroy everything around us.”

    He also claimed a second helicopter was downed after it attacked civilians. CNN has been unable to verify any of Prigozhin’s claims.

    Prigozhin added the alleged Wagner take-over of military facilities in Rostov would not impede military operations, saying his men are not stopping the officers from carrying out their duties.

    Wagner has played a prominent role in the Ukraine war, and Prigozhin, so far, has faced few consequences for his public feud with Russia’s military leadership.

    Prigozhin and Wagner have played an unusual and informal role in Putin’s Russia. He has known the president since the 1990s; both are from St. Petersburg. Prigozhin won valuable contracts as the Kremlin’s caterer and later set up the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, whose mission was to interfere in the US 2016 election.

    Wagner fighters deployed in a street near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, on June 24.

    The fallout from his comments also inspired a wave of schadenfreude in Ukraine.

    Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukraine’s presidential office on Saturday described the actions as exposing a deeper schism within the Russian establishment.

    “The split between the elites is too obvious. Agreeing and pretending that everything is settled won’t work,” Myhailo Podolyak tweeted. “Someone must definitely lose: either Prigozhin (with a fatal ending), or the collective ‘anti-Prygozhin.’”

    “Everything is just beginning in Russia,” he added.

    Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, added on Saturday that “Ukraine has become a few steps closer to complete Victory over Russia and complete return of its territories, including Crimea.” He called Prigozhin a “vile, but useful” monster, predicting that Putin’s hold on power “will crumble like a house of cards.”

    The impact of the events on the war in Ukraine remain murky, but it is difficult to see how Russia could emerge from the drama strengthened on the battlefield. Wagner’s forces have become essential to Russia’s war effort, and the possible redirection of Wagner troops toward the internal conflict would drastically weaken their ground campaign.

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  • These villages were liberated in Ukraine’s grinding counteroffensive. They’re little more than ruins. | CNN

    These villages were liberated in Ukraine’s grinding counteroffensive. They’re little more than ruins. | CNN

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    Neskuchne, Ukraine
    CNN
     — 

    The bangs of incoming and outgoing shelling are the soundtrack of Ukraine’s frontline. But its president warned this week that the counteroffensive should not be seen through the lens of a Hollywood movie.

    Just outside the newly liberated villages of Neskuchne and Storozheve, Ukrainian soldiers take shelter in destroyed houses vacated by the Russians, waiting for orders to fire mortars at enemy lines.

    It’s busy. The men of the 35th Marine Brigade transfer newly arrived American-made 120-millimeter mortar rounds to their temporary hideout. They clean and prepare them for launch and scribble messages on the shells for their enemy. Another group get the coordinates and adjust the mortar for better aim.

    The drone flying overhead is their eyes on the enemy line across the fields. When they hear the buzz of the drone engine, the soldiers occasionally peek up to check if it’s theirs or the Russians’.

    Then they wait, sometimes for hours, to fire.

    The sounds cloud the blue sky. The bangs of outgoing artillery and mortar rounds cut through the tranquillity of abandoned fields. Shells whizz through the sky in the familiar whistle of incoming rounds along with the successive pops of Russian grad rockets. The booms of impact intersperse the non-stop exchange of fire.

    Occasionally, a soldier flinches when the sound gets louder and closer.

    “There are moments that you want to hide, but you just sit and wait,” says Yuri, a UK-trained soldier, resting in a small protective trench. It is his third day on the job.

    But like the long waits of the soldiers, the Ukrainian counteroffensive is a slow grind.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin says there is a lull in the counteroffensive. But Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky warns against expecting fast results. “Some want some sort of Hollywood movie but things don’t really happen that way,” he said in a BBC interview. Each side claims the other has suffered heavy losses.

    This strip of small villages in the Donetsk region were liberated on June 10, a day before Zelensky announced the counteroffensive was underway. Since then, the Ukrainian military has not announced substantial gains on the southern or eastern frontlines.

    For the soldiers who walked through these villages a day after liberation, it’s bittersweet.

    “The main thing I felt was anger, because when you go through the villages, your imagination can picture how it was before the war. People were living here. People had good houses. You can see their belongings inside. And now we enter the village and see it in ruins, we get angry,” says Matyoriy, a 35th Marine soldier.

    As soon as the 120-mm American-made mortar rounds were delivered, they were cleaned and prepared for firing.
    The soldiers of the 35ths Marine Brigade wait for the coordinates and the orders to fire.

    The thuds of artillery and roving drones punctuate every sentence.

    The road to their position snakes through destroyed houses hugged by overgrown gardens. A line of collapsed roofs jut through the untrimmed trees. Neskuchne had a pre-war population of around 700 people. Hardly anyone stayed there after Russia occupied the villages at the beginning of the invasion, but signs of the life that once was are still visible.

    A blue and white metal fence surrounds a charred, roofless house that spewed out its broken furniture. A small satellite dish hangs to the front of a house punctured by bullets and shrapnel.

    These houses and the surrounded fields could be booby-trapped and mined, Ukrainian soldiers warn. It’s not all that the Russians left behind. A blood-soaked stretcher left by the retreating troops lays on the side of the road. Nearby, there’s a decomposing body of a Russian soldier. Ukrainian soldiers say many corpses were collected earlier and many more could still be in the fields.

    “I only start to realize what’s really happening and how much we took after I see it on the news, when they draw a map and I see how much ground we took. I start to realize that we really did it,” Matyoriy adds.

    The radio beeps with the orders for the soldiers. They fire multiple rounds towards the Russian line, a couple of miles away. The loud booms keep ears ringing. The soldiers sit back and wait for the next order.

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  • Secret Navy listening system detected Titan’s implosion Sunday: report

    Secret Navy listening system detected Titan’s implosion Sunday: report

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    A top-secret U.S. Navy listening system detected the implosion of the tourist submersible Titan shortly after its disappearance Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

    According to the report, the unnamed, highly sensitive acoustic-detection system — used to spot enemy submarines — heard a sound consistent with an underwater implosion around the time the submersible went missing, and in the area where a debris field was found Thursday.

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  • One of the first Black Marines is seeking recognition decades after being wounded in World War II | CNN

    One of the first Black Marines is seeking recognition decades after being wounded in World War II | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Decades after Lee Vernon Newby Jr. was one of the first Black recruits to break the color barrier in the Marine Corps, he and his family are still fighting for recognition.

    The 100-year-old and his four children want him to be honored with a Purple Heart for his service but so far, he’s been denied one despite his extensive injuries.

    “I was over there serving the government, serving this country. They put me in harm’s way, but still they didn’t give me the acknowledgment,” Newby told CNN.

    Newby, who now lives at a senior living facility outside of Detroit, was just a teenager when he fought in World War II. He says he felt fortunate to serve his country despite being one of the few Black people in the Marine Corps.

    After being drafted, Newby was assigned to Montford Point, a segregated training facility in North Carolina.

    Newby headed to the Solomon Islands for the Battle of Guadalcanal, as fighting took place between 1942 and 1943. During that time, Newby’s family says he suffered fourth-degree burns after gasoline exploded in a hole. The burns covered more than 60% of his body, his family said.

    “All of a sudden, something hit me right in my chest. Just all of a sudden, it just burnt the clothes off of me,” he said. “When I hit the deck and got up, all the skin was just laying out.”

    Ellena Dione Newby-Bennette, one of Newby’s daughters, said her father received medical treatment for several months and later was sent back into action. “He wasn’t 100% healed,” she said.

    Newby received an honorable discharge in 1946 and returned home, where he struggled with racism and Jim Crow laws, his family said. He found work as a janitor and chauffeur, and eventually started a family.

    “America is one of the greatest countries in the world, but I didn’t get a fair deal,” he said. Newby is still hoping it will change.

