Monthly Archives: June 2022

A staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened that Ukraine will soon see "a real special operation."

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has backed Putin since Russia launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in late February.

Kadyrov has regularly posted videos calling on Ukrainian forces to surrender and claimed to be in Ukraine in some of them.

"One of these days, you will see a real special operation," he said in a video message posted online on Sunday, using Moscow's terminology to describe the assault on Ukraine.

He went on to describe Ukrainians as "shaitans," a term meaning devils or evil spirits in Islamic theology.

"It will be seen how these devils flee not only from these cities, but also from Ukraine," he said. "So we are preparing, and we will please the real patriots of Russia."

Russian forces will use "new tactics" in Ukraine in the coming days, Kadyrov added in a caption to the video, according to a Google translation of the Russian.

"More effective and faster results will be achieved in conducting a special operation," he added.

"As confirmation of my statements, I will upload video evidence of the destruction of the Nazis, devils and Ukrainian occupation equipment."

Kadyrov, who has faced multiple allegations of human rights abuses during his time as leader of the Chechen Republic, also issued a warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"I warn Zelensky for the last time!" he wrote. "Raise your hands and go out to the square with the words 'Don't shoot, folks, I surrender!' Otherwise, you are DEAD!"

Last week, Kadyrov said he was ready to attack Poland, saying the country "better take back" the weapons it had supplied to Ukraine to help fend off Russian forces.

"After Ukraine, if we're given the command, in six seconds we'll show you what we're capable of," he said.

Kadyrov's latest comments come after a report indicated that the power of Russian forces is in decline a hundred days into the invasion.

Meanwhile, British intelligence said Putin had achieved none of his strategic objectives after three months of war and its successes had been achieved at "significant" cost.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. will send Ukraine more advanced rocket systems and munitions to "defend their territory from Russian advances."

Biden added: "We will continue to lead the world in providing historic assistance to support Ukraine's fight for freedom."

In an interview on Sunday, Putin said his military will attack new targets if Ukraine is sent the long-range missiles.

"If it now comes to rockets and they are supplied, we will draw conclusions from that, and employ our weapons that we have in sufficient quantities to strike those facilities that we are not attacking so far," he said in an interview with Rossiya-1.

More:

Putin's Chechen Ally Threatens 'Special Operation' In Ukraine Within Days - Newsweek

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Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and retired Four Star General Barry McCaffrey join Andrea Mitchell to break down the latest in Ukraine, amid calls for Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy to meet for diplomatic negotiations to end the war. There's just one problem was saying there should be negotiations: Vladimir Putin doesn't agree, says McFaul. He will end the war when his forces on the battlefield can no longer advance.June 6, 2022

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Read more:

Amb. Michael McFaul: Putin will end the war when his forces on the battlefield can no longer advance - MSNBC

Arshak Makichyan made a name for himself as Russias lone climate activist, protesting for change in a country where oil and gas exports have propped up the countrys economy for decades.

Every Friday, for nearly two years, Makichyan protested alone in Moscows Pushkin Square, hoping to draw Russian attention to the danger posed by climate change. Born in Armenia, but given Russian citizenship when he was 10, Makichyan graduated from a prestigious music conservatory and turned to activism after reading about climate change and Greta Thunbergs weekly strikes. I was representing Russia as a violinist on competitions, and I was organising Friday for Futures, so I had a feeling that I am a future of Russia, he said.

Now the Russian government wants to punish him by taking away his passport.

In a court hearing this week, Russia will seek to revoke Makichyans citizenship, in a move that he and his lawyers call unprecedented, and a threat to millions of foreign-born Russians willing to speak out against the war.

Even though I was born in Armenia, I am part of Russian culture, I love Russia, I was fighting for Russia for years, I was risking my freedom for years, said the activist in an interview over the phone on his 28th birthday last week. And now I dont know what to do.

In his first interview about the case, Makichyan, who left Russia with his wife, Polina, in late March, and is currently living in Germany, told the Guardian he felt that the Russian claim was revenge for his anti-war and climate activism. Most recently, he has lobbied European politicians for a fossil fuel ban that could deprive Vladimir Putins regime of its key source of revenues.

