Russia

Ramaswamy: “Our Goal Shouldn’t Be For Putin To Lose”

The New Republic reports: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has a reckless plan for achieving U.S. global dominance: giving away other countries’ territory. Ramaswamy is already under fire for his objectively terrible plan to let China invade Taiwan after 2028 if he were elected. Now, the presidential hopeful thinks that Russia should be allowed to keep the parts of Ukraine …

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RFK Backs Russia: “They’re Not Going To Lose The War”

The Daily Beast reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. debated Fox News host Sean Hannity during a town hall event Tuesday about the United States’ role in the Russia-Ukraine war, with the 2024 presidential candidate claiming that the U.S. had been “pushing” Ukraine into the war. Kennedy Jr. claimed that the expansion of NATO after the fall of the Soviet Union …

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Fleeing Russians Spike Economies Of Nearby Nations

The Insider reports: The exodus of Russians started after many highly educated professionals — such as academics, finance, and tech workers — left Russia in the early days of the war. By October 2022, about 700,000 Russians had left the country, Reuters reported citing Russian media — however, the Kremlin rejected those numbers saying it doesn’t have this data. Many …

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Russia Advances Bill To Erase All Transgender Rights

The Guardian reports: A sweeping Russian draft law to ban legally or medically changing gender has been approved by the lower house of parliament in its final reading, part of a crackdown against LGBTQ+ rights under the president, Vladimir Putin. The bill would bar Russians from changing their gender on official identity documents, which had been legal since 1997. Health …

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Russia Halts Deal Allowing Ukraine To Export Grain

Reuters reports: Russia said on Monday that it had halted participation in a landmark UN-brokered deal which allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea just hours after Moscow said Ukraine had attacked the Crimean Bridge. The Kremlin said the halting of the Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to combat a global …

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REPORT: Mercenary Leader Has Returned To Russia

The Associated Press reports: Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg and his Wagner troops have remained at the camps where they had stayed before a short-lived mutiny against Moscow, the president of Belarus said Thursday. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko helped broker a deal for Prigozhin to end his rebellion on June 24 in exchange for amnesty and …

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Russian General Still “Missing” Ten Days After Uprising

Bloomberg News reports: A Russian general who’s been questioned over the failed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries was conspicuously absent at a meeting of top army chiefs where Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu denounced the rebellion. Sergei Surovikin, 56, a career military officer dubbed “General Armageddon” for his ruthless tactics in Syria, hasn’t been seen since the short-lived rebellion ended on June …

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Russian General Goes “Missing” After Coup Attempt

The Guardian reports: A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday, with US intelligence reportedly claiming he had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Gen Sergei Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine. Prigozhin …

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Putin Rages: Attempts At An Internal Mutiny Will Fail

The New York Times reports: With palpable anger, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made his first public comments since a paramilitary revolt was called off on Saturday, saying in a five-minute speech that the uprising led by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin — who he did not mention by name — failed because “the entire Russian society united and rallied everyone.” …

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Mercenary Leader: I Wasn’t Trying To Overthrow Putin

The New York Times reports: Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group who mounted a brief uprising against Russia’s military command over the weekend, broke a long period of silence on Monday to deny, once more, that he had any intention of seizing power with his march on Moscow. “We went to demonstrate our protest, and not …

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REPORT: Threats To Family Ended Mercenary Advance

The Telegraph reports: Russian intelligence services threatened to harm the families of Wagner leaders before Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his advance on Moscow, according to UK security sources. It has also been assessed that the mercenary force had only 8,000 fighters rather than the 25,000 claimed and faced likely defeat in any attempt to take the Russian capital. Vladimir Putin …

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Russia Issues Call To “Rally Around” Putin After Mutiny

Reuters reports: Russia has faced “a challenge to its stability” and must remain united behind President Vladimir Putin, its prime minister said on Monday, after mercenaries briefly occupied a strategic command centre for its Ukraine war and marched on Moscow. The armed mutiny over the weekend by the powerful Wagner Group and its abrupt ending with no apparent penalties for …

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Kremlin To Drop Charges Against Mercenary Leader

The New York Times reports: The outlines of a deal that appeared to defuse a rapidly evolving Russian security crisis began to come into focus late Saturday, as the Kremlin announced that a Russian mercenary leader, who for nearly 24 hours led an armed uprising against the country’s military leadership, would flee to Belarus and his fighters would escape repercussions. …

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Mercenary Leader: I’ve Halted Our Advance On Moscow

The Washington Post reports: Mercenaries are halting their travel toward Moscow and turning back from the city, Wagner Group leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin said in an audio message Saturday. After a day of mounting tension in Russia as Prigozhin’s forces advanced in the direction of the capital, his statement appeared to signal a possible end to the immediate crisis. Prigozhin said …

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Biden Discusses Russian Situation With Top US Allies

The Independent reports: US President Joe Biden has been briefed and his administration is closely monitoring fast-moving developments in Russia as Vladimir Putin vowed “decisive actions” to suppress mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his armed rebellion. The president and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by their national security team on Saturday morning, according to a White House statement. Mr …

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Moscow Mayor To Residents: Avoid Unnecessary Travel

Deutsche Welle reports: Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has issued a statement telling residents in the capital to avoid unnecessary travel and also declared that Monday would not be a working day for most people — except for core services, security services, the military and so forth. “In order to minimize risks, I, within the framework of the operational headquarters, decided …

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Baltic EU Members Beef Up Russian Border Security

Politico Europe reports: EU countries bordering Russia were on alert Saturday, with some beefing up their border security, after the Wagner paramilitary group seized control of a strategic Russian city and threatened to move on Moscow. Estonia and Latvia have stepped up their border security in response, according to the countries’ governments, while Latvia suspended visa applications and entry to …

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Kinzinger: Uprising Is “Massive Blow” To Tucker Carlson

“I think you have to start thinking through every worst-case scenario. So obviously Putin out of the picture, I think generally it would be great for the world, but you think about the instability in Russia that will inevitably come from that. Even if this whole supposed coup fails, there will be some instability in Russia, which has nuclear weapons. …

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G7 Foreign Ministers Hold Call On Russian Uprising

Axios reports: Secretary of State Tony Blinken held a secure conference call this morning with several Western foreign ministers to consult about the escalating situation in Russia, a source with direct knowledge of the issue told Axios. The foreign ministers of France, Germany, the U.K., Italy, Canada and the European Union were on the call with Blinken, according to the …

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Zelenksy: Crisis Shows Russia’s “Full-Scale Weakness”

The Guardian reports: Glued to their mobile phones, millions of Ukrainians spent a sleepless night on Friday, after the head of the Wagner mercenary group declared war against his rivals in the Russian military, sparking unprecedented political turmoil in Moscow. “Events are developing according to the scenario we talked about all last year,’’ said Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to …

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