Russian Digest
Top weekend stories I'm keeping an eye on!
Wagner chief offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine, leak says
THE DISCORD LEAKS | Yevgeniy Prigozhin said he would tell Ukraine’s military where to attack Russian troops if they pulled their own forces back from the beleaguered city of Bakhmut, where Wagner mercenaries were taking heavy losses
In late January, with his mercenary forces dying by the thousands in a fight for the ruined city of Bakhmut, Wagner Group owner Yevgeniy Prigozhin made Ukraine an extraordinary offer.
Prigozhin said that if Ukraine’s commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, he would give Kyiv information on Russian troop positions, which Ukraine could use to attack them. Prigozhin conveyed the proposal to his contacts in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with whom he has maintained secret communications during the course of the war, according to previously unreported U.S. intelligence documents leaked on the group-chat platform Discord.
Prigozhin has publicly feuded with Russian military commanders, who he furiously claims have failed to equip and resupply his forces, which have provided vital support to Moscow’s war effort. But he is also an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who might well regard Prigozhin’s offer to trade the lives of Wagner fighters for Russian soldiers as a treasonous betrayal.
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Ukraine captures 10 Russian positions near Bakhmut
Ukraine’s military said it has captured 10 Russian positions near Bakhmut as it stepped up its counteroffensive around the besieged city.
Earlier, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Kremlin’s Wagner mercenary group, confirmed that Ukrainian forces had captured land on the Russian southern flank and there was a rare admission from the Russian military that two senior officers had been killed.
“Today, our units have captured more than 10 enemy positions in the northern and southern outskirts of Bakhmut,” Ganna Malyar, the Ukrainian deputy defense minister, said on social media.
“Enemy soldiers of various units have been captured.”
Ukrainian commanders have been heavily trailing the build-up of a large-scale counteroffensive backed by Western weapons for months, but despite increasingly desperate statements from Russian officials, they insisted they have not yet launched an attack.
Heavier artillery barrages
Even so, reports from Bakhmut all week, including from Telegraph correspondents near the frontline, have reported far heavier artillery barrages than usual, suggesting a major Ukrainian assault on Russian positions has begun.
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Russia says 2 commanders killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine
The town of Bakhmut has been fiercely fought over in recent days, with the head of Russia’s Wagner Group saying troops had faced a ‘rout.’
Two senior Russian military officers have been killed in eastern Ukraine, Moscow’s Ministry of Defense said on Sunday, as Kyiv pledged its long-awaited counteroffensive will liberate occupied areas of Ukraine.
Russian officials claimed in a statement issued on Sunday that they were repelling Ukrainian attacks around the contested town of Bakhmut. But they conceded that top army leaders had been among the casualties in their own ranks.
“The commander of the 4th motorized rifle brigade, Colonel Vyacheslav Makarov, personally led the battle from the front,” the ministry said. “While repulsing of a third attack, the brigade commander was seriously wounded and died during the evacuation from the battlefield.”
In addition, the deputy commander of the army corps, Colonel Yevgeny Brovko, was also killed, the ministry said.
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Lukashenka disappeared from the public after a trip to Putin's parade
Since the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko left Russia without attending a festive dinner in honor of the Victory Day, he has disappeared from the public. On May 14, the head of the Belarusian state did not attend the annual flag day ceremony, which took place on Sunday morning.
Last year, at the bottom of the flag, coat of arms, and anthem, the President of Belarus delivered a lengthy speech. Now instead of Lukashenka, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko spoke at the ceremony, Belta reported. The state official read out the President's congratulations.
The Belarusian authorities did not explain why the president missed the ceremony.
Lukashenka has not appeared in public for the fifth day. He flew from Moscow to Minsk on May 9 after the Victory Parade, missing lunch with Vladimir Putin and other guests of the Kremlin. The publication "Nasha Niva" reported that the reason for the hasty departure of the president was his state of health.
In addition, Lukashenka asked Putin to organize a vehicle so as not to walk with the rest of the leaders of the states from Red Square to Alexander Garden. At the end of the parade, the President of the Russian Federation and foreign politicians went there to lay flowers. Lukashenka, after a short conversation with Putin, disappeared from the frame. The Belarusian president could not walk 300 meters from the stands where the politicians watched the parade. The guards brought him into a security electric vehicle. And during the parade, a bandage could be seen on Lukashenka's hand.
After the parade, the President of Belarus did not appear in public, no events with his personal participation were held. The Pool of the First channel did not cover any events with his participation. A journalist from the Zerkalo edition called the presidential press service under the guise of an ordinary citizen. There she was told that “everything is all right” with Lukashenka, and his absence in public was explained by a busy schedule and work with documents.
