When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

russia

Ukraine
Worldcrunch

The War Comes To Russia

WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE 36 • JUNE 5 - JUNE 11, 2023

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Akage

Report: After Wagner Group, Now Russia's Official Military Is Recruiting Prisoners For War

Desperate to supply depleting forces in Ukraine, Russia's defense ministry has taken up the dubious recruiting method of offering prisoners freedom in exchange for going off to war. The same technique was begun but then halted in February by the Wagner Group mercenaries. It's Putin's latest attempt to avoid a nationwide mobilization.

Russia's notorious mercenary outfit, the Wagner Group, had shocked many last summer when it began recruiting soldiers from prisons to fight in Ukraine. After dubious results and high death counts among the ranks, that practice was halted in February. But now, sources say the Russian state military has started up its own prison recruitment campaign in a last-ditch effort to send more men to the front and delay a nationwide draft.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

With the personal approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wagner had offered prisoners pardons and payment in exchange for six months of service. As many as 50,000 prisoners took the offer – and by early 2023, three out of four of them had been killed, the Ukrainian military estimates.

By February , Wagner called an end to the prison recruitment campaign. Some observers believe the effort ended because the Wagner group and its owner Yevgeny Prigozhin fell out of favor with Putin after failing to make much progress at the front.

But Putin hasn’t given up the idea of turning to prisoners to supply manpower to the frontline, even if untrained and unmotivated. According to Russian NGO Gulagu.net, which investigates corruption and torture in Russian prisons, the Russia's defense ministry is now recruiting directly from prisons – and their standards are reportedly even looser than Wagner’s.

Watch Video Show less
In The News
Worldcrunch

Worldcrunch Magazine #36 — The War Comes To Russia

June 5 - June 11, 2023

This is the latest edition of Worldcrunch Magazine, a selection of our best articles of the week from the best international journalists, produced exclusively in English for Worldcrunch readers.

>> DISCOVER IT HERE <<

Watch Video Show less
Geopolitics
Frédéric Schaeffer

Heihe Postcard: Where The China-Russia "Friendship Of Convenience" Reveals Its Limits

Facing Russia, just across the Amur River, the Chinese border city of Heihe has complicated ties with its neighbor, revealing the scars of history and a shifting power dynamic between Moscow and Beijing.

HEIHE — Perched in the cab of his truck, Sacha is about to enter the customs clearance area, his lorry loaded with car parts and equipment made in China. "I make the trip two or three times a week," explains the Russian driver, his eyes as blue as the winter sky over the Amur River which marks the border between China and Russia.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

A road bridge spanning the river links the Chinese city of Heihe to Blagovechtchensk, on the eastern edge of Russia. The goods in Sacha's truck will be on Russian soil in just another kilometer's worth of road.

The two-lane bridge was inaugurated with great fanfare last June, with fireworks going off as the first trucks passed. Authorities in both countries presented it as a symbol of their rapprochement, and an example of the "unlimited friendship" sealed between the two in February, shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his army into Ukraine.

Watch Video Show less
Russia
Nikolai Kozhanov

Iran And Russia, An Alliance Of Common Enemies — Sealed By Sanctions

Russia attacks Ukraine with Iranian shahed drones, thinks about buying Iranian missiles, sells Iran Su-35 fighters, and starts repairing its civilian aircraft. How is it that Iran has become Russia's main ally?

-Analysis-

The rapprochement between Iran and Russia began even before the war with Ukraine, as there was a significant reshuffle of power within Iran. People from highly conservative circles came in, in alliance with the security forces, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

They had no doubts that sanctions on Iran would not be completely lifted even if a nuclear deal was signed.

In an interview with the Russian edition of independent media outlet Important Stories, Nikolai Kozhanov, associate professor at the Center for Persian Gulf Studies at Qatar University, explained how strong the Iran-Russia alliance is, and why it is evident that a global confrontational process was underway, even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Watch Video Show less
Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

Russia Running UN Security Council? Symbol (And More) Of A Broken World Order

It sounded made for April Fool's: Russia is taking over the presidency of the UN Security Council, the highest governing body in the world. But this is all too real. It's time to rethink how the council works, Pierre Haski writes.

-Analysis-

PARIS — "A disgrace, an extreme absurdity, a symbolic blow to an international order based on law" — Ukrainian officials were left stunned, almost at a loss for words to describe Russia's appointment on April 1 to the presidency of the UN Security Council.