    Siblings Christopher Lee Newby, left, and Ellena Dione Newby-Bennette, right, speak about their father Lee Vernon Newby Jr, one of the first Black Marines.

    Newby received a letter from President Joe Biden on his 100th birthday earlier this year, and he has been recognized by state and local officials. But last month, he received a letter from the Navy, telling him he is not eligible for a Purple Heart.

    The rejection, Newby says, reinforced feelings that Black people have been “getting a short deal.”

    The Purple Heart has specific criteria for when is awarded to US service members, and is limited to those who are wounded or killed in combat. It is described as one of the most respected military awards.

    In the letter, shared with CNN, Navy officials said Newby is considered ineligible because he was not wounded “at the hands of the enemy.”

    The letter states at the time, Newby was working with another service member who was attempting to kill rats by pouring gasoline from a cup down a hole next to a stump.

    The unnamed service member threw the cup when it ignited and set Newby’s clothing on fire, the letter said.

    Newby and his family said they are planning to appeal the decision. Newby’s daughters said their father doesn’t recall that rats were involved and “doesn’t understand where that story came from.”

    The Pentagon further clarified the rules, noting there are two key conditions which both must be met for the Purple Heart to be awarded.

    “First, the wound must have resulted from enemy action. Second, the wound must have been of such severity that it necessitated treatment, not merely examination, by a medical officer. If the wound does not meet both standards, the Purple Heart may not be awarded,” spokesperson Yvonne Carlock told CNN.

    Newby’s children said he experienced PTSD symptoms and they grew up listening to stories of enemy planes flying overhead bombs being dropped, and friends dying due to their injuries.

    “How much more of his heart did he have to give? More than half of his body was burned,” said Newby-Bennette.

    Newby’s children hope their father and other Black Marines who did not live long enough to receive notoriety are honored for their service.

    “He deserves to have his due,” Newby’s daughter Jannise Newby said.

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  • King Charles III to ride on horseback in first official birthday parade | CNN

    King Charles III to ride on horseback in first official birthday parade | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    King Charles III will revive a royal tradition when he rides on horseback in the first Trooping the Colour of his reign, which marks the British sovereign’s official birthday.

    The traditional military spectacle returns on Saturday and is a staple in the royal diary drawing huge crowds to central London. Charles’ actual birthday is in November and is typically celebrated privately.

    He will join 1,500 soldiers, 300 horses and hundreds of musicians as they file from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in St James’s Park for the ceremony watched by members of the royal family.

    It’s the first time a reigning monarch has ridden in the procession since Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.

    He’ll be joined on horseback by the royal colonels including Prince William, who is Colonel of the Welsh Guards and Princess Anne, Gold Stick in Waiting and Colonel of the Blues and Royals. The event is described by the palace as “a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare.”

    Well-wishers dressed in fascinators and draped in Union flags gathered early to claim prime positions along the Mall outside the royal residence in the hours ahead of the parade.

    The monarch is head of Britain’s armed forces and would traditionally lead an army into war. During the ceremony at Horse Guards, the monarch will take the salute as Colonel in Chief of the Household Division’s seven regiments before he is given a chance to review and approve his army.

    Queen Camilla will join her husband as they watch the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards troop their color, or regimental flag, in front of hundreds of Guardsmen and officers. The regiment will carry out intricate battlefield drill maneuvers to music, with Kensington Palace describing this year’s musical program as having “a distinctly Welsh theme,” with new compositions from the band specially for the occasion.

    After the parade, the royal party will return to Buckingham Palace and watch an extended military flypast. A similar display had to be scaled back after the King’s coronation last month because of poor weather.

    Around 70 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force will take to the skies from 15 locations around the UK before converging to fly across the British capital, according to the Ministry of Defence. The impressive aerial presentation will include aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial flight, the C-130 Hercules on its final ceremonial flight, Typhoon fighter jets and culminate with a display from the famous RAF Red Arrows.

    “We are very proud to be able to showcase our capabilities to our Commander-in-Chief, on this historic occasion for His Majesty the King,” Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton said ahead of the event.

    “We have planned a fitting and appropriate tribute for our monarch, that should be a true spectacle for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”

    There will also be a 41-gun salute in nearby Green Park from The King’s Troop, with a second salute of 62 guns fired at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company, the City of London’s Army Reserves.

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  • The ‘climate kids’ want a court to force Montana’s state government to go green | CNN

    The ‘climate kids’ want a court to force Montana’s state government to go green | CNN

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    Helena, Montana
    CNN
     — 

    It’s a Big Sky story fit for a big screen.

    On one side: 16 kids from ranches, reservations and tourist boomtowns across Montana – a group of wannabe climate avengers ranging in age from 5 to 22 and assembled to fight for a livable planet.

    On the other side: Montana’s governor, attorney general and the Republican supermajorities of both houses, who may have lost a three-year fight to kill the nation’s first constitutional climate case before it hit court, but are still determined to let oil, gas and coal keep flowing for generations.

    The setting is a small courtroom in Helena and the whole plot pivots around the Montana constitution, widely considered the greenest in the nation.

    “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations,” reads Article 9, and those pivotal words “clean and healthful environment” are also guaranteed separately in the state’s bill of rights.

    “This case is about the equal rights of children,” attorney Roger Sullivan began in his opening argument in Held vs. Montana this week, “and their need now for extraordinary protection from the extraordinary dangers of fossil fuel pollution and climate crisis that their state government is exposing them to.”

    In the half-century since the environmental promises were added to the constitution, the Treasure State has never rejected a fossil fuel project for potential harm to air or water. And this spring, after a county judge cited the constitution in pulling the permit of a new gas-fired power plant, state leaders quickly crafted House Bill 971 to make it illegal for any state agency to analyze climate impacts when assessing large projects, like power plants, that need environmental review.

    In a region full of ranchers and farmers who depend on stable weather and the kind of National Park beauty that draws millions of outdoor enthusiasts a year, the bill created the most buzz by far in the May legislative session, drawing more than 1,000 comments.

    But while 95% of the comments were opposed, according to a legislature count, the bill passed.

    “Skinny cows and dead cattle,” Rikki Held said, when asked how drought changed her family’s Broadus ranch.

    Since she was the only plaintiff of legal age when the suit was filed, the historic case bears her name. Now finally on the stand, she described with emotion what it was like to work through smoke and ash on 110°F days. “We have the technology and knowledge,” said Held, now an environmental science major at Colorado College. “We just need empathy and willingness to do the right thing.”

    One after another, her fellow plaintiffs have testified how the effects of a warming planet are already causing them physical, emotional and financial pain. “You know, it’s really scary seeing what you care for disappear right in front of your eyes,” said Sariel, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, after describing how the loss of consistent snow affects everything from native plants to tribal traditions.

    “Do you believe the state of Montana has a responsibility to protect this land for you?” a lawyer asked Sariel, who, like the other children who were under 18 when the case was filed, is being referred to only by her first name. “Yes, I do,” she replied in a soft voice. “It’s not only written in our constitution, an inherent right to a healthy land and environment, but it’s also just about being a decent person.”

    “During the course of this trial, the court will hear lots of emotions,” Montana Assistant Attorney General Michael Russell said in his opening argument. “Lots of assumptions, accusations, speculation, prognostication … including sweeping, dramatic assertions of doom that awaits us all.” But this case is “far more boring,” Russell argued, and is little more than a show trial over statutes “devoid of any regulatory authority.”

    Montana’s population of 1.1 million is “simply too minuscule to make any difference in climate change,” Russell told the court, “which is a global issue that effectively relegates Montana’s role to that of a spectator.”

