Ever since Vladimir Putin took office, he has maintained a firm grip on Russian media that has grown even tighter since his invasion of Ukraine. But as the president’s ‘special operation’ took a turn for the worse, the Kremlin’s propaganda machine was forced to adapt.
Thanks to the work of BBC monitoring journalist Francis Scarr, Josh Toussaint-Strauss explores how Russian state media has evolved its messaging since the start of the war
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Two Patriot missile defense systems, one from the U.S. and one as part of a combined effort from Germany and the Netherlands, arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday, after a group of Ukrainian air defenders completed training to use the weapons.
Austin is in Europe as questions continue to swirl over the leak of classified documents online, many of which were based on slides developed by the Joint Staff to brief senior Pentagon leaders on the situation in Ukraine. Some of those documents reflected U.S. concerns about the state of Kyiv’s inventories ahead of the spring fighting, including a detailed accounting of Ukraine’s dwindling supply of munitions and air defense missiles. Other intelligence documents reportedly included pessimistic U.S. assessments over Ukraine’s ability to win the war this year.
But a second Defense Department official said the Pentagon would not allow “any kind of spinning of negative information” to undermine its continued support for Ukraine and cooperation with other Western countries.
“Well, [Ukraine] could run out of artillery ammunition — if we didn’t do anything,” the official said. “But we are absolutely going to provide them with the ammunition, the artillery, the spare parts, the maintenance, the sustainment, the platforms that they need.”
The package includes additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems; 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; tube-launched, optically-tracked wire-guided missiles for the U.S.-provided Bradley armored fighting vehicles; AT-4 anti-armor weapon systems; anti-tank mines; demolition munitions for obstacle clearing; over 9 million rounds of small arms ammunition; four logistics support vehicles; and precision aerial munitions.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
One of the systems was donated by the United States, while another was jointly gifted by Germany and the Netherlands.
Ukrainian troops have been training on the systems in recent months in what U.S. military officials called an “absolutely a quick study.” Soldiers began training at Fort Sill, Okla., in January and were expected to take up to a year, but were almost ready to use the systems in battle last month, the officials said. They also completed training in Europe alongside the Dutch and German militaries.
The delivery marks the end of Reznikov’s lengthy effort to secure the defense systems, he said, as he asked allies for Patriots during a visit to the U.S. two years ago — months before the war broke out.
He pleaded with U.S. officials, telling them “our country’s liberty and independence are under threat. And what did we hear? It’s impossible! But the impossible is possible,” Reznikov wrote.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
MOSCOW — A Russian court on Monday slapped opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza with 25 years in prison for treason and other claimed offenses.
Moscow City Court sentenced Kara-Murza to a penal colony for spreading “fake news” about the army and “cooperation with an undesirable organization,” as Russian President Vladimir Putin steps up his crackdown on dissent and Russian civil society. But the bulk of his sentence had to do with another, third charge: treason, in the first time anyone has been convicted on that count for making public statements containing publicly available information.
On the courthouse steps, British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert called the sentence for Kara-Murza, who holds both Russian and British citizenship, “shocking.” Her U.S. counterpart said the verdict was an attempt “to silence dissent in this country.”
The U.K. summoned the Russian ambassador after the conviction, with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly calling for Kara-Murza’s “immediate release.”
Upon traveling to Russia in April 2022, Kara-Murza was detained for disobeying police orders. From that moment the charges piled up: first for spreading “fake news” about the Russian armed forces, then for his participation in an “undesirable organization,” and last for treason, on account of three public speeches he gave in the U.S., Finland and Portugal. The charges, all of which Kara-Murza denies, were expanded to treason last October.
A close associate of the late opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015, Kara-Murza was one of the last remaining prominent Putin critics still alive and walking free. But over the years he has ruffled many feathers as a main advocate for the Magnitsky Act, which long before the war called upon countries to target Russians involved in human rights violations and corruption.
The defense’s attempts to remove the judge — who is also on the Magnitsky list — were dismissed.
Kara-Murza continued to speak out against the Kremlin despite mounting personal risks, including what he described as poisonings by the Russian security services in 2015 and 2017, where he suddenly became ill, falling into a coma before eventually recovering.
Neither journalists nor high-ranking diplomats were allowed into the courtroom to witness the ruling and instead followed the sentencing on a screen.
