Former President Donald Trump says he’s not commenting on the question of whether he’s spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since he left office, after journalist Bob Woodward reported in his new book that the former president has had as many as seven conversations with the Russian leader.
At the Economic Club of Chicago Tuesday, Trump, in a conversation with Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, was asked whether he’d spoken with Putin. Trump first said he had no comment before going on to defend any conversation with Putin, if it had occurred.
“Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that, if I did, it’s a smart thing,” Trump said. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, in terms of a country. He’s got 2,000 nuclear weapons, and so do we. China has a lot less, but they’ll catch us within five years. If I have a relationship, I don’t talk about, I don’t talk about —.”
“— That sounds like you talk to him,” Micklethwaite said.
“No, I don’t talk about that,” Trump replied. “I don’t ever say it, but I can tell you what, Russia has never had a president that they respect so much.”
Micklethwait asked Trump about his economic plans, but he received no detailed answers. He challenged Trump on the feasibility of the high tariffs he talks about on the campaign trail, noting that he has talked about tariffs as high as 100% or 200% “on things you don’t really like,” as well as 10%-20% for other countries. “That is going to have a serious effect on the overall economy,” Micklethwait said, adding, “the overall effect could be massive.”
“I agree — it’s going to have a massive effect, positive effect,” Trump replied, before telling Micklethwait, “It must be hard for you to, you know, spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative, and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong.”
Micklethwait also confronted Trump with an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that estimated his economic plan would cost twice Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan. Trump dismissed criticism of his economic plan by saying his plan is about “growth” and claiming Harris has “got no growth, whatsoever.”
Asked if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power, Trump responded, “I went to Florida, and you had a very peaceful transfer.” And Trump, referring to the Jan. 6, 2021 rioting, claimed, “Not one of those people had a gun. Nobody was killed, except for Ashli Babbitt. She was killed. She was killed. She was shot in the head by a policeman … So, I think we should be allowed to disagree on that.” He went on at length, telling Micklethwait that “lot of strange things happened there, a lot of strange things with people being waved into the Capitol by police, with people screaming, ‘Go in’ with that never got into trouble.” He did not answer the question.
You were never meant to hear the voice of Vladimir Kara-Murza ever again. The Russian opposition leader had warned for years that Vladimir Putin would threaten the peace of the world, and at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this past week, leaders were debating how to stop Putin in Ukraine without a world war. Putin poisoned Kara-Murza twice, then sent him to die in prison. But last month, he was traded for a prize that Putin could not resist. Why does the Russian dictator still fear Vladimir Kara-Murza? Here’s why.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: I think Russia deserves so much better than to live under a corrupt, repressive criminal, archaic KGB-led dictatorship. But change is not gonna happen unless we do something to make it happen.
Scott Pelley: And this is worth your life?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: I mean, look, there were people who stood up to Apartheid in South Africa. There were people who stood up to the Communist regime in the Soviet Union. There were people who stood up to the Nazi regime in Germany. There are causes larger than ourselves. And to me, the cause of a free, peaceful, civilized, and democratic Russia is certainly much larger than I could ever be.
He has fought for that cause from the start of Putin’s 25-years in power. He’s a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post and Cambridge educated historian. Last year, 43-year-old Kara-Murza was tried for treason after denouncing Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Vladimir Kara-Murza
60 Minutes
Vladimir Kara-Murza:We tried to warn the world. We tried to shout. We tried to get the message out that this regime is dangerous, that this man is dangerous, that even if you don’t care about what happens to us in Russia it’s gonna come to you sooner or later.
Scott Pelley: What is it like living in Russia today?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Anybody who’s a genuine opponent of Putin is either in exile in prison or dead. You have to think about even what you talk to your kids about at home because children whose families are against this war in Ukraine would, for example, draw anti-war images in school and their parents would get visits from the police or they would be put in prison. You have to think about that as well if you live in Russia today.
Vladimir Kara-Murza has been high on Putin’s list since 2012 when he and the late Sen. John McCain fought for the so-called Magnitsky Act. The U.S. law is named for a man murdered by Putin’s police. The Magnitsky Act seized the overseas assets of more than 60 people who abused human rights in Russia. Kara-Murza says this is why he was poisoned by Kremlin assassins.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: I was in was in a coma for about a month the first time this happened in May of 2015 with a multiple organ failure. And as the doctors in Moscow were telling my wife, with about a 5% chance to survive. And after I came out of that coma, despite all the odds, I’ve literally had to learn everything new.
Scott Pelley: You had to learn to walk again.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Yeah–
Scott Pelley: You had to learn to eat again.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: It’s amazing how fast the human body just loses everything, just loses all the strength and you just have to start anew.
Two years later, he was poisoned again. This time, 2017, he rehabbed in the U.S. His wife and three children live in the states and Kara-Murza has permanent resident status. But once he recovered, he returned to Russia.
Scott Pelley: You were safe.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: How could I not go back to Russia? I am a Russian politician. A politician has to be in their own country. How could I call on my fellow citizens and my fellow Russians to stand up and oppose this dictatorship if I myself was too scared to do it? How is that possible?
Vladimir Kara-Murza speaks with Scott Pelley
60 Minutes
Last year, after his treason conviction, he was hit with the longest sentence ever for a political prisoner. The judge in the case had been among the first officials ever sanctioned by the Magnitsky Act.
Scott Pelley: And when you heard the sentence, 25 years, you thought what?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: So, frankly I thought it’s a job well done.
Scott Pelley: A job well done?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Well, on my part, yes. I think that 25 year sentence was frankly, a recognition that what we did over all those years mattered, that the Magnitsky Act mattered, that public opposition to the war in Ukraine mattered.
He was sent to Siberia and solitary confinement.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: In the two and a half years I’ve spent in Russian prison, I was only able to once call my wife on the phone, and only twice I was able to speak on the phone to our three kids. It was a 15-minute call, so five minutes per child. And as my wife later told me, she was standing there with a stopwatch to make sure that each of our kids doesn’t get more than five minutes so that everybody could have an opportunity to speak with Dad.
Scott Pelley: Were you sitting in that cell thinking, “I’m gonna get outta here one day”?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: No, to answer your question honestly, I did not believe I would ever get out. And so, what happened– on August 1st, the only way I can describe that is a miracle.
The miracle was in the making for more than a year. Negotiations beganover Americans held by Putin, which, eventually, included Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. But over the months, the deal grew to involve seven countries.
Jake Sullivan: We don’t trust the Russians on anything. They lied about the war in Ukraine. They make a regular practice of lying and obfuscating. But one thing they have shown over time is when they say they’re gonna do an exchange, they do the exchange.
At the center of the negotiations was Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security advisor.
NSA Jake Sullivan
60 Minutes
Jake Sullivan: None of this happens overnight. None of it’s straightforward. There’s gonna be twists and turns. There’s gonna be false starts. And so, persistence, relentlessness, that’s part of the name of the game of actually securing the release of these Americans.
But there was only one thing Putin wanted and that would be hard, maybe impossible, for the man who held the key, the leader of Germany.
Jake Sullivan: Olaf Scholz was absolutely critical. Without him, this would not have happened. Because a central piece of the puzzle was the release of a Russian agent named Vadim Krasikov. Without Krasikov, there is no deal.
But Krasikov is a notorious assassin and friend of Putin. In 2019, he was sent to Germany to kill an enemy of the Kremlin. The daytime murder, in the middle of Berlin, was infamous.
Scott Pelley: What was Scholz’s dilemma?
Jake Sullivan: Being able to look his people in the eye and say, “We are releasing someone who has committed a grievous crime on German soil. And therefore, I can deliver something for the people of Germany.” And that’s why we ended up thinking through enlarging the problem, not just trying to bring out Americans, but of course bring out some German citizens as well. And then, the critical move of being able to say to the German people, the American people, and the world, “We are also getting Russian Freedom Fighters out,” including people like Vladimir Kara-Murza.
That was the fire-side pitch to the German leader, but Krasikov had served only three years of a life sentence. Scholz’s fractious coalition government faced election challenges. And the easy answer was “no.”
