Russian Digest

Media: Austria to arrest Putin if he visits

Austria, as a party to the Rome Statute, is obliged to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Austrian Justice Ministry told Ukrainian publication Ukrinform when asked if the country would arrest Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in case of his visit.

The ministry said, cited by Ukrinform, that the ICC already established in the 2019 case of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that even heads of state don't have immunity before the court.

"No one is above the law, which specifically means that every crime must be fully investigated. There must be no impunity," the Austrian officials told the publication.

On March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, the Russian official allegedly overseeing the forced deportations of over 16,000 Ukrainian children to Russia.

The ICC asserts that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" Putin holds direct accountability for supervising the deportations and that he neglected to exert authority over Russian soldiers and civilians executing the crime across occupied Ukrainian regions from the onset of Russia's all-out war against Ukraine.

All 123 countries that are members of the ICC and have ratified the Rome Statute, which establishes crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the court, are now obliged to cooperate with the court's demand to arrest Putin.

Austria signed the Rome Statute in 1999 and ratified it in 2000.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on March 16 that Austria had joined the Core Group on the Special Tribunal for the Russian crime of aggression, increasing the total number of participants to 33.

https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/media-austria-to-arrest-putin-if-he-visits

Biden vows US will ‘forcefully protect our people’ as Iranian-backed groups launch more attacks on US troops in Syria

President Joe Biden emphasized Friday afternoon that the US will “forcefully protect our people,” a day after approving retaliatory airstrikes in response to a drone attack by an Iranian-backed group in Syria that left one American dead and more injured.

But it seemed the president’s actions, and warnings from US officials, had not deterred the attacks, as shortly before he spoke, another American service member was injured in a separate strike in Syria.

“Make no mistake: the United States does not – does not – seek conflict with Iran. But be prepared for us to forcefully protect our people,” Biden had said during remarks in Canada on Friday afternoon, where he is on a two-day visit.

NATO will conduct exercises on the border with the Kaliningrad region

Poland, together with NATO, will hold military exercises near the border with the Kaliningrad region, according to the Polish edition of PAP. They will be held from 27 to 31 March.

The exercises called "Zalew-2023" will take place in the area of the Vistula (Baltic) Spit. They will be attended by the 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division of the Polish Army, territorial defense troops, engineering troops, the Navy, and a combat battalion group of NATO forces. In total, 2.5 thousand military personnel and approximately 500 pieces of equipment are involved in the exercises.

The main element of the exercises will be the development of forcing the Baltic Spit by Polish and allied units with the support of engineering troops. In addition, the military will practice repelling a terrorist attack with hostage-taking, reconnaissance operations in the area of the Gulf of Gdansk and the Baltic Spit, as well as the procedure for actions in the event of chemical contamination of the territory, writes PAP.

"Zalew-2023" will be the largest exercise in 2023 with the participation of the North Atlantic Alliance, said the speaker of the 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division Magdalena Kostinskaya.

Last week, Politico reported that NATO is going to deploy up to 300,000 troops to the border with Russia. So the leadership of the alliance hopes to stop the possible spread of hostilities outside of Ukraine.

NATO also began to work out a plan for participation in a full-scale war. In mid-February, the defense ministers of the countries of the alliance prepared a political guide, which recorded the requirements for the allies to prepare for potential military conflicts in the future, Bloomberg reported.

https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2023/03/24/polsha-vmeste-s-soyuznikami-po-nato-provedet-ucheniya-u-granitsi-s-rossiei-a38042

US charges alleged Russian spy who tried to infiltrate ICC

The US Department of Justice unveiled charges Friday against a Russian man accused of studying for years under an assumed Brazilian alias at a Washington university, who later tried to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

He was caught soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine when trying to move to the Netherlands and take up an internship at the court, which is now seeking President Vladimir Putin's arrest.

The US indicted Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov on multiple offenses that took place during the roughly two years he spent in the US.

Many of the charges are fraud-related and pertain to Cherkasov's effort to secure his visa, a Virginia state driving license, and other documentation under the assumed Brazilian identity Viktor Muller Ferreira.

US Attorney Matthew M. Graves said, "When foreign adversaries, such as Russia, send undercover operatives into the United States, we will find them and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."

The Russian-installed head of occupied Crimea created his own ‘PMC.’ It is associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin

Recently, the status of Yevgeny Prigozhin has been shaken. He was banned from recruiting prisoners to the Wagner PMC - now the Ministry of Defense is engaged in this. His units are not given ammunition, and, according to Prigozhin, this is done deliberately. He continues to openly fight with Shoigu (just a couple of days ago, on his Telegram channel, he cursed his son-in-law, a blogger). As Important Stories wrote earlier, Prigozhin has poor relations with both the presidential administration and Putin's old friends.

Who supports Prigozhin lately is the Russian-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov. He openly took his side in the conflict with the Ministry of Defense, hinting at the "capital measure" for officials of the department responsible for the distribution of ammunition. Prigozhin praised Aksenov in response.