Kara-Murza was in a glass cage, dressed in jeans and a gray blazer, with his mother and his lawyer standing outside of the cage. He smiled when the sentence was read out.
After the verdict Oleg Orlov, the co-chair of Russia’s oldest human rights group, Memorial, who himself is facing charges for “discrediting the Russian army,” drew a parallel with the Soviet Union, when “people were also jailed for words.” Kara-Murza compared the legal process to Stalin-era trials, in his appearance at court.
Kara-Murza’s lawyer Maria Eismont said the sentence was “a boost to his self esteem, the highest grade he could have gotten for his work as a politician and active citizen,” but added that there were serious concerns about his health.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
European Union politicians and officials have rounded on the front-line Eastern states of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia for imposing import bans on Ukrainian farm produce, denouncing the curbs as illegal and counterproductive.
The three countries banned imports of Ukrainian grain and other food products over recent days, arguing the export surplus had flooded their markets and threatened the livelihoods of local farmers.
The curbs have set the group on a collision course with Brussels while at the same time threatening the EU’s fragile solidarity in backing Ukraine’s fightback against Russia’s war of aggression.
EU diplomats believe the import bans contravene both international and EU law — and will fail to achieve their goals.
“Unilateral bans of individual countries won’t solve anything,” Czech Minister of Agriculture Zdeněk Nekula said.
“We must find agreement throughout the EU on the rules under which agricultural commodities will transit from Ukraine to European ports, and that production from them goes further to countries outside the EU that are dependent on Ukrainian production.”
The issue risks turning into a ticking time bomb.
Ukraine’s economy heavily relies on grain exports, which before the war were enough to feed 400 million people. When Russia invaded last year and blocked much of Ukraine’s global exports, the EU quickly installed so-called “solidarity lanes,” dropping all inspections on imports.
As a result, grain imports into surrounding countries shot up — much to the anger of local farmers who say they can’t compete. Instead of transiting through the countries to the rest of the world, the grain stays on the local markets, the countries argue.
With the summer harvest season ahead, the situation might get even tenser. Both Poland and Slovakia are heading into national elections later this year where the rural vote will be crucial.
“Solidarity lanes aren’t working. We have no effective tools controlling the transit,” Poland’s Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sadoś told POLITICO. “We have in our silos some 4 million tons of Ukrainian grain and we need some time to stabilize the situation.”
The problems had been largely ignored by the European Commission so far, he said, forcing the Polish government to act.
Romanian farmers protest in the front of the European Commision headquarters in Bucharest | Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images
“Individual farmers started to block terminals and train connections. They were protesting. We were very close to an escalation,” said Sadoś. He stressed that the ban, due to expire on June 30, is only temporary.
‘Unacceptable’ moves
One EU diplomat accused Warsaw of indulging in “gesture politics.”
“The situation has come to a head, it wants to send a signal that it’s supporting its farmers,” this diplomat said. “But it’s really not the most elegant solution, especially with regards to solidarity for Ukraine.”
Others even doubt whether the measures are legal in the first place.
In public, the EU’s executive branch, the Commission, has taken a measured approach, telling journalists in Brussels on Monday that “at this stage, it’s too early” to give a definite answer on the legality of the move. It did, however, note: “Trade policy is of EU exclusive competence and, therefore, unilateral actions are not acceptable.”
The private steer from Brussels appears to be more adamant about illegality. Czech Agriculture Minister Nekula, for example, said the EU’s Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski — who is himself Polish — had told him that such measures “are unacceptable.”
Asked whether the bans were legal, another EU diplomat said: “I don’t think so.” That’s because, the diplomat argued, trade is an exclusive competence of the EU, meaning individual countries cannot simply unilaterally block imports from a country. Yet another EU diplomat supported that argument, pointing to World Trade Organization rules.
The terms of EU-Ukraine commerce are also supposed to be safeguarded by the terms of a free-trade area applied since 2014.
Poland rejects the idea that it is breaking the rules, citing national laws that allow it to do so for public safety reasons.
It’s not just Poland, however, and each of the three countries is trying to avoid the Commission’s wrath by making different arguments in its defense.
Slovakia, for its part, argues it was forced to act on Monday after Poland and Hungary moved at the weekend to block imports.
“There was a risk their routes will redirect towards us and will cause even more pressure on our small domestic market,” a Slovak official said, adding that tests had also shown an excessive level of pesticides in wheat.
