JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Russian elections became a futile exercise for Putin’s opposition” – Christian Science Monitor

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

“Russia’s presidential election appears largely a rote exercise, as a popular, unchallengeable leader faces only nominal competition from three ‘systemic’ opponents. The Kremlin has worked for years to make it this way.” “… ‘[M]anaged democracy’ … under … Putin used to offer plenty of opportunities … to … members of various ‘loyal opposition’ parties, [including the chance to] get elected […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Kremlin Seeks to Suppress Navalny’s Influence, in Death as in Life” – New York Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“The Russian authorities vilified the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny with a viciousness that suggested he was more influential than Moscow would admit. Little has changed since he died.” “When … Navalny was alive, the Kremlin sought to portray him as an inconsequential figure unworthy of attention, even as … Russian authorities vilified and attacked him with a viciousness that […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Free Boris Kagarlitsky: The Nation joins the global appeal for his release” – The Nation: Katrina Vanden Heuvel

Lit Candle with Reflection and Dark Background

“… [O]n February 13, a military court sentenced Boris Kagarlitsky, prominent sociologist, Marxist scholar and labor activist, to five years in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine … after a Moscow court initially ordered him to only pay a $6,500 fine for ‘justifying terrorism,’ charges which Kagarlitsky denied. Prosecutors appealed … calling [the initial judgment] ‘excessively lenient.’ Kagarlitsky, … […]

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Russia in Review, Feb. 23-March 1, 2024

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 7 Things to Know Vladimir Putin used his annual address to the Russian parliament to not only rattle his nuclear saber at the West again, but also to accuse his Western counterparts of “spooking the world” with the threat of a nuclear war, all while claiming to be ready for talks on nuclear arms control. “We remember what […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Navalny’s Funeral to Be Held on Friday, Spokeswoman Says” – New York Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“The service for the Russian opposition leader will be open to the public, but it was unclear whether the authorities will try to stop people from attending.” “… The planned service, at a church on Moscow’s outskirts, sets up the possibility of a rare display of opposition sentiment in the Russian capital … [] Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, advised anyone […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Kremlin propagandists attack director of new ‘Master and Margarita’ film captivating Russians” – The Telegraph (UK)

File Photo of Reel of Film

“Adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s anti-totalitarian Soviet novel wins rave reviews but pro-Russia activists want Michael Lockshin probed” “A new film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s anti-totalitarian Soviet novel Master and Margarita is winning rave reviews in Russia but irritating the Kremlin and its supporters. Colleagues of Michael Lockshin, the American-Russian director of the Russian-language film, have … accused Kremlin trolls of […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Vladimir Putin, riding high before Navalny’s death, seems unstoppable” – Washington Post

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“When prison authorities announced the death of … Navalny, … Putin’s most potent political opponent, the Russian president appeared to be overflowing with cheer. Addressing … workers and students at a machinery plant in the … industrial city of Chelyabinsk …, a smiling Putin, unsurprisingly, made no mention of Navalny’s death … and instead professed himself … satisfied at the […]

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VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “State Dept. official [Victoria Nuland]: If Putin wins Ukraine, tyrants ‘will get hungry’ with aspirations” – PBS

File Photo of Victoria Nuland Testifying

“The Biden administration unveiled a new set of sanctions against Russia to punish it further for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine … [and] the death of anti-corruption activist and politician Alexei Navalny. Geoff Bennett spoke with U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland ….” Click here for: “State Dept. official [Victoria Nuland]: If Putin wins Ukraine, tyrants ‘will get hungry’ […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Vladimir the Poisoner of Underpants; What Navalny’s death means for Russia, Putin and the world” – The Economist

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Fear and greed drive Russia’s regime. The opposition leader struck at both.” “… Navalny’s death was blamed by Russian prison authorities on a blood clot … [H]is doctor said he suffered from no condition which made that likely. Whatever ends up on his death certificate, he was killed by … Putin. Russia’s president locked him up; in his name [] […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “With Navalny’s death, Russia’s opposition loses its last leader” – Christian Science Monitor