Russia has regularly expelled foreign activists from the country. But stripping a Russian citizen of his nationality would be a rare move as the country sinks deeper into isolation and totalitarianism since launching its war in Ukraine. If Russia succeeds, Makichyan told the Guardian he would be left stateless.

I was inspired by [Alexei] Navalny because he returned to Russia although it was very dangerous, said Makichyan. I was planning to go back to Russia with my wife to continue to fight against this war. But now most likely we cannot go back to Russia any more.

The impact of climate change is being felt more and more strongly in Russia, which has been hit by growing forest fires in Siberia and melting permafrost and growing desertification in Russias south. But it remains a niche concern for most of the country.

Before the war, Russias tiny handful of eco-activists used to believe they could lobby the government for real policy change, even as the Kremlin failed to meet its obligations under the Paris agreement on greenhouse gas emissions and continued to profit from exports of fossil fuels.

But the war has changed everything. According to Makichyan it has shown that it is impossible to negotiate with Putin. He adds that he could not pretend like its normal and continue talking about 2050 when millions of people are suffering now.

I was connecting the dots between the human rights crisis and climate crisis, he said. Of course this war was a red line for a lot of people. Thats why I am calling Putin a war criminal and a killer. Because before the war I was thinking that maybe its better not to be that harsh on him. But now I think its a moral obligation to tell things as they are.

The climate activist was arrested in Moscow in late February for speaking out against the war, and his wife had been arrested several times for staging protests. I didnt want to leave the country but my wife was saying that she wants to breathe free air and it was actually unbearable for us, he said. Because we were expecting searches almost every day. Likely we would have been arrested if we had stayed in Russia one or two more days.

At one point, he and his wife even swapped clothing for a Pussy Riot-style escape from a police stakeout at her parents flat. Polina dressed up as Makichyan, a floppy-haired, rail-thin activist who would still fit in on most college campuses. She walked straight past police before a friend drove her out of the neighbourhood.

They decided to marry this winter so that if they were arrested, they would have the right to see each other in prison. Their wedding day, 24 February, turned out to be the same day that Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. Makichyan wore a white shirt bearing the words Fuck the war in blood-red lettering.

For years, he said, Russia has been using the topic of climate change to promote its own interests, like its nuclear energy programme, while marginalising and ignoring activists in Russia like Makichyan who were calling for significant cuts in emissions.

It was different for us to be climate activists because we were trying to fight for everything, he said. Climate is everything and there is no climate education in Russia so we were trying to build it up from the ground.

Now outside Russia, he said they were shocked by the indifference that many Europeans were showing toward the war.

I think the west can do much better than they are doing now, he said, saying that he had been in Germany for two months and politicians had declined to meet him.

They dont understand how it is crucial now to act, he said. We need something real. Of course if we have embargo on Russian fossil fuels it will influence life in Europe, there will be some economical consequences.

But this war is something bigger, its not about economy, its about survival. If we wont change Putins regime then I dont know how we can have new climate negotiations.

Excerpt from:

We need something real: the Russian climate activist taking on Putins war - The Guardian

The Russian President has taken drastic measures to control access to information, including banning several social media platforms from operating in the country. The Russian government has blocked Facebook, Twitter and Instagram since its army invaded Ukraine on February 24. Additionally, lawmakers passed a bill that makes it a criminal offence to spread "fake" news about the Russian military.

Offenders can face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of the crime, or face substantial fines.

The latest media crackdown has forced ordinary Russians to think up of new and creative ways to gain access to uncensored news.

Digital rights experts say Putin may have inadvertently sparked a massive, permanent shift in digital literacy in Russia that will work against the regime for years.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russians have been flocking to virtual private networks (VPNs) and encrypted messaging apps - tools that can be used to access blocked websites such as Facebook.

Now new data compiled for The Times shows that 24 million (or one in six) Russians used a VPN in May.

This represents an increase of 1.6 million users on April, a clear sign that Russians are becoming more competent in evading their government's draconian informational controls.

