Good morning!
Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova can now be arrested in Armenia. Its Constitutional Court on Friday recognized the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the International Criminal Court. And this court, in turn, a week ago issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Russian children’s ombudsman on charges of deporting children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
- “Important stories”: The Russian occupation authorities in Crimea created new Wagnerites – this is the “PMC Convoy”.
- Bloomberg: The Kremlin has abandoned plans for a further offensive in Ukraine this spring.
- Russia has confirmed the loss of the large landing ship Saratov and its crew.
- “Mediazona” and “BBC” confirmed the death of more than 18 thousand Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine.
- BBC: Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces General Oleg Salyukov and his family make money on patriotic holidays, including the May 9 Victory Parade.
Military reports
On Friday night, the Russian military carried out a massive attack on several regions of Ukraine. At least nine people died. The Ukrainian army “titanic efforts” managed to stabilize the situation around Bakhmut, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny.
Russia is forced to train its servicemen in the Belarusian army, British intelligence found out. The agency concludes that the war has so disrupted the Russian military training system that now they have to resort to training their military personnel in a much less experienced Belarusian army. A holy place is never empty: as “Important stories” found out, the Moscow protege in the Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, created the so-called “PMC Convoy” – this is a kind of military army reserve. It is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s right hand, Konstantin “Mazai” Pikalov, the curator of PMC Wagner in Africa.
Against this background, it is not surprising that the Kremlin abandoned plans for a further offensive in Ukraine this spring. According to Bloomberg, the Ministry of Defense will seek to recruit up to 400,000 contract soldiers this year to replenish the ranks. A large-scale recruitment campaign will allow the Kremlin to avoid another mobilization on the eve of the election campaign, agency sources believe. At the same time, Russia is creating an information field for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Institute for the Study of War notes. As for the Ukrainian counter-offensive, an expert talks about it here.
Russia, a year later, nevertheless confirmed the loss of the large landing ship Saratov. In Sevastopol on Friday, the Russian occupation authorities unveiled a memorial plaque to the sailors of several large landing ships, among them the Saratov, Novocherkassk and Caesar Kunikov. Earlier, Russian authorities claimed that the Saratov was damaged by a Ukrainian missile and “was scuttled at the berth by the crew” to prevent the detonation of live shells, “and two other ships “received serious damage.”
Some sad statistics. Mediazona and BBC journalists have confirmed the deaths of more than 18,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine – here are the details. The bodies of 83 dead Ukrainian soldiers returned to Ukraine. Ukraine, in turn, handed over to Russia five seriously wounded Russian soldiers who were taken prisoner.
The UN Commission recorded 133 cases of sexual violence in Ukraine. Most likely, this is still an underestimated figure, but something else is interesting here. Of these, 109 cases are on the conscience of the Russian military and security forces, but 24 cases are the SBU, the defense and Ukrainian police. In addition, the UN commission currently has information about the killings of up to 25 Russian soldiers in Ukrainian captivity – and up to 15 Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity. Captured soldiers on both sides speak of ill-treatment and torture. However, Kyiv still investigates such crimes, unlike the Kremlin.
International discontent
Estonian authorities are expelling a Russian diplomat who is suspected of undermining security and propaganda. The Russian Foreign Ministry will, of course, take retaliatory measures.
In Kyiv, the assets of TV presenter Oksana Marchenko, the wife of pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, were seized in the amount of about $12 million. In Ukraine, she is suspected of financing Russian occupation groups. Earlier, the Ukrainian authorities seized her husband’s property worth more than $153 million.
Russia accused Slovakia of violating the agreement when transferring MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine. We are talking about the agreement on military-technical cooperation, which was concluded with Russia in 1997. In this agreement, it was said that Slovakia could transfer this or that weapon to third countries, but only with the consent of Russia as their manufacturer and seller.
Russian judicial
- In Barnaul, a FSO major was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison under an article on desertion for trying to leave Russia after the announcement of mobilization. On September 27, he fled to Kazakhstan through the forest, but was denied asylum and deported back.
- The story of a 20-year-old Belarusian who was forced to flee from Moscow to Istanbul because a neighbor wrote a denunciation against him because of a picture with Putin and the inscription “No to war!”.
- In Crimea, a pro-government Telegram channel published a video of an apology from a resident of Simferopol, who got herself a tattoo with the words “Crimea tse Ukraine” and showed it on social networks. Earlier, Crimean police detained her and drew up an administrative protocol against her in the case of “discrediting” the army.
- In Krasnodar, security forces tortured a man accused of terrorism on suspicion of setting fire to a military enlistment office with electric current.
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia put political scientist Abbas Gallyamov on the wanted list. He believes that in the case of “fake” about the army.
- A resident of Krasnoyarsk was given three years in prison in the case of incitement to extremism and terrorism for commenting about “the old fascist Vovka Putin.”
- RusNews journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who was sentenced to six years in prison in the case of “fakes” about the Russian army, was placed in a psychiatric hospital for several days. During the arrest, she had a seizure, because of which the police called a psychiatric team. Ponomarenko said that the orderlies beat her.
And the Russian non-judicial
May 9 is just around the corner, which means the Victory Parade. While the Russian army does not particularly boast victories in the Ukrainian campaign, its generals are not shy about continuing to capitalize on patriotism. For example, this year, as well as ten years in a row, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces General Oleg Salyukov will command the main military parade on Red Square. He will make money on it – details in the BBC investigation.
The European Central Bank is seeking the closure of business in Russia from the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International. Now it accounts for about a quarter of all euro transfers to the country, but its activities are causing more and more questions from the Russian authorities, writes Reuters. After much deliberation, the French network of building materials stores Leroy Merlin will leave Russia. It will transfer all its operations in Russia to local management to save jobs.
And about weapons. Rostec claims that it is increasing the production of a modernized version of the Tu-160M strategic bombers. It has “significantly expanded combat capabilities,” the statement said. At the same time, in December 2022, according to pro-government media, this model only completed factory tests.
Six links
- Spy story. How the Soviet Union exchanged intelligence residents.
- Unofficial art. How the apartment houses of underground artists were held in the USSR is very relevant for the present time.
- Our hearts demand change. Long read “Shelves” about literature and culture of the times of perestroika.
- “Konarmiya” and others. And here “Arzamas”, on the contrary, understands what was written about in the early USSR.
- “Rat Path”. A review of the book of the same name by lawyer Philip Sands, in which he captures the story of Nazi criminal Otto Wächter, who escaped punishment, and his son, who is trying in every possible way to whitewash his father’s name.
- “Our Russian Years”. An excerpt from a book about the forced resettlement of German technical specialists with their families in the USSR in 1946.
Sincerely yours,
Seven forty
