Jul 13 Buonasera Mag
Day 140 Ukraine: Luhansk, UA-NATO, Ukrainian grain, Belarus, Kaliningrad & EU sanctions, LEGO, Netherlands, beating Putin, passports, Kazakhstan, Brexit, Gapchinska & Boris, J6, NAFO
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Sec Blinken: Russia's filtration camps are "a war crime." US "calls on Russia to immediately halt its systematic 'filtration' operations and forced deportations in Russian-controlled and held areas of Ukraine."
Stories we’re following…
Rob Lee: The war is now primarily about sustainability and relative losses, which is how we should view Russia's successes in Luhansk.
Zelensky: Russia does not have courage to admit defeat. “They no longer have strategic power, character, or understanding of what they are doing here, on our land. There is not an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from the Ukrainian territory,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian MoD Reznikov reports that Ukraine has become an associate member of the NATO Allied Technology Cooperation Programme.
Iran has officially refused to supply drones to Russia. MFA stated that, despite the defence agreements with Russia, Iran does not support any of the parties to the conflict.
Ukraine Intelligence: Putin won’t announce mobilization in Russia in near future. According to the representative of the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate, Vadym Skibitsky, Putin will not recognize that Russia's military actions in Ukraine are a full-scale war.
Zakharova: We noted the recent hostile, anti-Russia comments by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, including his biased statements on nuclear weapons.
RFE/RL: Russia’s proxies in Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts lift death penalty moratorium. Denis Pushilin, leader of the Kremlin’s proxies in Donetsk region, on July 12 signed a decree lifting a ban on capital punishment.
Lukashenko fired Major General Shkirenko as head of the main organizational and mobilization department of the General Staff of Belarus' Armed Forces on July 12. He was responsible for mobilisation.
Belarus preparing additional restrictions on exit of citizens. A draft law proposes to give the KGB the ability to limit citizens' right to leave the country for up to six months if it “contradicts the interests of national security".
Belarusian border guard sneaks into Ukraine to fight Russia. The border guard, who was detained for illegally entering Ukraine, said that his goal was to join Ukraine's armed forces and fight against Russia, according to a spokesman for Ukraine's State Border Guard.
EU has frozen 13.8 billion euros worth of Russian assets since Feb. 24. EU Justice Commissioner Reynders said on July 12 that more than 12 billion euros of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals, and entities come from five member states.
Sanctioned goods to Kaliningrad can transit Lithuania by rail, says Brussels. In the document published on Wednesday, the Commission said rail transit can only be used to satisfy the needs of essential goods in Kaliningrad.
Netherlands are part of top-10 suppliers of weapons in Ukraine, including heavy weapons. Besides, the country has almost overcome its dependence on the Russian gas.
Lego has laid off 70 employees and ended its partnership with Inventive Retail Group, which managed the brand's stores in Russia, Yevgeny Chikhachev, CEO of the Russian branch of Lego, told Inc, a Russian publication.
Snegovaya & Whitmore, Vladimir Putin Often Backs Down
There is just one problem with the assumption that Putin never backs down. It’s incorrect—part of the myth-making that the Russian president has successfully constructed around himself and has been all-too-easily swallowed by many Western politicians. Contrary to the commonly held belief, when faced with strength and resolve, Putin often backs down instead of responding with more escalatory steps.
RFE/RL, 'Teaching Children To Hate': Russian Occupation Officials Preparing To 'Russify' Ukrainian Schools
Parents and educators in the Russian-occupied areas of southern Ukraine say the occupation authorities are using blackmail to compel them to cooperate with pro-Moscow schools being created for the coming academic year.
Sources tell RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the occupation authorities are telling parents that they could lose their parental rights if they do not acquire Russian passports and send their children to the designated schools.
Lautman, Kazakhstan Thumbs its Nose at Putin
Lesson number one for Russia’s neighbors is that your existence can be interrupted at any moment at the whim of the Kremlin. Lesson number two is that Russian intervention is always to your disadvantage.
Anne Applebaum, What Brexit Did to Boris Johnson—And Britain
Not too long ago, I heard one of the leading Brexiteers describe his political philosophy in a room full of CEOs and senior politicians. He started by talking to this elite group about the great division between “elites” and “the people,” the victors and the victims of globalization, the haves and the have-nots of modernity. The longer he spoke, the more his words began to seem rote, remote, and stale. The energizing slogans of the Brexit campaign of 2016 sounded hollow and clichéd in 2022.
Ukraine’s gratitude for Boris Johnson— Art by Gapchinska
CREW Investigations, Group behind Trump SCOTUS picks brought in nearly $50 million in secret money
As the Supreme Court stands on the brink of loosening gun restrictions and rolling back decades of abortion protections, tax documents obtained by CREW show that the dark money group that poured millions of dollars into helping former President Trump swing the Court sharply to the right raised a record $48.1 million between July 2020 and June 2021, all from deep-pocketed donors who will remain secret.
Follow the January 6th Comm account on Twitter for up-dates on the hearings.
Maria Avdeeva reports
A word from NAFO
Signing off…thanks for reading…
Mo