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TOPIC: crimea

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Crimea Is Expanding Private Army Militias, Modeled On The Wagner Group

Wagner-like military groups are being formed in Crimea. Are they preparing to fight the Ukrainian army? Or to evacuate the local oligarchs?

The Crimean peninsula is restless. The pro-Russian occupation authorities are increasingly reporting explosions and attacks by the Ukrainian army. Meanwhile, sources inside Kyiv's intelligence services are promising that Ukrainian troops will enter Crimea before the end of the year.

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The head of the occupation administration of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, insists that there is no panic, yet is actively building fortifications and planning for the possibility that the war arrives on the territory. This now includes the creation of private armies, which appear inspired to some degree by the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary outfit now involved in combat in Ukraine.

Aksyonov has gathered two volunteer battalions, Tavrida and Livadia, which are currently located in the neighboring regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Russian propagandists have already dubbed the combat wing, Aksyonovites, closely associated with Russian Cossacks and security structures that participated in the peninsula's annexation in 2014.

The Tavrida battalion operates under the leadership of Anton Sirotkin, a Cossack military leader and member of the Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party.

Another top Tavrida leader, Vyacheslav Tokmakov, explained on Russian television that at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion, Tavrida was in conflict with the regular army of the Russian Federation — and the Russian military realized that "it is better to leave (them) alone."

"We immediately set the conditions: gentlemen, you set us a task and a deadline. As for how, with what forces, let us decide," Tokmakov said about how his private army would work with Russia's regular army.

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In Crimea, Anti-Russian Actions Multiply As Ukraine's Counteroffensive Looms

Tamila Tasheva, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, issues an appeal on the eve of Kyiv's counter-offensive to seize this moment in history — but do so carefully.

KYIV — The territory of Crimea, occupied since 2014, is currently divided into two poles: on one side are the occupiers and collaborators starting to panic as a major counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army looms; on the other side are our citizens, awaiting liberation and trying to support their Ukrainian state in every way possible.

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So, alongside the kilometer-long trenches and concrete anti-tank structures, we increasingly have started seeing the colors of the Ukrainian flag, the words "Ukrainian Armed Forces are coming" on the walls, and the chant "Glory to Ukraine..."

In addition to those resistance movements that operate on a large scale, such as the Crimean Fighting Seagulls, Yellow Ribbon, Atesh, and Crimean Partisans, we are seeing more and more individual protests. The actions are different, but no less compelling.

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This Happened - April 23: ​History's First Iconic War Photo

Roger Fenton's photograph "the Valley of the Shadow of Death," is considered the first-ever iconic war image, and was taken on this day in 1885.

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Decolonization Of Ukraine: Another Way To See The Fight For The Future

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukrainians have begun a radical revision of their cultural habits and beliefs, casting off the relics of Russian colonialism. How Ukrainians see themselves and their country's past will directly affect how they fight for the future.

-Analysis-

KYIV — When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, Ukrainians were forced to revise their cultural habits and beliefs. Music that six months ago was celebrated, suddenly became unacceptable because it came from the aggressor country. Fascination with "great Russian literature" became a thing of the past, and many regretted the lost time that could have been devoted to learning about the work of Ukrainian writers.

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As early as Jan. 2022, discussions about renaming streets and monuments became widespread in central and Southern Ukrainian cities. Now, everything is different. Almost immediately after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, citizens formed a consensus not only about the possibility of renaming streets and monuments, but also about its necessity.

All of this testifies to the intuitive request of Ukrainians for the decolonization of their own cultural narrative and historical space. But even within the country, decolonization is not fully realized. The changes taking place in Ukraine look more like a reaction to Russia's neo-imperialism. Of course, foreign countries, their opinion leaders and the public are still far from understanding the war, its causes and the transformation of Ukrainian society. This all raises the question: Has Ukraine really moved past its colonial history?