Contrary to Poland and Hungary, Slovakia said it would keep transit open.
European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski speaks during a debate on the Common Agricultural Policy | Pool photo by Christian Hartmann/AFP via Getty Images
A way out?
Wiesław Gryn, one of the main leaders of farmer protests in Poland, said a better way would be to focus on banning products that are made in violation of EU standards, rather than imposing a temporary blanket ban.
“Stopping Ukrainian exports for two months won’t do much because at least six months are needed to export the 4 million tons [that is already in Poland],” he said.
To address the issue, the EU has disbursed some €30 million to Poland, some €16.8 million to Bulgaria and €10 million to Romania.
That isn’t nearly enough, said Sadoś, the Polish ambassador. “We need systemic solutions, not just support for the farmers,” he said. Poland wanted to keep supporting Ukraine through imports, he said, “but the price cannot be … the bankruptcy of millions of Polish farmers.”
Such systemic solutions, in Sadoś’ view, would be to give importers a window of 24 hours, for example, for shipments to reach a transit port to ensure that the products don’t stay in Poland.
That is legally complicated, however, and would involve more checks and paperwork — potentially holding up trade flows even more, say critics.
Lili Bayer and Gregorio Sorgi contributed reporting.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
The European Commission wants to cut deals with private American space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch cutting-edge European navigation satellites due to continued delays to Europe’s next generation Ariane rocket system.
In a draft request to EU countries seen by POLITICO, the Commission is planning to ask for a green light to negotiate “an ad-hoc security agreement” with the U.S. for its rocket companies to “exceptionally launch Galileo satellites.”
The Commission reckons only SpaceX’s Falcon 9 heavy launcher and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan system are up to the job of sending the EU’s new geo-navigation Galileo satellites — which weigh around 700 kilograms each — into orbit.
Seeking U.S. help to keep its flagship space program running puts a dent in the EU’s idea of strategic autonomy. Galileo is a point of pride for the EU, as it seeks to become less dependent on other regions for critical infrastructure, services and technology — a quest strongly backed by Paris.
The EU is having to seek assistance to launch new versions of its navigation satellites because the Ariane 5 rocket, developed by France-based ArianeGroup and launched from France’s South American spaceport in French Guiana, is to be retired in the next months.
The deployment of its replacement, Ariane 6, has been delayed; the newsystem is currently expected to carry out a maiden launch at the end of this year, with full commercial deployment starting next year.
The alternative to the Ariane series would have been launching Galileo satellites with Russian-built Soyuz rockets, a version of which are also used at the French Guiana site. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two Galileo launches using Soyuz rockets have been cancelled, prompting the search for alternatives.
Galileo satellites beam highly accurate navigation and precise time data back to earth — and also provide a top secret encrypted service for use by government agencies. That means launches typically can only be carried out from EU territory under tight security rules.
“In view of the security sensitive information … included in Galileo satellites, an ad-hoc legally binding security agreement with [the] U.S. is necessary, in order to protect the integrity of the satellites and the Galileo constellation,” said part of a draft proposal from the Commission seen by POLITICO.
It will be up to EU countries to approve negotiations for an agreement, which would come under the umbrella of standing deals on the exchange of classified information, the proposal states.
Capacity to launch satellites and humans into space independently of other powers has been a key part of French efforts to develop the concept of strategic autonomy for Europe.
But the need to contract out launches of critical space infrastructure to private companies operating in the U.S. undermines the argument that Europe is able to manage its own alternative to the U.S. GPS, Russia’s Glonass and China’s BeiDou constellations.
“Analyses are … ongoing to ascertain whether or not launching with an alternative launch service provider would be feasible,” said Commission spokesperson Sonya Gospodinova, adding that no decision has yet been taken. Assessments are being made on technical compatibility, launch site security and cost, she said.
While SpaceX’s Falcon rocket is already operational, ULA only plans its first Vulcan mission in May.
The Paris-based European Space Agency, which isn’t an EU institution but helps manage Galileo and runs the French Guiana spaceport, had already been looking at alternative launch options for satellites.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Budapest: Hungary has joined Poland in banning the import of grain and other food products from Ukraine, in an effort to protect its domestic farming industry, according to official sources.