Scott Pelley: In the end, you had to do a deal with the devil.
Olaf Scholz: I made a deal with the Russian president.
In Berlin, Chancellor Scholz told us he was brought to “yes” by a man he considered a friend.
Olaf Scholz: It is not an easy decision. And I discussed with many people in my government, and especially with Joe Biden, who asked me to help. And my view was that this is something which we could do. Well-prepared and if we do it on a large scale.
Olaf Scholz
60 Minutes
Jake Sullivan: He said, and I remember it very vividly, on the phone with President Biden, “For you, Joe, I will do this.”
Vladimir Kara-Murza: A large group of officers burst into my cell. I have no idea what’s happening. It’s the middle of the night. It’s dark. And they tell me I have ten minutes to get up and get ready. And at this moment, I’m absolutely certain that I’m gonna be led out and be executed.
But instead of executed, on August 1st, eight Russian criminals and spies were traded for several Germans, the three Americans, and eight Russian dissidents. As he stepped off the plane in Turkey, Kara-Murza’s captors had parting advice.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: He turned to me and said, “Be careful about what you eat. You know how these things happen.”
Scott Pelley: He was telling you, you might be poisoned again, even though you’re free?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Well, look, we know that attacks on opponents of the Kremlin have happened far beyond the borders of Russia.
The next voice Kara-Murza heard spoke not of fear but of freedom.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: At that moment a lady diplomat came up to me with a cell phone and she says, “Are you Mr. Kara-Murza?” I said, “Yes.” And she gives me the phone and says, “I’m from the American embassy in Ankara. The president of the United States is on the line.”
President Biden (on call): You’ve been wrongfully detained for a long time and we’re glad you’re home.
With President Biden, was Kara-Murza’s family.
Vladimir Kara-Murza (on call): You’ve done a wonderful thing by saving so many people. I think there are 16 of us on the plane. I don’t think there are many things more important than saving human lives.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: It felt surreal, it felt more emotional than I had ever felt at any point in my life.
There had been many emotions for Jake Sullivan who, for years, could tell desperate families only to keep waiting.
Jake Sullivan (in briefing room): And most of the time, as you can imagine, those are tough conversations. But not today. Today, excuse me, today was a very good day.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: It’s one thing to speak about protecting freedom or protecting human rights. But it’s quite another thing to actually do something to protect them. And whatever else President Biden and Chancellor Scholz will be remembered for years from now, they will be remembered for this.
Scott Pelley: Vladimir Kara-Murza told us he quoted a Jewish scripture to you: “He who saves one life saves the entire world.”
Olaf Scholz: It was very nice to hear it, to be very honest with you. On the other hand, I don’t feel that great. I did what I thought is the right thing to do.
Scott Pelley: We have traveled quite a bit through Ukraine. We have seen the destroyed hospitals. We have seen the shattered schools. We have seen the mass graves. Vladimir Putin has attacked a country that meant him no harm, and I wonder if you can explain why.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Because that is what dictators do. Once they consolidate, they control domestically. Once they eliminate and destroy all the opposition at home, they start moving against others. This has always happened in Russia. whether under the czars, under the Soviets, or now under Vladimir Putin.
Scott Pelley: Will Putin try to kill you again?
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Look, we know what it entails to be in opposition to Vladimir Putin. He’s not just a dictator. He’s not just an authoritarian leader. He’s not just a strongman. He is a murderer. That man is a murderer.
Vladimir Kara-Murza remains in the U.S. with his family. He told us, in solitary confinement, he learned there’s no life without hope– true for those behind bars and for his imprisoned country.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: The amazing fact and the fact that frankly makes me proud of Russia is that there are thousands of people in Russia who have publicly spoken out against Putin’s regime, who have publicly spoken out against the war in Ukraine even at the cost of personal freedom. And I hope that when people in the West, that when people in the United States, when people in the free world at large think about Russia they will remember not only the aggressors and the war criminals who are sitting in the Kremlin but also those who are standing up to them because we are Russians too.
Produced by Maria Gavrilovic and Alex Ortiz. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by April Wilson.
Scott Pelley, one of the most experienced and awarded journalists today, has been reporting stories for 60 Minutes since 2004. The 2024-25 season is his 21st on the broadcast. Scott has won half of all major awards earned by 60 Minutes during his tenure at the venerable CBS newsmagazine.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine somberly marked its 33rd Independence Day on Saturday, setting the usual fireworks, parades and concerts aside to commemorate thousands of civilians and soldiers killed in the ongoing war with Russia.
The video in the player above is from a previous related report.
Social media was flooded with messages of gratitude and support as Ukrainians greeted each other from around the country and thanked soldiers who are on the front lines.
“Independence is the silence we experience when we lose our people,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared to the nation in a video posted on Telegram. “Independence descends into the shelter during an air raid, only to endure and rise again and again to tell the enemy: ‘You will achieve nothing.’”
In the capital of Kyiv, people who had traveled from various regions of the nation paraded in festive “vyshyvankas,” shirts of many colors enhanced with adornments, including the traditional white shirt with red embroidery. Some posed for pictures in front of the country’s blue-and-yellow flag and an “I Love Ukraine” sign that had been placed near a makeshift memorial to fallen soldiers.
Ukraine declared independence from the former Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991. Russia launched a full-scale invasion on the country on Feb. 24, 2022. More than 11,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations, which has indicated that the toll could be higher. In February, the war’s second anniversary, Zelenskyy had said that 35,000 soldiers had been killed.
“We can celebrate this holiday thanks to our soldiers – because of them we live,” said Oksana Stavnycha, who traveled to Kyiv from the central region of Vinnytsia with her 7-year-old daughter and husband. They planned to lay flowers to honor Ukraine’s fallen soldiers.
“The price of our independence is very high, and every day many men give up their lives for it,” Stavnycha added.
Zelenskyy recorded his address to the nation in the northeastern town of Sumy, near Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion earlier this month. The move marked a startling turn to the war and added a new front.
Ukraine quickly seized considerable Russian territory, including scores of small towns, and captured hundreds of Russian soldiers, part of an effort to counter Russia’s grinding advances in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
The military now claims to hold 1,200 square kilometers (480 square miles) of territory, and in the past week, has launched drone attacks on strategic bridges and on Russian airfields and drone bases.
“Those who seek to sow evil on our land will reap its fruits on their own soil,” Zelenskyy said in his address. “And those who sought to turn our lands into a buffer zone should now worry that their own country doesn’t become a buffer federation. This is how independence responds.”
Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, honored the soldiers who fought in the Kursk region with military awards. “Our independence is in our blood,” he said on Telegram on Saturday. “In the blood that flows in our veins, in the blood that our heroes shed for their native land.”
Even as Ukraine presses its offensive into Russia, however, it is evacuating residents from Pokrovsk, a strategic city in eastern Ukraine that once had a population of 60,000. Encroaching Russian forces are now just 10 kilometers (6 miles) outside the city.
On Friday, Pokrovsk residents carrying bundles of belongings boarded trains to take them to areas farther from the conflict.
Ihor Kysil, a 52-year-old soldier from the 110th Brigade, was wounded for the second time about a month ago while fighting in the Pokrovsk area. On Friday, still recovering from a concussion and a fractured shoulder, and dealing with hearing problems from an earlier injury, he stood in Kyiv’s Independence Square, holding hands with his wife.
“This day is about our freedom,” he said, standing near the makeshift memorial, where thousands of flags fluttered in memory of those lost. Some of the banners honored soldiers who had fought alongside Kysil.
“These are the golden days,” said Kysil, who will return to the front line once his rehabilitation is complete.
“Every life is priceless,” added his wife, Yuliia Fedenko. “We value every minute of the time we have.”
Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, all of whom were wrongfully detained in Russia, are back in the U.S. after being part of a complex swap involving a total of two dozen prisoners. When asked Friday about Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel, who in 2022 was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian penal colony for allegedly possessing medical marijuana, President Biden told reporters Friday that “we’re not giving up on that.” Weijia Jiang reports from the White House.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Rescue workers in Ukraine’s capital city are still picking through the rubble of a children’s hospital that officials say was hit in a deadly Russian strike Monday. BBC News Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse joined CBS News with more from Kyiv.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Thanks to online gaming, you can bet on anything from the debate, a coin toss or marijuana’s legalization process.
Betting is very popular, almost 37% of people placed a bet last year in the US and Canada. And thanks to online betting people are wagering on weight loss, political campaigns, sports coin toss, and cannabis. Today, you can bet on anything from the debate to marijuana rescheduling.
In ancient Egypt, 4000 to 3000 BC, people bet on dice, board games, and feats of skill, such as chariot racing and fencing. It has been popular ever since. There are crazy things you can bet on, but today there is a big audience betting on the first presidential debate. Regarding the debate, you can bet on who the polls say won (odds favor Trump) and who has the first question (odds favor Biden).
You can also bet on the times Putin is mentioned (even at above or below 6.5 times) and also if Taylor Swift is mentioned in the debate. Niche bets are also on fire. Will Biden freeze for 5 seconds and lose his footing, or will Trump say “bing bong” and hit 5 sniffs in one response?
Marijuana being scheduled this year is another key bet…and has a whole industry anxious for the outcome. One site had a high of 80+% chance to now 46% to being completed in 2024. It is almost even currently with one regarding the Florida recreational amendment whether it passes or not.
“Today, betting is socially accepted and wildly popular. In addition to mainstream sports type stuff, if you know where to look, you can bet on all kinds of wacky things.” say Rep Porter, national Poker Playing champion and CEO of Hi On Nature.
One of the craziest things people are betting about online is alien life and UFOs. This type of wagers has exploded in popularity over the last few years. The following alien bets have seen plenty of action:
Who will Win the Alien vs Human War?
Which Celebrity or Public Figure will be Abducted by Aliens First?
Seoul, South Korea — South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest Moscow’s new defense pact with North Korea on Friday as tensions at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border continued to rise with vague threats from Pyongyang and brief, seemingly accidental incursions by North Korean troops.
Earlier Friday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a vague threat of retaliation after South Korean activists flew balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border, and South Korea’s military said it had fired warning shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the rivals’ land border for the third time this month.
A pool photograph distributed by the Russian state news agency Sputnik shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands after a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL / AFP/Getty
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun summoned Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev to protest the deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and called for Moscow to immediately halt its alleged military cooperation with Pyongyang.
Kim, the South Korean diplomat, stressed that any cooperation that directly or indirectly helps the North build up its military capabilities would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions and pose a threat to the South’s security and warned of consequences for Seoul’s relations with Moscow.
Zinoviev replied that he would convey Seoul’s concerns to his superiors in Moscow, the South Korean ministry said. Reuters reports that Zinoviev said he told Kim threats and blackmail against Moscow over its growing ties to Pyongyang are unacceptable.
Leafletting campaigns by South Korean civilian activists in recent weeks have prompted a resumption of Cold War-style psychological warfare along the inter-Korean border.
A North Korean guard post on the North’s side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas is seen from South Korea’s Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on June 21, 2024.
JUNG YEON-JE / AFP via Getty Images
The South Korean civilian activists, led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it sent 20 balloons carrying 300,000 propaganda leaflets, 5,000 USB sticks with South Korean pop songs and TV dramas and 3,000 U.S. dollar bills from the South Korean border town of Paju on Thursday night.
Pyongyang resents such material and fears it could demoralize front-line troops and residents and eventually weaken Kim Jong Un’s grip on power, analysts say.
In a statement carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong, one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, called the activists “defector scum” and issued what appeared to be a threat of retaliation.
“When you do something you were clearly warned not to do, it’s only natural that you will find yourself dealing with something you didn’t have to,” she said, without specifying what the North would do.
After previous leafletting by South Korean activists, North Korea launched more than 1,000 balloons that dropped tons of trash in South Korea, smashing roof tiles and windows and causing other property damage. Kim Yo Jong previously hinted that balloons could become the North’s standard response to leafletting, saying that the North would respond by “scattering dozens of times more rubbish than is being scattered on us.”
In response, South Korea resumed anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts with military loudspeakers installed at the border for the first time in years, to which Kim Yo Jong, in another state media statement, warned that Seoul was “creating a prelude to a very dangerous situation.”
Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest in years as Kim Jong Un accelerates his nuclear weapons and missile development and attempts to strengthen his regional footing by aligning with Putin in a standoff against the U.S.-led West.
South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, says it’s considering upping support for Ukraine in response. Seoul has already provided humanitarian aid and other support while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. But it hasn’t directly provided munitions, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.
Putin told reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday that supplying weapons to Ukraine would be “a very big mistake” and said South Korea “shouldn’t worry” about the new agreement with North Korea if the South isn’t planning aggression against Pyongyang.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on Friday held separate phone calls with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa to discuss the new pact. The diplomats agreed that the agreement poses a serious threat to peace and stability in the region and vowed to strengthen trilateral coordination to deal with the challenges posed by the alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang, Cho’s ministry said in a statement.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to criticism of Kim’s authoritarian rule and efforts to reach its people with foreign news and other media.
In 2015, when South Korea restarted loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years, North Korea fired artillery rounds across the border, prompting South Korea to return fire, according to South Korean officials. No casualties were reported.
South Korea’s military said there are signs that North Korea was installing its own speakers at the border, although they weren’t working yet.
In the latest border incident, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said several North Korean soldiers engaged in unspecified construction work briefly crossed the military demarcation line that divides the two countries at around 11 a.m. Thursday.
The South Korean military broadcast a warning and fired warning shots, after which the North Korean soldiers retreated. The joint chiefs didn’t immediately release more details, including why it was releasing the information a day late.
South Korea’s military says believes recent border intrusions weren’t intentional, since the North Korean soldiers haven’t returned fire and retreated after the warning shots.
The South’s military has observed the North deploying large numbers of soldiers in frontline areas to build suspected anti-tank barriers, reinforce roads and plant mines in an apparent attempt to fortify their side of the border. Seoul believes the efforts are likely aimed at preventing North Korean civilians and soldiers from escaping to the South.
Jeff Glor reports on severe weather threatening the south, what’s behind an app used to track migrants in the U.S., and what’s next for the markets and A.I. as Nvidia becomes the world’s most valuable company.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, as he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and display a united front against Washington.Putin thanked Kim for the support and said the two countries would sign an agreement to boost their partnership as both “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the U.S. and its satellites against the Russian Federation.”Putin’s visit to Pyongyang comes amid growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions to fuel Moscow’s war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.Speaking at the start of his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Russian leader said in remarks carried by Russian state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies that the “new fundamental document will form the basis of our ties for a long perspective.”North Korea is under heavy U.N. Security Council economic sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is also grappling with sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.North Korean state media described the meeting between the leaders as a historic event that demonstrates the “invincibility and durability” of the two nations’ friendship and unity. Huge crowds lined up on the streets to greet Putin’s motorcade before the talks, chanting “Welcome Putin” and waving flowers and North Korean and Russian flags.Putin, making his first trip to North Korea in 24 years, also hailed a “close friendship” between the two countries based on “equality and respect of mutual interests.”“We highly appreciate your consistent and unchanging support of the Russian policies, including in the Ukrainian direction,” Putin added.Video above: Satellite Images seem to reveal North Korea preparing capital for Vladimir Putin visitKim was quoted by Russian news agencies vowing his country’s “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity.”It wasn’t immediately clear what support from North Korea might look like.He also hailed Russia’s “important role and mission in preserving the strategic stability and balance in the world.”“The situation in the world is exacerbating and changing rapidly,” Kim said. “In this situation we intend to strengthen strategic interaction with Russia.”Putin was met upon his arrival Tuesday evening by Kim, who shook his hand, hugged him twice and rode with him from the airport in a limousine in a huge motorcade that rolled through the capital’s brightly illuminated streets, where buildings were decorated with giant Russian flags and portraits of Putin.After spending the rest of the night at a state guest house, Putin attended a lavish welcoming ceremony at the city’s main square, where Kim introduced key members of his leadership including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui; top aide and ruling party secretary Jo Yong Won; and the leader’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong. Putin and Kim Jong Un then began summit talks accompanied by their top officials, according to Russian media.Putin is being accompanied by several top officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Denis Mantrurov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov. He said a number of documents will be signed during the visit, possibly including an agreement on a comprehensive strategic partnership.U.S. and South Korean officials accuse the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously endorsed.Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continuing efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine. U.S. and South Korean officials have said they are discussing options for a new mechanism for monitoring the North.South Korean analysts say that Kim will likely seek stronger economic benefits and more advanced military technologies from Russia, although his more sensitive discussions with Putin aren’t likely to be made public.While Kim’s military nuclear program now includes developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland, he may need outside technology help to meaningfully advance his program further. There are already possible signs that Russia is assisting North Korean with technologies related to space rockets and military reconnaissance satellites, which Kim has described as crucial for monitoring South Korea and enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles.Aside of sending military supplies to Russia to help its warfighting Ukraine, the North may also seek to increase labor exports and other illicit activities to gain foreign currency in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions, according to a recent report by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s main spy agency. There will likely be talks about expanding cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and mining and further promoting Russian tourism to North Korea, the institute said.In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea illustrates how Russia tries, “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine.”“North Korea is providing significant munitions to Russia … and other weapons for use in Ukraine. Iran has been providing weaponry, including drones, that have been used against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Blinken told reporters following a meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the United States, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle. The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.[/related
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, as he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and display a united front against Washington.
