Monthly Archives: March 2022

Operational informationon the situation in Ukraine as of March 27, 2022 provided by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The 31d day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the russian military invasion is coming to an end.

The russian enemy continues to move additional units from the Pacific Fleet and the Western Military District in order to continue the full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.

At the same time, there is a significant decrease in the intensity of moving from the depths of the russian federation.

In the Volyn direction there is a high probability of involvement of the armed forces of the republic of belarus in the aggression against Ukraine.

Air reconnaissance continues in the areas of Kovel, Varash, Sarny. Transportation of rockets to the Iskander (9K720 Iskander (SS-26 Stone) a mobile short range ballistic missile system by the transportation road to the area of the settlement of Kalinkovichi is recorded.

The russian enemy did not carry out active offensive operations in the Polissya direction. The regrouping of individual units from the Eastern Military District continues. Units that have suffered significant losses in the course of offensive operations are usually deployed to belarus to restore combat capability. Thus, the withdrawal of up to 2 BTGs from the 106th Airborne Division from the territory of the Kyiv oblast to the territory of the republic of belarus is noted.

The russian occupiers continue to launch missile and air strikes on important military infrastructure and first line positions in order to inflict losses and deplete personnel.

The russian enemy did not carry out offensive operations in the Siversky direction. It focused its efforts on consolidating and maintaining the previously occupied borders.

In the Slobozhansky direction, the enemy abandoned the offensive near the city of Sumy, trying to regroup and withdraw units to other directions.

Thus, one of the BTGs from the 1st Tank Army of the russian enemy, which was involved in hostilities, was fully withdrawn from Ukraine to the territory of the russian federation.The occupiers continued to strike at infrastructure facilities in Kharkiv. In the direction of the city of Izyum, russian enemy tried to conduct offensive operations.

In the Donetsk direction, the enemy focused its efforts on taking control of the settlements of Popasna, Rubizhne and entering the Novotroitsky district, as well as capturing the city of Mariupol, but without success. The enemy carried out artillery and mortar shelling of the settlements of Toretske, Svitlodarsk, Troitskoye, and Pisky.

The main goal of the occupiers remains to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In the Tavriya direction, russian units continue to carry out filtration measures in the temporarily occupied territories in the Kherson region.

In the South Buh direction, the enemys position and actions remained unchanged.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to inflict significant losses on the russian enemy.

According to available information, over the past five days, about 600 bodies of servicemen killed in Ukraine have been brought to the military garrisons of the Nizhny Novgorod region, most of whom served in the 47th Tank Division of the 1st Tank Army of the Western Military District.

EMPR

Link:

Russia Ukraine war news: daily updates as of March 27, 2022

The Russian Football Union (Russian: , Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz, or RFS) is the official governing body of the sport of football in the Russian Federation.[2] With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, including the men's, women's, youth, beach football, futsal and Paralympic national teams. The RFS sanctions referees and football tournaments for Russian Football Premier League and most football leagues in Russia.[3] RFS is headed by Aleksandr Dyukov, the CEO of Gazprom Neft.[citation needed]

Because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams.[4]

The All-Russian Football Union (VFS) was created on 19 January 1912 and in the same year was admitted to FIFA. The Unions initially consisted of 52 organizations across the Russian Empire. All-Russian Football Union was the organizer of Russian Empire national football team which played 16 internationals between 1910 and 1914.[citation needed]

In 1934, the Football Federation of USSR was formed initially under the name the Football Section of Soviet Union. Its organization was in accordance with the Declaration of the All-Union Council of Fitness Culture of USSR on 27 December 1934. The Section was admitted to FIFA as the Soviet organization in 1946, and admitted to UEFA in 1954. Later the Section was reorganized as the Football Federation of USSR. Concurrently with the Section and later Federation until 1972 there operated the Football Directorate of the Soviet Sport Committee which was subordinated directly to the Soviet Ministry of Sport. The Directorate was never recognized on the international level.[citation needed]

With the fall of the Soviet Union the modern Russian Football Union was formed (a constituent conference took place on 8 February 1992), inheriting everything from the previous associations such as VRS and Football Federation of USSR and reinstated in FIFA on 3 July 1992. In July 1992, the Russian national football team was formed.[citation needed]

Because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IFA and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams.[5]

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Adidas suspended its long-term kit partnership with the Russian Football Union which first began in 2008.[6] Adidas had provided all of Russias teams with kit, and had expanded the federations replica kit sales in the retail market.[6]

Continued here:

Russian Football Union - Wikipedia

The war in Ukraine has turned Russian President Vladimir Putin into a pariah at least in the West.