Gregory Asmolov, an expert at King's College London, believes the Kremlin is not interested in strictly enforcing its own censorship.

He said: The state is not entirely interested in a complete block.

They understand that lots of Russians use pages like Instagram and Facebook not as a means of finding out whats really going on but to connect with friends and for entertainment.

"They dont want to cause too much frustration.

However, there are signs that Russian officials are trying to close down the VPN loopholes.

READ MORE:Putin warns of hitting new targets if Ukraine supplied with missiles

Russias censorship agency confirmed recently that it is working to block VPN services that allegedly violate Russian law", according to the independent Russian media outlet Meduza.

Technology experts say that ways still exist to get around these new restrictions.

Oliver Linow, who describes himself as an internet freedom specialist for the German media site Deutsche Welle, tweeted: "Russia started to block VPNs. But there are still ways to get around the Russian firewall.

"Despite Tor is blocked - With bridges or snowflakes you can still connect to the network and get access to media that is not controlled by the Russian government."

The Russian government has blocked over 1,500 websites as part of its crackdown, including BBC News.

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It comes as fierce fighting continues in Ukraine's eastern territories, particularly around the city of Severodonetsk.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that the city's defenders were still holding out despite being heavily outnumbered by Russian troops.

He claimed that Ukrainian forces had "every chance" of fighting back and were currently engaged in street-by-street battles with their enemy.

Mr Zelensky said that the intensity of the fighting in Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk had made them both "dead cities".

If both cities are captured, then Russia would control the entire Luhansk province - one half of the Donbas region.

View original post here:

Putin humiliated as MILLIONS of Russians make a mockery of internet crackdown measures - Express

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MSNBCs Alicia Menendez is joined by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor and MSNBC political analyst Richard Stengel, to discuss the latest threats from President Putin over the U.S. supplying Ukraine with long-range weapons, the global impact of Russia blocking grain exports from Ukraine and what it will take for Putin to stand trial for war crimes.June 6, 2022

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Putin issues new threats over weapons U.S. is sending to Ukraine - MSNBC

In 2014, photojournalist Serhii Korovayny watched Russian forces take his home town, Khartsyzsk in Donetsk region. Eight years later, with the next invasion by Russia, he and his family fled their home in Kyiv. The situation prompted Korovayny to track down others from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine who also had to flee for a second time.

Is it harder to lose their home again? Or do they already have these survival skills? he asked. Did they have the full tank of gas and luggage ready? And where are those homes now?

I think its easier for me than for those that experience it for the first time. I know that life doesnt end there. It will go on. War is a test that shows what youre capable of and how much faith and willingness to fight you have in you, says journalist Daria Kurinna. She jokes she can now pack the entire house in 30 minutes. I immediately realised that I was going to leave Kyiv, she said. I didnt want to put myself in harms way again.

In 2014, Andriy Shchekun, an activist from Crimea, organised a resistance movement on the peninsula. He was soon captured and held for 11 days before he and other prisoners were exchanged for a high-ranking Russian official. He had been living in Kyiv and calling himself a forcibly deported Crimean citizen. This February, when the invasion began, he and his family immediately went to Lviv. Shchekun had to use multiple trains and buses to get there. However, he had every aspect of the route planned beforehand.

Serhii Kolesnikov compares abandoning your life during war to a parachute jump. When I first jumped, I was told that it was scary only for the first-timers. This is not true at all, says the 32-year-old, who runs a media company. At the time of the occupation of Luhansk, Kolesnikov was 24. He had nothing to lose. Everything that happened was seen as an adventure and a challenge. Sleeping on the floor seemed sort of romantic then. Now, in Lviv with his family, it feels like a month of nights on a train. We are renting an apartment here, but my house is in Kyiv. Kolesnikov expected war for eight years. I advised all my acquaintances not to buy any real estate. They looked at me like I was an idiot. It would be better, of course, if they were right, not me. I recently read a book about Holocaust survivors who advised their kids to only have the property that fits in a small bag. I understand them very well now.

