Tag: Vladimir Putin

  • Putin Conducts Raid on Prigozhin’s Mansion Following Failed Wagner Uprising

    Putin Conducts Raid on Prigozhin’s Mansion Following Failed Wagner Uprising

    In a significant development, Vladimir Putin has ordered a raid on Yevgeny Prigozhin’s lavish residence in St. Petersburg, effectively humiliating the Wagner chief after his failed uprising in Russia. Reports from Dailymail indicate that armed security personnel, acting on behalf of the Kremlin, conducted a thorough search of Prigozhin’s mansion while he was in exile in Belarus on June 24.

    During the raid, investigators uncovered substantial stockpiles of assault weapons and ammunition, as well as hidden caches of gold bars. Furthermore, peculiar items such as a stuffed alligator and a framed photograph allegedly depicting the severed heads of Prigozhin’s enemies were discovered. Notably, the search also revealed a large collection of wigs in various styles and colors, ranging from grey to mousy brown, stored in a closet.

    Leaked photos circulated on state-backed Russian Telegram channels purportedly show Prigozhin wearing different disguises using the wigs, leading to speculation about the authenticity of the images. Some observers have raised doubts about the quality of the disguises, suggesting possible doctoring in an attempt to discredit the Wagner chief further.

    Supporters of Prigozhin have voiced concerns that the release of these images may violate Russia’s stringent national security laws. They argue that the leaked photos could imply Prigozhin’s involvement as a state agent, considering Wagner’s connections to Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU.

    This development follows Prigozhin’s recent attempt to launch an armed insurrection against Putin, which was swiftly halted with the assistance of Minsk. The Belarusian capital played a crucial role in brokering a deal to bring an end to the conflict.

  • Aborted Mutiny By Wagner Forces Has Weakened Putin – Trump

    Aborted Mutiny By Wagner Forces Has Weakened Putin – Trump

    Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said that Russian president Vladimir Putin has been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny.

    According to Trump, the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

    “I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war,” Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday, June 29.

    “You could say that he’s (Putin) still there, he’s still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people,” he said.

    If Putin were no longer in power, however, “you don’t know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse,” Trump said.

    As for war crime charges levied against Putin by the International Criminal Court in March, Trump said Putin’s fate should be discussed when the war is over “because right now if you bring that topic up you’ll never make peace, you’ll never make a settlement.”

    On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kyiv government might have to concede some territory to Russia in order to stop the war, which began with Russian forces invading Ukraine 16 months ago. He said everything would be “subject to negotiation”, if he were president, but that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have “earned a lot of credit.”

    “I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they’ve earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don’t have that right now,” he said.

    “I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peace – getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it,” Trump said. “This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace.”

    Trump added that China should be given a 48-hour deadline to leave a Chinese spy station on the island of Cuba 90 miles (145 km) off the U.S. coast.

    He said if Beijing refused to accept his 48-hour demand for shutting it down, a Trump administration would impose new tariffs on Chinese goods.

    “I’d give them 48 hours to get out. And if they didn’t get out, I’d charge them a 100% tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and they’d be gone within two days. They’d be gone within one hour,” Trump said.

    When asked if the United States would support Taiwan militarily if China invaded the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.
    “I don’t talk about that. And the reason I don’t is because it would hurt negotiating position,” he said. “All I can tell you is for four years, there was no threat. And it wouldn’t happen if I were president.”

  • Putin Set To Meet African Leaders To Discuss Russia-Ukraine Grain Deal

    Putin Set To Meet African Leaders To Discuss Russia-Ukraine Grain Deal

    Russian President, Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet with leaders of African countries on Saturday, June 17 in St Petersburg, according to presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

    The grain deal will be one of the key issues the leaders will discuss, he said.

    Ukraine is a major exporter of sunflower, maize, wheat and barley. When Russia invaded in February 2022, its naval vessels blockaded Ukraine’s ports, trapping some 20 million tonnes of grain.

    The grain deal was mediated by Turkey and the U.N and it allows Ukraine to export grain across the Black Sea.

    Thanks to the agreement, more than 30 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs have been shipped out of the Black Sea through a safe corridor.

    Russia had been threatening to pull out of the deal, saying Western sanctions were hampering its own agricultural exports. On Wednesday, June 14, Putin said he’ll be meeting with African leaders.

    “African leaders are interested in the constant supply of grain to their continent, which so far has not been possible under the Istanbul deal,” Putin said, according to state media TASS.

    Russia has been dissatisfied with the deal and will carefully consider a decision on whether to extend it, putin added.

