The Pentagon’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, has canceled a trip to the Middle East in light of the crisis erupting in Russia, the Washington Post reports.
Moscow Mayor Tells People to Stay Home
“The mayor of Moscow has just asked people to restrict their movements around the capital — rebels from the mercenary Wagner Group appear to be heading towards the city,” the BBC reports.
Washington Post: “Security was reinforced on main highways leading into Moscow, and residents in other areas were asked not to leave their homes. Meanwhile, flights out of Russia were selling out.”
New York Times: “As security forces were scrambled in southwestern Russia and Moscow, military convoys believed to belong to Mr. Prigozhin’s Wagner forces were seen in the town of Elets, about 250 miles from the capital.”
Ukraine Claims It Took Back Territory from Russia
“Ukraine claims it has taken back territory in the east that was held by Russia since it annexed Crimea in 2014,” CNN reports.
Western Officials Mostly Quiet About Russian Unrest
“U.S. and western officials are being careful not to weigh in on the events unfolding in Russia because of how Russian President Vladimir Putin could weaponize any perceived involvement by the west in the escalating crisis,” CNN reports.
However, the British Defense Ministry said the unrest “represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times.”
Is This a Coup in Russia?
Tom Nichols: “Right now none of this looks organized enough to be a coup. But coups sometimes look ridiculous in the offing—the 1991 coup against the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was a complete clown show—so the possibility remains that Prigozhin has friends in Moscow who are working with him. Military failure has been known to threaten the stability of Russia’s governments in the past, as Russian imperial leaders endured in 1905 and then again, for the last time, in 1917.”
Dan Drezner: “My political science gut tells me that Progozhin’s movement will collapse like a house of cards if the Russian military applies actual force against it. That said, a lot of people have overestimated the competency of the Russian military in the last 18 months.”
How Putin’s Caterer Served a Dish of High Treason
“When they first appeared in 2014 to fight covertly in Ukraine, the masked militiamen of Russia’s Wagner group epitomized how Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin had mastered a new, underhand form of warfare,” the Financial Times reports.
“But after Wagner paramilitaries took control of at least one Russian city on Saturday and began a ‘march of justice’ on Moscow, the blowback from nine years of war in Ukraine threatened the very foundations of Putin’s state — with a problem of his own making.”
“After months of lurid public infighting, the conflict between Yevgeny Prigozhin’s paramilitaries and the Russian defense ministry has boiled over into the first coup attempt in Russia in three decades.”
The Limits of the Kremlin’s Information Controls
“Despite years of creeping Kremlin control over the internet, the mercenary tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin continued to comment live on Saturday through videos, audio recordings and statements posted on the messaging app Telegram,” the New York Times reports.
“His remarkable continued access to a public platform amid a crisis demonstrated both the limits of official restrictions and the rise of Telegram as a powerful mode of communication since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. The app, along with the proliferation of virtual private networks, has effectively loosened the information controls that the Russian authorities had tightened for years.”
Russia Slides Into Civil War
Anne Applebaum: “There are some precedents for this moment. In 1905, the Russian fleet’s disastrous performance in a war with Japan helped inspire a failed revolution. In 1917, angry soldiers came home from World War I and launched another, more famous revolution. Putin alluded to that moment in his brief television appearance this morning. At that moment, he said, ‘arguments behind the army’s back turned out to be the greatest catastrophe [leading to] destruction of the army and the state, loss of huge territories, resulting in a tragedy and a civil war.'”
“What he did not mention was that up until the moment he left power, Czar Nicholas II was having tea with his wife, writing banal notes in his diary, and imagining that the ordinary Russian peasants loved him and would always take his side. He was wrong.”
Vladimir Putin Has Created His Own Worst Nightmare
Gideon Rachman: “Fifteen months ago, Vladimir Putin’s army was on the outskirts of Kyiv. Now the Russian leader is struggling to maintain control in Moscow.”
“The rebellion of Wagner forces, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, is the final confirmation of how catastrophically wrong the war in Ukraine has gone for Putin. Even if the Russian leader prevails in the immediate battle against Wagner, it is hard to believe that Putin can ultimately survive this kind of humiliation. His prestige, his power, even his life, are now on the line.”
“The historic irony is that Putin’s own actions have brought about the thing he fears most: an insurrection that threatens both the Russian state and his own personal power.”
Putin Vows ‘Decisive Action’ Against Mercenary Chief
“President Vladimir Putin vowed ‘decisive actions’ early Saturday to quell what he called an armed rebellion by the outspoken mercenary tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose forces had claimed control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were threatening to march to Moscow,” the New York Times reports.