    Attorneys for the plaintiffs have tried to poke holes in this argument, pointing out Montana’s outsized energy footprint.

    On Thursday, Peter Erickson, a greenhouse gas emissions expert and witness for the plaintiffs, pointed out Montana has the sixth largest per-capita energy-related CO2 emissions in the nation – behind other big energy-producing states like Wyoming, West Virginia and Louisiana.

    “It’s significant. It’s disproportionately large, given Montana’s population,” Erickson said.

    While attorneys for the state objected when Rikki Held tried to connect her mental health to the climate crisis, they have largely saved cross-examination for the experts as the plaintiffs lay out their case.

    “If the judge ordered that we stop using fossil fuels in Montana would it get us to the point where these plaintiffs are no longer being harmed in your opinion?” Mark Stermitz, an attorney for the state, asked Steven Running, professor emeritus of ecosystem and conservation sciences at the University of Montana.

    “We can’t tell in advance,” said Running, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 as one of the scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Because what has been shown in history over and over and over again is when a significant social movement is needed, it often is started by one or two or three people.”

    Montana's state capitol building rises above Helena, even as it is dwarfed by mountains.

    The trial is set to conclude on June 23 and is being heard before Judge Kathy Seeley, with no jury. While Seeley has no power to shut down fossil fuel use or order the end of new extraction permits, a ruling against Montana could help kill the new law outlawing climate impact analysis and set a powerful precedent for similar cases winding their ways through the courts.

    “I think we’re really at a tipping point right now,” Our Children’s Trust attorney Nate Bellinger told CNN. The Oregon-based legal nonprofit has filed similar actions in all 50 states and will go to trial in September with a group of young Hawaiians suing their state’s transportation department, claiming it is allowing rampant tailpipe pollution. The group also supports the 21 young plaintiffs in Juliana vs. United States, who will get their day in federal court after amending their complaint that actions by the federal government have caused climate change and violated their constitutional rights.

    When the Ninth Circuit put the Juliana case back on track, 18 Republican-led states – including Montana – tried to intervene as defendants and take on the so-called Climate Kids but were rejected.

    It is likely the case will reach the US Supreme Court.

    Back in the Wild West days of 1889, Montana’s original constitution was written under the guidance of a copper baron named William Clark, who claimed that arsenic pollution from mining gave the women of Butte “a beautiful complexion.”

    But less than a century later, mining and logging had done obvious harm to the rivers, skies and mountainsides of “the last best place,” just as the movements for social change and environmental protection were sweeping the nation.

    This was the backdrop when in 1972, 100 Montanans from all walks of life gathered in the town of Last Chance Gulch to hammer out a new constitution with not a single active politician among them. Mae Nan Ellingson was the youngest delegate back then, and as the plaintiffs set out to establish the intent behind “a clean and healthful environment for present and future generations,” she became the first witness in Held vs. Montana.

    “It was important, I think, for this constitution to make it clear that citizens could enforce their right to a clean environment and not wait until the pollution or the damage had been done,” she testified.

    The Montana Supreme Court agreed with her in a 1999 ruling and the majority wrote, “Our constitution does not require that dead fish float on the surface of our state’s rivers and streams before its farsighted environmental protections can be invoked.”

    Claire Vlases, one of the young plaintiffs, is hopeful the court will check the power of the legislature.

    Regardless of the verdict, it is likely that Held vs. Montana will end up in Montana’s Supreme Court, but for plaintiffs like Claire Vlases who are too young to vote, that will be just fine.

    “I just recently graduated high school, but I think that’s something everyone knows is that we have three branches of government for a reason,” she said, sitting by the river that runs through her Bozeman yard. “The judicial branch is there to keep a check on the other two branches. And that’s what we’re doing here.”

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  • Ukraine loses 16 US-made armored vehicles, group says, but Kyiv’s forces still gain territory | CNN

    Ukraine loses 16 US-made armored vehicles, group says, but Kyiv’s forces still gain territory | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Ukraine has lost 16 US-supplied armored vehicles in the past several days, according to open-source intelligence analysis, as the country’s military announced its forces had captured three villages from Russia in an offensive in the eastern Donetsk region.

    The 16 US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles either destroyed or damaged and abandoned in recent days represent almost 15% of the 109 that Washington has given Kyiv, according to Jakub Janovsky of the Dutch open-source intelligence website Oryx, which has been collecting visual evidence of military equipment losses in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on February 24, 2022.

    The Bradley fighting vehicle, which moves on tracks rather than wheels, can hold around 10 troops and is used to transport personnel into battle while providing supporting fire.

    When the first batch of more than 60 Bradleys were sent to Ukraine at the end of January, US Army Lt. Col. Rebecca D’Angelo, commander of the Army’s 841st Transportation Battalion, said the armored vehicles would be important to Kyiv’s offensive operations.

    “This is going to hopefully enhance their capabilities to provide forward advancement in the battlefield and regain lost ground, by having equipment that matches or exceeds what the Russians have,” D’Angelo said in a US Army report.

    But when Washington announced in January it would supply to Bradleys to Ukraine, CNN military analyst James “Spider” Marks, a retired general, said the Bradleys would need the right mix of other abilities, including air support, long-range artillery and incisive intelligence.

    “A single piece of equipment like the Bradleys is wonderful, but it needs to be used in conjunction with all those other enablers,” he said at the time.

    Air support is one area where Ukraine’s military is lacking, although Kyiv’s forces are expected to get F-16 multirole fighter jets from Western allies in the future.

    Despite the loss of the Bradleys, analysts said it doesn’t necessarily portend problems for Ukraine’s effort to push back Russian invaders.

    “Given the size of the front, and intensity of fighting I would expect such losses,” said Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.

    Ukraine “is attacking across four main lines of advance in order to force Russia to commit its reserves. A necessary but costly approach,” Drummond said.

    But he also echoed Marks’ comments from January.

    “I’d like to see the use of armor accompanied by more artillery fire and combat aircraft. You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs,” Drummond said.

    Drummond and others also pointed out a positive sign for Ukraine in its losses of Western armored vehicles.

    “We are not seeing catastrophic damage. This suggests that the vehicles are doing their job and the crews are escaping,” he said.

    And Janovsky, from Oryx, said the Bradleys might not be lost for good.

    “Most of those vehicles are just damaged and abandoned, so it might be possible to recover and repair them if Ukraine takes the area,” he said.

    The Bradleys are among almost 3,600 pieces of military equipment Ukraine has lost in the war, according to Oryx. Meanwhile, the website says it has documented the loss of more than 10,600 pieces of Russian military equipment.

    In a statement in Monday, Moscow claimed it had destroyed multiple Ukrainian armored vehicles in the Zaporizhzhia region.

    “Enemy armored forces are currently launching more and more attacks in the [Zaporizhzhia] direction. However, Russian anti-tank troops stand in their way, cold-bloodedly turning Western armored vehicles into scrap heaps,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

    The statement did not say what kind of vehicles were destroyed.

    Despite the loss of the Bradleys, Ukraine reports it has taken back at least three villages from Russian forces in fighting over the weekend.

    Ukraine’s advance south from the front-line town of Velyka Novosilke in the Donetsk region now stretches somewhere between 5 and 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles), according to information released by Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.

    Writing on Telegram Sunday evening, Maliar said the village of Makrivka had been recaptured from Russian control – the third in a string of settlements that sit along the Mokri Yaly River to be declared liberated by Ukrainian forces over the course of the day.

    Earlier, videos emerged showing soldiers hoisting the Ukrainian flag from buildings in Neskuchne and Blahodatne.

    CNN military analyst Mark Hertling said the situation was positive for Ukraine from both morale and battlefield perspectives.