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Andreas Umland*

Two Big Obstacles To Peace: The Russian And Ukrainian Constitutions

Even if Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky were willing to find a compromise on territory, their respective constitutions explicitly forbid signing off on such a deal.

-Analysis-

STOCKHOLM — Debates about how to bring an end to the Russian war in Ukraine are growing more intense as the months go by. Regardless of whether they believe it is desirable, or even possible, to end this war around the negotiating table, all those involved in the debate must acknowledge the difficulties associated with that approach. Moscow’s track record of neo-imperialist interventions in the affairs of other countries over the last three decades gives much cause for scepticism.

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There are a whole host of reasons why negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow are unlikely to take place, or to achieve any significant results if they do — let alone reach a lasting peace deal.

The main reason lies in the contradictory claims of the Ukrainian and Russian constitutions. Russia’s most recent unlawful annexation of four regions in south-eastern Ukraine, in September 2022, represents a huge obstacle to peace.

It is an intensification of the problem first created by Russia’s scandalous, illegal military annexation of the Crimean peninsula over eight years ago. Since March 2014, the situation in Crimea has been an almost insurmountable obstacle to productive discussions between Ukraine and Russia.

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Russia

This Happened - March 16: The Crimean Referendum

Crimea voted on this day in 2014 in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Akage

Oscar for Navalny? The World Still Doesn’t Understand What’s Wrong With Russia

The Oscar for best documentary went to the portrait of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, considered Vladimir Putin’s top domestic rival. If it was meant as a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine, Hollywood has badly missed the mark.

-OpEd-

The Oscar awarded Sunday to “Navalny,” the documentary about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was not much of a surprise. As a storyline, it follows all the laws of Hollywood: a courageous hero, an absolute villain, a love story, oppressed peoples — and a sequel. It also, of course, allows the movie industry to collectively and very publicly declare its strong stance against Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.

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But if Hollywood thought this Oscar would be well-received in Ukraine, they got hold of the wrong script.

Assigning this highest honor of Western culture to Navalny is instead a reminder of how much is still misunderstood about Russia — and what must be done about its invasion of Ukraine.

Sure, Putin’s No. 1 domestic rival plays his role perfectly: Navalny is a caring father, a loving husband, a brave man, an honest politician. The film evokes all the right emotions: sympathy and admiration for the protagonist and regret for the country's plight and its citizens, who, like Navalny, have become figurative and literal prisoners of a regime.


And so the Kremlin’s victim par excellence receives an Oscar against the backdrop of a bloody war that Putin launched in Ukraine over a year ago. Yet Hollywood has, as it is prone to do, not gone beyond the surface — has not done its research.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Bertrand Hauger and Emma Albright

365 Days Of Ukraine War, In 19 Magazine Covers

A look back on some of the most striking magazine covers published this past year across the globe, marking the milestones in a bloody conflict that is entering its second year.

In the days and weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international news media was collective wondering whether this seemingly unthinkable war could actually happen. What Will Vladimir Putin Do? … was the question on everyone’s mind.

Once Feb. 24 came, and the Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, the news media attention has been thoroughly consumed by the largest and most dangerous conflict on the European continent since World War II.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

What Happens When A Ukrainian Asks ChatGPT About Crimea

The public version of the Artificial Intelligence-driven chatbot is not yet fully plugged into the real-time internet. But there was an enlightening conversation going back to 2014, when the conflict in Ukraine actually started. ChatGPT’s hedging responses may help explain why the world wasn’t prepared for Putin’s invasion a year ago.

After a year of talking (arguing, pleading, crying) with all sorts of humans about the war between Russia and Ukraine, the time came to have the conversation with ChatGPT.

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The past 365 days, like other Ukrainians, have been consumed by a war that seems drudged up from the 19th century. But I have long been interested in the potential of Artificial Intelligence and the machine revolution, I believe in the three laws of robotics, and have grown up on the new-wave of American science fiction.

