“… Should Kyiv be defeated in the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022, ‘the global system of security will be destroyed … and all the world will need to find … a new system of security,’ [Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys] Shmyhal said … Wednesday …. ‘Or, there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars, and in […]
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” U.S. and Russia have a long history of polar science cooperation.” “… The United States and Russia should be working together to understand the deepening crisis …. Warming at a rate four times faster than the rest of the world, the Arctic is disproportionately affected by global warming: sea ice is diminishing, coastlines are eroding, ecosystems are collapsing, and […]
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“Hollywood and DC ignore fact that Russia’s army is bigger than when the war began and Ukraine can’t keep up” “… First, Ukraine lacks the soldiers to win. … As Ukraine’s Commander of Joint Forces said … April 11, there are seven to 10 times more Russian soldiers than … Ukrainians on the battlefield … three days after his colleague, […]
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“… The IMF[] expects Russia to grow 3.2% this year, … more than the UK, France and Germany. Oil exports have ‘held steady’ and government spending has ‘remained high’ contributing to growth, the IMF said. … Despite the Kremlin being sanctioned over its invasion of Ukraine, the IMF upgraded its January predictions for the Russian economy this year, and said […]
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“The war in Ukraine scattered Russia’s opposition. From exile, it is biding its time as it seeks ways to weaken President Vladimir Putin.” “… [A]fter … Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony … his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, met with his grieving aides to ask: What next? … Russia’s [2022] invasion of Ukraine … and Putin’s brutal crackdown on […]
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“Russia and Ukraine reached deal with Turkey, sources say But Ukraine pulled out at last moment – sources Deal would have given safety to merchant shipping Turkey’s Erdogan was about to announce it on March 30″ “Russia and Ukraine negotiated for two months with Turkey on a deal to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea and reached […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – April 12, 2024) The share of Russians who would like to leave Russia for permanent residence in another country has reached a record low, according to the results of a national poll conducted by Russia’s Levada Center on March 21-27, 2024.This center has been measuring Russians’ attitudes toward emigration since 1990, registering […]
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“A Hidden History of Diplomacy That Came Up Short—but Holds Lessons for Future Negotiations” “… By the end of March 2022, a series of in-person meetings in Belarus and Turkey and virtual engagements over video conference … produced the so-called Istanbul Communiqué … describ[ing] a framework for a settlement. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators then began working on the text of […]
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“The great tragedy of the Russian-Ukrainian war is that it will ultimately prove to have been futile. The likely outcome — territorial adjustments in Moscow’s favor, security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia — could have been peaceably negotiated beforehand had leaders had a firmer grasp of the real balance of power or greater political courage. The cost of failed diplomacy […]
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“Ukraine is facing challenges on multiple fronts, from critical shortages of munitions and manpower to Russia ramping up its attacks. It comes amid uncertainty around future aid from the U.S. …” Click here for: “Exclusive: Zelenskyy says without U.S. aid ‘we’ll have no chance of winning’ [including transcript]” – PBS: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Amna Nawaz, Dan Sagalyn, Sam Lane “… Amna […]
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“Russia has been able to swiftly repair some of [the] key oil refineries hit by Ukrainian drones, reducing capacity idled by the attacks to about 10% from almost 14% at the end of March …. Ukraine stepped up drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure since the start of the year, hitting … major oil refineries across the world’s second largest […]
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“Zelensky and Yermak find themselves tied to one another and somewhat interdependent: the former on the staffing policy of his head of administration, the latter on the political survival of his patron.” “… Zelensky is continuing his large-scale purge of the Ukrainian leadership in an attempt to achieve greater cohesion and efficiency … [while] preparing for a double crisis in […]
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“The government and its people are recognizing what a cease-fire deal with Russia would really mean.” “In recent days … Zelensky … announc[ed] his openness to making several concessions to Russian demands … includ[ing] a commitment to Ukrainian neutrality with respect to military alliances, a rejection of any nuclear arsenal, and … acceptance of Russian control over Ukraine’s eastern regions. […]
