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TASS
Since 1904 TASS has been Russia's leading news agency.
screenshot image of Prigozhin speaking to released recruits
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Cameron Manley

Wagner Boss: First Group Of Russian Prisoners Recruited For War Are Now Free

The Russian public is worried that waves of battle-hardened convicted murderers and rapists will soon be roaming the streets.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the private Wagner paramilitary group and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, made news last September by confirming that he was recruiting from Russian prisons to join his troops in Ukraine.

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Part of the offer to prisoners: in exchange for fighting in the war, you will earn permanent freedom. On Thursday, Prigozhin told Russian state media agency RIA Novosti that the first group of prisoners had “received a full pardon.”

“They fulfilled their contract with honor, with dignity, one of the first… The first,” he said. “They worked the way few people work.”

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Photo of a woman looking out the window of a bus in Chisinau, Moldova
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Akage

Flashback In The USSR? How Former Soviet Republics Are Reacting To War in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has been upfront about his desire to rebuild Russia’s influence in the region. Former Soviet states are watching developments in Ukraine closely, with many trying to ensure futures free of interference by Moscow.

For 69 years, the Kremlin was able to keep what were de facto separate nations within the Soviet orbit by the use of weapons, hunger and fear. Even after the collapse of the USSR, every Russian leader considered the former republics to be at least a zone of his influence.

Yet Vladimir Putin has revealed his true understanding of neighborliness, repeatedly stating that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a huge tragedy for Russia. And on this, one might agree, he is right.

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Under the Communist Party, each of the national republics also had their own government, albeit ultimately controlled by the Kremlin. Each of the republics, whether in Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, or Ukraine, had their own capital, culture, language and traditions. For each of the national republics, secession from the Soviet Union brought liberation and independence — an opportunity to build their own state. For every former member state, that is, except Russia.

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Photo of a man burying a relative
Geopolitics

UK-Russian Escalation As Ukraine Hits Targets On Russian Soil

As London and Moscow continue to exchange threats and accusations, targets in Russian territory were reported hit overnight.

Russia says that Ukraine was responsible for an explosion at an ammunition depot in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, though Kyiv has yet to confirm. Moscow daily Kommersant also reports that Russian air defenses shot at unmanned aircraft in neighboring border regions Kursk and Voronezh.

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The Russian government has accused the UK of "provoking" Ukraine into attacking Russian territory, following the statement yesterday by a British cabinet member James Heappey that it was “legitimate” to strike targets in Russia. According to Russian state news agency TASS, Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Heappey’s declaration “a monstrous statement.”


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Firefighters walking in devasted streets in Odessa
Geopolitics
Anna Akage, Jeff Israely and Cameron Manley

The True Face Of Russia

Today is the 61st day of the war in Ukraine. While military attention is still very much focused on Donbas, where the main front of the war is now, the Russian army continues to launch missile strikes across Ukraine, targeting critical infrastructure, railway stations, and, most importantly, residential buildings, killing countless Ukrainian civilians.

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It's been a week since the start of Russia's all-out offensive on eastern Ukraine — so are the Kremlin's forces anywhere near a breakthrough?

Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, told BBC that airstrikes on civilians shows the true face of Russian army. The fact the Russians aren't letting them rest, he continues, "is a sign of either stupidity or desperation".

"These soldiers that were taken out of Kyiv were defeated soldiers — they'd seen and they had committed war crimes, they had seen people die, they were exhausted, their equipment had gone," says O’Brien.

Saturday, a missile struck Odessa, where it destroyed an apartment building and killed eight people, including a three-month-old baby.

Russian shelling in Vinnytsia region has left an undetermined number of dead and wounded, while on Sunday airstrikes hit Lviv, with an explosion occurring near the railway station.

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Photo of a protest in support of Mariupol in Warsaw, Poland, on April 21
Geopolitics
Anna Akage, Jeff Israely and Cameron Manley

Signs Of Mariupol Mass Graves, As Russia Pounds Azovstal

Mariupol’s mayor Vadym Boichenko has accused Russia of burying dead civilians in mass graves, a charge that appears to be confirmed by satellite photos released late Thursday of sites in a nearby village.

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Ukrainian sources report Friday that there are currently multiple wounded and dead people inside separated bunkers of the plant, which have room for between 80 and 100 people each. The entrances to some shelters are blocked by concrete slabs, which cannot be moved without heavy equipment. On Thursday, Vladimir Putin claimed Russia had “liberated” Mariupol, but acknowledged that the steel plant is still in Ukrainian control, and would be sealed off rather than attacked.

Kyiv-based Livy Bereg news outlet reports Friday that the Russian military continues to shell the Azovstal plant with warships and air attacks, capable of destroying Ukrainian bunkers.

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Profile of captured Russian soldier
Geopolitics
Cameron Manley

Videos For Mom v. Mobile Crematoriums: How Russia Is Losing The Info War

One week since Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, Russia has failed to control the narrative at home and abroad.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine is being fought on multiple fronts. On the ground, Russian troops are descending upon Kyiv from the north, east and south, aiming to encircle the capital and other cities with a massive military assault.

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But there is another front that is no less important — not of territory, but a battle of conviction, truth and will: the war of information.

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