China may have the opportunity to turn Russia into its vassal, but it has no compelling reason to do so.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia-China cooperation has grown in all directions. Moscow makes no bones about the fact that it is betting on China in the global confrontation with the West, seeing Beijing as an alternative center of power with similar interests and values to itself.
Putin’s former bodyguard and current Tula governor Alexei Dyumin is eternally tipped for a position in the federal government, yet is still waiting after seven years.
Alexei Dyumin, a former bodyguard of Russian President Vladimir Putin and now governor of the Tula region, has been the subject of much discussion since the short-lived mutiny led by the Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin last month. Although Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko got the official credit for persuading Prigozhin to stand down, many social media channels and anonymous sources claimed it was in fact Dyumin who had played the decisive role in the negotiations and, as a result, strengthened his already special place in the president’s inner circle.
If Putin changes his mind about Prigozhin and initiates some sort of revenge, Minsk will not be able to protect the Wagner leader, who knows that full well. Lukashenko in turn cannot believe the promises of Prigozhin, a warlord who has just betrayed his patron, to diligently follow Belarusian rules.
One of the strangest twists in the short-lived Wagner mutiny in Russia was the involvement of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who allegedly brokered the deal between mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Kremlin, and is even willing to host Wagner in Belarus.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted insurrection against the Russian Ministry of Defence (MOD) last month created massive confusion. The rebellion raised many questions about what might come next for the war in Ukraine and the future of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
The U.S. spy agency Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has boots on the ground in Ukraine and operates a clandestine supply network to help the government in Kiev to fight Russia, leading U.S. weekly Newsweek reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources within the US government.
Africa has become an essential element of Russia’s geostrategic posture in recent years as Moscow seeks to evade its international isolation and sanctions. However, facing isolation and a contracting economy, Russia has come to the realisation that cultivating an entry point into Africa through conventional means like foreign direct investment (FDI), trade, development assistance, or cultural and educational exchanges, is not its best option. Instead, Moscow has chosen the path of a disruptor to elevate its influence on the African continent.1
I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men.
~PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, American University, June 10, 1963Following an essay I published earlier this month and the letter the Eisenhower Media Network ran in The New York Times in May, I have heard forceful and passionate protests that Russia had no other option but to invade Ukraine in February 2022. Frankly, I find quite bewildering and concerning this intense insistence that the only option available to Russia was to launch a cross-border invasion, conduct a deliberate occupation of a sovereign country, and commit a clear violation of the Nuremberg Principles and international law.
Evgheni Prigojin, șeful companiei rusești de mercenari Wagner, a plecat în exil în Belarus după insurecția contramandată, aparent în urma unei înțelegeri mediate de președintele belarus Aleksandr Lukașenko, relatează Foreign Policy.
C’est un document accablant sur le rôle de Wagner en Centrafrique. L’organisation The Sentry, qui enquête sur les réseaux de prédation économique et financière dans les zones de conflit, a livré mardi un rapport sur les activités du groupe d’Evegueni Prigojine depuis son installation dans le pays il y a cinq ans. Appelée « Les architectes de la terreur », l’enquête restitue les témoignages d’horreurs de près d’une cinquantaine de victimes et de militaires ayant participé à des opérations du groupe russe.
The Russian private military company Wagner Group, which made headlines over the weekend by starting to march on Moscow amid an apparent dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has longstanding ties to Hong Kong, records show.