As Important Stories found out, this union could be embodied not only in public support for each other.

Crimean "Convoy"

In March of this year, Aksyonov spoke on Crimean television about the appearance of a professional military unit in Crimea: “Guys who have gone through everything possible, the leaders have several Orders of Courage, the chief of staff is a Hero of Russia.”

A little earlier, a video was published on a telegram channel called “Convoy” showing Aksyonov inspecting the positions of the new unit: “It’s fine, it’s okay. In the summer, it will be perfect in general, ”the convoys discuss the conditions with Aksyonov.

The head of the Crimea Sergey Aksyonov on the positions of the "Convoy"

The Russian installed head of occupied Crimea Sergey Aksyonov on the positions of the "Convoy"

‘PMC’ "Convoy" is a relatively new private military unit. His telegram channel of the same name was created in November last year.

Note: PMCs are illegal in Russia.

Formally, Convoy is BARS, a combat army reserve, its members enter into two contracts - one with Convoy, the second with the Ministry of Defense, a former member of this PMC told Important Stories. This allows you to have guaranteed payments in case of injury or death. The interlocutor of "Important stories" received, according to him, about 200 thousand a month, command - 300 thousand. In addition, those who serve in the unit for a year are promised land "in the Crimea or Abkhazia."

At the time when the PMC began to form and the interlocutor of "Important Stories" got a job there, the unit consisted of about 300 people.

Today, the positions of the "Convoy" are located in the Kherson region adjacent to occupied Crimea.

Intelligence: Russian occupying authorities in Crimea sell their property, take families away

The Russian command and Moscow-installed proxies in Crimea have begun evacuation from the occupied peninsula, selling their real estate and taking families away, Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence, said on March 23.

Crimean residents heard a warning on radio stations the day before urging them to prepare for leaving Crimea, Yusov told Ukrainian TV channel Freedom, suggesting the announcement was intended for those cooperating with Russian occupying authorities.

"For there (in Crimea) to be peace and order, it is necessary to liberate the peninsula and bring the legitimate Ukrainian government back there… to return Crimea to its native Ukrainian harbor, which will definitely happen shortly," said the official from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate.

"Therefore, all those who work for Russia had better leave the territory of Ukrainian Crimea soon."

The Crimean peninsula has been under Russian occupation since 2014 following a fake referendum staged by Russia to annex the territory.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion to return all of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea.

On Feb. 18, retired U.S. General Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. troops in Europe, told the Ukrainian publication Ukrinform that Ukraine has a realistic chance to liberate Russian-occupied Crimea by the end of the summer if it gets long-range missiles.

https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/intelligence-russian-occupying-authorities-in-crimea-sell-their-property-take-families-away

U.N. report details killing of POWs

U.N. human rights monitors have found evidence of dozens of summary killings of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, as well as other potential war crimes, they told reporters on Friday. At a briefing in Kyiv, Matilda Bogner, the head of the U.N. monitoring mission, told reporters that while ill-treatment took place on both sides, the group’s research had found it was far more common against Ukrainians than against Russians.

Bogner also said investigators had documented 133 victims of conflict-related sexual violence, with more than 4 out of 5 cases attributable to Russian perpetrators.

US sanctions Belarus’ election officials, president’s plane

The U.S. imposed sanctions Friday on seven Belarusian elections officials, two state-owned automotive manufacturers and President Alexander Lukashenko’s aircraft.

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, intensified his repression after a wave of protests in 2020 following a presidential election that the West and Belarus’ opposition denounced as a sham.

Lukashenko also has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has allowed him to station troops and weapons there to support his war in Ukraine.

Those sanctioned Friday include a new slate of commissioners on Belarus’ Central Election Commission, which was originally sanctioned in December 2020.

Lukashenko accused the opposition presidential candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, of plotting to overthrow the government. This month, a Belarusian court sentenced Tsikhanouskaya, now living in exile, to 15 years in prison.

Russia Seeks 400,000 More Recruits as Latest Ukraine Push Stalls

The Russian authorities are launching a massive recruitment campaign to replenish the depleted forces in Ukraine, which, according to Western data, have lost more than 200,000 people killed and wounded.

The Kremlin has set the task of recruiting 400,000 contract servicemen to the Armed Forces and sent out the corresponding orders to the regions, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation.

According to them, with the help of such recruitment, the authorities hope to avoid repeated forced mobilization, the first wave of which dropped support for the war and caused an exodus of citizens abroad.

Almost all of the mobilized - 300 thousand people - have already been thrown to the Ukrainian front, Bloomberg sources from among Ukrainian and Western officials believe. And although the generals used all possible reserves, the widely announced offensive turned into a fiasco: from January 31 to February 28, the army managed to advance only 234 square kilometers or 0.039% of the territory of Ukraine.