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Many in the West saw Alexei Navalny as the Russian opposition’s most promising challenger to Vladimir Putin. His death in prison on Friday brings a tragic end to a struggle the Kremlin had already largely contained.” “Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known and most indefatigable Kremlin opposition figure[,] … died in an Arctic penal colony Friday under as yet unknown circumstances …. […]

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Russia in Review, Feb. 9-15, 2024

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 5 Things to Know Donald Trump’s advisers have discussed getting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin around a negotiating table early in a potential second term, according to a Feb. 14 report by Bloomberg. One adviser to Trump said the promise of severing U.S. military aid could help get Zelenskyy—whom Trump has described as “the greatest […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Rejects Putin’s Latest Call for Ukraine Negotiations” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Skepticism remains high about the Russian leader’s intentions after he told Tucker Carlson that the war in Ukraine could be settled with a peace deal.” “The Biden administration dismissed on Friday a call by … Putin … for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, showing no sign that flagging political support for American military aid to Kyiv had made […]

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Russia in Review, Jan. 26-Feb. 2, 2024

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 7 Things To Know Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summoned Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU) Valerii Zaluzhnyi on Jan. 29 to tell the general he was being fired. At the meeting, Zaluzhnyi was offered the post of secretary of the national security council, but he turned it down, according to The Economist.[1] Two days […]

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Russia’s Ruthless Renaissance

Kremlin and River

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Colorado State University; Evgeniya Pyatovskaya, PhD candidate, Department of Communication Studies, University of South Florida – Feb. 1, 2024) Two years into the war with Ukraine, today’s Russia can best be understood through the lens of a slogan that once appeared in a Solovki special prison, part […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Protests in Russia Put Spotlight on Wartime Ethnic Grievances” – New York Times

Russia Regions Map

“The trial and conviction of an activist in the Ural Mountains region sparked one of the biggest outbreaks of social unrest since the start of the war.” “The trial of a minority rights activist in Russia … sparked one of [Russia’s]  biggest outbreaks of social unrest … since the start of the [Russo-Ukrainian] war … highlighting the strain … on […]

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Russia in Review, Jan. 5-12, 2024

Kremlin and Red Square file photo, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 6 Things to Know The Pentagon has failed to properly track at least $1 billion in weapons that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, according to a report by the Defense Department’s inspector general, FT  reports. The high rate of weapons that were missing or otherwise immediately unaccounted for in government […]

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Russia in Review, Dec. 21, 2023-Jan. 5, 2024

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and its commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi have continued their indirect struggle over which of them should assume prime responsibility for the unpopular decision1 to conscript up to 500,000 Ukrainians. The tussle began on Dec. 19 when Zelensky claimed that the Ukrainian army chiefs had requested the conscription of up to 500,000 men, according […]

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TRANSCRIPT: “Statement from President Joe Biden on Russia’s Aerial Assault on Ukraine” – The White House

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

Overnight, Russia launched its largest aerial assault on Ukraine since this war began. This massive bombardment used drones and missiles, including missiles with hypersonic capability, to strike cities and civilian infrastructure all across Ukraine. Strikes reportedly hit a maternity hospital, a shopping mall, and residential areas — killing innocent people and injuring dozens more. It is a stark reminder to […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Point of no return’: Why Kyiv won’t sit down with the Kremlin” – AFP

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… [Ukrainian] [o]fficials say almost all agreements … Kyiv entered into since the [Soviet] collapse … were scrapped by Moscow … that sitting down with Russia is pointless at best … dangerous at worst. ‘Putin is a habitual liar who promised international leaders that he would not attack Ukraine days before his invasion in February 2022,’ Ukraine’s foreign minister [Dmytro […]

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Russia in Review, Nov. 21-Dec. 1, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) In the past month, Russian forces have gained 12 square miles of Ukrainian territory, while Ukrainian forces gained 5 square miles, according to the Nov. 28 issue of the Russia-Ukraine War Report Card. Developments on and off the battlefield have prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week to admit that Ukraine’s counteroffensive did not produce the desired results, warning of […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia must be held to full account for its aggression” – Politico.eu/ Andreas Umland