Information about Lukashenka's illness was confirmed in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The head of the committee on CIS affairs told the Rise newspaper that he knows what the president of Belarus is ill with. However, he did not divulge this information.
“There is nothing supernatural there, it’s not covid. The man just got sick. Despite the fact that the person fell ill, he considered it his duty to come to Moscow, and then in the evening of the same day he held events in Minsk. He probably needs some rest - that's all, ” said the deputy.
The Telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU reported that on May 11, Lukashenka was in the Republican Clinical Medical Center. Recently, doctors have often flown from Moscow to Minsk, including from the A. N. Bakulev Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, to treat the Belarusian president, said a channel source familiar with the situation.
France pledges more military aid as Ukraine’s Zelenskyy makes surprise Paris visit to meet Macron
France pledged additional military aid for Ukraine on Sunday, including light tanks, armored vehicles, training for soldiers and other assistance as the Ukrainians gear up for a counteroffensive against Russian forces, following surprise talks in Paris between the Ukrainian and French presidents.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and France’s Emmanuel Macron met for about three hours at the French presidential Elysee Palace — an encounter kept under wraps until shortly before the Ukrainian leader’s arrival in Paris from Germany on a French government jet, extending his multi-stop European tour.
With Ukraine planning to go on the offensive hoping to retake Russian-occupied territory, military aid was a top agenda item. Macron’s office said France will supply dozens of light tanks and armored vehicles “in the weeks ahead,” without giving specific numbers. Also promised were more air defense systems, but again details weren’t made public.
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https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-zelenskyy-france-macron-russia-f88abdcc52a92480454b3fe4b40fa75d
Posing as Islamists, Russian Hackers Take Aim at Sweden
A series of coordinated cyberattacks intended to jeopardize the Nordic country’s chances of joining NATO have been disrupting its biggest companies
Since February, a mysterious hacker group calling itself Anonymous Sudan has targeted dozens of Swedish airports, hospitals and banks with distributed denial-of-service attacks, ostensibly in response to the burning of a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm earlier this year.
The so-called DDoS attacks, which push websites and services offline by overwhelming them with internet traffic, disrupted online programming at Sweden’s national public broadcaster and knocked out the websites of Scandinavian Airlines, state-owned power company Vattenfall, and defense firm Saab AB. Extensive media coverage has made the attacks — and Anonymous Sudan’s claims — a matter of public debate in Sweden.
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More Russian active measures against Sweden
Four Russian military aircraft shot down near Ukraine, Russian daily reports
Russian news outlet Kommersant said two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border, in what would be a spectacular coup for Kyiv if confirmed.
Kommersant said on its website that the Su-34 fighter bomber, Su-35 fighter, and two Mi-8 helicopters had made up a raiding party, and had been "shot down almost simultaneously" in an ambush in the Bryansk region, adjoining northeast Ukraine.
"According to preliminary data ... the fighters were supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were there to back them up - among other things to pick up the 'Su' crews if they were shot down."
The Russian state news agency TASS said a Russian Su-34 warplane had crashed in that region but did not specify a cause.
TASS also cited an emergency services official as saying an engine fire in a helicopter had caused it to crash near Klintsy, which is about 40 km (25 miles) from the border.
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Ukraine's army: Russian fighters and helicopters that crashed in the Bryansk region were shot down by Russia's air defense
The reason for yesterday's crashes of Russian Su fighter jets and Mi-8 helicopters in the Bryansk region was Russian air defense, Spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Yurii Ihnat has explained during a TV marathon.
According to him, two aircraft and three helicopters were shot down in total.
Founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin previously hinted at the same version of events:
“Four aircraft, if we draw a circle around the crash sites, then we get a circle with a 40-km diameter. So the circle's radius is 20 km. And now go online and look up which air defense system could have been located inside this circle, and then draw your own conclusions,” he said in response to media outlet Newsinfo asking him to comment on the crashes.
Yesterday, 13 May, several aircraft belonging to Russia's Armed Forces crashed simultaneously in the Bryansk region. Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, citing sources, that the aircraft in question were two Mi-8 helicopters, a Su-34 fighter jet, and a Su-35 fighter jet.
“The fighter jets were supposed to carry out a bomb and missile attack on the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were supposed to cover them, including on the chance that the Su jets are shot down and they have to pick up the crews, ” the media outlet wrote.