Putin thanked Kim for the support and said the two countries would sign an agreement to boost their partnership as both “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the U.S. and its satellites against the Russian Federation.”
Putin’s visit to Pyongyang comes amid growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions to fuel Moscow’s war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Speaking at the start of his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Russian leader said in remarks carried by Russian state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies that the “new fundamental document will form the basis of our ties for a long perspective.”
North Korea is under heavy U.N. Security Council economic sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is also grappling with sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.
North Korean state media described the meeting between the leaders as a historic event that demonstrates the “invincibility and durability” of the two nations’ friendship and unity. Huge crowds lined up on the streets to greet Putin’s motorcade before the talks, chanting “Welcome Putin” and waving flowers and North Korean and Russian flags.
Putin, making his first trip to North Korea in 24 years, also hailed a “close friendship” between the two countries based on “equality and respect of mutual interests.”
“We highly appreciate your consistent and unchanging support of the Russian policies, including in the Ukrainian direction,” Putin added.
Video above: Satellite Images seem to reveal North Korea preparing capital for Vladimir Putin visit
Kim was quoted by Russian news agencies vowing his country’s “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what support from North Korea might look like.
He also hailed Russia’s “important role and mission in preserving the strategic stability and balance in the world.”
“The situation in the world is exacerbating and changing rapidly,” Kim said. “In this situation we intend to strengthen strategic interaction with Russia.”
Putin was met upon his arrival Tuesday evening by Kim, who shook his hand, hugged him twice and rode with him from the airport in a limousine in a huge motorcade that rolled through the capital’s brightly illuminated streets, where buildings were decorated with giant Russian flags and portraits of Putin.
After spending the rest of the night at a state guest house, Putin attended a lavish welcoming ceremony at the city’s main square, where Kim introduced key members of his leadership including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui; top aide and ruling party secretary Jo Yong Won; and the leader’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong. Putin and Kim Jong Un then began summit talks accompanied by their top officials, according to Russian media.
Putin is being accompanied by several top officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Denis Mantrurov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov. He said a number of documents will be signed during the visit, possibly including an agreement on a comprehensive strategic partnership.
U.S. and South Korean officials accuse the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously endorsed.
Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continuing efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.
In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine. U.S. and South Korean officials have said they are discussing options for a new mechanism for monitoring the North.
South Korean analysts say that Kim will likely seek stronger economic benefits and more advanced military technologies from Russia, although his more sensitive discussions with Putin aren’t likely to be made public.
Vladimir Smirnov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin
While Kim’s military nuclear program now includes developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland, he may need outside technology help to meaningfully advance his program further. There are already possible signs that Russia is assisting North Korean with technologies related to space rockets and military reconnaissance satellites, which Kim has described as crucial for monitoring South Korea and enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles.
Aside of sending military supplies to Russia to help its warfighting Ukraine, the North may also seek to increase labor exports and other illicit activities to gain foreign currency in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions, according to a recent report by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s main spy agency. There will likely be talks about expanding cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and mining and further promoting Russian tourism to North Korea, the institute said.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea illustrates how Russia tries, “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine.”
“North Korea is providing significant munitions to Russia … and other weapons for use in Ukraine. Iran has been providing weaponry, including drones, that have been used against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Blinken told reporters following a meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the United States, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle. The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit North Korea for a two-day visit this week, both countries announced on Monday after months of speculation and amid international concerns about their military cooperation.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Putin will pay a state visit on Tuesday and Wednesday. It did not immediately provide details. Russia confirmed the visit in a simultaneous announcement.
This will be Putin’s first trip to North Korea in 24 years. He first visited Pyongyang in July 2000, months after his first election when he met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country then.
There are growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions to fuel Putin’s war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Military, economic and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia have sharply increased since Kim visited the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, their first since 2019.
U.S. and South Korean officials have accused the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong its fighting in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied accusations about North Korean weapons transfers.
Any weapons trade with North Korea would be a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that Russia, a permanent U.N. Security Council member, previously endorsed.
Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul, noted that in exchange for providing artillery munitions and short-range ballistic missiles, Pyongyang hopes to get higher-end weapons from Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un his Russian-made Aurus limousine, Sept. 13, 2023, outside the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East region, ahead of their summit.
Reuters
Lankov noted that while Russia could be reluctant to share its state-of-the-art military technologies with North Korea, it’s eager to receive munitions from Pyongyang. “There is never enough ammunition in a war, there is a great demand for them,” Lankov told The Associated Press.
There were signs that Kim was preparing to throw a lavish celebration for Putin as he tries to boost the visibility of their relationship to his domestic audience. The North Korea-focused NK News website said Monday that its analysis of commercial satellite images suggests that the North is possibly preparing a huge parade at a square in the country’s capital, Pyongyang. Kim in recent months has made Russia his primary focus as he tries to strengthen his regional footing and expand cooperation with nations confronting the United States, embracing the idea of what he portrays as a “new Cold War. “
“This visit is a victory”
During telephone talks with South Korea’s vice foreign minister on Friday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell raised concern that Putin’s visit to the North would result in further military cooperation between the countries that potentially undermines stability in the region, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The list of countries willing to welcome Putin is shorter than ever, but for Kim Jong Un, this visit is a victory,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“Not only does the summit upgrade North Korea’s status among countries standing against the U.S.-led international order, it also helps bolster Kim’s domestic legitimacy. Russia cannot replace China economically, but increasing cooperation with Moscow shows that Pyongyang has options.”
Moscow has said it “highly appreciates” Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s military action in Ukraine and mentioned its “close and fruitful cooperation” at the United Nations and other international organizations.
Russia and China have repeatedly blocked the U.S. and its partners’ attempts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its barrage of banned ballistic missile tests. In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it allegedly violates the sanctions to buy weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.
During a news conference in March, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said North Korea had already shipped about 7,000 containers filled with munitions and other military equipment to Russia. In return, Shin said that North Korea had received more than 9,000 Russian containers likely filled with aid. Kim has also used Russia’s war in Ukraine as a distraction to dial up his weapons development as he pursues a nuclear arsenal that could viably threaten the United States and its Asian allies. This prompted the U.S. and South Korea to expand their combined military exercises and sharpen their nuclear deterrence strategies built around strategic U.S. assets.