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“On its own, a Ukrainian battlefield victory won’t be sufficient if Russia’s wrongs are left intact and its crimes unpunished.” “… [N]either Ukraine nor … international law and justice would be fully served if Russia’s wrongs were left intact and its crimes unpunished. … [L]arge-scale displacement and deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russia’s most abhorrent offences … a […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Many Ukrainians see Putin’s invasion as a continuation of Stalin’s genocide” – Atlantic Council/ Kristina Hook

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… [F]or most Ukrainians, the main factor fueling their determination … is the sense that Russia’s genocidal objectives leave them … no choice …. Either Ukrainians defend themselves, or Ukraine … will cease to exist. Examples of the Russian military’s genocidal conduct … and the Kremlin’s genocidal intent continue to mount. … [H]uman rights investigators have released new evidence accusing […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Biden compares Russia’s actions in Ukraine to Holodomor famine” – Politico

Wheat in Field, adapted from image at usda.gov

“‘Putin is hurting the world’s most vulnerable communities, for Russia’s profit,’ Biden said. “The White House on Saturday reaffirmed its commitment to Ukraine in a statement marking the anniversary of Holodomor, drawing parallels between Russia’s offensive and the 1930s Soviet-imposed famine that killed millions of Ukrainians. ‘Today, Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure is once more being deliberately targeted — this time by […]

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VIDEOS: JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Where Should We Go?’: Documenting the Russian Bombing of a Maternity Hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine” – Frontline/AP

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“What they documented at the site of the March 9, 2022, hospital bombing — a destroyed maternity hospital, panicked and distraught mothers and children, a grievously wounded pregnant woman on a stretcher — would shock the world. … For the full story, watch 20 Days in Mariupol … on PBS and will be available to stream on YouTube on Tuesday, […]

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Russia in Review, Nov. 17-21, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 3 Things to Know In the past month, Russian forces have gained 16 square miles of Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine gained 7 square miles, according to calculations by Katherine Davidson, associate of the Belfer Russia-Ukraine War Task Force.1Yet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has this week denied his top general Valery Zaluzhny’s recent claim that the war has reached […]

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Russia in Review, Nov. 9-17, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) The U.S. Congress’ interest in financing Ukraine’s fight against invading Russian forces has “dipped lower than ever,” according to WP. Moreover, rising competition from other national security priorities could “sound the death knell for continued American aid” for Kyiv, this newspaper predicted shortly before Biden signed a bill that is designed to avoid a government shutdown, […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin’s Daughter Joins Moscow Genetics Society, Criticizes Russian Laws – Mozhem Obyasnit” – Moscow Times

(Moscow Times – Nov. 13, 2023) President Vladimir Putin’s oldest daughter has been appointed to the board of the Moscow Society of Medical Genetics, the independent news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported Monday, citing her public profile on the organization’s website and a video in which she criticizes laws adopted during her father’s time in office. Maria Vorontsova is a candidate […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukrainian letter of solidarity with the Palestinian people” – Al Jazeera/ Ukraine-Palestine Solidarity Group

Map of Israel Also Featuring Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, adapted from dni.gov image

“More than 300 Ukrainian scholars, activists and artists express their solidarity with Palestinians in an open letter.” “… As activists committed to freedom, human rights, democracy and social justice, and while fully acknowledging power differentials, we firmly condemn attacks on civilian populations – be they Israelis attacked by Hamas or Palestinians attacked by the Israeli occupation forces and armed settler […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ordinary Russians Feel Wrath of Putin’s Repression” – WSJ

File Photo of Prison Cell and Bars with Shaft of Light, adapted from image at fbi.gov

“Authorities seek to crush everyday opposition to the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine” “… [C]ases … documented by OVD-Info, a human-rights group that monitors police detentions and helps protesters find lawyers, speak to new levels of repression in Russia, as … Putin seeks to crush even the most innocuous opposition to his war on Ukraine. Prominent opposition politicians, human-rights activists and […]

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Russia in Review, Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