    Before they meet with Putin, the leaders will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the non-profit organization Brazzaville Foundation earlier announced.

    Participating leaders of the meeting with Putin will include:

    Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa
    Azali Assoumani, chair of the African Union and Union of Comoros, Denis Sassou Nguesso, president of Republic of Congo, Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, Macky Sall, president of Senegal
    Hakainde Hichilema, president of Zambia .

  • Russia vs Ukraine: Putin Ready To Negotiate Ukraine

    Russia vs Ukraine: Putin Ready To Negotiate Ukraine

    The Russian President, Vladimir Putin has expressed his readiness to negotiate with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    Putin said he is ready to send Russian delegations to the Belarusian capital of Minsk to talk with Ukraine.

    Reports gathered that Putin’s decision follows a request made by Zelenskyy.

    A statement by Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “Following Zelensky’s proposal to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine, Putin can send representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Ministry and his administration to negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation.”

    The statement said Minsk was chosen as the venue for the proposed talk.

    Russia has been attacking some towns in Ukraine since Thursday.

  • Ukraine ‘Left Alone’ To Fight Russia, Says President Zelensky

    Ukraine ‘Left Alone’ To Fight Russia, Says President Zelensky

    Ukraine’s president said Friday his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion that killed 130 Ukrainians on the first day.

    “We have been left alone to defend our state,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to the nation after midnight.

    “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid,” he added.

    Zelensky said that 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, had been killed since the start of the attack early Thursday.

    Another 316 had been wounded, he said.

    Zelensky also said that Russian “sabotage groups” had entered the capital Kyiv, and urged the city’s citizens to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.

    The president added that he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one”.

    “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state,” Zelensky said.

  • Ukraine: Putin’s Barbaric Venture Must End In Failure – Boris Johnson

    Ukraine: Putin’s Barbaric Venture Must End In Failure – Boris Johnson

    UK Prime minister, Boris Johnson, has condemned Vladimir Putin’s full pronged invasion of Ukraine, which he described as a “hideous” and “barbaric” venture.

    In a televised address to the British citizens, PM Johnson stated that Putin’s actions should not be allowed to ‘snuff out’ freedom being enjoyed in Ukraine with an act of ‘wanton and reckless aggression.

    While condemning Putin’s action as unleashing war on the continent, Johnson sent out a hard message to the West to lend their might to lead to the eventual ‘failure’ of Russia’s incursion ‘diplomatically, politically, economically, and eventually, militarily’

    ‘Our mission is clear. Diplomatically, politically, economically, and eventually, militarily, this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure,’ he said.

    “We cannot and will not just look away,” Johnson said in a televised address to the nation, after phoning Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky just after 4:00 am (0400 GMT) as Russian forces moved in.

    Ukraine can be assured of continued UK support given that “our worst fears have now come true and all our warnings have proved tragically accurate”, the prime minister said.

    Ahead of an emergency virtual meeting of G7 leaders, Johnson said the West “will agree to a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy”.

    Similarly, Johnson’s Foreign Office minister James Cleverly suggested that Russian military commanders should stage a coup to stop Mr Putin’s ‘catastrophically bad judgement call’.

    He also took swipes at Putin’s mental state after a series of rambling speeches littered with Soviet-era rhetoric, he said the president seemed to be acting ‘increasingly in isolation’ and ‘illogically’.

    – ‘Unprecedented’ sanctions –
    UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who spoke to her US counterpart Antony Blinken Wednesday evening before Putin announced the start of military operations, joined Johnson in condemning the attack.

    The foreign ministry has deployed teams to five countries in eastern Europe to support Britons leaving Ukraine, she noted.

    Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had instructed the UK Civil Aviation Authority to ensure airlines avoid Ukraine airspace “to keep passengers and crew safe”.

    The UK slapped sanctions Tuesday on five Russian banks and three billionaires, in what Johnson called “the first barrage” of measures in response to the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine.

    Leading members of Johnson’s ruling Conservatives, as well as the main opposition Labour party, have urged him to hit the Kremlin as hard as possible with the new sanctions.

    Foreign office minister James Cleverly vowed London would respond with “unprecedented” steps “to punish this aggression”.

    “Those sanctions will be laid today and over forthcoming days to really prevent Russia from funding this invasion,” he told the BBC.

    “The sanctions package that will be put in response to this is already actually having an effect,” Cleverly added, noting record falls Thursday on the Russian stock market and a slump in the ruble’s value.