Earlier this year, Putin sent Kim a high-end Aurus Senat limousine, which he had shown to the North Korean leader when they met for a summit in September. Observers said the shipment violated a U.N. resolution aimed at pressuring the North to give up its nuclear weapons program by banning the supply of luxury items to North Korea.
Putin has continuously sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang as part of efforts to restore his country’s global clout and its Soviet-era alliances. Moscow’s ties with North Korea weakened after the 1991 Soviet collapse. Kim Jong Un first met with Putin in 2019 in Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok.
Lana Zak reports on President Biden’s speech on democracy and freedom in France, new data from the Labor Department that shows a hotter than expected jobs report, and what you need to know about the giant Joro spiders expected to make an appearance on the East Coast this summer.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged a group of top defense officials at Asia’s premier security conference on Sunday to attend an upcoming peace summit, saying Ukraine was ready to hear “various proposals and thoughts” on ending the war with Russia.Zelenskyy told the group of more than 500 delegates from about 40 countries that he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance at the conference in Switzerland in about two weeks.He did not specify any country by name, but the possible participation of China, Russia’s most important ally, has been seen as a key issue.Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but he did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had proposals to make at the summit as a basis for peace, addressing nuclear security, food security, the release of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.”Time is running out, and the children are growing up in the Putin-land where they are taught to hate their homeland,” he said.At the same time, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready to hear various proposals and thoughts that lead us … to an end of the war and a sustainable and just peace.”The greater the participation, the more likely it will be that Russia will have to listen, he said.”The global majority can ensure with their involvement that what is agreed upon is truly implemented,” he said.Zelenskyy said he was later to meet one-on-one with Singapore’s prime minister and would urge him to participate in person in the Switzerland talks.”The same goes for the countries in the region,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter. “We truly count on you supporting this summit, and that you will be present in Switzerland.”Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, who shared the stage with Zelenskyy, did not say whether his country’s leaders would attend, but did note Singapore had condemned the invasion and provided Ukraine with military ambulances.”We stand with you, and I think your appearance at this Shangri-La Dialogue is the epitome of what we are all hoping for, a rules-based order that guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small,” he said.Earlier in the day in his own address to the forum, Dong did not specifically mention the Switzerland meetings, but did say “on the Ukraine crisis, China has been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude.”He added that China had not provided weapons to either side of the conflict.”We have never done anything to fan the flames,” he said. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also attended the conference and sat in the front row as Zelenskyy talked.In an address Friday, Austin told the group that “Putin’s war of aggression has provided us all with a preview of a world that none of us would want.””We’ve all been inspired by the courage of Ukraine’s troops and the resilience of Ukraine’s people,” Austin said. “People around the world have rushed to help Ukraine defend itself, including countries across the Indo-Pacific.”
SINGAPORE —
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged a group of top defense officials at Asia’s premier security conference on Sunday to attend an upcoming peace summit, saying Ukraine was ready to hear “various proposals and thoughts” on ending the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy told the group of more than 500 delegates from about 40 countries that he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance at the conference in Switzerland in about two weeks.
He did not specify any country by name, but the possible participation of China, Russia’s most important ally, has been seen as a key issue.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but he did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had proposals to make at the summit as a basis for peace, addressing nuclear security, food security, the release of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
“Time is running out, and the children are growing up in the Putin-land where they are taught to hate their homeland,” he said.
At the same time, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready to hear various proposals and thoughts that lead us … to an end of the war and a sustainable and just peace.”
The greater the participation, the more likely it will be that Russia will have to listen, he said.
“The global majority can ensure with their involvement that what is agreed upon is truly implemented,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he was later to meet one-on-one with Singapore’s prime minister and would urge him to participate in person in the Switzerland talks.
“The same goes for the countries in the region,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter. “We truly count on you supporting this summit, and that you will be present in Switzerland.”
Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, who shared the stage with Zelenskyy, did not say whether his country’s leaders would attend, but did note Singapore had condemned the invasion and provided Ukraine with military ambulances.
“We stand with you, and I think your appearance at this Shangri-La Dialogue is the epitome of what we are all hoping for, a rules-based order that guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small,” he said.
Earlier in the day in his own address to the forum, Dong did not specifically mention the Switzerland meetings, but did say “on the Ukraine crisis, China has been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude.”
He added that China had not provided weapons to either side of the conflict.
“We have never done anything to fan the flames,” he said. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also attended the conference and sat in the front row as Zelenskyy talked.
In an address Friday, Austin told the group that “Putin’s war of aggression has provided us all with a preview of a world that none of us would want.”
“We’ve all been inspired by the courage of Ukraine’s troops and the resilience of Ukraine’s people,” Austin said. “People around the world have rushed to help Ukraine defend itself, including countries across the Indo-Pacific.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged a group of top defense officials at Asia’s premier security conference on Sunday to attend an upcoming peace summit, saying Ukraine was ready to hear “various proposals and thoughts” on ending the war with Russia.Zelenskyy told the group of more than 500 delegates from about 40 countries that he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance at the conference in Switzerland in about two weeks.He did not specify any country by name, but the possible participation of China, Russia’s most important ally, has been seen as a key issue.Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but he did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had proposals to make at the summit as a basis for peace, addressing nuclear security, food security, the release of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.”Time is running out, and the children are growing up in the Putin-land where they are taught to hate their homeland,” he said.At the same time, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready to hear various proposals and thoughts that lead us … to an end of the war and a sustainable and just peace.”The greater the participation, the more likely it will be that Russia will have to listen, he said.”The global majority can ensure with their involvement that what is agreed upon is truly implemented,” he said.Zelenskyy said he was later to meet one-on-one with Singapore’s prime minister and would urge him to participate in person in the Switzerland talks.”The same goes for the countries in the region,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter. “We truly count on you supporting this summit, and that you will be present in Switzerland.”Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, who shared the stage with Zelenskyy, did not say whether his country’s leaders would attend, but did note Singapore had condemned the invasion and provided Ukraine with military ambulances.”We stand with you, and I think your appearance at this Shangri-La Dialogue is the epitome of what we are all hoping for, a rules-based order that guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small,” he said.Earlier in the day in his own address to the forum, Dong did not specifically mention the Switzerland meetings, but did say “on the Ukraine crisis, China has been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude.”He added that China had not provided weapons to either side of the conflict.”We have never done anything to fan the flames,” he said. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also attended the conference and sat in the front row as Zelenskyy talked.In an address Friday, Austin told the group that “Putin’s war of aggression has provided us all with a preview of a world that none of us would want.””We’ve all been inspired by the courage of Ukraine’s troops and the resilience of Ukraine’s people,” Austin said. “People around the world have rushed to help Ukraine defend itself, including countries across the Indo-Pacific.”
SINGAPORE —
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged a group of top defense officials at Asia’s premier security conference on Sunday to attend an upcoming peace summit, saying Ukraine was ready to hear “various proposals and thoughts” on ending the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy told the group of more than 500 delegates from about 40 countries that he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance at the conference in Switzerland in about two weeks.
He did not specify any country by name, but the possible participation of China, Russia’s most important ally, has been seen as a key issue.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but he did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had proposals to make at the summit as a basis for peace, addressing nuclear security, food security, the release of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
“Time is running out, and the children are growing up in the Putin-land where they are taught to hate their homeland,” he said.
At the same time, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready to hear various proposals and thoughts that lead us … to an end of the war and a sustainable and just peace.”
The greater the participation, the more likely it will be that Russia will have to listen, he said.
“The global majority can ensure with their involvement that what is agreed upon is truly implemented,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he was later to meet one-on-one with Singapore’s prime minister and would urge him to participate in person in the Switzerland talks.
“The same goes for the countries in the region,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter. “We truly count on you supporting this summit, and that you will be present in Switzerland.”
Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, who shared the stage with Zelenskyy, did not say whether his country’s leaders would attend, but did note Singapore had condemned the invasion and provided Ukraine with military ambulances.