But the appointment is completely above board. Russia didn't scheme or cheat to get it: the rules of the Security Council, established in 1945, schedule a monthly rotation among the council's 15 members, and it just happened to be Russia's turn.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

Of course, Ukraine's dismay is entirely understandable, as the nation watches its invader — whose head of state is wanted on an international warrant for crimes against humanity — be appointed to lead the body that aims to build global peace.

To prevent Russia from presiding over the Security Council, the country would have had to choose not to take the presidency; even if the remaining Security Council members voted to exclude Russia, the country has the same right as any other permanent member to veto votes, and would never have allowed such a resolution to pass.

Watch Video Show less
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Stefan Beutelsbacher

Ukraine Blacklist: Shaming The Companies Still Doing Business With Russia

Ukraine has compiled a blacklist of companies it says are "sponsoring" war by still doing business with Russia. The list is causing a stir within the European Union, which is currently working on its 11th round of sanctions.

BRUSSELS — The blacklist is doing the rounds among diplomats in Brussels. It's a sensitive document: a list compiled by the Ukrainian government of what it calls "sponsors of war".

Kyiv accuses more than two dozen companies in Europe, America and Asia of still doing significant business with Russia.

By doing so, it says, they provide Vladimir Putin with large revenues to finance his war. Some companies, the Ukrainians believe, may even be supplying banned products to the Russian army.

Now the blacklist, compiled by a Ukrainian authority called NACP, is getting significant European Union (EU) attention for the first time. The member states are currently negotiating new sanctions against Russia, intending to launch what is now the eleventh package. Technically, they say, the list from Kyiv will not become part of this package. Nevertheless, it is causing quite a stir.

So far, the EU has banned imports of many Russian products, for example coal, oil and vodka. It seized the yachts of oligarchs loyal to Kremlin and froze central bank reserves.

In the eleventh round of sanctions, measures are planned that are to take effect beyond European borders. Experts are calling them extraterritorial sanctions. Brussels plans to punish companies outside the EU that help Putin circumvent the sanctions. That's what makes the list from Kyiv so explosive.

Watch Video Show less
Geopolitics
Driss Rejichi

A Key New Ally For Russia That Makes The West Cringe: Tunisia

Tunis and Moscow have been increasingly close — at the cost of relations with the West, which had once looked to Tunisia as a model of democracy. The two countries are brought together by Kremlin's efforts to woo African countries, but also a natural alliance of its strongman Presidents Putin and Saïed.

-Analysis-

TUNIS — Back on December 16, a surprising scene was unfolding at the headquarters of the Independent High Authority for Elections. In the chairs of the reception hall, the president of the government agency Farouk Bouasker and four other members of the organization were seated in front of … a Russian delegation.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

Arriving from Moscow the same day, they were members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, a body that monitors and evaluates public action but has very little power in Vladimir Putin’s regime. Yet they were welcomed with the honors previously reserved to the European Union delegations, and presented with a copy of the new electoral code.

Deployed to Tunisia at the invitation of Farouk Bouasker, close to Tunisia's strongman President Kaïs Saïed, their mission would be to follow and analyze the process of the legislative elections organized the next day. It was the first such meeting since the coup of July 25, 202, when Saied issued an emergency declaration firing the prime minister and assumed all executive power.

It is the first ever delegation of this kind sent by Russia in the country. If their mission doesn’t differ from that of their European predecessors, the context of their coming is far from trivial.

Watch Video Show less
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Pierre Haski

Drones On Moscow: Vladimir Putin On The Defensive Like Never Before

In another scenario, Putin could be bragging about Russia's control of Bakhmut after nearly a year of fighting, and the bombing of the Ukrainian Intelligence’s headquarters, which was recently acknowledged by Kyiv. But instead he must retreat to the ultimate home front after drone attacks in the capital.

-Analysis-

PARIS — In February of last year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin dubbed his invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation,” he was telling Russians that it would be over quickly. Now, 15 months later, drones are striking apartment buildings in Moscow, bringing a whiff of war to inhabitants of the Russian capital, who had so far thought they’d been spared.

The psychological shock is far greater than the military impact.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

It is a symbol of the failure of the Russian president’s Ukraine campaign. Pro-war nationalist bloggers were quick to criticize the lack of air defense, which allowed the drones to strike Moscow. But if they had really wanted to taunt the government, they could have compared it with the performance of the Ukrainian air defense which, thanks to Western equipment, knocks down most of the Russian drones and missiles fired at Kyiv.

In the same vein, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenary outfit Wagner and rival to Russia's military commanders, commented on his Telegram channel: “The people have a right to ask these questions," and, in a message aimed at the military establishment, added a pointed note: “May your houses burn."