    “It reinforces the fact that they are moving forward,” Hertling told CNN’s Jim Acosta.

    Meanwhile, “every single piece of land Ukrainian forces can pull back to their sovereign territory is going to be part of a march toward operational success,” Hertling said.

    Reporting on developments, Russian military bloggers offered a pessimistic assessment of the situation facing the Kremlin’s forces in the area. The Rybar Telegram channel suggested late Sunday that Ukraine’s offensive looked set to continue, adding that Russian forces “should expect the pressure to intensify in the near future.”

    Fighting is taking place near the village of Urozhaine, slightly further down the river, Rybar reported. The channel added that heavy cloud and rain were also limiting Russian forces’ ability to use drones to repel the Ukrainian advance.

    A Ukrainian army spokesman said Russian forces had blown up a dam on the river, adding that there was flooding on both banks but saying it “would not affect our counteroffensive actions.”

    On Monday, Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up another small dam along the border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, near the village of Novodarivka.

    Floodwaters spilled over both banks of the Mokri Yaly River after the dam of a small reservoir near the village was destroyed, according to Ukraine’s Military Media Center.

    Novodarivka is one of several villages in the area that Kyiv’s troops have claimed in recent days.

    In its most recent battlefield roundup, Russia’s Ministry of Defense made no mention of retreats but said its forces had “destroyed the concentrations of manpower and equipment” of three Ukrainian brigades operating in the same area.

    Further west, in neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Russian airstrikes and artillery fire by the Vostok brigade had succeeded in pushing back three Ukrainian advances south of Orikhiv, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

    Meanwhile, a Ukrainian army spokesman told CNN that Kyiv’s forces have been counterattacking around the eastern city of Bakhmut for a week but downplayed its importance saying, “this is not a major offensive.”

    “These are counterattacks where we take advantage of the fact that the enemy is rotating, that the enemy has not fully reconnoitered, has not fully coordinated its units, has not fully dug in. We take advantage of this and counterattack them,” Serhii Cherevatyi told CNN by phone.

    He said Russian forces continue their shelling towards Ukrainian positions but said Ukraine’s forces had advanced up to two kilometers (1.25 miles) in places.

    Cherevatyi said Russia’s presence in Bakhmut was maintained by airborne troops, with support from infantry personnel and mercenaries from several smaller private military companies.

    While Russian forces continue to hold the city, Ukraine’s forces have concentrated their efforts on areas to the northwest and southwest.

    Hertling noted that Ukraine has been using a “deep-strike capability” to disrupt Russian supply lines well back from the front lines.

    “Ukraine has been very good in terms of striking deep targets that effect the logistics support,” Hertling said.

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  • ‘Pretending to live a civilian life’: How pro-Ukrainian residents of occupied Melitopol feel daily fear | CNN

    ‘Pretending to live a civilian life’: How pro-Ukrainian residents of occupied Melitopol feel daily fear | CNN

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    Kyiv
    CNN
     — 

    Editor’s note: The southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol has long been known for its sweet delights. The name “Melitopol” means “the Honey City” in Ukrainian and the city’s official logo features a cherry, a nod to the deep red fruit the region is famous for.

    But life in Melitopol is anything but sweet. The city was captured by Russian troops shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Pro-Ukrainian partisans have remained active in the city, orchestrating several attacks against the pro-Russian administration installed in the place of its elected leaders. The Zaporizhzhia region in which the city lies is partially occupied by Russia and was illegally annexed last September.

    Below is the account of a Melitopol resident in her early 30s who has refused to flee the city and is living under Russian occupation. CNN is not naming her because of concerns for her safety. Her testimony was translated from Ukrainian and edited for brevity. 

    There is terror in Melitopol. But it’s quiet, you don’t see it in the streets.

    For partisans, the situation here is terrible. For those of us who rejected Russian passports and are now known as “the unreliable,” the situation is terrible. But if you go to the market, you wouldn’t think that anything is going on.

    The Russians are trying to force everyone here to get Russian passports. It’s easier to manipulate people when they have Russian citizenship. Not getting the passports makes our life very difficult. They are refusing to give us access to hospitals and so on. We are a family of farmers and we are losing our land because we don’t have any Russian documents.

    I’m afraid I will eventually have to get it. But we are delaying this moment. One relative went to the office and the queues were huge because everyone was intimidated into getting a passport. The process has sped up. Previously, you had to wait a month or two, but now they can print a passport in a week.

    Everyone was given cash welfare payments until February, but starting in March, only people with Russian passports get them. That’s why many pensioners started getting passports now because there was no need for it before. Disabled people, people on low incomes, and those who wanted to use free healthcare took the passports immediately after the Russians started offering them, because they didn’t want to lose the benefits.

    All in all, a large percentage of the population already has Russian passports. If you don’t, you’re a black sheep, and you can be subject to a frisking.

    Here in Melitopol, searches are usually conducted after shelling and after guerrilla attacks on pro-Russian collaborators. My grandmother’s house was searched because a Russian soldier deserted when he was in the village. They searched the houses in the village, trying to find him.

    The people who remained in Melitopol can be divided into several categories. There are those who are basically satisfied with the current pro-Russian government. There are those who don’t care and who would support whoever gives them more money in cash payments.  

    Those who stayed mostly support the pro-Russian government. They are convinced that it is here to stay.  

    Obviously, there are also Ukrainian patriots, those of us waiting for Ukraine to win this war. We whisper to each other in the market. You can tell that someone is supporting Ukraine at the market when you ask for high quality produce. Vendors start cursing Russia because they now have to choose between selling bad products and worse products.

    There are still a lot of partisans, God bless them, but we are in the minority. Most of the Ukrainian patriots have left, especially those who actively participated in rallies, because there was a direct threat to their lives.

    Our neighbor turned us in for supporting Ukraine, but we are not being touched, at least not yet. My neighbor works for the new government and she knows that we actively opposed Russia during the first phase of the war.

    I think we will be issued some kind of document that they give to “the unreliable” which says we have refused the passports. This means nothing except showing that we refused to take Russian passports. It’s a temporary certificate of non-citizens, but you either take this piece of paper or you have to leave Melitopol. So, we are going to take it.

    Until April, it was possible to move freely throughout the occupied zone without documents. Now you need a Russian passport or the non-citizen document, but they keep issuing warnings and saying that you need to get a Russian passport by June or you will not be allowed to leave.

    People here are encouraged to send their children to summer camps in Crimea, like they were last year. Some parents on our street voluntarily sent their children to Crimea for a month and the children came back. But our neighbors, who have since left for Germany, did not want to send their son to a Russian school or to a camp, and it was okay. Their son stayed at home all year, studying online at a Ukrainian school. Children are not taken away by force here. You have to understand that parents send them there voluntarily.

    In this file photo, Russian passports are being issued to residents in the occupied city of Melitopol.

    It’s true that the occupiers are worried about the counteroffensive. The mood in the city has changed dramatically over the past month, from “Melitopol is forever with Russia” to thinking where and how they will build defense lines.

    Of course, this is just what the ordinary soldiers in the city are saying, but there is no longer that victorious mood. I feel that something is going to happen here soon. Ukrainian hryvnias are being bought up in the market, and farmers are refusing to sell their products, because they are waiting to give it to Ukraine. And all the neighbors who are in favor of Russia have stopped communicating with us, because they are no longer sure that Russia will stay here forever and are afraid to talk.

    There are more or less no problems with getting food. There is no variety, but there are no shortages either. The standards and packaging have completely changed since the invasion started. Butter that is made at the same factory tastes so bad now that we don’t know what to do to mask the taste.

    Everything that is imported from Russia contains palm oil. That’s not an exaggeration, the ingredient list of a candy lists palm oil three times. It’s in everything. Sausages, cheese, candy, cookies, butter.