Diana Berg, an artist, moved to Mariupol from occupied Donetsk in 2014. She wanted to turn Mariupol into the cultural capital of Donbas and created an art platform called TIU. Now she helps people in Mariupol to escape the occupied and destroyed city. Just like other migrants, we put a lot of love into rebuilding our life in a new place. Our entire lives were left back at home, including close ones who did not have phone service. We were grateful for the Donetsk that we used to have. Thats why we put all our love into the new home in Mariupol. We had to furnish it from scratch, so we got cats and we bought string lights to put in our apartment overlooking the theatre. Now my loss of home hurts even deeper. Back then, we were still able to go to Donetsk on occasion, but as for Mariupol, theres nowhere to return to.

Sisters Ksenia and Tetiana Ivanov work for a charity in Ivano-Frankivsk whose work revolves around those affected by war shelters for victims of domestic violence are being repurposed for the needs of internally displaced people. In Donetsk in 2014, they didnt even consider waiting the fighting out. Their pro-Ukrainian parents quickly realised they didnt want to live there any more and moved to Kyiv. But this time their parents refused to flee on principle. Tetiana says it is as painful to experience war now as it was the first time around, eight years ago. You cant ever be ready for such a tragedy even if youve experienced it before. You have dreams, make plans, build your life from scratch and all this makes it even worse. Russians are once again taking these most precious things from us.

Danylo Pavlov, a documentary photographer and photo editor at Reporters magazine, did not expect war in 2014. A month before it started, he spent all his savings on building materials. He dreamed of creating the ideal family space in his home in Donetsk. When the war began, he left the city with his wife and two young children, little to no luggage and no plan B. Like most acquaintances, they left for for two weeks, tops. At first, they went to relatives in Uzhhorod, and later to Kyiv after an invitation from a magazine. It took years to settle in a new place and buy things to do up a new apartment in Kyiv. As soon as he partly completed the repairs, war returned. When we discussed the possible invasion at home, it piqued the childrens interest. I went too far with my stories and realised it when my son cried. What hasnt changed since 2014, Pavlov says, is the painful issue of the relationship between those fleeing the war to peaceful regions and those living there. I did not expect Kyivites to face the same thing that the easterners faced previously. There are issues with regard to renting apartments, gossip about rude migrants and language issues all of this had already happened to Donetsk residents when they came to Kyiv eight years ago. It hurts that people are not ready to accept each other. But I still feel like we are more united now than ever.

Lyubov Zavhorodnya, 71, says that it is easy to tell whether a person is a refugee. I came to the market, and a woman stall owner offered me shoes at a discount. She saw that I wore clothes the same size as her. The next day she brought me two trunks of clothes. She said that if I didnt need them, I could give them to others. I was so grateful. This time Zavhorodnya fled the war from Dnipro. Eight years ago, she fled Debaltseve. One day, she was waiting for the shelling to end in the basement of her home. Our yard has always been green and bushy. There were so many tall trees. And when they came out of the basement after the shelling, it was so light that my eyes hurt. They fired so hard that not a single leaf on a tree was left. Now Zavhorodnya does not know where her house is located geographically. She only knows that home is where her son, daughter-in-law and four-year-old granddaughter are.

My daughter Natasha was 18 months old when we had to flee from the shelling in Luhansk. We went to relatives in Severodonetsk to wait until it was over, says Anastasiia. Eight years later, war has found them there. They spent the first nine days in a bomb shelter. Anastasiia has achieved a lot in this time. She worked at a local university, completed higher education, got a job as an editor at a radio station and bought an apartment where she lived with her daughter and mother. But the feeling of anxious anticipation has never left. In 2018, my father died; he couldnt take all this. He was such a patriot. He was even buried with a flag. He has always told me to be alert. The Russian world, he said, will expand sooner or later. And I was always afraid of that. Anastasiia is now in Drohobych, western Ukraine, thinking about what to do next.

