Russian mercenary chief says his forces are rebelling, some left Ukraine and entered city in Russia 

Ukrainian servicemen walk in the recently liberated village of Storozheve in the Donetsk region, on June 21, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP/File)
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Updated 24 June 2023
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Russian mercenary chief says his forces are rebelling, some left Ukraine and entered city in Russia 

  • In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin was taking the threat, security was heightened in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don 
  • While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort 

The owner of the Wagner private military contractor made his most direct challenge to the Kremlin yet, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by calling for the arrest of Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin was taking the threat, security was heightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don, which is home to the Russian military headquarters for the southern region and also oversees the fighting in Ukraine. 

While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort as Kyiv’s forces were probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. The dispute, especially if Prigozhin were to succeed, also could have repercussions for President Vladimir Putin and his ability to maintain a united front. 

Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, saying they faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.” 

“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said in one of a series of angry video and audio recordings posted on social media beginning late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.” 

He claimed that the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, scrambled warplanes to strike Wagner’s convoys, which were driving alongside ordinary vehicles. Prigozhin also said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation. 

And despite Prigozhin’s statements that Wagner convoys had entered Rostov-on-Don, there was no confirmation of that yet on Russian social networks. Video posted online showed armored vehicles, including tanks, stationed on the streets and troops moving into position, but it was unclear whether they were under Wagner or military command. Earlier, heavy trucks were seen blocking highways leading into the city and long convoys of National Guard trucks were seen on a road. 

The governor of the Voronezh region, just to the north, told residents that a column of military vehicles was moving along the main highway and advised them to stay off the road. 

Prigozhin said Wagner field camps in Ukraine were struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from Gerasimov following a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which they decided to destroy Wagner. 

The Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition. 

Prigozhin, who said he had 25,000 troops under his command, said his troops would punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.” 

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services, or FSB, charged him with calling for an armed rebellion, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. 

The FSB urged Wagner’s contract soldiers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting armed conflict. 

Putin was informed about the situation and “all the necessary measures were being taken,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. 

Heavy military trucks and armored vehicles were seen in several parts of central Moscow early Saturday, and soldiers toting assault rifles were deployed outside the main building of the Defense Ministry. The area around the presidential administration near Red Square was blocked, snarling traffic. 

But even with the heightened military presence, downtown bars and restaurants were filled with customers. At one club near the headquarters of the FSB, people were dancing in the street near the entrance. 

Moscow’s mayor announced Saturday morning that counterterrorism measures were underway, including increased control of roads and possible restrictions on mass gatherings. 

Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that military contractors sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. In a statement late Friday, he said he was ready to find a compromise but “they have treacherously cheated us.” 

“Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,” he said. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps. 

Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike and then “cowardly” fled. 

“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he shouted. 

Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, urged the Wagner forces to stop any move against the army, saying it would play into the hands of Russia’s enemies, who are “waiting to see the exacerbation of our domestic political situation.” 

Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst, predicted this would be the end of Prigozhin. 

“Now that the state has actively engaged, there’s no turning back,” she tweeted. “The termination of Prigozhin and Wagner is imminent. The only possibility now is absolute obliteration, with the degree of resistance from the Wagner group being the only variable. Surovikin was dispatched to convince them to surrender. Confrontation seems totally futile.” 

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a top military officer, denounced Prigozhin’s move as “madness” that threatens civil war. 

“It’s a stab in the back to the country and the president. ... Such a provocation could only be staged by enemies of Russia,” he said. 

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine was concentrating troops for an attack around Bakhmut to take advantage of “Prigozhin’s provocation.” It said Russian artillery and warplanes were firing on Ukrainian forces as they prepared an offensive. 

In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War, said it appeared that “Prigozhin fully intends for Wagner to move against MoD leadership and forcibly remove them from power, more likely against the Southern Military District command in Rostov-on-Don but possibly also against Moscow.” 

It added that despite Putin’s support for Prigozhin, he would be highly unlikely to accept any armed rebellion: “The violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would cause irreparable damage to the stability of Putin’s perceived hold on power.” 