“We stand with you, and I think your appearance at this Shangri-La Dialogue is the epitome of what we are all hoping for, a rules-based order that guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small,” he said.
Earlier in the day in his own address to the forum, Dong did not specifically mention the Switzerland meetings, but did say “on the Ukraine crisis, China has been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude.”
He added that China had not provided weapons to either side of the conflict.
“We have never done anything to fan the flames,” he said. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also attended the conference and sat in the front row as Zelenskyy talked.
In an address Friday, Austin told the group that “Putin’s war of aggression has provided us all with a preview of a world that none of us would want.”
“We’ve all been inspired by the courage of Ukraine’s troops and the resilience of Ukraine’s people,” Austin said. “People around the world have rushed to help Ukraine defend itself, including countries across the Indo-Pacific.”
President Vladimir Putin basked in an election victory that was never in doubt, as officials said Monday that he had won his fifth term with a record number of votes, underlining the Russian leader’s total control of the country’s political system.After facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices, Putin was set to extend his nearly quarter-century rule for six more years. Even with little margin for protest, Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon on Sunday, the last day of the election, apparently heeding an opposition call to express their displeasure with the president.Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since December 1999, a tenure marked by international military aggression and an increasing intolerance for dissent.Early Monday, Putin hailed overwhelming preliminary results as an indication of “trust” and “hope” in him — while critics saw them as another reflection of the preordained nature of the election.”Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future,” Putin said at a meeting with volunteers after polls closed.Any public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine has been stifled. Independent media have been crippled. His fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.Russia’s Central Election Commission said Monday that with nearly 100% of all precincts counted, Putin got 87.29% of the vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin, his highest vote tally ever.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela quickly congratulated Putin on his victory, as did the leaders of the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, while the West dismissed the vote as a sham.British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”In the tightly controlled environment, Navalny’s associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday — and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time.Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, who spent more than five hours in the line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. She told reporters that she wrote her late husband’s name on her ballot.Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: “Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he’s a killer, he’s a gangster.”But Putin brushed off the effectiveness of the apparent protest.”There were calls to come vote at noon. And this was supposed to be a manifestation of opposition. Well, if there were calls to come vote, then … I praise this,” he said at a news conference after polls closed.Unusually, Putin referenced Navalny by name for the first time ever at the news conference.Some Russians waiting to vote in Moscow and St. Petersburg told The Associated Press that they were taking part in the protest, but it wasn’t possible to confirm whether all of those in line were doing so.A voter in Moscow, who identified himself only as Vadim, said he hoped for change, but added that “unfortunately, it’s unlikely.” Like others, he didn’t give his full name because of security concerns.Meanwhile, supporters of Navalny streamed to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballots with his name written on them.Meduza, Russia’s biggest independent news outlet, published photos of ballots it received from their readers, with “killer” inscribed on one and “The Hague awaits you” on another. The latter refers to an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges from the International Criminal Court.Some people told the AP that they were happy to vote for Putin — unsurprising in a country where state TV airs a drumbeat of praise for the Russian leader and voicing any other opinion is risky.Dmitry Sergienko, who cast his ballot in Moscow, said, “I am happy with everything and want everything to continue as it is now.”Voting took place over three days at polling stations across the vast country, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine and online.Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations while others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said Russians were searched when entering polling stations, there were attempts to check filled-out ballots before they were cast, and one report said police demanded a ballot box be opened to remove a ballot.That left little room for people to express themselves. Still, huge lines formed around noon outside diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left home after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.”If we have some option to protest I think it’s important to utilize any opportunity,” said 23-year-old Tatiana, who was voting in the Estonian capital of Tallinn and said she came to take part in the protest.___Follow AP’s coverage of Russia’s election: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-election
President Vladimir Putin basked in an election victory that was never in doubt, as officials said Monday that he had won his fifth term with a record number of votes, underlining the Russian leader’s total control of the country’s political system.
After facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices, Putin was set to extend his nearly quarter-century rule for six more years. Even with little margin for protest, Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon on Sunday, the last day of the election, apparently heeding an opposition call to express their displeasure with the president.
Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since December 1999, a tenure marked by international military aggression and an increasing intolerance for dissent.
Early Monday, Putin hailed overwhelming preliminary results as an indication of “trust” and “hope” in him — while critics saw them as another reflection of the preordained nature of the election.
“Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future,” Putin said at a meeting with volunteers after polls closed.
Any public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine has been stifled. Independent media have been crippled. His fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.
Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said Monday that with nearly 100% of all precincts counted, Putin got 87.29% of the vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin, his highest vote tally ever.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela quickly congratulated Putin on his victory, as did the leaders of the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, while the West dismissed the vote as a sham.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
In the tightly controlled environment, Navalny’s associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday — and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time.
Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, who spent more than five hours in the line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. She told reporters that she wrote her late husband’s name on her ballot.
Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: “Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he’s a killer, he’s a gangster.”
But Putin brushed off the effectiveness of the apparent protest.
“There were calls to come vote at noon. And this was supposed to be a manifestation of opposition. Well, if there were calls to come vote, then … I praise this,” he said at a news conference after polls closed.
Unusually, Putin referenced Navalny by name for the first time ever at the news conference.
Some Russians waiting to vote in Moscow and St. Petersburg told The Associated Press that they were taking part in the protest, but it wasn’t possible to confirm whether all of those in line were doing so.
A voter in Moscow, who identified himself only as Vadim, said he hoped for change, but added that “unfortunately, it’s unlikely.” Like others, he didn’t give his full name because of security concerns.
Meanwhile, supporters of Navalny streamed to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballots with his name written on them.
Meduza, Russia’s biggest independent news outlet, published photos of ballots it received from their readers, with “killer” inscribed on one and “The Hague awaits you” on another. The latter refers to an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges from the International Criminal Court.
Some people told the AP that they were happy to vote for Putin — unsurprising in a country where state TV airs a drumbeat of praise for the Russian leader and voicing any other opinion is risky.
Dmitry Sergienko, who cast his ballot in Moscow, said, “I am happy with everything and want everything to continue as it is now.”
Voting took place over three days at polling stations across the vast country, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine and online.
Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations while others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said Russians were searched when entering polling stations, there were attempts to check filled-out ballots before they were cast, and one report said police demanded a ballot box be opened to remove a ballot.
That left little room for people to express themselves. Still, huge lines formed around noon outside diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left home after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“If we have some option to protest I think it’s important to utilize any opportunity,” said 23-year-old Tatiana, who was voting in the Estonian capital of Tallinn and said she came to take part in the protest.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Russia’s election: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-election
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to its statehood, sovereignty or independence, voicing hope that the U.S. would refrain from actions that could trigger a nuclear conflict.Related video above: Biden calls out Putin during State of the UnionPutin’s statement was another blunt warning to the West ahead of a presidential vote this week in which he’s all but certain to win another six-year term.In an interview with Russian state television released early Wednesday, Putin described U.S. President Joe Biden as a veteran politician who fully understands possible dangers of escalation, and said that he doesn’t think that the world is heading to a nuclear war.At the same time, he emphasized that Russia’s nuclear forces are in full readiness and “from the military-technical viewpoint, we’re prepared.”Putin said that in line with the country’s security doctrine, Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to “the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence.”The Russian leader has repeatedly talked about his readiness to use nuclear weapons since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The most recent such threat came in his state-of-the-nation address last month, when he warned the West that deepening its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk a nuclear war.Asked in the interview if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responded that there has been no need for that.He also voiced confidence that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine and issued a blunt warning to Western allies, declaring that “the nations that say they have no red lines regarding Russia should realize that Russia won’t have any red lines regarding them either.”He held the door open for talks, but emphasized that Russia will hold onto its gains and would seek firm guarantees from the West.“It shouldn’t be a break for the enemy to rearm but a serious talk involving the guarantees of security for the Russian Federation,” he said. Putin said that a recent spike in Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia is part of efforts to derail the country’s three-day presidential election, which starts Friday and which he is set to win by a landslide, relying on the tight control over Russia’s political scene he has established during his 24-year rule.Russian authorities reported another major attack by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday. The Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 58 drones over six regions. One of the drones hit an oil refinery in the Ryazan region, injuring at least two people and sparking a fire. Another drone was downed as it was approaching a refinery near St. Petersburg.Ukraine, meanwhile, reported more Russian attacks early Wednesday.A Russian strike killed two people and injured another five in the town of Myrnohrad in the eastern region of Donetsk, about 20 miles from the front line, according to Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Local rescuers managed to pull a 13-year-old girl out of the rubble of an apartment building that was hit by a Russian missile.A five-story building in the northern city of Sumy was struck by a drone launched from Russia overnight and 10 people were rescued from the rubble, including eight who sustained injuries, according to the regional administration.In President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the death toll from a Russian missile attack the previous night rose to four, said Gov. Serhii Lysak. He said that 43 people were wounded in of Kryvyi Rih, including 12 children, the youngest of them two and eleven-month-old.“Every day our cities and villages suffer similar attacks. Every day Ukraine loses people because of Russian evil,” Zelenskyy said.