The ban, which was announced by the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture late Saturday night, is temporary and will last until June 30. Ukrainian grain exports have been forced to take alternate routes through the European Union (EU) since Russia blocked access to the Black Sea, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy took to Facebook to announce the ban, saying that the Hungarian government is committed to representing the interests of its farming community.
The ministry’s statement said that in the absence of meaningful EU measures, Hungary is temporarily prohibiting the importation of grain, oilseeds, and several other agricultural products from Ukraine, similar to Poland.
Poland announced its own temporary ban on several Ukrainian foodstuffs on Saturday, following protests by Polish farmers.
The Hungarian ministry explained that the continuation of the current domestic market processes would cause serious damage to Hungarian agriculture, so “extraordinary measures must be put in place to hinder them.”
The statement also cited cheap production practices not allowed in the EU, as well as duty-free and free trade opportunities, which have allowed large quantities of Ukrainian poultry, eggs, and honey to enter the European market, making it difficult for domestic and Central European farmers to compete.
“The same people who said Kyiv would fall in three days are now leaking harmful and equally ridiculous information ahead of an offensive critically important for the entire free world,” said a person in regular contact with senior officials in Kyiv.
“There are some people who continue to be hesitant” about Ukraine’s military chances in the counteroffensive, a Ukrainian defense official said, “but we’ve proved everybody wrong.” The projections of Ukraine’s chances are “not the truth,” this official continued. “It gives us grounds for suspicion” of just how seriously the U.S. backs Ukraine’s objectives of fully pushing Russia out of the country.
That sentiment is widespread within the Ukrainian government, per another person with similar high-level contacts in Kyiv. All three people were granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal deliberations in Ukraine.
The comments make clear that the United States and Ukraine aren’t as in sync as both countries claim 14 months into the war. It could also portend less trust between Washington and Kyiv ahead of a crucial few months of fighting that could dictate the course of the war with Russia. With Russia in control of 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, the hope is that the counteroffensive, even with dwindling supplies, will force Moscow’s troops and mercenaries out of the country they invaded.
The U.S. efforts at damage control do appear to be getting some traction.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that Secretary of State Antony Blinken called him Tuesday to affirm America’s “ironclad U.S. support and vehemently rejected any attempts to cast doubt on Ukraine’s capacity to win on the battlefield.” And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also spoke to his counterpart, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, on Tuesday to convey Ukraine “will fight the enemy and not be driven by a specific plan.”
The coordination continued on Wednesday when Austin met Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The Ukrainian defense official also asserted that Kyiv has received assurances of America’s continued commitment from Austin and other top Biden administration figures. “You can be forgiven for having doubts,” the official said about the Americans. “We understand it.”
The National Security Council didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The intelligence provides a disheartening evaluation of Ukraine’s anticipated spring counteroffensive, and it isn’t the first such indication of the Biden administration’s lack of confidence in Ukraine’s military chances this year.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive, per the intelligence, will target eastern and southern Ukraine, with an ultimate goal of cutting off Russia’s land access to Crimea, the peninsula Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. Few in the administration, though, believe Kyiv can recapture much of the territory Russia took since its invasion last year, citing manpower, resupply and logistics concerns.
Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chair, has repeatedly questioned Ukraine’s ability to win the war militarily in the near term. “The probability of a Ukrainian military victory, defined as kicking the Russians out of all of Ukraine, to include what they define or what the claim is Crimea, the probability of that happening anytime soon is not high,” he told reporters last November. Milley’s assessment hasn’t changed: he told Defense One last month that Ukraine couldn’t expel Russians “in the near term for this year.”
Ukrainian officials are also increasingly angry at continued leaks about their operations. Reports on sensitive intelligence connecting Ukraine to the assassination of a prominent Russian nationalist’s daughter and a pro-Kyiv group to the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines frustrated Ukraine.
More cracks in the U.S.-Ukraine relationship have emerged in recent months. For example, Kyiv has poured troops and resources into holding Bakhmut, a city in the east of the country. But officials in the White House and Pentagon, among others, don’t see Bakhmut as strategically important. They’ve recommended that Ukraine focus its attention elsewhere.
U.S. officials are particularly concerned about Ukraine using up critical supplies of ammunition in the fight for Bakhmut, as the West races to prepare Kyiv for what’s expected to be brutal fighting this spring.
