They wear army fatigues with no flag and carry Kalashnikov assault rifles. They guard the presidential palace and track extremists in the scrubland. Hundreds of Russian mercenaries have landed here over the last three months, according to regional and Western officials, providing a shadowy source of protection as this nation’s alliances with the West unravel.
The invasion of Ukraine is a wake-up call to the implications of Russia’s attempts to export its governance model to Africa—with sobering consequences for African sovereignty and stability.
It’s commonly held that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s objective for invading Ukraine is to install a puppet regime that is pliable to Moscow’s interests. If so, this would be consistent with the approach Russia has taken with its forays into Africa in recent years.
“The U.S. planned to conduct work on pathogens of birds, bats, and reptiles in Ukraine in 2022,” Konashenkov said.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov denounced that the U.S. financed Ukranian biolabs to carry out experiments with bat coronavirus samples.
War, as well as causing death and destruction, is harmful to economies: it destroys physical and human capital, increases uncertainty and stifles investment and consumption. But in addition to the direct economic impact of the war in Ukraine –which will bring both the Ukrainian and, owing to Western sanctions, the Russian economies to a shuddering halt– one must also mention the unclear effect of turbulence in the fuel and raw materials markets, with fallout that is still very uncertain for Europe, as well as the impact of other economic measures that may be adopted in the future if the conflict persists. All this will steer the world economy, in the best-case scenarios, towards lower growth and greater inflation; and, in the worst case scenario, to an acute stalling of growth that could turn into a recession in many European countries (and elsewhere) owing to shocks in the financial and commodity markets.
Vladimir Putin may have anticipated a repeat of Russia’s seizure of Crimea, but what we have seen is more similar to Chechnya.
At first glance, Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine seemed to suggest a change in the approach of the Russian armed forces.
“Information is often valuable, but you need to net it out of the agenda, of the noise, and find the valuable information,” Grozev said. He explained that this is why Bellingcat’s work is data-focused rather than based on sources, as sources often have agendas. Before the war, Grozev’s team received tip-offs about what was going to happen. As these were unverified claims from sources, they didn’t publish them, but they gave them some hints about the situation in the Kremlin.
Russia’s war against Ukraine has sparked an explosion of interest in what Moscow is up to around the world. With that in mind, GIJN has assembled a kind of starter-toolkit to help journalists track Russian assets, political interference, and disinformation in their countries. From oligarch planes to sanctions trackers, you’ll find over 30 useful sites here. We’ve also included some of the best tools we’ve seen for following Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is a work-in-progress, so be sure to send us your comments and additions.
When a pro-NATO group in Finland began circulating a petition last week demanding a referendum on whether the traditionally non-aligned country should join the U.S.-led transatlantic defense alliance, the response was overwhelming.
Who hasn’t thought in terms of national identities, stereotypical and misleading as they are? He’s an American, someone might say, or she’s French, or those folks over there are Japanese, and so on.
We know such identities blur and dissolve upon closer inspection. There turn out to be many different kinds of Americans. There are Red Americans and Blue Americans, for instance, and White Americans and Black Americans, rich Americans and poor Americans, young Americans and old Americans, religious Americans and secular Americans, and on and on. And there no doubt are as many kinds of French, or Japanese, and so on.
While it does not appear that Russia has become interested in undermining the JCPOA as a whole, dragging out the talks could serve Russia’s interests.
Russia’s military attack on Ukraine has had a number of consequences for Iran, the most important of which have impacted the state of the nuclear negotiations and the energy market. With nuclear talks in Vienna in their final and most critical stages, a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would lead to the lifting of the “maximum pressure” sanctions that were first imposed on Iran under the Trump administration.