The United States is trying to remove Moscow from the Group of 20 (G20) block of nations and continues to penalise Russia with sanctions along with its European partners, which are simultaneously rushing to wean themselves from Russian oil.

There are also loud and growing calls to try Putin at international courts for war crimes.

But at the same time, Russia remains a member of the United Nations Security Council, making it a veto power and pivotal to future voting issues, while powerful countries on the global stage, such as China and India, have not moved from Putins side.

Given the atrocities Putin is accused of committing, it seems almost inconceivable that he could ever again find himself in good standing in the West.

However, history teaches that more often than not, leaders who start wars are not always cast aside.

There have certainly been leaders who have launched illegal aggressive wars with high civilian casualties but have nevertheless been accepted in some circles internationally, such as [US] President George W Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, told Al Jazeera.

However, with no major country supporting Russias aggression, it is hard to imagine that Putin will not continue to be isolated in the international community.

Explaining why Russia was at particular risk of longer-term isolation, he said: The level of physical devastation and casualties thus far over a relatively short period is perhaps the worse in recent decades which, combined with the irredentist aims of the conquest, makes Russias war on Ukraine particularly reprehensible in the eyes of the international community.

In addition, since Ukraine is a developed country with advanced communication capabilities, images of the destruction are being broadcast internationally to an unprecedented degree.

But above all, the main reason Russia has drawn such sharp condemnation is because Ukrainians are predominantly white Christians living in an advanced democratic society, said Zunes, adding that Western empathy is higher now than it has been for Palestinians and Iraqis, and other recent victims of conflict.

Ukraine may prove to be the final straw for global powers, but there were hints before the invasion that Putin was gradually withdrawing from international cooperation, according to Erdi Ozturk, associate professor in politics and international relations at London Metropolitan University.

[He is now] resorting to a new distinction between civilisations by synthesising nationalism with nostalgic visions of history, memory, and religion.

It has been undoubtedly creating a jarring effect with Western powers, and it seems that it is very difficult for Putin to become a respectful leader in the eyes of an international public.

However, others believe that future cooperation with Russia is possible, if not necessary.

Graeme Gill, professor emeritus at the University of Sydney and president of the International Council for Central and East European Studies, told Al Jazeera: At some stage, the West is going to have to shift from punishing Russia to working with Russia. Unfortunately, when this happens will be determined as much by domestic considerations.

In addition, there will be differences within the West about when such moves should take place and what they should be, with the EU probably split on this.

Gill argued that the war in Ukraine was no different than the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya, the alliances bombing of Serbia in 1999, or the Saudi-led coalitions current war in Yemen.

There is a clear double standard operating and that cannot be hidden by all the rhetoric about international law and Russian crimes, he said. Terrible things are being done in Ukraine, and similar things have been done elsewhere, yet the international treatment is different. Perhaps this is a reason why the loud condemnation of Russia in the West is not generally echoed throughout much of the rest of the world, which has been content to condemn Russia in the UN, but has not made a major PR effort about it.

Looking ahead, as criticism grows, reportedly even in the Kremlin, there is rising speculation over Putins future.

But while Russian dissidents continue to stress that the president and Russia are not synonymous and hope for a post-Putin future, Putin will do everything to stay in power, and getting him out of office either with the military, intelligence services or oligarchs will not be that easy said Erdi.

He added that Russia is an enormous power and has different levels of partnerships with both China and Europe.

It will [be] difficult to completely cut off Russia from the international stage, especially for just one man, namely Putin.

Link:

Can Russia return to the world stage, as other aggressor nations? - Al Jazeera English

McDonald's has closed its more than 800 restaurants in Russia in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This photo at a Moscow McDonald's was taken on March 13, just before it was closed. AP hide caption

McDonald's has closed its more than 800 restaurants in Russia in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This photo at a Moscow McDonald's was taken on March 13, just before it was closed.

Journalist Michele Berdy arrived in Moscow shortly after graduating from Amherst College in 1978.

On March 9, she caught a ride out of Russia with one suitcase, her dog Riley, and no idea when or if she might return.

"Before I left, I cried 20 times a day. I just could not believe that I would have to leave and maybe not come back," Berdy said.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Berdy initially planned to stay put and keep working at The Moscow Times, an English-language newspaper, where the staff includes both Westerners and Russians.

But she knew it was time to leave a few days later when Russia passed a law saying anyone criticizing the Russian war could get up to 15 years in prison.