“In a five-minute address to the nation, Mr. Putin called the rebellion by Mr. Prigozhin treasonous and ‘a stab in the back of our country and our people.’ Mr. Putin said that Rostov’s military and civilian functions had ‘essentially been blocked,’ appearing to acknowledge some success by Mr. Prigozhin, who on Saturday morning said they had taken over the southern military headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces in the city.”
Washington Post: “Minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his five-minute urgent address vowing to punish Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin for staging what he called ‘an armed rebellion,’ scores of officials began posting videos and messages pledging support to the country’s leader.”
Russian Generals Accuse Mercenary Chief of Coup Attempt
“Russian generals late on Friday accused Yevgeny Prigozhin, the outspoken mercenary tycoon, of trying to mount a coup against President Vladimir Putin, as the long-running feud between Mr. Prigozhin and the Russian military escalated into an open confrontation,” the New York Times reports.
“There were no reports of clashes on Russian streets, but videos circulating widely on social media showed that military and national guard armored vehicles had been deployed in Moscow and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near the front line in Ukraine where Mr. Prigozhin’s fighters had been deployed.”
“Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the F.S.B., said it had opened an investigation into Mr. Prigozhin for organizing an ‘armed rebellion.'”
The BBC quotes Prigozhin as saying the “evil” in the military leadership must be stopped and vowed to “march for justice.”
Washington Post: Wagner mercenary boss faces arrest over “incitement to armed rebellion.”
Wagner Chief Says Ukraine Invasion Unjustified
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary outfit, said in a bombshell video that Russia did not face an imminent security threat to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Moscow Times reports.
Said Prigozhin: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine were not going to attack Russia with the NATO bloc. The Russian Defense Ministry is deceiving the public and the president.”
Lawmakers Want Briefings on Chinese Spy Base in Cuba
“Top Congressional leaders are calling on the CIA and the State Department to brief Congress amid growing concerns that China is building a spy facility in Cuba,” Scripps News reports.
“It comes as tensions continue to rise over China and its plans to increase its operations in Cuba, which is located just 90 miles from the continental United States.”
RFK Jr. Says Russia Acted In ‘Good Faith’ In Ukraine
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he believes Russia acted in “good faith” amid the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, adding the U.S., in fact, bore heavy responsibility for the ongoing war, the HuffPost reports.
Said Kennedy: “It was us who forced Zelensky to sabotage that agreement. It was already signed. So, you know, the Russians were acting in good faith. … So, no, I think we’re the ones who have not been acting in good faith.”
Infighting Among Putin’s Lieutenants Reveals Dysfunction
Associated Press: “Prigozhin’s video in May and his other rants against the military leadership have been met with silence from Putin, as well as the brass. Some see Putin’s failure to squelch the infighting as a sign of potential shifts in Russia’s political scene that set the stage for more internal battles.”
“Prigozhin’s rift with the military has been ignored by state-controlled TV, where most Russians get their news, although it is followed closely by the politically active, ultrapatriotic readers and viewers on social media networks, which share his contempt for military leaders.”
Russian Diplomat Occupies Vetoed Embassy Site
“A suspected lone Russian diplomat is apparently squatting on the site of Moscow’s proposed embassy after the Australian government vetoed the plan on security grounds,” the AP reports.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed the Russian act of defiance, saying a “bloke standing in the cold on a bit of grass in Canberra is not a threat to our national security.”
Inside Zelensky’s Plan to Beat Putin’s Propaganda
Time: “Not only in Russia, but across the occupied regions of eastern and southern Ukraine, millions of people absorb the Kremlin line about Ukraine through Russian television. Its central message, like a genocidal fever dream mixed in among gardening shows and soap operas, depicts Ukraine’s existence as a historical mistake, its government a cabal of satanists and neo-Nazis intent on Russia’s destruction.”
“Zelensky, as the main villain in these narratives, does not believe their lack of subtlety makes them any less effective, and he has made it his mission not only to free Ukrainian land from Russian occupation but also to liberate Ukrainians from what he calls the ‘Russian information space.’”
Biden Makes Secret Push to Win Over Ukraine Skeptics
Financial Times: “Biden’s top national security aide will fly to Denmark this weekend for an unannounced meeting with representatives from India, Brazil and other countries that have not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a bid to boost support for Kyiv. Officials from South Africa, Turkey and possibly China are expected to attend.”
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- …
- 531
- Next Page »