    But the biggest problem is with medicines and household goods, as well as baby food. Russia doesn’t have good quality medicines and there is no choice. You go to a pharmacy and they give you one option, take it or leave it. People inquire about medicines for 10 minutes and in the end, they only have iodine. A woman in front of me was trying to buy Nestlé baby food, but the price was out of this world. She ended up buying some Russian-made equivalent.

    My mother and grandmother have diabetes. The Russian medicines have the same active ingredient but they affect them in completely different ways. They have different dosages and excipients and my mother and grandmother started feeling much worse when they began taking them. We received some Ukrainian medicines from Ukraine through Crimea, enough for a month and a half.

    The cynicism of doctors and pharmacists here is overwhelming. No one says anything directly. We call the war a “situation” here. So, they just answer: “Well, this is the situation, if you need it, go to Ukraine or Europe.” When I told the doctor that I needed specific medication, I was told to go to the city of Zaporizhzhia to buy it. And just so you understand, to go to Zaporizhzhia, you have to go via Moscow. That’s the only way.

    A Russian flag flies in the occupied city of Melitopol on October 13, 2022.

    In Russia, they don’t have the same standards and regulations for products. Nothing like that. Russian soaps, shampoos, and toothpastes are of terrible quality. Belarusian ones are a little better, and the best option for us here is Turkish shampoo. There are a lot of Chinese and Turkish products on the market. Russian and Chinese products are of the worst quality, while Belarusian and Turkish products are more or less okay, but more expensive.

    The problem is that only the military here have a lot of money, and often they buy everything decent. The rumours that Russians themselves do not want to buy Russian products are true. Until September, Ukrainian products were smuggled to Melitopol and the Russian military bought everything themselves. Soldiers stood in line in front of me and asked for Ukrainian socks and soap. Now there are no Ukrainian goods anymore.

    Everyone is pretending to live a civilian life. There’s no talk of evacuation. People are used to the explosions and to the fact that from time to time there are burnt-out cars of pro-Russian collaborators on the main street. People are used to the fact that Russian troops and authorities can come to your house and kick you out.

    People have gotten used to everything over the year.

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  • The six most serious allegations in the 37-count, classified-documents indictment against Donald Trump

    The six most serious allegations in the 37-count, classified-documents indictment against Donald Trump

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    The federal criminal indictment against former-president Donald Trump alleging he illegally kept classified documents after leaving the White House reads like a textbook manual on how not to handle top-secret files.

    Federal prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office detail a litany of alleged missteps, willful obfuscation and breaches of security in how Trump stored, shared and even tried to hide from investigators what he had taken with him when he left office in 2020.

    On Friday, a federal judge in Florida unsealed the 37-count indictment against Trump on charges of willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, scheming to conceal and making false statements and representations.

    Trump has insisted he is innocent and has vowed to fight in court. 

    Here are six of the most serious allegations contained in the 49-page indictment:

    1. The most secret of secrets 

    Prosecutors were vague about exactly what kind of classified information was contained in the files Trump allegedly retained upon leaving office, but they did provide broad descriptions of what type of material was there, including sensitive details about national defense. 

    Other categories included:

    • White House intelligence briefings about foreign countries

    • Details about the military capabilities of certain foreign countries

    • Information on the nuclear capabilities of a foreign country

    • Documents detailing communications with the leader of a foreign country

    • Military contingency planning by the United States

    • Details of U.S. nuclear weapons

    • Documents detailing plans of an attack in a foreign country

    2. Don’t mind those boxes

    Prosecutors allege that Trump was extremely careless in how he stored dozens of boxes which contained hundreds of classified documents that he took with him from the White House to his residence at the Mar-a-Lago social club in Palm Beach, Fla. 

    At various points over the two years Trump kept the papers, the boxes were kept on a stage in a public ballroom, in a bathroom and shower, his home office, his bedroom and an unsecured storage room adjacent to a closet where bottles of liquor were stored.

    In one episode, a Trump staffer found a stack of boxes had fallen over in the storage room, spilling documents marked as classified onto the floor.

    3. Hey, check these out

    On at least two occasions, Trump showed off certain classified documents to people who lacked any kind of security clearance, including a writer working on a book and a representative of a political action committee.

    In July 2021, prosecutors say Trump whipped out a classified document detailing a proposed plan of attack on a foreign country.

    “Look what I found, this was [the senior military official’s] plan of attack, read it and just show … it’s interesting,” Trump was recorded as saying, according to the indictment. 

    “It is like, highly confidential,” he allegedly said. “Secret. This is secret information.”

    Two months later, Trump allegedly showed a classified map of a foreign country where fighting is ongoing to a representative of his political action committee. Trump noted that “he should not be showing the map,” and warned the official “not to get too close.”

    4. Can’t we just keep this stuff?

    After receiving subpoenas demanding he return all the classified material he had taken with him, Trump asked his lawyers if they could just not send it all back, or tell the government that they went through all the boxes and hadn’t found anything.

    “Well, what if we, what happens if we don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them?” Trump is quoted as saying by federal prosecutors.

    “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we didn’t have anything here?” Trump asked, according to the indictment.

    “Well look, isn’t it better if there are no documents?” he further asked, the court documents claimed.

    Later, after Trump’s lawyers had gone through the boxes and uncovered dozens of classified documents, Trump allegedly asked if they could just make anything really damning disappear, the court filing said.

    “He made a funny motion as though —well okay, why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there is anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out. And that was the motion he made. He didn’t say that,” one of the lawyers, who was not named in the filing, was quoted as telling prosecutors.

    5. Documents from many sensitive agencies

    The documents investigators recovered came from a wide gamut of U.S. government agencies, the indictment said, including:

    • The CIA

    • Department of Defense

    • The National Security Agency

    • The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency

    • The National Reconnaissance Office

    • The Department of Energy

    • The Department of State

    6. If my lawyers don’t know about it …

    Prosecutors say that Trump purposefully worked with his personal valet to hide boxes of documents from his own lawyers as they worked to return classified material to the government.

    During a 10-day period in the late spring of 2021, prosecutors say Trump’s valet, Waltine Nauta, moved 64 boxes from a storage room to Trump’s office for him to go through before his lawyers could examine them. Prosecutors say Nauta later moved just 30 boxes back to the storage for the lawyers to sift through. Some of those boxes were later sent to Trump’s other home in Bedminster, N.J.

    Nauta has also been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheming to conceal and making false statements or representations.

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  • Dozens of NATO peacekeepers injured during clashes in northern Kosovo | CNN

    Dozens of NATO peacekeepers injured during clashes in northern Kosovo | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At least 34 soldiers of NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo were injured during clashes with protesters in the northern part of the country Monday, according to the Italian defense ministry.

    Tensions have risen in the past week after ethnically Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo, a majority Kosovo Serb area, following April elections that Kosovo Serbs had boycotted.

    NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) said the recent developments prompted them to increase their presence in northern Kosovo on Monday morning, which they later said turned violent.

    The Italian defense ministry said 14 of its KFOR peacekeeping soldiers were injured when protesters threw “Molotov cocktails, with nails, firecrackers and stones inside.”

    Hungarian and Moldovan soldiers were also among the injured peacekeeping troops, according to the Italian defense ministry.

    “Italian and Hungarian KFOR contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices,” it said, adding that KFOR medical units treated the soldiers.

    Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her sympathy for the Italian KFOR soldiers injured in the clashes, adding in a statement, “What is happening is absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible. We will not tolerate further attacks on KFOR.”