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“… [R]eviving a proposal … Ukraine had rejected. … Dmitry Peskov said [Friday] … the draft document … discussed in Istanbul in March 2022 could be ‘the basis for starting negotiations.’ At the same time, he noted … [the] need to take into account … ‘new realities.’ ‘There have been many changes since then, new entities have been included in […]
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“… [I]t is increasingly clear that the Ukrainian army is not capable of reconquering … territories lost to Russia … [W]ithout continued and massive Western aid, the Ukrainians will suffer eventual defeat owing to Russia’s huge economic and demographic superiority, and … such aid cannot be guaranteed. Sanctions have not cratered Russia’s economy or crippled its war effort. Russia has […]
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“… At the start of the war, when Ukraine lost access to its deep-water ports in the Black Sea, the EU temporarily exempted Ukrainian lorry drivers from a permit system …. upset[ting] Polish drivers, who had dominated .. local freight …. [A] suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian farm goods, produced by larger, more efficient outfits, posed competition […]
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“… [S]eek[ing] to influence congressional and other political debates to stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment, Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions, according to a trove of internal Kremlin documents obtained […]
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“Ukraine ‘will lose the war’ if the United States Congress does not approve military aid to help it resist Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “It’s important to specifically address the Congress: if the Congress doesn’t help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” Zelensky said Sunday during a video meeting of the Ukrainian fund-raising group UNITED24. “If Ukraine loses this […]
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“In honoring a book depicting Ukrainian volunteers in the Waffen SS as heroes and patriots, the group reveals historical ignorance — or indifference to antisemitism.” “… [T]he American Library Association (ALA) published a list of Best Historical Materials for 2023, which includes Enemy Archives: Soviet Counterinsurgency Operations and the Ukrainian Nationalist Movement — Selections from the Secret Police Archives. This […]
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“… [Britain] … has joined France, Germany and the United States … accepting the International Olympic Committee’s plan for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the Paris Olympics …. [T]he IOC and … International Paralympic Committee have decided that [those] athletes … can take part … as neutrals if they have not publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine and […]
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(Moscow Times – April 5, 2024) Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media said Friday that two-thirds of tech workers who left the country after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have returned. “Over the past year, we have not observed an outflow of IT specialists,” the ministry said in a statement, which appeared to have been […]
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“Lavrov discussed security with Wang during visit to China Beijing and Moscow have deepened ties since the start of war” “Russia and China agreed to start a [security] dialogue … with the aim of ‘double counteracting’ the [U.S.-led] European-Atlantic alliance …. ‘We have a common goal of increasing security in Eurasia,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday … [meeting] […]
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“… [R]ecalcitrance in Congress is not Ukraine’s only problem. Europe has been slow to step in … and … Zelensky[] may have taken too long to lower the recruitment age to 25 …. American weapons and artillery are essential to Ukraine’s ability to hold the line and[] eventually … negotiate for an end to hostilities from a position of strength. […]
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“… [T]ightening … alignment between Russia and China is one of the most important geopolitical outcomes of Putin’s war against Ukraine. … Xi and Putin drive much of this reorientation, but it is also the byproduct of the deepening schism between the West and both countries. … [T]he West should be prepared for an extended period of simultaneous confrontation with […]
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“The commander of one of Ukraine’s most skilled units sent his men on a dangerous mission that required them to outmaneuver a swarm of aerial threats.” “Members of Ukraine’s 1st Separate Assault Battalion describe themselves as firemen. Their job is to rapidly deploy to areas along the front that are in danger of collapse. Lately, their service has been in […]