Ive moved to so many places. This time it was devastating emotionally. I only reached the point in my life when anxiety went away and I felt happy for a week or two. Then Putin did this. I lost my home in Makiivka in 2014, when I was 18. It took me years to rebuild my life, to get into the prewar state I was in before 2014. Its like one little building block after the other. First, you look for a new dwelling. Then you need to find a place to finish your BA, then MA. Ive only been able to find friends and properly socialise after five years in Kyiv. Recently I became financially independent, rented a flat on my own. This time I didnt even want to leave. How old will I be when I get my life back again 35? 40? I have been waiting for eight years for Putin to go farther into the country. I kept thinking tomorrow, tomorrow, hell do it. I wont be able to finish my studies he will come. I wont have time to find a job he will come. I did what I planned. So did he.

It was easier for 29-year-old Artem Bakanov to leave Donetsk in 2014 than Kyiv now. Back then, he didnt have much. It was difficult to find a place to stay in Odesa, where he moved with his girlfriend people from Donbas often faced prejudice. The couple worked as waiters and tempered their spirits. They participated in pro-Ukrainian rallies. Then they moved to Kyiv, found work and made their first attempts to open a business. Finally, they felt the sky was the limit. Bakanov has managed to enter the restaurant business, develop his own company and taxi services as well as start a project to ship vehicles from the US. The possibility of an attack on Kyiv sounded ridiculous. I tried to calm my wife down. I was telling her that everything was going to be OK. Everyone kept withdrawing cash from their accounts, and I kept reloading mine as normal. It took one morning to lose everything youve been working on for the last eight years. After the next move to Lviv they asked themselves what was next. Bakanovs partner decided to start a self-defence school; every day, volunteers from Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv and Lviv teach 120-150 people. Medical and military instructors offer their knowledge and help. They are building a shooting range so that any visitor can learn how to fire guns safely.

Public official Artur Stadnik is 26 now. When there were battles for Donetsk, he was a student going through the work and travel programme in the US. He hasnt returned to his parents home. As soon as he finished his studies in Kharkiv, he moved to the capital with his parents. I could always sense their sadness in the background, but I was holding up well. Yes, the house was taken away from my family, but that couldnt be repeated, not again. And then the Russians expanded their military presence, and I wasnt so sure any more. I arranged my documents, had a medical screening at a draft board and, since December, have been packing and unpacking my things. When asked where his home is, Stadnik answers: Ukraine.

Marina Shulzhenko, with her parents and daughter Masha, moved from the town of Khartsyzsk in the Donetsk region to Bila Tserkva near Kyiv in 2014. In 2022, they were once again forced to move. This time to the village of Bohorodchany in western Ukraine. Shulzhenko says that both times it was hard to leave her house. It feels like the war is following us. Theres nowhere to hide from it. Nowhere is safe. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It would reach us even across the border. Fear and grief. Thats probably what all of us refugees feel. We became very attached to Bila Tserkva throughout these eight years. I want to return there as soon as possible, once its safe to go.

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'Tomorrow, tomorrow, Putin will come': the 2014 Ukraine refugees forced to flee for a second time - The Guardian

Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said in France that if Ukraine does not receive a signal about the EU membership prospect at the end of June, Putin will receive this signal.

Stefanchuk made a corresponding statement on the air of BFMTV French TV channel.

He noted that he is touring the EU to talk honestly about two main things: to thank those who support Ukraine on its path to the EU, and to talk to skeptics about what still needs to be done to make them say that Ukraine is "worthy".

It is very important for us at the end of June, on the 24th, to receive a clear signal to the people of Ukraine that their struggle is not in vain, that the sacrifices that Ukrainians make today at the altar of their European prospects, the lives they give for the European values, they are heard in Europe. If there is no such signal, Putin will receive this signal. And every European country leader should bear this in mind too," Stefanchuk said.

As reported, the European Commission is to adopt a conclusion on granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership, according to which the Council of EU will make a decision on Ukraine's candidacy at a meeting on June 23-24.

According to Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the European Commission's opinion on Ukraine's compliance with the Copenhagen Criteria for EU membership will be unveiled this week or early next.

On February 28, Ukraine applied for EU membership and completed all necessary procedures.

President Zelensky believes that Ukraine has met all the necessary criteria for obtaining the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union.

ol

Read more here:

If Ukraine does not receive signal of EU membership, Putin will receive it Stefanchuk - Ukrinform