"You can't call it a war, you can't call it an invasion, you can't call Russia the aggressor," she said. "It would be impossible to not violate the law and to be able to report. It just seemed suddenly it was very dangerous for all of us."

Aside from several years in the 1980s, Berdy has lived in Moscow since she got out of college. She's seen a lot over the past four decades. The collapse of the Soviet Union, political chaos, financial meltdowns but nothing like this.

"I had three days to just figure out what of my entire life that I had in Russia I could put in a suitcase and a take-on bag," said Berdy, who owns her apartment in Moscow.

"I just left a full apartment," she added. "How do you leave an apartment for two months or two years?"

She caught a van to Riga, Latvia.

"It cost 100 euros for my dog and 90 euros for me," Berdy said.

Americans companies depart

Hundreds of American companies have either suspended operations in Russia, or are pulling out altogether. Dale Buckner is helping some of them.

Buckner is the CEO of Global Guardian, which has chartered four flights out of Moscow to Turkey to evacuate American executives, their families, and many Russian employees at those companies.

"Here's the gritty reality. In all of these evacuations, we've typically had two, no more than four days of warning to tell our clients, 'You're leaving. This is the airport. This is your aircraft. Here's your timeline. Here's your destination," said Buckner, whose company is based in suburban Washington.

He says Global Guardian has helped more than 2,000 people leave Russia by air and by road. About one-third are Americans and Europeans, the other two-thirds are Russians.

He's worked with eight U.S. and multi-national companies, though he declined to name them.

Russian authorities are not preventing Russians or foreigners from leaving the country. But, he said, "they're now conducting what they're calling interviews. You're being interviewed on who you are, where you're coming from, who you work for. Why are you departing? Where are you headed? What's your final destination?"

After evacuating their people, companies want to know how to get their assets out, or at least safeguard them.

"Companies are struggling with, 'How do I protect that sensitive information of my supply chain, my trade secrets," Buckner added.

The State Department urged Americans to leave Russia shortly after the war began, citing "the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens ... the Embassy's limited ability to assist U.S. citizens ... limited flights into and out of Russia, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law."

Several Americans are being detained or jailed in Russia, though the cases reported publicly took place before the war began. Among those held is Brittany Griner, the WNBA star who was arrested at a Moscow airport last month and has been accused of smuggling vape cartridges containing hashish oil into the country.

The State Department says it doesn't have reliable figures on how many Americans were living in Russia before the war, or how many have left. But those who fled are believed to be in the thousands.

By comparison, the State Department estimated more than 20,000 Americans were in Ukraine in the months leading up to the war. Most have left.

A rise in anti-Western attitudes

One American businessman who left Russia shortly after the war began is now managing his company's operations in Russia from Turkey.

The businessman, who asked not to be named out of concern for his security and that of his employees, said he's getting letters from Russian employees asking if he can help them get jobs outside Russia.

In his many years in Russia, the businessman said, he's never seen such levels of government repression and anti-Western sentiment.

Meanwhile, Michele Berdy plans to stay in Latvia for a while before deciding on her next move. Even if she can go back to Russia eventually, she says it will never be the same.

"The worst part of that last week in Russia was the having contact with that alternate reality that my neighbors were living in, where they would just say to me, 'You know, what is wrong with President Biden? He won't leave us in peace,'" she said. "I just can't imagine going back and, and saying, 'Oh, well, that's over now.'"

Russia now faces a reckoning, she said, which will be long and painful.

Greg Myre is an NPR national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.

See the original post:

In response to the war, Americans flee Russia in droves - NPR

Russia-Ukraine News Live Updates:

Talks between Ukraine and Russia began in Turkey on Tuesday without a handshake, Ukrainian television reported. "There was a cold welcome, no handshake," a Ukrainian reporter said, without making clear whether he had witnessed the delegation's meeting or had been told this by officials.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a political adviser to President Volodymr Zelenskiy, said on Twitter the delegations were discussing "the fundamental provisions of the negotiation process. Delegations are working in parallel on the entire spectrum of contentious issues."

The Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 34th day today, even as negotiation talks between the two sides so far have not yielded any positive results.

The more than month-long invasion, the biggest of a Western nation since World War Two, has seen over 3.8 million people flee abroad, left thousands dead or injured, and brought the isolation of Russia's economy. Nearly 5,000 people have been killed, including about 210 children, in the port city of Mariupol amid heavy Russian bombardment, according to figures from the mayor.