    Meanwhile, Nemanja Starović, Serbian State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, offered a different version of events than what was outlined by NATO countries. He said “many” protesters were injured in the clashes and accused KFOR of using flash grenades when the “peaceful” protesters had “decided to disperse and continue the protest tomorrow morning.”

    Kosovo, which is mainly ethnically Albanian, won independence from Serbia in 2008. But Serbia still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory as do the Serbs living in northern Kosovo.

    NATO has troops stationed in Kosovo to maintain peace, with tensions often flaring between Serbia and Kosovo.

    The NATO-led multi-national contingents had been deployed to four municipalities in the region to contain “violent demonstrations” as “newly elected mayors in recent days tried to take office,” KFOR said in a statement.

    On Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić put the armed forces on the highest level of combat readiness. That decision followed Kosovo police clashing with protesters who tried to block a newly elected ethnic Albanian mayor from entering their office.

    On Monday, barbed wire had been put around a municipal administration building in the municipality of Leposavić, with KFOR troops reported to be wearing anti-riot gear, CNN affiliate N1 reported. It added that Kosovo police special units erected a fence near the municipal administration building in the town of Zvecan.

    Kosovo police say protesters had shown violence on Monday as they gathered in the municipalities of “Leposaviq, Zubin Potok and Zveqan.” Police added that in front of a facility in Zvecan, protesters had thrown tear gas and “tried to cross the security cordons to enter into the municipality facility by force.”

    Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić described KFOR’s increased presence in northern Kosovo on Monday as “belated” and said “the task of this international mission was to protect the interests and peace of the people in Kosovo and Metohija, not the usurpers.”

    Brnabić said the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is “tense and difficult” and said, “It has never been more difficult.” Brnabić also expressed her “gratitude to Serbs in the province for remaining calm and refraining from violence.”

    Meanwhile, the United States ambassador to Kosovo, Jeff Hovenier, condemned “violent actions” by protesters, citing the use of explosives.

    The European Union Ambassador to Kosovo, Tomáš Szunyog, also condemned actions by protesters, citing damage to media vehicles.

    Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, also spoke about the situation on Monday, describing it as a “large eruption is brewing up in the center of Europe.”

    Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong title for Nemanja Starović. He is the state secretary in Serbia’s Ministry of Defence.

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  • Ukrainians claim to have destroyed large Russian warship in Berdiansk | CNN

    Ukrainians claim to have destroyed large Russian warship in Berdiansk | CNN

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    Lviv, Ukraine
    CNN
     — 

    Ukrainian armed forces on Friday identified a large Russian landing ship that they said they destroyed at the port of Berdiansk in southern Ukraine the day before.

    The port, which had recently been occupied by Russian forces with several Russian warships in dock, was rocked by a series of heavy explosions soon after dawn on Thursday.

    Social media videos showed fires raging at the dockside, with a series of secondary explosions reverberating across the city.

    The Ukrainian armed forces on Friday named the ship as the “Saratov.” In earlier reporting, the ship was named as the “Orsk.”

    In a statement, the armed forces said: “In the Azov operational zone, according to updated information, a large landing ship “Saratov” was destroyed during the attack on the occupied Berdiansk port. Large landing ships “Caesar Kunikov” and “Novocherkassk” were [also] damaged. Other losses of the enemy are being clarified.”

    Several Russian ships had been unloading military equipment at Berdiansk in recent days, according to reports from the port by Russian media outlets.

    The United States said that Ukraine likely did conduct a successful attack against Russian ships in Berdiansk, according to a defense official, though it is unclear what type of weapon or weapons were used in the attack. It echoes a similar statement from the British Ministry of Defence, which said that Ukrainian forces have attacked “high value targets” in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including a landing ship and ammunition depots at Berdiansk.

    Analysis of videos uploaded on Thursday showed that one Russian naval vessel left the port soon after the explosions.

    A screengrab of the fire.

    The Russian Ministry of Defense has made no official comment about the explosion.

    Berdiansk sits on the Azov Sea and is roughly 45 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Mariupol. The city has a small naval base and a population of about 100,000.

    Russian military troops first occupied Berdiansk government buildings on February 27, three days after Russia’s invasion began.

    Mariupol still eludes Russian control despite being surrounded and mercilessly pummeled, block by block, by Russian firepower.

    Its defenders rejected an ultimatum to surrender by Monday morning, thwarting a Russian effort to finalize a land bridge linking Crimea with the separatist republics of the eastern Donbas region.

    Russia has fired on Mariupol from the Sea of Azov, according to a senior US defense official, using a group of approximately seven ships to launch attacks on the critical coastal city.

    Further west, Ukrainians have been fighting to take back the city of Kherson, as well as pushing Russian forces from the northeast of Mykolaiv, forcing them to reposition south of the city, a senior US defense official said Tuesday.

    The official cautioned that the US cannot say whether these moves are part of a “larger operational plan” by the Ukrainians, but called the Ukrainian defense “nimble” and “agile.”

    This story has been updated with new information from Ukrainian officials.

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  • Investigation launched after death of Navy Seal candidate prompts overhaul of how ‘Hell Week’ training course is monitored | CNN Politics

    Investigation launched after death of Navy Seal candidate prompts overhaul of how ‘Hell Week’ training course is monitored | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Inadequate medical screening and uninformed medical staff contributed to the death of a Navy SEAL candidate hours after he had completed a brutal part of the training course known as “Hell Week,” a Navy investigation found.

    The investigation prompted an overhaul of how the Navy monitors one of the military’s most brutal and demanding processes.

    It found that the medical support for the Basic Underwater Demolition/Sea Air and Land course was “poorly organized, poorly integrated, and poorly led,” wrote Rear Adm. Peter Garvin, the commander of Naval Education and Training Command. The lack of proper medical care “put candidates at significant risk.”

    Garvin also said that additional accountability measures are necessary in the wake of the failures that contributed to Mullen’s death. According to a Navy official, Garvin recommended considering accountability actions against approximately 10 people. A Navy regional legal service office is reviewing the investigation and will make recommendations about accountability, the official said, after which the command will decide what actions to take.

    The training and selection course is designed to push SEAL candidates to the limit and beyond, creating an environment where only the most qualified and capable will finish, but Garvin said there must still be “effective risk management” to prevent injuries and illness during the high-risk training.

    In February 2022, Navy SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen had just completed Hell Week and underwent a final medical check before he went to rest at his barracks. The investigation found Mullen had suffered respiratory issues during the arduous training, but information about the symptoms was not passed on to the Navy’s medical clinic, leading them to conclude he was not at risk.

    Eight hours later, Mullen was pronounced dead.

    In the hours before his death, Mullen was coughing up an “orange-red fluid” and having trouble breathing, according to the investigation. Even as he repeatedly refused advanced medical care, he appeared to be choking on his words and gasping for air as if he was drowning. But the personnel assigned to check on Mullen and other SEAL candidates, known as watch standers, had no medical or emergency care training.

    Candidates going through Hell Week are normally given a form of penicillin called Bicillin at the start of the course to reduce the risk of bacterial pneumonia. But the investigation found Mullen never received the preventative medicine, likely because there was a shortage at the time.

    In the end, the investigation found “failures across multiple systems” that put candidates at a high risk of serious injury, Garvin wrote.

    “Our effectiveness as the navy’s maritime special operations force necessitates demanding, high-risk training,” said Rear Adm. Keith Davids, the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, at the conclusion of the investigation. “While rigorous and intensely demanding, our training must be conducted with an unwavering commitment to safety and methodical precision.”

    In October, following a separate investigation that focused specifically on Mullen’s death, the Navy took administrative actions against the former commanding officer of Basic Training Command, Capt. Bradley Geary; the commander of Naval Special Warfare Center, Capt. Brian Drechsler; and senior medical staff under their command. An administrative action is typically in the form of a letter to the service member instructing them on correcting deficient performance.