At the White House, National Security Council Adam Hodge said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.” 

Michael Kofman, director of Russia Studies at the CAN research group in Arlington, Virginia, tweeted that Prigozhin’s actions struck him as “a desperate act, though much depends on whether Prigozhin is alone, or if others that matter join him. I’m skeptical this ends well for him or Wagner.” 

In Kyiv a Russian missile attack killed at least two people and injured eight Saturday when falling debris caused a fire on several floors of a 24-story apartment building in a central district, Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s military administration, posted on Telegram. 

He said more than 20 missiles were detected and destroyed. Video from the scene showed a blaze in the upper floors of the building and the parking lot strewn with ash and debris. 

In other developments in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on other countries to heed warnings that Russia may be planning to attack an occupied nuclear power plant to cause a radiation disaster. 

Members of his government briefed international representatives on the possible threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, whose six reactors have been shut down for months. Zelensky said he expected other nations to “give appropriate signals and exert pressure” on Moscow. 

The Kremlin’s spokesman has denied the threat to the plant is coming from Russian forces. 

The potential for a life-threatening release of radiation has been a concern since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year and seized the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station. The head of the UN’s atomic energy agency spent months trying to negotiate the establishment of a safety perimeter to protect the facility as nearby areas came under repeated shelling, but he has been unsuccessful. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency noted Thursday that “the military situation has become increasingly tense” amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began this month in Zaporizhzhia province, where the namesake plant is located, and in an adjacent part of Donetsk province. 
 


As defense ties strengthen, US assesses Cyprus base

Updated 5 sec ago
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As defense ties strengthen, US assesses Cyprus base

  • The assessment will take place at a military base in the western district of Paphos
  • European Union member Cyprus has played a central role in evacuating civilians from the region

NICOSIA: A military assessment team from the United States will be in Cyprus this week as part of defense upgrades, Cypriot officials said on Tuesday, following an announcement from Washington of cooperation with the Mediterranean island.
The evaluation team, based in Germany, would provide know-how and recommendations on infrastructure projects to enhance interoperability with the United States and other partners, Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
“The upgrading of infrastructure, the supply of modern means and the investment in training are key pillars of our national strategy for an effective and flexible defense,” Letymbiotis told a news briefing.
The assessment will take place at a military base in the western district of Paphos.
Strategically perched on the edge of the volatile Middle East, European Union member Cyprus has played a central role in evacuating civilians from the region during the many flare-ups in tensions.
Last year, it established a humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza, where a ceasefire deal came into effect on Sunday.
Relations between the US and Cyprus have grown closer in recent years and are closely followed by Turkiye, which invaded Cyprus’s northern third in 1974 after a brief Greek inspired coup. Both Türkiye and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state it supports in north Cyprus have criticized cooperation.
Part of the assessment will look at the potential to upgrade landing facilities at the air base to allow for large-scale evacuation operations from the region if needed, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The source asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.


Jakarta refutes reports of Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians in Gaza to Indonesia

Updated 21 January 2025
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Jakarta refutes reports of Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians in Gaza to Indonesia

  • NBC news report claims that relocating residents of Gaza is part of rebuilding efforts
  • Any attempts to move Palestinians in Gaza is ‘entirely unacceptable,’ Jakarta says

JAKARTA: Jakarta was never involved in any discussion to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Indonesia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday following reports that new US President Donald Trump’s team was considering the controversial move.

Before his inauguration on Monday, Trump and his transitional team had been discussing Israel’s war on Gaza and the recent ceasefire agreement, according to a report by NBC News.

Citing an anonymous source from Trump’s transition team, Indonesia was named as one of the locations considered for Palestinians to relocate to when rebuilding efforts began for the enclave.

However, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has refuted the report.

“The government of Indonesia has never received any information from anyone, nor any plans regarding the relocation of some of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants to Indonesia as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts,” Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Roy Soemirat said.