First Published:Mar 29, 2022, 07:45 AM IST

Read the original post:

Russia-Ukraine War News Live Updates: 'Cold welcome, no handshake' as peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv begi - CNBCTV18

The deputy mayor of Mariupol, Sergiy Orlov, describes people sheltering in basements trying to survive without food, medicine or a power supply, and drinking melted snow because the water has been cut off. In Chernihiv, March 16, a line of 10 civilians queuing for bread outside a grocery shop were killed by Russian troops. Ukrainian intelligence reports indiscriminate shelling and targeting of agricultural machinery, fields and grain stores; and civilians are being blocked from leaving besieged towns and cities or killed whilst fleeing. This is a playbook familiar to any monitoring similar starvation crimes in Syria, Yemen, Tigray or South Sudan.

A few very elderly Ukrainians will remember the forced starvation of the Holodomor of 1932-33, when a combination of brutally enforced collectivization and punitive confiscation of food killed about three million Ukrainians through the resulting famine. It was the occasion for Stalins infamous remark if only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy; if millions die, thats only statistics. He was wrong: every Ukrainian knows the story, deeply carved into their collective memory. After Ukrainian independence, monuments to the victims of famine were constructed in Kiev and Kharkhiv.

It was another starvation crime that Volodymyr Zelenskiy chose to invoke when appealing to the Russians last week [16 March]. He said, Citizens of Russia, how is your blockade of Mariupol different from the blockade of Leningrad during World War Two?

During the 900-day siege of Leningrad, a million people perished of starvation and cold. Less well known is that a similar number died in Ukraine at the same time, victims of the aptly named German Hungerplan. Famine of this scale isnt in prospect today. Scores of people have died from lack of medical care over the last three weeks and there are increasing reports of individuals perishing from thirst and suffering extreme hunger and cold.

The absenceto dateof mass death from hunger doesnt mean that the Russian forces are innocent of the war crime of starvation. The crime is defined in Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as:

Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.

Each element of the crime is engaged in Ukraine today.

First, it is intentional. The Russian commanders are waging war in such a way that, in the normal course of events, people will starve. Thats enoughthe soldiers dont need to have a blueprint for famine to be guilty of the crime.

Second, theyre attacking civilians. The lawfulness of siege tactics can be debated, but it there is no grey area when it comes to civilians: they must never become the targets of attack.

Third, its a war. Despite Vladimir Putin calling it a special military operation it meets any objective definition of an international armed conflict. The International Court of Justice made this clear when it issued a provisional order to Russia to suspend its military operations on March 15.

Four, the Russians are depriving Ukrainians of objects indispensable to survival. In law, starvation goes beyond our everyday understanding of extreme lack of food. It is the denial of anything that is necessary for life, such as farms, cattle, drinking water, irrigation works, medical supplies, means of shelter, and fuel and electricity. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator has described the damage in Ukraine which is leaving civilians without the basics for day-to-day life.

And lastly, there are also reports of humanitarian aid convoys being blocked from accessing Mariupol or looted on their way in, and efforts to evacuate civilians from the city being blocked.

The Ukrainian Prosecutors Generals Office and civil society organisations have been documenting war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, supported by Global Rights Compliance, a foundation based in The Hague. The evidence base for starvation crimes is accumulating daily, alongside other war crimes.

Its notoriously hard to apprehend war criminals and bring them to court. And in those cases where there have been prosecutionssuch as Cambodia and Former Yugoslaviano one has been charged with starvation crimes.

Just four years ago, the Russian representative at the UN Security Council cast his vote in support of resolution 2417, on the topic of armed conflict and hunger. The resolution affirms that using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare may constitute a war crime. Despite the ever-increasing use of hunger as a weapon of war in conflicts around the world, the UN has yet to utilize its authority to call out the culprits. Whether in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria or Yemen, hunger is inflicted with impunity.

Its time for our tacit tolerance of weaponized starvation to end. The evidence is in our faces; the law is in our hands; what is lacking is public clamour and political leadership. Starvation crimes should be put in their rightful place at the head of the list of acts of inhumanity so reprehensible that they are prohibited without question. Ukrainians should not be condemned to starve for the third time in a hundred years.

Alex de Waal is executive director of the World Peace Foundation, Boston Massachusetts

Catriona Murdoch is a partner at Global Rights Compliance, an international foundation specialising in international criminal, humanitarian, and human rights law

See the article here:

Russia could be guilty of starvation crimes in Ukraine. We must act - The Guardian