6 Things to Know Commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valery Zaluzhny has admitted that his forces’ offensive has reached a stalemate, while the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces and architect of last year’s successful counteroffensive Oleksandr Syrskyi has described the current conditions along the 600-mile frontline as “difficult” and “challenging.” “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough … […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Alexey Navalny Never Wanted to Be a Dissident” – Politico

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Once upon a time, Alexey Navalny wanted to be a normal politician in a normal country. Now that’s just a fantasy.” [original article was adapted from “The Dissident: Alexey Navalny, Profile of a Political Prisoner,” released by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.] “… Navalny, despite decades crusading against Russian corruption and against … Putin’s increasingly dictatorial rule, never […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “It’s no joke: how Russian comedians try to stay relevant in wartime” – Reuters

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“… Comigration [is] … a small collective of comedians … [who] have left Russia since Putin’s [2022] invasion of Ukraine … and now ply their trade in Georgia. The contrast in their material is striking [compared with comedians still back in Russia]. According to one …, Ilya Ovechkin, any reference to Putin in a joke boosts laughs by 70%. In […]

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Russia in Review, Oct. 6-13, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) As violence escalated between Israel and Hamas after the latter’s indiscriminate attacks against the former, top Russian officials seized the opportunity to blame the crisis on what they described as America’s repeated failure to use its “monopoly” on mediation between the two sides to reach a fair peace deal. Vladimir Putin has also called for a cessation […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “280 Days Inside Russia’s Torture Chambers” – Sky News

File Photo of Prison Cell and Bars with Shaft of Light, adapted from image at fbi.gov

“… [L]iberation … revealed the horror of prolonged Russian occupation. In the Kherson region, over 254 days, the Russians constructed a network of at least 26 detention centres to control the civilian population. Police stations, schools and government buildings were used as torture sites or places where civilians’ human rights were severely violated. …. [B]y the most conservative estimate, at […]

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Russia in Review, Sept. 15-22, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Sept. 22, 2023) 7 Things to Know Ukraine intends to continue its counteroffensive through the autumn and into the winter, according to remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley this week. “The fight right now still has plenty of fighting weather left,” according to Gen. Milley. At the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukrainian Accounts of Torture Point to Systematic Russian Policy, Expert Says” – New York Times

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“The U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture said Moscow’s refusal to address the issue represented tacit approval of its use. Russia has denied it practices torture.” “Torture perpetrated by Russian officers against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war has reached such a level that it is clearly a systematic, state-endorsed policy, [according to Alice Jill Edwards, U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture […]

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Russia in Review, Sept. 1-8, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

7 Things to Know G-20 leaders began arriving in New Delhi on Sept. 8 for their annual gathering as negotiators struggled to bridge differences over the war in Ukraine in the group’s joint statement. While it remains unclear whether a final consensus can be reached, China appears to have dropped its initial opposition to language on Ukraine and Russia, according […]

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Russia in Review, July 28-Aug. 4, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

6 Things to Know In the past month of fighting Russian armed forces made a net gain of 14 square miles, according to the estimate by the Belfer Russia-Ukraine War Task Force. Their research shows that the period saw Russian forces gain 43 square miles of Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine’s net gain was 29 square miles, according to the Aug. 1, 2023 issue […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Nearly 80 Civilians Killed in Russia Since Invasion Of Ukraine — Reports” – Moscow Times

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

(Moscow Times – Aug. 3, 2023) At least 79 civilians have been killed on Russian soil since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine last year, the independent news website 7×7 reported Tuesday. The Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, which has regularly been targeted by drone attacks and shelling, saw the highest share of civilian losses, with 48 people killed. Other […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Hosts African Leaders as Grain Deal Collapse Threatens Food Security” – Bloomberg

Africa Map

“Russia blames U.S. ‘pressure’ for absences at Africa summit Summit takes place after Russia quit Black Sea grain deal” “… Putin [met] African leaders 10 days after Russia ended the Ukraine grain-export deal brokered by the [UN] and Turkey that had ensured safe passage of almost 33 million tons of crops via the Black Sea, helping to cool surging world […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine launches main thrust of its counter-offensive against Russia” – The Telegraph (UK)