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to its statehood, sovereignty or independence, voicing hope that the U.S. would refrain from actions that could trigger a nuclear conflict.
Related video above: Biden calls out Putin during State of the Union
Putin’s statement was another blunt warning to the West ahead of a presidential vote this week in which he’s all but certain to win another six-year term.
In an interview with Russian state television released early Wednesday, Putin described U.S. President Joe Biden as a veteran politician who fully understands possible dangers of escalation, and said that he doesn’t think that the world is heading to a nuclear war.
At the same time, he emphasized that Russia’s nuclear forces are in full readiness and “from the military-technical viewpoint, we’re prepared.”
Putin said that in line with the country’s security doctrine, Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to “the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence.”
The Russian leader has repeatedly talked about his readiness to use nuclear weapons since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The most recent such threat came in his state-of-the-nation address last month, when he warned the West that deepening its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk a nuclear war.
Asked in the interview if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responded that there has been no need for that.
He also voiced confidence that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine and issued a blunt warning to Western allies, declaring that “the nations that say they have no red lines regarding Russia should realize that Russia won’t have any red lines regarding them either.”
He held the door open for talks, but emphasized that Russia will hold onto its gains and would seek firm guarantees from the West.
“It shouldn’t be a break for the enemy to rearm but a serious talk involving the guarantees of security for the Russian Federation,” he said.
Putin said that a recent spike in Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia is part of efforts to derail the country’s three-day presidential election, which starts Friday and which he is set to win by a landslide, relying on the tight control over Russia’s political scene he has established during his 24-year rule.
Russian authorities reported another major attack by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday. The Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 58 drones over six regions. One of the drones hit an oil refinery in the Ryazan region, injuring at least two people and sparking a fire. Another drone was downed as it was approaching a refinery near St. Petersburg.
Ukraine, meanwhile, reported more Russian attacks early Wednesday.
A Russian strike killed two people and injured another five in the town of Myrnohrad in the eastern region of Donetsk, about 20 miles from the front line, according to Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Local rescuers managed to pull a 13-year-old girl out of the rubble of an apartment building that was hit by a Russian missile.
A five-story building in the northern city of Sumy was struck by a drone launched from Russia overnight and 10 people were rescued from the rubble, including eight who sustained injuries, according to the regional administration.
In President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the death toll from a Russian missile attack the previous night rose to four, said Gov. Serhii Lysak. He said that 43 people were wounded in of Kryvyi Rih, including 12 children, the youngest of them two and eleven-month-old.
“Every day our cities and villages suffer similar attacks. Every day Ukraine loses people because of Russian evil,” Zelenskyy said.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed Russian national unity, even as fighting raged on in Ukraine, in a state-of-the-nation address ahead of next month’s election he’s all but certain to win.Speaking to an audience of lawmakers and top officials televised live nationwide, Putin said that Russia was “defending its sovereignty and security and protecting our compatriots” in Ukraine.He hailed Russian soldiers and honored those who were killed in fighting with a moment of silence.Putin, 71, who is running as an independent candidate in the March 15-17 presidential election, relies on the tight control over Russia’s political system that he has established during 24 years in power.Prominent critics who could challenge him have either been imprisoned or are living abroad, while most independent media have been banned, meaning that Putin’s reelection is all but assured. He faces token opposition from three other candidates nominated by Kremlin-friendly parties represented in parliament.Russia’s best-known opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose attempt to run against Putin in 2018 was rejected, died suddenly in an Arctic prison colony earlier this month, while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges. Navalny’s funeral is set for Friday.Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced it as an unprovoked act of aggression.The Russian leader has repeatedly signaled a desire to negotiate an end to the fighting but warned that Russia will hold onto its gains.
MOSCOW —
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed Russian national unity, even as fighting raged on in Ukraine, in a state-of-the-nation address ahead of next month’s election he’s all but certain to win.
Speaking to an audience of lawmakers and top officials televised live nationwide, Putin said that Russia was “defending its sovereignty and security and protecting our compatriots” in Ukraine.
He hailed Russian soldiers and honored those who were killed in fighting with a moment of silence.
Putin, 71, who is running as an independent candidate in the March 15-17 presidential election, relies on the tight control over Russia’s political system that he has established during 24 years in power.
Prominent critics who could challenge him have either been imprisoned or are living abroad, while most independent media have been banned, meaning that Putin’s reelection is all but assured. He faces token opposition from three other candidates nominated by Kremlin-friendly parties represented in parliament.
Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced it as an unprovoked act of aggression.
The Russian leader has repeatedly signaled a desire to negotiate an end to the fighting but warned that Russia will hold onto its gains.
The bruised body of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, has been found in a hospital morgue in the Arctic, two days after he died in a nearby prison.
A paramedic told Russian opposition media that there were bruises on Navalny’s head and chest when his body was brought into the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital.
“Such injuries, described by those that saw them, appear from seizures,” the unnamed paramedic told the exiled Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
“The person convulses, they try to restrain him, and bruises appear. They also said that he also had a bruise on his chest. That is, they still tried to resuscitate him, and he died, most likely, from cardiac arrest.”
Russian prison officials said that Navalny died on Friday after falling ill during a short walk at IK-3, a notoriously brutal prison in the Russian Arctic.
Western leaders have accused Putin of murdering Navalny – Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
Reporters said no autopsy had yet been performed. They also said that two unscheduled flights from Moscow had landed on Saturday at Salekhard, possibly with autopsy specialists.
“The first jet landed at about six in the evening. It was met by cars of the Investigative Committee. And the second one arrived an hour and a half later,” Novaya Gazeta quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Russia observers said that state autopsy specialists may have been flown in from Moscow so that they can deliver a death certificate that pleases the Kremlin.
They also said that it was unusual to send the body of a dead prisoner from IK-3 to the hospital morgue, as Navalny’s had been, rather than the municipal one.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said on Sunday that Putin should face war crimes charges for the death of Navalny.
“I’d like to see Putin in front of that special tribunal, held to account for all of his crimes, not just in Ukraine, but as we are seeing just in the last 48 hours in Russia as well,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme on Sunday.
The sudden death of Navalny shocked liberal-minded Russians and triggered rare protests in Russia where demonstrations against the Kremlin are banned.
OVD-Info, a Russian activist group that monitors the Russian police, said that 400 people had been detained across Russia, mainly for laying flowers for Navalny at memorials to Soviet repression.
Reports from across Russia said that the plain-clothes security services, often wearing surgical masks, were following people who had laid flowers. Different police forces appeared to respond differently, with some blocking access to memorial sites and others tearing them down.
These were the biggest nationwide protests in Russia against the authorities since September 2022, when Putin ordered a mobilisation to recruit soldiers for his war in Ukraine.
Analysts said that the timing of Navalny’s death is important for the Kremlin which wants to use a presidential election next month to showcase support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
Ben Noble and Nikolai Petrov, both Fellows on the Russia Programme at Chatham House, said that the death of Navalny had undermined Russia’s beleaguered, fragmented and exiled opposition.