  • Putin Backs Prisoner Swap With US Ahead Of Biden Summit

    Putin Backs Prisoner Swap With US Ahead Of Biden Summit

    President Vladimir Putin has renewed an offer to swap prisoners ahead of his first summit Wednesday with Joe Biden, who has come under growing pressure to free Americans in Russian jails.

    Biden, who has vowed a clear-eyed, tougher approach with Putin than his predecessors at the start of their terms, has already made clear that he will raise the fate of jailed Americans when he meets the Russian leader in Geneva.

    The most prominent US citizens in Russian custody are Paul Whelan, a former security official at an auto parts company who was arrested in December 2018 on charges of espionage, and Trevor Reed, who was arrested in 2019 for a drunken brawl in which he punched two Russian police officers.

    Asked in an interview with NBC News broadcast Monday if he was willing to negotiate with Biden on a prisoner swap, Putin said, “Yes, of course” and called for a broader extradition agreement.

    Putin said that some cases were “matters of a humanitarian nature.”

    “Why not discuss them as long as they pertain to the health and life of specific individuals and of their families? Of course. Sure thing,” he said.

    Putin hinted that Reed’s case could be resolved quickly, calling him a “drunk and a troublemaker.”

    “These things happen in life. There is nothing horrible about it. It happens to our men as well,” Putin said.

    “What would have happened if he’d fought a cop, if he’d hit a cop in your country? He would have been shot dead on that spot, and that’s the end of it. Isn’t that the case?”

    – Russians captured by US –
    Putin specifically raised the prospect of a swap for contract pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, saying he was also accused of “common crime” and that he has “major health issues” ignored by prison authorities.

    Yaroshenko was convicted in 2011 of smuggling drugs into the United States. He was extradited from Liberia in what the Kremlin denounced as a kidnapping.

    Other high-profile Russians in US custody include Viktor Bout, the prolific arms dealer arrested in Thailand in 2010 who inspired the Nicolas Cage film “Lord of War.”

    He is serving a 25-year sentence on charges of smuggling weapons to Colombia’s FARC rebels.

    Biden has vowed to raise pressure on Russia for harboring cybercriminals who have been blamed in major attacks on a US oil pipeline and a meat supplier.

    Asked at the G7 summit in England about a prisoner exchange involving hackers, Biden said, “I’m committed to holding him accountable.”

    Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, later clarified that the United States was not considering a swap including any hackers.

    “He’s not saying he’s going to be exchanging cyber criminals with Russia,” Sullivan told reporters.

    – Hopes rise in US –
    US lawmakers across party lines have pushed Biden to put the release of Americans high on the agenda with Putin.

    “The Kremlin’s Kafkaesque treatment of American citizens must stop and President Biden should make their return a priority of the visit,” Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week.

    Reed’s parents, in a separate interview with NBC News, said their son denies the charges against him and that the judge ignored video evidence — but she voiced hope for a swap.

    “We’re very happy to hear that President Putin is open to a prisoner exchange and we hope that that’s something that happens very soon because Trevor and Paul Whelan both have been there long enough considering that they’re innocent,” she said.

    Whelan, in a telephone interview earlier this month with CNN, also insisted on his innocence and voiced hope that “either an exchange or some sort of resolution” would come about soon.

    “So I would ask President Biden to aggressively discuss and resolve this issue with his Russian counterparts,” Whelan said from a Russian prison.

  • Putin Replies Biden’s ‘Killer’ Comment, Says It Takes One To Know One

    Putin Replies Biden’s ‘Killer’ Comment, Says It Takes One To Know One

    Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday mocked US President Joe Biden over his “killer” comment but said that Moscow would not sever ties with Washington over the spat.

    Speaking at an event marking seven years since Russia’s takeover of Crimea, Putin said Moscow would continue working with Washington but aimed a barb at the US leader.

    “It takes one to know one,” Putin said in televised remarks, using a saying from his childhood.

    “That’s not just a children’s saying and a joke. There’s a deep psychological meaning in this.

    “We always see in another person our own qualities and think that he is the same as us.”

    Putin added that he wished Biden, 78, good health. “I’m saying this without irony, not as a joke.”

    In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, when asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, is “a killer”, Biden said: “I do.”

    The US president’s remarks sparked the biggest crisis in bilateral relations in years, and later Wednesday Russia ordered its Washington ambassador back to Moscow for urgent consultations in an unprecedented move in recent diplomatic history.

    Putin said the United States was “the only country in the world that used nuclear weapons”.

    Russia, he added, knows how to “defend its interests” and will work with Washington on terms that are “beneficial” for Moscow.

    “And they’ll have to deal with it.”

    AFP