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Kyiv’s forces are backed by thousands of troops and Western arms as U.S. official says: ‘This is the big test’” “… An enlarged Ukrainian force, whose ranks are swelled with Western-trained troops, and around 100 Western-supplied armoured vehicles, hope[d] to advance south to sever a land bridge to Crimea. The new operation, if successful, could take one to three weeks, […]

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Russia in Review, July 14-21, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 5 Things to Know It is “way too early” to judge the Ukrainian offensive a failure, said U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, adding that the war “is going to be long, it’s going be hard, it’s going be bloody.” Milley said the biggest challenge for Ukraine’s counteroffensive is getting through […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “All Sides in the Ukraine War Have Been Using Cluster Bombs Since 2014” – The Nation/ Lev Golinkin

File Image of DCIPM artillery shell artist's rendition, adapted from image at army.mil

“… Biden’s decision to give cluster munitions to Ukraine triggered widespread concern and protests, given that … the bombs … break up into smaller-sized bomblets … indiscriminately blanket[ing] the target area … result[ing] in the slaughter of civilians …. Even close allies like Canada and the UK bristled at the move to provide Kyiv with arms … banned by over […]

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Russia Analytical Report, July 10-17, 2023 – 4 Ideas to Explore

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) Having seen one-fifth of the weaponry and armor they’ve sent to the battlefield damaged or destroyed in the first two weeks of their counteroffensive, Ukrainian commanders took a pause to rethink their strategy, NYT reported on July 15, citing Western officials. So far, the Ukrainians “taken just five of the 60 miles they hope to cover to reach […]

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Russia in Review, June 30-July 7, 2023 – 5 Things to Know

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) The U.S. has included cluster munitions in its latest $800 million package of military aid to Ukraine. More than 100 countries have signed onto the Convention on Cluster Munitions, vowing to never use them, but the U.S. is not one of them. A significant percentage of the submunitions often fail to detonate, effectively turning them into […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s Smoking Guns: How to Prove the Putin Regime’s War Crimes in Ukraine” – Foreign Affairs/ Janine di Giovanni

File Photos of Law Books and Gavel, adapted from image at fjc.gov

“… [The] Ukraine … conflict has involved horrific atrocities, many … extensively recorded in real time …. [U]nlike in Syria and other recent wars, these crimes are being documented with the explicit aim of amassing evidence that can be used in courts. Since the war began, dozens of investigative journalists have been trained to become war crimes researchers, gathering images, […]

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Russia Analytical Report, June 26-July 5, 2023 – 5 Ideas to Explore

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) Even though the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive has “progressed more slowly than many had hoped,” the West’s interests “lie in continuing to arm, train and help defend Ukraine in the face of an ongoing threat from Russia ,” according to WP’s editors. One reason for “the slower rate” of Ukraine’s territorial gains is that Ukrainian forces […]

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Russia in Review, June 23-30, 2023 – One Thing to Know

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) Russian intelligence services may have known in advance of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plan to stage a mutiny, but it nonetheless materialized to pose the greatest military and security threat to Vladimir Putin’s rule since the end of the second Chechen war. The mutiny itself lasted only 36 hours, never spread to Moscow and ended with its chief […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. actively considering giving cluster munitions to Ukraine” – Politico

File Image of DCIPM artillery shell artist's rendition, adapted from image at army.mil

“The Biden administration is actively considering sending cluster munitions to Ukraine to help Kyiv’s counteroffensive punch through Russia’s defenses, two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the debate said. The discussion … has intensified … as Ukraine’s effort to break through Russia’s frontline has stalled. … Late last year, the administration said it had ‘concerns’ … mainly for humanitarian […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Prigozhin went free. What about these Russians?” – Washington Post

File Photo of Prison Cell and Bars with Shaft of Light, adapted from image at fbi.gov

“For 18 months, Russia has been sliding deeper into totalitarian rule, including draconian laws pushed by … Putin that make it criminal to question the war against Ukraine — or even call it a ‘war’ …. [T]housands of Russians who object to the war and oppose [] Putin have not had the benefit of [the kind of] lenienc[y] [shown Prigozhin, […]

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