    Earlier this month, Drechsler was removed from his job two months early.

    Following Mullen’s death, the Navy revamped how it handles medical screening during the training and selection process. The Navy bolstered medical oversight during and after the Hell Week course, requiring medical screenings every 24 hours.

    Candidates now recover from the course in a center located very close to the medical clinic, allowing more thorough observation at a critical time, and the leading watch stander is a qualified high-risk instructor. In addition, a medical officer must be at the Naval Special Warfare Center Medical Department during all of Hell Week to evaluate candidates going through the course.

    The investigation also looked at how to handle the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during the course. In September, a naval special warfare senior officer who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity said there is “beyond a reasonable doubt that a significant portion of the candidate population is utilizing a wide range of performance enhancing drugs.”

    A search of Mullen’s car after his death found packages labeled “Big Genes Recombinant Human Growth Hormone” and “Testosterone Cypionate,” a type of steroid. But Mullen was not tested after his death for the PEDs because of the need for a blood and urine sample.

    Other members of Mullen’s class told investigators they felt there was an implicit endorsement of the use of PEDs after an instructor told the candidates, “Don’t use PEDs, it’s cheating, and you don’t need them. And whatever you do, don’t get caught with them in your barracks room.”

    After Mullen’s death, the Navy received from the Defense Department an expanded authority to test Naval Special Warfare Candidates for PEDs. All candidates going through the SEALs course and the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman course are subject to random drug testing.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • Russia’s Wagner group claims to have captured Bakhmut but Ukraine says it still controls a part of it | CNN

    Russia’s Wagner group claims to have captured Bakhmut but Ukraine says it still controls a part of it | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The chief of the Russian private military group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed Saturday that his forces have taken complete control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after months of brutal fighting.

    “The operation to capture Bakhmut lasted 224 days,” he said in a video posted to Telegram, seeking to claim a final victory in the city.

    CNN could not independently verify Prigozhin’s claim, but an initial response from the Ukrainian side disputed it.

    Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, in a Telegram post less than an hour after the Russian mercenary’s claim was published, admitted the situation in Bakhmut was “critical” but said Ukrainian troops were still “holding the defense” in a district on Bakhmut’s western-most edge.

    “As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector,” she said.

    While Russian forces have continued their slow street-by-street advance in the city itself for many months, over the last two weeks Ukrainian forces have managed to re-capture small pockets of territory held by Russian troops to the northwest and southwest of the city.

    In confirmed, for Russia Bakhmut’s capture would mark the country’s first gain in months, but the city’s symbolism always outweighed its strategic importance.

    Russian forces, bolstered by members of the Wagner mercenary group, have taken heavy losses trying to capture the city.

    There are no official casualty figures, but earlier this year a Nato source told CNN they estimated that for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut, Russia lost five.

    The battle has also highlighted an extraordinary rift among Russian forces, with Prigozhin at one point accusing a Russian brigade of abandoning its position in the city and railing several times at the Defense Ministry over a lack of ammunition.

    Over the early part of 2023, the routes into Bakhmut had gradually come under the control of Russian forces and the battle for the city turned into an inch-by-inch grind, with Ukrainian forces repelling dozens of assaults each day.

    Rather than drive directly towards the city center, Wagner troops sought to encircle the city in a wide arc from the north.

    In January they claimed the nearby town of Soledar, and later took a string of villages and hamlets north of Bakhmut, making Ukraine’s defense of the city increasingly perilous.

    But even as Moscow’s troops closed in and most residents fled through dangerous evacuation corridors, a small group of Ukrainian civilians remained in the ruined city. Before the war, around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut. As of March it stood at less than 4,000.

    The battle has been likened to the kind of fighting seen in World War One. Pictures from the area showed soldiers wading through mud with trees mangled by artillery fire.

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  • Eyeball to eyeball: Estonia stares down Russia | CNN

    Eyeball to eyeball: Estonia stares down Russia | CNN

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    Tallinn, Estonia
    CNN
     — 

    In 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and began fomenting conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas region, there was a short phrase that captured the fear that Moscow would try to grab still more territory, this time in Estonia: “Is Narva next?”

    Narva, Estonia, a city of 60,000 people, is as close as you can get to Russia in Europe. It sits high on the western bank of the Narva River, its 13th-century castle proudly flying the blue, black and white flag of Estonia. On the opposite bank stands Ivangorod, population roughly 10,000, with its 15th century fortress, atop which flutters the red, blue and white flag of Russia.

    Between them stretches a bridge straight out of a Cold War movie, fortified with chain link fences and barbed wire, the route that Russian tanks might take to invade Estonia – or so the theory goes. So far, however, Russian tanks have not rolled over the bridge and Estonia, a small nation of 1.3 million people but a staunch member of NATO, is intent on making sure that never happens.

    At Tapa military base, Estonia’s largest, a two-hour drive west from Narva, “Spring Storm” is under way, a large NATO military exercise with approximately 14,000 troops from 11 countries, testing the preparedness and interoperability of Estonia’s flagship 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades with NATO troops from Denmark, France, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Britain and the US.

    One day before the Lennart Meri security conference began in the capital Tallinn – an annual meeting of political leaders, military figures and academics – I joined a group of journalists observing preparations for the exercises.

    At one staging area, French Foreign Legion soldiers in fierce green camouflage face paint showed us France’s AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicle (dubbed the “Tank Destroyer”) that’s being used in Ukraine. Next to it – a Caesar self-propelled howitzer with its 155mm 52 caliber gun that can shoot 40 kilometers (25 miles.) We hopped a bus to another part of the base see Wildcat and Apache attack helicopters flown in by British pilots the day before.

    “Estonia has a bad neighbor,” Major General Veiko-Vello Palm, Deputy Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, tells us. Readiness is key, he said. ‘We won’t have much warning.”

    And if Russia tries to invade? “Let them try,” he added with a wry grin.

    At last year’s Lennart Meri Conference, which took place just eleven weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the mood among the Estonian experts, including government officials, military officers and diplomats, was a respectful but firm: “We told you so:” Told you that Russia would invade. Told you that Moscow has long-term hostile strategic goals. Told you that Vladimir Putin won’t stop with Ukraine.

    This year, with NATO united, Estonia’s neighbor Finland joining the defense alliance and Sweden expected to follow suit, with Russian forces suffering devastating casualties in Ukraine, the mood in Tallinn among many European and American participants was confident, but the Estonians remain cautious. “The times aren’t going to be easier for us in the near future,” Major General Palm warned. “Russia’s threat is not getting smaller.”

    Vladimir Putin has a bigger goal than Ukraine, Estonian officials say: to dissolve the rules-based world order and as long as that’s the goal, Russia will remain the most dangerous immediate and long-term threat to the West.

    “We know the Russians and Russian know us,” one official told us. “We watch them, and they watch us. We think we know roughly what makes them tick.”

    Like parts of Ukraine, Estonia was illegally annexed and occupied by the Soviet Union. Thousands of Estonians died after being loaded onto cattle cars and exiled to Siberia.

    Estonians at the conference were adamant: Unless Russia is utterly defeated in Ukraine, there is no reason to expect Putin will change his strategic objective. Their NATO allies, they said, are still operating on several “myths” about the war. Like the idea that this is “Putin’s war.” It’s not, the Estonian Ministry of Defense claims in a discussion paper. In spite of massive Russian casualties on the battlefield, there’s widespread support for the war among the Russian public. “The imperialist mindset is historically rooted in Russia,” the authors argue.

    “Russia has never been a democratic country and is unlikely to become one…Russia’s leadership has been preparing the society for a large-scale war with the West for the past 20 years…Even if Putin were stopped, the next man in line would not be any different, because Russia is not any different.”