As of now, the Bryan region authorities have only confirmed the crash of one helicopter. Russia's Defense Ministry is yet to comment.
Security forces detained a 19-year-old resident of Murmansk for setting fire to a military registration and enlistment office
In Murmansk, 19-year-old local resident Shamil Aliyev-Gasanov was detained on suspicion of setting fire to a military enlistment office.
According to the Telegram channel, the young man confessed to arson, saying that he was forced to do it by an anonymous Internet user with the help of blackmail and threats.
The military registration and enlistment office on Burkova Street in the Murmansk region was set on fire on the night of May 14. The investigation believes that the suspect broke the glass on the basement floor of the building, filled the frame with an incendiary mixture, set it on fire, and ran away. As a result, furniture and equipment in the social security office caught fire inside the military registration and enlistment office. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within an hour.
A criminal case may be opened against Aliyev-Hasanov. Previously, Russians were accused of setting fire to the military registration and enlistment offices under articles on terrorism (Article 205 of the Criminal Code), vandalism (Article 214 of the Criminal Code), sabotage (Article 281 of the Criminal Code), and others.
Source: Baza
Russian Recruiters 'More Assertive' Toward Central Asian Migrants As Dual Citizens' Urged To Fight In Ukraine
In the waiting hall of Moscow's Sakharovo Migration Center that is often packed with foreign workers applying for work or residency permits, a poster -- in Tajik, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz -- hangs on the wall.
"Are you interested in obtaining Russian citizenship in a simplified way by joining the armed forces as a contractor?" it asks.
The permit center is also frequented by army recruiters who single out military-age men to try to convince them to join the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, several Tajik migrants say.
"Once you submit your application, the recruiters take you to another room for a 'consultation,' and there they start sweet-talking you into agreeing to go to the war," one migrant told RFE/RL's Tajik Service on condition of anonymity.
Military recruiters "who were somewhat discreet in the past" have become more open and assertive in approaching Central Asian migrants, many claim, as Russia scrambles to recruit more fighters for its army in Ukraine, which has suffered massive losses since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In the waiting hall of Moscow's Sakharovo Migration Center that is often packed with foreign workers applying for work or residency permits, a poster -- in Tajik, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz -- hangs on the wall.
"Are you interested in obtaining Russian citizenship in a simplified way by joining the armed forces as a contractor?" it asks.
The permit center is also frequented by army recruiters who single out military-age men to try to convince them to join the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, several Tajik migrants say.
"Once you submit your application, the recruiters take you to another room for a 'consultation,' and there they start sweet-talking you into agreeing to go to the war," one migrant told RFE/RL's Tajik Service on condition of anonymity.
Military recruiters "who were somewhat discreet in the past" have become more open and assertive in approaching Central Asian migrants, many claim, as Russia scrambles to recruit more fighters for its army in Ukraine, which has suffered massive losses since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-migrants-recruited-war-ukraine/32411318.html
Exclusive: G7 leaders to target Russian energy, trade in new sanctions steps
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations plan to tighten sanctions on Russia at their summit in Japan this week, with steps aimed at energy and exports aiding Moscow's war effort, said officials with direct knowledge of the discussions.
New measures announced by the leaders during the May 19-21 meetings will target sanctions evasion involving third countries, and seek to undermine Russia's future energy production and curb trade that supports Russia's military, the people said.
Separately, U.S. officials also expect G7 members will agree to adjust their approach to sanctions so that, at least for certain categories of goods, all exports are automatically banned unless they are on a list of approved items.
The Biden administration has previously pushed G7 allies to reverse the group's sanctions approach, which today allows all goods to be sold to Russia unless they are explicitly blacklisted.
That change could make it harder for Moscow to find gaps in the sanctions regime.
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Nail-Biter Turkish Election Goes to Round 2 as Majority Eludes Erdogan
Turkey’s presidential election appeared on Sunday to be headed for a runoff after the incumbent, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, failed to win a majority of the vote, a result that left the longtime leader struggling to stave off the toughest political challenge of his career.
The outcome of the vote set the stage for a two-week battle between Mr. Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition leader, to secure victory in a May 28 runoff that may reshape Turkey’s political landscape.
With the unofficial count nearly completed, Mr. Erdogan received 49.4 percent of the vote to Mr. Kilicdaroglu’s 44.8 percent, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
But both sides claimed to be ahead.
“Although the final results are not in yet, we are leading by far,” Mr. Erdogan told supporters gathered outside his party’s headquarters in Ankara, the capital.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/14/world/europe/turkey-erdogan-presidential-election.html