“Indonesia’s stance remains unequivocal: Any attempts to displace or remove Gaza’s residents is entirely unacceptable. Such efforts to depopulate Gaza would only serve to perpetuate the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and align with broader strategies aimed at expelling Palestinians from Gaza.”

Indonesia is among the staunchest supporters of Palestine, with its government repeatedly calling for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders.

Since the beginning of Israel’s deadly invasion of Gaza in October 2023, Jakarta has also been vocal on the international stage, demanding an end to military support and weapons sales to Tel Aviv.

As the first phase of a long-awaited ceasefire began on Sunday, Indonesia’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Arrmanatha Nasir said the UN Security Council “must safeguard the agreement” to ensure that every part of the three-phase agreement is upheld.

“The ceasefire is a vital first step towards attaining peace in the Middle East,” Nasir said during a UN Security Council open debate in New York on Monday.

After the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Nasir said the international community must address the immediate humanitarian needs and work toward a “just and comprehensive political plan” with a two-state solution at its core.

“Any other alternative will only lead to apartheid and subjugation. That is why the international community must unite to foster genuine dialogue and negotiation that addresses the root cause of colonialism and historical injustices in Palestine including the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.”

After 15 months, the war on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians and led the International Court of Justice to consider genocide claims against Israel.

However, a study published this month by medical journal The Lancet shows that the real death toll in Gaza during the first nine months — when the number stood at around 37,000 – of Israel’s deadly invasion was about 40 percent higher than recorded by the enclave’s Health Ministry.


‘No winners in a trade war’: Chinese vice premier tells Davos

Updated 21 January 2025
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‘No winners in a trade war’: Chinese vice premier tells Davos

  • Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang told the World Economic Forum that a “tug of war” was underway between supporters and opponents of economic globalization
  • The EU imposed hefty tariffs on electric cars made in China last year

DAVOS: A top Chinese official warned Tuesday that no country would emerge victorious from a trade war, in a speech to the Davos forum as Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang told the World Economic Forum that a “tug of war” was underway between supporters and opponents of economic globalization.
“Transformation not seen in a century is accelerating across the board with imminent tariff wars and trade wars,” Ding said.
“The global governance system is undergoing profound adjustments. Human society has once again come to a critical crossroads,” he added.
Trump, who began his second term on Monday, vowed during his election campaign to impose higher tariffs on China after launching a trade war with the country during his first stint at the White House.
“Protectionism leads nowhere, and there are no winners in a trade war,” Ding said, without mentioning Trump or the United States by name.
Trump warned Monday that he could impose tariffs if Beijing rejected his proposal to keep Chinese-owned app TikTok online in the United States by having half of it sold off.
China has also been locked in trade disputes with the European Union.
The EU imposed hefty tariffs on electric cars made in China last year. In turn, Beijing targeted European brandies and opened probes into EU subsidies of some dairy and pork products.
Without mentioning the EU or any country by name, Ding warned against “erecting green barriers that could disrupt normal economic and trade cooperation.”
He called for a “consistent approach” in addressing climate change and trade policies “so as to prevent economic and trade frictions from impeding the process of green transition.”


At Davos, EU vows pragmatism with Trump

Updated 21 January 2025
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At Davos, EU vows pragmatism with Trump

  • The EU’s first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests, and be ready to negotiate with Trump