    The military exercises took place at Tapa military base, Estonia's largest, a two-hour drive west from Narva.

    Estonian Defense officials insist that its allies are still too cautious, afraid of “uncontrollable escalation,” wary that Putin will retaliate with nuclear weapons. That, the Estonians maintain, allows Russia not only to control escalation but to control the West’s strategy. “War of attrition is a very heavy price for perceived strategic stability,” they say. “Going forward, we must strive to refrain from paralyzing self-deterrence and excessive fear of escalation.”

    The first day of the conference I grabbed a seat at a standing-room only discussion with Russian journalists who fled Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine. They’ve been living in the Baltic nations, in Georgia, Germany and the Netherlands, unsure when – or even if – they will be able to go home. As usual with Russians, the discussion quickly turns philosophical.

    “The repression has grown so great,” says one TV journalist. “There’s something deeply wrong with my country,” says another, “there’s a total rejection of political responsibility…We all are hostages of a madman.”

    One journalist, as Russians often do, tells a Soviet-era joke: Communist party leader Leonid Brezhnev announces that tomorrow, the state will start to execute people. “Any questions?” he asks. “Should we bring the rope?” pipes up one timid person.

    Many Russians have been de-politicized by the Kremlin. “They simply don’t have any opinion on the war,” one journalist explains. “It’s like North Korea.” Russians are confused, torn, not even asking themselves whether they support the war or not. They tune out news, focusing on everyday concerns.

    One day before the Lennart Meri conference, a group of journalists observed preparations for military exercises.

    Several Russians at the conference said they feel personally responsible for the horrors Russia is unleashing on Ukraine. “We will have to pay for it for many years to come,” one said. Russia has never confronted even its Soviet past, they all agreed, and there’s little likelihood it will examine, let alone atone for what it now is doing to Ukraine.

    What’s more, Vladimir Putin is winning support for the war from so-called “swing states” and nations in the Global South.

    Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former senior director for European and Russian affairs at the US National Security Council, gave the keynote address and engaged in a kind of virtual debate with Putin, insisting this is not, as he argues, a “proxy war” between the US or the “collective West” and Russia. The Ukraine war, she said, “is now effectively the reverse—a proxy for a rebellion by Russia and the ‘Rest’ against the United States.”

    Russia, she said, “has cleverly exploited deep-seated international resistance, and in some cases open challenges, to continued American leadership of global institutions.” The so-called “Rest” of the world “seek to cut the U.S. down to a different size in their neighborhoods and exert more influence in global affairs. They want to decide, not be told what’s in their interest.”

    This year at the Lennart Meri conference the Estonians aren’t saying “We told you so.”

    But, in the conference halls in Tallinn, and at the Tapa military base, they are adamant that Russia must be held accountable for its crimes in Ukraine as well as deterred from any further aggression. It’s vital for security in Europe, and in the world, they say, and for the Estonian nation’s survival. They know they will have to live with their big neighbor to the east for a very long time.

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  • Wagner boss steps up his online tantrum as Bakhmut battle rages. What does it mean? | CNN

    Wagner boss steps up his online tantrum as Bakhmut battle rages. What does it mean? | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    What’s eating Yevgeny Prigozhin?

    In recent days, the boss of the Russian private military company Wagner seems to have gone into social-media meltdown, flooding his Telegram channel and other accounts with ever-more outrageous and provocative statements.

    Among other things, Prigozhin revealed an apparently humiliating battlefield setback for Russia, fulminating this week that a Russian brigade had “fled” around eastern city of Bakhmut, threatening his troops with encirclement by the Ukrainian forces.

    “The situation on the western flanks is developing according to the worst of the predicted scenarios,” Prigozhin complained in an audio message released Thursday. “Those territories that were liberated with the blood and lives of our comrades … are abandoned today almost without any fight by those who are supposed to hold our flanks.”

    Earlier in the week, Prigozhin marred Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations with public and profanity-laced criticisms of the country’s top military brass.

    “Today they [Ukrainians] are tearing up the flanks in the Artemovsk [Bakhmut] direction, regrouping at Zaporizhzhia. And a counteroffensive is about to begin,” he said Tuesday. “Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers. We haven’t earned that victory one millimeter.”

    And then there was a more cryptic comment that raised eyebrows on social media. Continuing a longstanding public complaint that Russia’s uniformed military was starving his troops of shells, Prigozhin suggested that the higher-ups were dithering while Wagner fighters died.

    “The shells are lying in warehouses, they are resting there,” he said. “Why are the shells lying in the warehouses? There are people who fight, and there are people who have learned once in their lives that there must be a reserve, and they save, save, save those reserves. … No one knows what for. Instead of spending a shell to kill the enemy, they kill our soldiers. And happy grandfather thinks this is okay.”

    That begged the question: Whom, exactly, is Prigozhin referring to? After all, “grandfather in the bunker” is one of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s favorite monikers for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who inhabits an almost cartoonishly extreme security bubble.

    So what, exactly, was Prigozhin driving at? Is he flirting with defenestration? Or is he simply at the end of his tether, after spending months on the front lines?

    Prigozhin quickly backpedalled on his “grandfather” comment, recording a subsequent voice memo clarifying that he might be referring to the former Defense Minister Deputy Mikhail Mizintsev or Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov (or, more bizarrely, pro-war blogger Nataliya Khim).

    “I spoke about a ‘grandpa’ in the context of the fact that we are not given shells which are kept in warehouses, and who can be a grandpa?” Prigozhin said in a Telegram voice memo. “Option number one, Mizintsev, who was fired for giving us shells and therefore now he cannot give shells. The second is the General Chief of Staff, Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov, who is supposed to provide shells, but we do not receive enough shells, and we receive only 10%.”

    A bit of context is in order here. For months, the boss of the Wagner private military company has seen his political star rise in Russia as his fighters seemed to be the only ones capable of delivering tangible battlefield progress in the grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine. And he has used his social-media clout to lobby for what he wants, including those sought-after ammunition supplies.

    But amid those successes — particularly in the meatgrinder of Bakhmut — Prigozhin has revived and amplified a feud with Russia’s military leadership. A canny political entrepreneur, Prigozhin has cast himself as a competent, ruthless patriot — in contrast with Russia’s inept military establishment.

    It may seem surprising in a country where criticizing the military can potentially cost a person a spell in prison that Prigozhin gets away with strident criticism of Putin’s generals. But Putin presides over what is often described as a court system, where infighting and competition among elites is in fact encouraged to produce results, as long as the “vertical of power” remains loyal to and answers to the head of state.

    But Prigozhin’s online tantrums to be crossing the line to open disloyalty, some observers say.

    In a recent Twitter thread, the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said, “If the Kremlin does not respond to Prigozhin’s escalating attacks on Putin it may further erode the norm in Putin’s system in which individual actors can jockey for position and influence (and drop in and out of Putin’s favor) but cannot directly criticize Putin.”

    Speculation then centers on whether Prigozhin is politically expendable, whether his outbursts are a sort of clever deception operation — or, more troublingly for Putin, whether the system of loyalty that keeps the Kremlin running smoothly is starting to break down.

    “This isn’t meant to happen in Putin’s system,” said Cold War historian and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies professor Sergey Radchenko in a recent Twitter thread. “Putin’s system allows for minions to attack each other but never undermine the vertical. Prigozhin is crossing this line. Either Putin responds and Prigozhin is toast or — if this doesn’t happen — a signal will be sent right through. A signal that the boss has been fatally weakened. And this is a system that does not respect weakness.”

    That theory will be tested in the coming days, as the battles continue to rage around Bakhmut.

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