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“According to the Pryncyp organization, which defends the interests of those injured in war, almost 70% of them have financed medical care themselves. ‘Semi-fit’ or wounded, they hope to influence the government.” “The Russian aggression that began on February 24, 2022, is far from having destroyed Ukraine’s democratic foundations. At the very heart of the army, a critical voice is […]
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(The Kennan Institute – Igor Slabykh – April 5, 2024 – wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/crocus-attack-may-end-ban-death-penalty-russia) [Igor Slabykh is a lawyer and manager with twenty years of experience in Russia and the U.S.; he holds a law degree from the Moscow State Open University and an LLM from the George Washington University Law School.] Fifteen years after the death penalty was abolished in Russia, […]
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“Russian budget revenues in the first quarter of 2024 reached 8.7tn ($94bn) roubles … marking year-on-year growth of more than half, [according to the Russian] finance ministry …. Energy revenues, … a third of Russia’s total budget earnings, surged by almost 80 per cent … [due to] high oil prices and one-off [energy exporter tax-related] payments …. Non-oil and gas […]
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“… Even when government campaigns are successful, they struggle for momentum. … Russian propaganda has been pushing stories about how wonderful the Russian medical care is – despite problems …. Such propaganda campaigns work for a few weeks, but then the conversation around this topic on social media becomes negative, and the Kremlin tries to drive it up again. Likewise […]
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“… Biden’s policy of ambivalence toward Ukraine means … he has provided enough weapons to avoid defeat (at least so far) but with enough constraints that Kyiv also hasn’t been able to win. Witness U.S. unhappiness about Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russian territory. Ukraine has struck at least 15 of Russia’s 30 major refineries since January. The West has been […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 6 Things to Know Russian forces have gained 23 square miles of Ukrainian territory, while Ukrainian forces have re-gained 0 square miles in the past month, according to the April 2, 2024, issue of the Belfer Center’s Russia-Ukraine War Report Card. Most recently, Russian forces have advanced into the outskirts of the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, […]
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“… [Past] Russian attacks towards the energy network in Ukraine … focused on the power distribution system and damages [had] been easy to repair quickly. This new campaign is … much more serious … since its focus is [on] power production facilities … [that] might take years to repair or replace. Why has Russia shifted its focus? … [In the […]
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“… [E]ven without the Crocus City Hall attack, [] Putin was primed to step up his assault on Ukraine. After his landslide victory in … [a] rubber-stamp presidential election, [] Putin is more secure than ever in his position and free to focus fully on the war effort. … Russian forces now hold material and manpower advantages over Ukraine. … […]
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“Thousands of wives, girlfriends and mothers of serving soldiers have taken to the streets to call for fresh recruits to replace soldiers who signed up at the start of the war” “… At the most recent protest, held last week, around 4,000 women gathered in 21 cities across the country. In Kyiv, women wrapped in Ukrainian flags marched to Maidan […]
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“… The menacing images I watched … were sketched using signals captured by sensors from land, sea, air and space … [depicting abstractions of] Russian air-defense systems … Ukrainian drone operators can instantly map a safe route to [a] target using [a] system … developed for them by … U.S. software company Palantir …. part of an astonishing wave of […]
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“Admitting Kyiv is a nonstarter as long as the war with Russia is raging. But the member nations want to show they are supporting Ukraine ‘for the long haul.’” “… Ukraine … ultimately [wants] … a formal invitation to join NATO. … [A]lliance officials agree that is not going to happen at … festivities … [in] Washington in July. NATO […]
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“… Moscow’s initial plan was to have … agents infiltrate the highest levels of Ukrainian society ahead of its invasion and … seize power from within. … [M]ost … were … weeded out by Ukrainian law enforcement or fled … after Russia’s invasion. … [Today] there are fewer Ukrainians with pro-Russian sympathies, especially in positions of influence, willing to help […]
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“Russia has rebuilt its military after suffering enormous losses … according to [Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell]. ‘We have assessed over the course of the last couple of months that Russia has almost completely reconstituted militarily’ …. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said [last month] that Russia had suffered more than 315,000 casualties during the [Russo-Ukrainian] war. With a […]