“There is no obvious figure to take up the role that Navalny crafted for himself, of Vladimir Putin’s main opponent. There will be no Navalny 2.0 in the short-term, at least,” they said.
On Sunday Navalny’s wife, Yulia, posted a new picture of the two of them together on social media, writing “I love you”.
The post on Instagram showed a picture of the two together, their heads touching as they watched a performance of some kind.
Yulia Navalny posted this picture of the couple on Instagram
Navalny’s death has had deep reverberations.
Donald Trump, who has been accused of withholding funding and weapons from Ukraine via Congress, came under fire on Sunday for his continued silence over Navalny’s death.
“The fact that he won’t acknowledge anything with Navalny – either he sides with Putin and thinks it’s cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or he just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Nikki Haley, his only Republican rival for the presidential nomination, said on ABC’s “This Week”.
“Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem,” added the Republican candidate, who is trailing far behind Mr Trump in the race for their party’s nomination.
Navalny’s still-unexplained death at 47 in a prison in Russia’s Arctic has drawn powerful condemnations from leaders around the world, starting with Joe Biden, the US president, who has squarely blamed Putin.
But Mr Trump, Mr Biden’s likely opponent in November, has yet to say a word about it at any of several public appearances since Navalny’s death was reported on Friday.
The Trump campaign, asked for comment, has directed reporters to a post on Mr Trump’s Truth Social platform that says: “America is no longer respected because we have an incompetent president who is weak and doesn’t understand what the world is thinking.”
The post does not mention Navalny, Russia or Putin.
The lack of comment comes days after Mr Trump stunned Western allies by saying he would “encourage” Russia to attack members of the Nato military alliance who had not met their financial obligations.
The suggestion cast a pall over a major global security conference in Munich, drawing a warning from Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of Nato, that Mr Trump should not “undermine” the alliance’s security.
âIâm not ready for my son to become a martyr.â Alexey Navalnyâs mother said these words in 2011, at the start of his journey to prominence as Russiaâs most active opposition politician. Thirteen years later, as news of her sonâs death, in a remote penal colony inside Russiaâs Arctic Circle, spread across the world, she said that she didnât want to hear any condolences. âI saw my son in prison on the 12th, when we went to visit him. He was alive, healthy, and cheerful.â
Navalnyâs team filled the void of his absence with similar calls. âWe have no reason to believe state propaganda. They have lied, are lying and will continue to lie,â wroteLeonid Volkov, a longtime associate of Navalnyâs. âDonât rush to bury Alexey.â
Who could blame them? Everyone knew the stakes. Navalny had risen from anti-corruption activist to online superstar to grassroots organizer to Russiaâs most famous political prisoner. He had battled countless physical attacks along the way, including one, when the nerve agent Novichok nearly killed him. Navalny himself had addressed the possibility of his death in the Oscar-winning documentary that carried his name. âDonât give up. You cannot give up,â he says straight to the camera in the film directed by Daniel Roher. âIf it happens, if they decide to kill me, it means we are incredibly strong. We need to use that power.â That begins by depriving the Russian state of the authority of defining his death.
Navalny was a singular figure in Russiaâthough he would bristle at that description. He wanted to inspire through his example and empower average people to throw off the yoke of Vladimir Putinâs tyrannical leadershipâitself, an inheritance from centuries of Russian imperial rule. If Navalnyâthe son of a couple who owns a basket-weaving factory in the outskirts of Moscow, and who studied law at a second-tier universityâcould come deeply in touch with his power as a citizen, couldnât anyone? When Navalny emerged in 2011 to become a leader of the massive street protests that swept Russia (after Putin announced he was returning to the presidency following a brief stint as prime minister), his chants embodied that idea. âWe exist!â he would yell to a crowd of tens of thousands. At one such protest, late in 2011, he sounded like a being from another planet, far from a Russia that had consolidated itself around one man: âThe only source of power is the people of the Russian Federation,â Navalny told the crowd. The roar in response was deafening.
Now he is gone, killedâperhaps in the moment, but certainly over the past few years of his imprisonmentâby a regime that could not tolerate him. âPutin tried and failed to murder Navalny quickly and secretly with poison, and now he has murdered him slowly and publicly in prison,â wrote the exiled Russian opposition figure Garry Kasparov, and he could not be more right.
Navalny grew an enormous following inside Russia by conducting thorough and easily digestible investigations into the corruption of the countryâs top elite, including Putin. He exposed shady deals, gaudy palaces, nepotistic excesses, and luxury yachts. After he was poisoned with Novichok on a trip to Siberia, he, along with the journalist Christo Grozev, called one of his own poisonersâan FSB agentâand got him to admit what he had done.
His career in politics began on the street and then quickly shifted into something more. In 2013, he ran for mayor of Moscow and came in second. Three years later, he tried to run for president but was barred. He founded an organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which opened regional chapters across the country, before being declared extremist in 2021 and now operates in exile. He launched a campaign to get Russians to engage in âSmart Votingââcasting their ballots for anyone but Putinâs cronies in the United Russia party.
He was driven by one goalâto get Putin and his henchmen out of power. He made some serious mistakes along the way, including early engagement with nationalist anti-migrant politics and initial acceptance of Putinâs seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, which he later renounced.
Through it all, he remained, unmistakably, himself. Navalny was deeply serious about his work, but also quick to make a joke or flash a smile. This might not seem notable, but in Russia it was revolutionary. Russiaâs Soviet legacy did so much to degrade the country, including its language and the way people not well acquainted interact with one other. Listening to a politician or newscaster talk is often an exercise in acronyms, the passive voice, and language so technical itâs as though theyâre talking about the intricacies of factory parts. Interpersonal exchanges are governed by suspicion or fear.
Vladimir Putin has reportedly built a sprawling estate complete with bidets costing £8,000 each, a “stolen” waterfall and the framework for an air-defence system less than 20 miles from Russia’s border with Finland.
The secretive complex is nestled deep in the forests of the northern region of Karelia, according to the Dossier Centre, a Russian investigative organisation which tracks various people associated with the Kremlin.
Leaked details and aerial footage of the estate on the shores of Lake Ladoga’s Majalahti Bay revealed it was protected by round-the-clock security, barbed-wire fences, intelligence officers and drone jammers.
The estate houses three properties known as The Barn, The Fisherman’s Hut and The Garden House.
Leaked details previously suggested the extravagant properties are decorated with expensive bidets, shower heads costing £3,500 apiece and a floor made from Fior di Bosco Italian marble worth £85,000.
Putin is believed to travel to the estate at least once a year, according to residents.
There is no doubt the president relaxes here,” a reporter for Dossier Centresaid in a video report.
“During his visits, the local security is replaced by Federal Guard Service employees, entrances are blocked off, and neighbouring islands are sealed off.”
The three houses boast two helipads, several jetties, a trout farm and a herd of cows for “marbled beef production”.
The grounds also house a factory kitted out with nearly £300,000 worth of Austrian brewing equipment capable of producing 82 pints of beer a day, and a second-floor tea room overlooking Lake Ladoga.
Vladimir Putin’s hideaway has several jetties for his yachts
Drone footage published alongside the report appeared to reveal a waterfall, which the Dossier Centre claims was “stolen” from the Ladoga Skerries National Park, which sits within the estate.
It is not clear how the outlet’s journalists managed to avoid security to gain access to the grounds. Normally, it is only accessible via boat or aircraft.
A large raised embankment which could be used to station an air-defence system is located at the back of the main property..
Vehicle tracks started appearing on the site shortly after it was constructed two years ago, further adding to the suggestion of surface-to-air missile systems being stationed there.
Construction on the 1,000-acre estate, which is roughly twice the size of Monaco, began more than 10 years ago.
Putin has very few assets declared in his name, which include a small apartment in St Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer and a small garage, alongside his presidential salary of about £110,000 a year.
After Dossier Centre’s report emerged, the head of Putin’s presidential campaign said on Tuesday that the majority of the Russian leader’s savings were made up of his annual salary.