DAVOS: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen declared Tuesday that Europe was ready to negotiate with US President Donald Trump but the bloc will also seek to improve ties with China and other nations as global competition heats up.
Von der Leyen insisted that the United States remains an important partner, taking a conciliatory tone in a speech to the annual meeting of global elites in Davos, Switzerland.
The EU’s “first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests, and be ready to negotiate” with Trump, she said.
“We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles. To protect our interests and uphold our values,” she said.
Trump returned to the White House on Monday, bringing with him fears he will deliver on promises to slap heavy tariffs on China and US allies including Canada and the European Union.
After his inauguration, Trump said he may impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as early as February 1.
He also announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, which the European Commission president defended as the “best hope for all humanity” and vowed “Europe will stay the course.”
China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang — also a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s apex of power that rules the country — will speak immediately after von der Leyen.
The EU chief reiterated her commitment to free trade during her speech, pointing to recent deals with Switzerland, the Latin American bloc Mercosur and Mexico.
Von der Leyen also said she and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to “upgrade” their partnership.
She stressed that Europe “must engage constructively with China — to find solutions in our mutual interest” despite escalating trade tensions between the two.
“2025 marks 50 years of our Union’s diplomatic relations with China. I see it as an opportunity to engage and deepen our relationship with China, and where possible, even to expand our trade and investment ties,” she said.


China is taking a cautious approach to Trump.
After Chinese President Xi Jinping’s conversation with Trump by phone on Friday, he said he hoped for a “good start” to relations with the new administration.
Although Trump said he would undertake sweeping trade penalties against China, he has also indicated he wants to improve ties — and even stepped in to reverse a US ban of Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok on national security grounds.
Ukraine is also keeping a very close eye on what Trump’s second mandate will involve.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to call on world leaders and company executives to maintain — and even ramp up — their support for his country’s fight against Russia.
Zelensky on Monday said he is hopeful Trump will help achieve a “just peace.”


Embattled German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also address the forum, likely his last as leader ahead of elections next month.
Also speaking on Tuesday will be conservative leader Friedrich Merz, the favorite to succeed him as chancellor.
Europeans are fretting the most about Trump’s return while countries from Brazil to China and India to Turkiye believe he will be good for their countries and global peace, according to a survey last week from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
The report accompanying the survey of over 28,500 people across 24 countries serves as a warning for European leaders to act cautiously.
“Europeans will struggle to find internal unity or global power in leading an outright resistance to the new administration,” the ECFR report’s authors said.


Middle East conflicts will also be high on the agenda as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani speak in separate sessions during the first full day of the forum.
As a fragile ceasefire holds in the Israel-Hamas war, the WEF will host a discussion on how to improve aid delivery to the Palestinian territory of Gaza and how to kickstart the reconstruction and recovery after heavy bombardment.
Despite suggestions Trump’s return would overshadow the forum that began on the same day as his inauguration in Washington, WEF President Borge Brende said the president had brought fresh interest to the gathering.
“It has increased the interest in Davos because people feel they need to come together to better understand what’s on its way,” Brende told AFP in an interview.


Germany calls Trump’s vow to take Panama Canal ‘unacceptable’

Updated 21 January 2025
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Germany calls Trump’s vow to take Panama Canal ‘unacceptable’

  • ‘Any threat against a NATO member or other states is of course completely unacceptable’
  • ‘It’s not about how President Trump says something... but we should look at why he says something’

BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday criticized Donald Trump’s “unacceptable” pledge to seize the Panama Canal, which the returning US president repeated in his inaugural address.
Baerbock was asked in an interview about Trump’s comments Monday on the waterway and on his desire to control Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
“Any threat against a NATO member or other states is of course completely unacceptable,” Baerbock told German broadcaster RBB.
Baerbock however said that Germany needed to “play it smart,” when responding to the president’s statements.
“It’s not about how President Trump says something... but we should look at why he says something,” Baerbock said.
The focus should be on “what interests are behind (Trump’s statements) ... and then standing up for our own interests,” she said.
In the case of the Panama Canal, the message was about China “investing massively in ports and other important infrastructure around the world,” Baerbock said.
In his inaugural address on Monday, Trump complained that China was effectively “operating” the key trading route, which the United States transferred to Panamanian control in 1999.
“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back,” Trump said.
It was not the first time that Trump has expressed his intention to reestablish US control over the canal, with the president repeatedly refusing to rule out using military means.
Germany has no illusions about Trump as he begins his second term in office, Baerbock said.
“The USA is one of our most important allies. We want to and will continue to work closely together,” she said.
“But we have positioned ourselves more intensively and even more strongly strategically.”