Russia fails to return to UN rights body after losing vote
Source: Reuters
GENEVA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russia failed in its bid to return to the United Nations' top human rights body on Tuesday, with rivals winning considerably more votes at the General Assembly in an election seen as a key test of Western efforts to keep Moscow isolated.
In the secret ballot, Russia won 83 votes versus 160 for Bulgaria and 123 for Albania, which had competed against it in the same eastern Europe grouping for two seats on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council for a three-year term beginning on Jan. 1.
"UN member states sent a strong signal to Russia's leadership that a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn't belong there," said Louis Charbonneau, United Nations director at Human Rights Watch.
Russia was ousted from the council 18 months ago in a U.S.-led diplomatic push following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin 'suffers cardiac arrest' sparking 'alarm' in Kremlin inner circle
Source: Express.UK
Vladimir Putin is alleged to have suffered a "cardiac arrest" in his private Moscow apartment on Sunday evening.
A Telegram Channel believed to be run by a former Kremlin insider reported that incident saying the Russian leader was found by guards on the floor of the bedroom "lying on the floor, rolling his eyes."
Doctors were reportedly called immediately and they later diagnosed the 71-year-old as having suffered a "cardiac arrest."
Putin was then moved to a special medical facility built in the apartment where he underwent intensive care, the source claims.
Here's a long article about Russia's abusive and criminal treatment of native people during the time it controlled Alaska. It undermines Russian denialism of their colonialist history. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... e-00123352
A Baseless Claim About Putin’s Health Came from an Unreliable Telegram Account October 26, 2023
Introduction:
(ABC) An explosive claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had suffered a heart attack spread across the globe this week, amplified by news outlets and social media users.
The news didn’t come from the Kremlin, which dismissed it as a “hoax,” nor verified reporting in Russia. It came from a single anonymous account on the messaging service Telegram that provided no evidence, yet was viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
Misinformation researchers warn the account isn’t credible and has spread baseless claims about Putin’s health in the past. But the case highlights the dangers of seeking information on the loosely moderated messaging platform that has surged in popularity amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin Suffered a Heart Attack is Unfounded
By Sara Swan
October 24, 2023
(Politifact) "Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Oct. 24, per Reuters. "This belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity."
Photos released by Russian media show Putin at meetings and public events in the days following his alleged health emergency. Putin was also seen Oct. 25 on Russian state television directing a nuclear strike drill via a video call, The Associated Press reported.
The General SVR Telegram account has shared dubious claims about Putin’s health in the past, including one post last December that was picked up by the U.K.’s Daily Mail about the Russian president falling down stairs.
PolitiFact rates claims based on the information known at the time the statement is made.
Based on available information, we rate the claim that Putin recently
Ukraine war: Russian general critical of army found dead, along with his wife
Published: 3:35pm, 19 Nov, 2023
– Vladimir Sviridov and his wife Tatyana were found dead on Wednesday in their bedroom, the Kyiv Post said, likely deceased for about a week
– Sviridov is the latest in a series of critics of the Russian establishment found inexplicably dead
Russia to boost size of army by 15% to 1.32 million
Source: CNN
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 170,000, as Moscow’s war in Ukraine enters its 22nd month.
The increase would take the overall number of Russian military personnel to more than 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops, according to the decree published by the Kremlin Friday.
….
But Russia’s casualty numbers remain shrouded in secrecy. In September 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 troops had been killed in the war. The ministry has not published an update since.
Western intelligence assessments put the toll much higher. The United Kingdom defense ministry said in October it is likely that Russia has suffered between 150,000 and 190,000 permanent casualties, meaning killed or permanently wounded, since February 2022.
….
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday announced that he will run for re-election in 2024, state media reported.
The announcement follows months of speculation over whether the 71-year-old, who has been in power since 2000, plans to seek six more years in office after constitutional amendments in 2020 reset his term count.
Putin told Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Zhoga, a Russian military officer, about his decision to participate in the upcoming vote following an awards ceremony for army personnel at the Kremlin, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
“At the front everyone was worried, wondering whether Putin will run,” Zhoga was quoted as saying.
Russia bans anti-war candidate from challenging Putin
7 hours ago
A former TV journalist who announced she would challenge President Putin in Russia's spring election has been barred from standing.
Independent politician Yekaterina Duntsova wanted to run on a platform to end the war with Ukraine.
But the electoral commission voted unanimously to reject her candidacy three days after her application, citing 100 "mistakes" on her form.
Ms Duntsova said she would appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.
The presidential election, which will be held in March 2024, is Russia's first since President Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Russian opposition believes it can still challenge Putin with elections and peaceful protests. That didn't work then, it'll be even less effective now given that Putin now enjoys popular support thanks to the war. The only certainty these days is a jail sentence.
Alexei Nalvany Discovered in Siberian Penal Colony December 25, 2023
Introduction:
(Axios) Russian opposition leader Alexei Nalvany has been located in a Siberian penal colony, two weeks after his lawyers said he was missing.