There are also disagreements about whether it’s worth it for Ukraine to recapture Crimea from Russia. The Biden administration fears Ukraine doesn’t have all it needs to take and hold the peninsula that Moscow has controlled for nearly a decade. Zelenskyy doesn’t agree: “Respect and order will only return to international relations when the Ukrainian flag returns to Crimea — when there is freedom there,” he said in a video message this week.
Pentagon officials are also alarmed by Ukraine’s dwindling supply of medium-range air defense missiles, according to a U.S. official and the leaked documents. Based on current consumption rates of these missiles, Kyiv’s ability to provide air defense to protect the front lines will be “completely reduced” by May 23, according to one slide produced by the Joint Staff, a deadline the U.S. official said is driving the timing of the counteroffensive.
The concern is that once Ukraine is out of medium-range air defense missiles, Russian fighter and bomber aircraft will be free to attack Ukrainian troop and artillery positions from the skies. Until now, neither side has been able to fly combat aircraft freely in the conflict. The West has sent short-range air defense missiles, such as Stingers, but these weapons have limited impact against aircraft, according to the leaked documents.
The U.S. and European countries are sending two Patriot missile defense systems, but a group of Ukrainian air defenders is still wrapping up the final stage of training to operate the equipment in Europe before they head to the battlefield.
Ukraine’s air force is also depleted, and Western countries have declined to send modern fighter aircraft such as F-16s, which could also intercept incoming missiles.
Lara Seligman contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: Indian medical students, who returned home from Ukraine following the Russian invasion, will be allowed to take a key examination from India.
This has been conveyed to the Indian side by Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova during her three-day visit to New Delhi.
“On the issue of Indian medical students, the Deputy foreign minister mentioned that Ukraine will allow foreign medical students to take the Unified State Qualification Exam in their country of domicile,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday.
The MEA issued a statement as Dzhaparova wrapped up her visit to India.
Around 19,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine when the Russian invasion began in February last year.
According to estimates, approximately 2,000 Indian students have gone back to Ukraine and they are residing mostly in the western part of the East European country.
Under the initiative of the Ukranian authorities, the students who are still in India can join online classes and have the option to appear for the Unified State Qualification Exam (USQE) in India.
During the visit, the first deputy foreign minister held bilateral talks with Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) in the MEA and called on Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.
“Dzhaparova, during her visit, highlighted Ukraine’s desire to build a stronger and closer relationship with India,” the MEA said.
“Dzhaparova’s visit to India would facilitate cooperation between the two countries,” it said.
The Pentagon in December began sending Kyiv advanced equipment that could convert unguided air-dropped munitions into precision-guided “smart bombs” that can hit Russian targets with a higher degree of accuracy.
The guided bombs can be launched by a variety of aircraft such as bombers and fighters, and are called Joint Direct Attack Munitions or JDAMs. The longer-range version being sent to Ukraine is called a JDAM-Extended Range, or JDAM-ER.
But the weapons have experienced higher-than-expected dud rates and have missed their targets on the battlefield, according to a leaked slide prepared by the Joint Staff and confirmed by a U.S. official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
In some cases, the bomb fuzes were not arming when they were released, causing the weapon to fail to detonate. The Ukrainian air force put in place a fix to ensure the bombs are arming correctly, according to the slide and the official.
The document includes a diagram of the munition and lays out the technical issue the weapons are experiencing as well as the proposed fix. It also provides a detailed account of the weapon’s failure rate in several recent attacks, including the dates and the number of munitions it took to take out the target. However, POLITICO could not independently verify that information.
A larger problem is that Russia is using GPS jamming to interfere with the weapons’ targeting process, according to the slide and a separate person familiar with the issue who’s not in the U.S. government. American officials believe Russian jamming is causing the JDAMs, and at times other American weapons such as guided rockets, to miss their mark.
“I do think there may be concern that the Russians may be jamming the signal used to direct the JDAMs, which would answer why these munitions are not performing in the manner expected and how they perform in other war zones,” said Mick Mulroy a former Pentagon official and retired CIA officer.
A spokesperson for Boeing, which makes the guidance kits, referred questions to the U.S. government when asked for comment. Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn declined to comment on the content of the leaked documents.
“We have seen Ukraine use the security assistance the U.S. and our partners and allies have provided to great success in the defense of their sovereign territory,” Garn said. “We are not going to discuss battle damage or intelligence assessments due to operational security considerations.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