Watch Video Show less
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Viktor Kevlyuk

Why Russia Is Now Betting On A Long War In Ukraine

After its initial blitzkrieg failed, and with Ukraine gearing up for a counteroffensive, Russia sees its best hope in holding out for a protracted conflict. Kyiv, instead, is trying to convince its Western allies that achieving victory as soon as possible is the only path forward.

-Analysis-

KYIV — There has been a lot of talk about prolonging the war in Ukraine and about who benefits from that situation.

British General Rupert Smith defined war as "collective killing for the sake of a collective goal" and advised focusing on political, strategic, territorial and tactical aspects.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

From this perspective, let's try to answer question "who benefits?"

First, we can exclude the U.S. and the "collective West" because they are not participating in the war.

The second important aspect is that Ukraine is not Iraq or Afghanistan. We are defending ourselves against aggression on our land; we are defending our sovereignty and our territorial integrity; we are not trying to spread the war to other territories or export it anywhere in the world. Our enemy, on the contrary, ignores all the existing norms of international humanitarian law, the laws and customs of war, and uses the practice of genocide both openly and covertly.

According to the founder and chairman of Genocide Watch, Gregory Stanton, “the Russian army actually intends to partially destroy the Ukrainian nationality.”

Two factors influence the duration of the war: Russia's ability to conduct sustained hostilities, which depends on whether there are temporal-spatial conditions to restore its ability to fight. Another factor is the ability of Russia to threaten the "collective West" and separately the United States, which depends on the achievements and losses of Russia in Ukraine.

Watch Video Show less
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Important Stories

How The Belgorod Incursion Exposes Deep Vulnerability Inside Russia's Military

Russia failed to respond in time to an attack in the Belgorod region, close to the Ukraine border. Now, independent Russian news outlet Vazhnyye Istorii/Important Stories reveals hears from Russian security forces and military analysts about what this week's brazen incursion reveals about the vulnerability country's defenses.

-Analysis-

BELGOROD — On Monday morning, units of the Russian Freedom Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, which consist of Russians fighting on the side of Ukraine, entered the Belgorod region, 40 kilometers north of the Ukraine border. About 100 men, using armored vehicles, seized a checkpoint and then several villages.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the attackers were "blocked and defeated," and local authorities announced the end of what they called anti-terrorist operation.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

The first reports of shelling of settlements in the Belgorod region appeared around 11:00 a.m. on Monday. Soon, Ukrainian telegram channels began posting videos from the Grayvoron border crossing point. The Russian Volunteer Corps published a video showing its fighters riding on a Russian armored personnel carrier seized at the checkpoint. In the afternoon, the Russian Freedom Legion told the Russian publication Vazhnyye Istorii/Important Stories that the Russian military tried to cover the fighters with artillery and air strikes.

On Tuesday morning, the Russian Freedom Legion reported that the fighters were still on Russian territory. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, wrote about the "mopping up" of the area.

According to Novaya Gazeta, Europe, the Russian military command brought more than 4,000 people and some 100 vehicles to the Belgorod region.

By Tuesday evening, the governor of the Belgorod Region reported the gradual return of civilians to the border regions and the beginning of restoring the power supply. According to the authorities, 13 civilians were injured by the shelling, and two were killed — a resident and an older woman who died of a heart attack.

Though the current situation on the ground is not clear, Ukrainian formations continue to publish videos from Russian territories.

Contacted by Vazhnyye Istorii, source close to the Federal Security Service, believes that the action of Ukrainian units near Russia's borders showed the helplessness of the Russian state at this stage. "It's a failure; I don't understand how this could have happened," he says.

Watch Video Show less
featured-post
Pierre Haski

Russians Or Ukrainians — Or Both? Attacks Inside Russia Are A Major Escalation

While military attention was focused on the harshly contested city of Bakhmut, fights were reported on the other side of the border in Russian territory. But it was Russian groups that claimed responsibility.

-Analysis-

Moscow is accusing Ukrainian commando units of crossing the border and attacking Russian targets, but the raid was claimed by two anti-Putin Russian organizations. They posted videos, impossible to verify, showing Russians in uniforms riding in captured armored vehicles, or of themselves bragging about having taken down a helicopter.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

It’s not the first time that such incursions have happened: In March, fighting had occurred in villages a few hundred meters away from the border. They were claimed by the same organizations. What is new is the announcement of the capture of a locality and the intention to create a controlled zone in Russia - an objective that still seems beyond their capacities.

Watch Video Show less