Rusia

Pope Francis made headlines last week when he described the Russian Empire as “enlightened” and invoked the names of two expansionist Russian czars as examples of Russia’s “great culture.” In impromptu remarks, Francis said to a group of Russian Catholics, “You are the heirs of the great Russia: the great Russia of saints, of kings, the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, of that great, enlightened Russian empire, of great culture and great humanity.”

Ces derniers temps, Kiev a intensifié le travail d’enrôlement de mercenaires étrangers sur fond d’échec de sa contre-offensive, selon la Défense russe. Combien les mercenaires touchent-ils par mois ? Est-ce un montant cohérent à leurs attentes ? Deux experts militaires US ont fourni des détails à Sputnik.

La guerre en Ukraine connaît-elle ses dernières convulsions avant que l’armée ukrainienne ne soit anéantie par la puissance de feu russe ? Le parti d’opposition à la guerre en Ukraine aux États-Unis, désormais incarné par Tucker Carlson et son nouveau copain Victor Orban de Hongrie, les Trumpistes et certains médias alternatifs, Scott Ritter etc. tous chantent la fin de la guerre en Ukraine est là, les Ukrainiens portent un toast, les Russes ne peuvent pas être vaincus. Les Ukrainiens n’ont même pas traversé la «zone de déformation», ils n’ont même pas atteint la première ligne de défense russe, etc.

• Just yesterday, Russian authorities officially confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the infamous leader of the Wagner Group, who was killed in a plane crash over Russia last week, along with several other high-ranking leaders of the mercenary group.
• Prigozhin was killed two months to the day of the coup, and amidst a flurry of other activity related to Russia’s military posture and force structure.
• The next Wagner leader will likely be far less visible, less abrasive, and more under the radar compared with Prigozhin, whose torrent of abuse aimed at high-ranking Russian military officials was taking its toll within the Kremlin.
• The future of Wagner seems to be in Africa, where its expeditionary operations and focus on providing muscle in exchange for access to resources is a much better fit for its expertise.

Sensing the changing mood, many left-wing parties and politicians in Moldova have begun criticizing the war and reversing their pro-Russian positions.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has turned life upside down for traditionally pro-Russian political parties in Moldova. Public calls for closer ties to Russia have become extremely rare, and there is emerging demand for politicians to represent the interests of the country’s Russian-speaking population without deferring to the Kremlin.

Russia’s ultra-patriots are not a cohesive force. They are a motley collection of amateur groups that coalesce around leaders who are ambitious, jealous, and incapable of working with each other.

The late mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was until recently considered a leading Russian politician—with some even believing he could be a rival to President Vladimir Putin himself. But the death of the Wagner army boss in highly suspicious circumstances last week has not sparked much public interest or outrage.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, flamboyant Russian warlord and head of the Wagner Group, was killed in his private plane on August 23, along with Wagner’s second-in-command, Colonel Dmitry Utkin, the chief of combat operations. The puzzle of how Prigozhin met his end—reports suggest an air-defense missile, a bomb, or even a problem with his plane’s mechanics—is less important than the path Wagner and Russia will take in the aftermath of his death. This special edition of Hudson Institute’s Ukraine Military Situation Report by Senior Fellow Can Kasapoǧlu will focus on how Prigozhin’s death affects Wagner’s leadership, its mercenary business, and the role of private military companies within Russia.