Driving the news: Nalvany has been moved to the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a statement on X.
• Yarmysh did not provide details as to how the Kremlin critic was located, but added that his lawyer visited him and Navalny is "doing well."
• In a separate statement, Ivan Zhdanov, the former director of Nalvany's Anti-Corruption Foundation, said his legal team undertook hundreds of requests to locate him in the weeks he was missing.
• "A complete block was placed on information about him. Even today, the Supreme Court says it doesn't know where he is," Zhdanov said on X.
‘Polar Wolf’: The Harsh Prison Where Navalny Was Sent and How His Team Found Him by Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities
December 28, 2023
Introduction:
(RFE/RL via Eurasia Review) — Known as “Polar Wolf,” the strict-regime prison to which opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has been sent is a place where a water cannon is an instrument of torture.
“In the winter, prisoners would be hastily assembled in the courtyard in light clothing,” said prisoners’ rights activist Olga Romanova, relating the testimony given by a man who was released from Polar Wolf, more formally known as IK-3, in 2018. “They were held in formation and not allowed to clap or rub their hands together. They had to stand for 30 or 40 minutes without moving when it was -45 degrees Celsius or colder. If one person moved, the whole group was doused with water.”
“In the spring, there was a new torture,” she added. “Mosquitoes and biting flies. If you moved a hand, the water came. They would just douse the whole group with a water cannon.”
After spending 19 days incommunicado during transit from a prison in the Vladimir region, Navalny confirmed his arrival at IK-3 — in the settlement of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets district above the Arctic Circle in north-central Siberia — on December 26, one day after his lawyer was able to visit him there.
Navalny is serving a 19-year prison term on extremism charges that he and his supporters maintain are part of a campaign of persecution aimed at stymying his political activity. Amnesty International, the banned Russian human rights group Memorial, and others have recognized him as a political prisoner.
Navalny Smiles and Jokes at Hearing as Court Rejects His Challenge Over Prison Treatment January 11, 2024
Introduction:
(RFE/RL) — Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, in his first court appearance since being moved to a notorious prison in the Arctic, joked and smiled at a hearing on his challenge to how he was being treated in prison, which the judge ultimately rejected.
The court said a suit filed by Navalny, who attended the January 10 hearing via video link, against his placement in a solitary confinement for 12 days at his previous prison in October was without merit as the move was legal.
In his decision, Judge Kirill Nikiforov ruled Navalny’s placement in a punitive cell was warranted because it was proven that he violated an internal order at the IK-6 prison in the Vladimir region, namely by using “offensive” words when debating with a guard.
In a light moment during the proceedings, Navalny told the judge, who has presided over several similar sessions, that “a tear is flowing down my cheek” as a sign of pleasure at getting to see him again.
A second suit also filed by Navalny against the prison’s decision not to allow his wife’s letters to reach him will be considered by the court at a later date as Navalny asked for time to get acquainted with all documents related to the case. Navalny said he needed to see the prison warden’s written order banning his wife’s letters.
Russia suspends operations at gas export terminal after suspected Ukrainian drone attack
January 21, 2024 11:52 AM EST
Jan 21 (Reuters) - Novatek (NVTK.MM) Russia's largest liquefied natural gas producer, said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack. The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets.
It processes stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil and gasoil, according to Novatek's website. It was not clear how long the disruption would last, how many tankers would have to idle outside the port, and what the knock-on effect would be on international energy markets.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency, citing unnamed sources, said the fire was the result of a special operation carried out by Ukraine's security services. "The Ust-Luga Oil terminal in the Leningrad region is an important facility for the enemy. Fuel is refined there, which, among other things, is also supplied to Russian troops," it cited one source as saying.
"A successful attack on such a terminal not only causes economic damage to the enemy, depriving the occupiers of the opportunity to earn money to wage war in Ukraine, but also significantly complicates the logistics of fuel for the Russian military." Reuters could not confirm that the fire resulted from a Ukrainian drone attack.
Russian Energy Company Suspends Some Operations at Baltic Sea Terminal After Fire January, 2024
Extract:
(Eurasia Review) Novatek… is partially owned by Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin…
The fuel export terminal…is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets, including to Europe.
It was not clear how long the disruption would last, how many tankers would have to wait outside the port, and what the knock-on effect would be on international energy markets.
Timchenko owns 23.49 percent of Novatek, according to data quoted by Interfax at the time of the company’s annual meeting in April 2023. The largest shareholder is Leonid Mikhelson with 24.76 percent, Interfax said.
…
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry traditionally does not comment on or claim responsibility for attacks Moscow claims Kyiv carries out on Russian territory.
I hope that as Republican delegates from Alaska are selected through their process that somebody asks Trump what his plans are to protect Alaska. Perhaps his grand plan to achieve peace between Russia and the Ukraine is to give up Alaska?