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“… Moscow has shown … frustration over the inconclusive nature of inquiries by some foreign powers into explosions in September 2022 on [Nord Stream] pipelines designed to carry Russian gas to western Europe. Denmark dropped its investigation in February after Sweden closed its inquiry and handed evidence … to German investigators. … Russia and the West … have accused each […]
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(U.S. State Department – April 2, 2024) INTERVIEW ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE CHIEF OF MISSION RESIDENCE PARIS, FRANCE QUESTION: Good evening, Mr. Secretary of State. Antony Blinken, you’re head of U.S. foreign policy. First, Ukraine’s cry for help. Is the United States in a position to promise that the Ukrainian state, that Kyiv, will never fall into Russian […]
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(Moscow Times – April 3, 2024) Moscow smashed a daily temperature record on Tuesday, with thermometers in the Russian capital measuring a balmy 23.2 degrees Celsius. The previous record was broken in 1951, when the daily high for April 2 in Moscow was recorded at 17.4 degrees C. Tuesday’s new historic high followed days of unseasonably warm weather throughout much […]
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“German diplomat says Moscow’s messaging combines greater subtlety and plausibility with automation” “Russian disinformation campaigns to undermine support for Ukraine in Europe have grown significantly in scale, skill and stealth, [Ralf Beste of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office] has warned. ‘It is absolutely a threat we have to take seriously’ … ‘Overall, [there] is an increase in sophistication and impact ….’ […]
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“In an unusual move, U.S. officials shared highly specific information about a terrorist plot with an adversary country” “More than two weeks before terrorists staged a bloody attack in the suburbs of Moscow, the U.S. government told Russian officials that Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue, was a potential target, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The […]
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(Moscow Times – April 2, 2024) Russia’s spy chief said Tuesday that U.S. warnings of a possible extremist attack were too broad to have prevented the deadly concert hall attack outside Moscow late last month. “The Federal Security Service [FSB] received some information from the U.S. intelligence services that such a thing was unfortunately possible,” Sergei Naryshkin, who heads Russia’s […]
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“[U.S. ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith] has stressed that the U.S. and its transatlantic partners are preparing for a Russian expansion of its war on Ukraine into allied territory … [saying] Tuesday that Russia remains ‘the pre-eminent threat that we’re grappling with,’ though [she] added: ‘We do not see an imminent threat to NATO territory.’ ‘NATO is not sitting on […]
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“According to high-ranking Ukrainian officers, the military picture is grim and Russian generals could find success wherever they decide to focus their upcoming offensive.” “… Europe … is trying to help Ukraine make up for its colossal disadvantage in artillery shells. … [A] proposed Czech-led bulk artillery ammunition purchase could bring Ukraine’s total from both within and outside the EU […]
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“… Russia has … greater manpower … and the ability to recruit more fighters through lucrative contracts …. Russian firepower is reportedly ten times greater in aggregate than Ukraine’s and about seven-fold just for artillery and mortars. … U.S. congressional failure to approve [more] support … has led to an increased loss of Ukrainian lives and territory on the front […]
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“A just-published investigation … has unearthed startling new information about … Havana syndrome, or ‘Anomalous Health Incidents’ … unexplained bouts of painful disorientation [impacting] U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers …. The new information suggests but does not prove that Russia’s military intelligence agency is responsible. Earlier, agencies in the U.S. intelligence community had concluded … ‘it is very unlikely a […]
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(Moscow Times – Michele A. Berdy – March 29, 2024) Последнее слово: last word I began to write The Word’s Worth in April 2002, the third writer (I think) to take up what was envisioned as a language column for expats. Since then I’ve written more than a thousand columns, touching on just about every aspect of language use and […]
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“… If there’s one mistake the West made in its relationship with Russia, it was not paying enough attention to or taking seriously the rhetoric coming from the Kremlin and Russia’s political-military elites. Putin’s anti-Western, paranoid and virulent speech in Munich in 2007 was not out of character. Russia’s beliefs and ideas have never really changed since 1991. An analysis […]
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