Still, I walked into my first contact with ChatGPT carefully. I knew the machine would not have responses about the past year since it is trained on content only until 2021. But I also suspected that its post-2014 view of the situation in Ukraine — following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its war in Donbas — might shed some light on how we got here.

I also knew that the machine’s responses would be strung together sentences and ideas from humans — and as I said, I’ve had my fair share of arguments with them about Ukraine.

Rather than slowly wade into the subject, I started the conversation with a direct question — and yes, all of my questions are those of a Ukrainian human.

The following is our full, lightly edited “chat”:

Let us begin, who owns Crimea?

The ownership of Crimea is a politically contentious issue, it has been claimed at various times in history by different groups, including the Crimean Tatars, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, and Ukraine.

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Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

Putin v. Sandu: Why Russia Is Moving Again On Moldova

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has warned that Russia aims to install a pro-Kremlin leadership in the former Soviet country across the border from Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has both the means and desire to do so.

-Analysis-

PARIS — There are two ways to escalate a conflict. The first is "vertically," using new weapons or aiming at new targets, as Vladimir Putin has been doing for the past few weeks by striking Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

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The second is "horizontally": extending the conflict to new territories, to new areas. This is the threat that hangs today over Moldova, this small state of the former USSR, which neighbors Ukraine and Romania, whose language it shares.

These fears were raised Monday by the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, who was referring to a Russian plan to create unrest inside Moldova in order to install a government favorable to Moscow. The pro-European president said the civil unrest was being fomented by people from Russia, Serbia, Belarus and Montenegro.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Irina Dolinina

"Pacifism Is Not An Option" — Meet The Anti-Putin Russians Supplying Drones To Ukraine

Russians who oppose the war in Ukraine face a tough moral question: How far are they prepared to go? Around the world, a group of Russians are organizing and raising money to send much-needed drones to help Ukrainian forces fight the Russian invasion.

Many Russians feel deeply conflicted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Some have walled themselves off from the news, believing that they are powerless to change anything. Others have refused to fight, left the country and stopped paying taxes — and others have sent humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians. A small few, however, have decided to help the Ukrainian army directly.

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Members of the Ukrainian Drone Forces volunteer group, which is run by Russians and supplies civilian drones to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, tell Russian independent news site Vazhniye Istorii (Important Stories) why they believe Russians must do more to help Ukraine.

When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many Russians disassociated themselves from their country’s actions, stepping back from what was going on and remaining silent.

“Most Russians that I speak to are not prepared to financially support the Ukrainian army,” says Gleb, a 30-year-old sociologist. “I suppose I should be grateful that at least they don't give money to the Russian army. Yet the strangest argument for me, personally, is when people hide behind pacifism: ‘I am a pacifist. I will not give money to the army.’ But it’s a problematic position to take, because a person who refuses to interfere in the battle between the strong and the weak automatically takes the side of the strong.”

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Important Stories

How Crimea Was Carved Up And Sold At Auction To Putin's Oligarch Pals

After the annexation of Crimea, the peninsula's prized resources were identified and distributed among Russian oligarchs with connections to the Russian President, handing out everything from wine vineyards to hockey clubs to steelworks.

After Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia didn't just add land and people to its population. It also paved the way for oligarchs to dismantle the peninsula's state and private enterprises.

Russian independent news Vazhnyye Istorii (Important Stories) has conducted an in-depth investigation into the identities of Vladimir Putin’s friends who now own virtually the entire peninsula.

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Nationalization began in Crimea immediately after the annexation. Ukrainian state property became Russian, or rather Crimean, according to a resolution entitled “On the issues of managing the property of the Republic of Crimea.”

The list of what was taken over was long, and it is still growing. It includes thousands of businesses, apartments and land plots. The actual owners received no compensation, and any attempts to file lawsuits in Russia were in vain.

"In Crimea, the courts did not accept a single document on the right of ownership from people,” says Crimean lawyer Zhan Zapruta. “The law was placed in a compromised position, and they [the Russians] did with it what they wanted.”

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