Jun 20 Buonasera Mag
Day 116 of War: Toshkivka, Lithuania, oil rig in Crimea, Yellen in Canada, 3 Seas Initiative, Moldova, Australia, Kaliningrad, Putin's billions, French Legislative elex
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.
Stories we’re following…
President Zelenskiy said he expects Russia will intensify attacks on Ukraine and possibly other European countries after the EU Commission proposed it as a candidate for EU membership.
Russian forces mounted an assault on Sunday against Toshkivka, a key Ukrainian defensive position near Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
Explosions have been reported in Odesa, a spokesperson for the regional administration said.
Ukrainian missile strike hits offshore oil rigs off Crimea, says Russian official.
So far, 10K or 20% of conscripts were enrolled in the Central Federal region. It's unlikely they will have the rest 80% in the next 30 days. Only 25% of the conscription plan is completed in Priamurye (Far East region). Novosibirsk region: only 26% of conscripts are sent to Armed forces by June 9 (deadline is July 15). Voronezh region, bordering Ukraine: only 3.5% of conscripts enrolled.
Azov commanders transferred to Moscow detention facility. TASS reports that the Azov regiment’s commanders are now at Moscow’s Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.
Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
The former director of the British special forces, Gen Sir Adrian Bradshaw, said the UK must “prepare for war” as a deterrent against Russia. The comment came after the new head of the British Army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, told troops they must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”.
Russia’s war against Ukraine could last years. “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
Ukrainian parliament votes 259-8 to ratify Istanbul Convention. The convention, which aims at combatting domestic violence and violence against women, was first signed by Ukraine in 2011.
US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, is due to meet with Canada’s finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, in Toronto today where they will discuss the war in Ukraine and joint efforts to deal with the food and fuel price inflation it is causing.
Russia's blockade of millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain is a "real war crime", says EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Germany to restart coal power plants, offer companies incentives to reduce natural gas consumption. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck outlined the steps that Berlin was taking to reduce its energy dependence on Russia for the forthcoming winter.
Moldova bans Russian media to counter propaganda over Ukraine. I wish Italy would do the same.
Australia sends 4 M113 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. According to Australian news outlet 9News, four of the 14 promised armored personnel carriers were sent to Ukraine this week as part of a military aid package worth $285 million.
Politico, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
Nestled on Lithuania’s southeastern border, Druskininkai opens onto a narrow notch of strategic territory known as the Suwałki Gap. Stretching about 100 kilometers along the Lithuanian-Polish frontier, between Belarus in the east and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the west, Western military planners warn the area would likely be one of the Russian president’s first targets were he ever to choose to escalate the war in Ukraine into a kinetic confrontation with NATO.
Also see: Lithuania defends ban on some goods to Russia's Kaliningrad
Lithuania’s foreign ministry has issued a statement about the meeting with Russia’s chargé d’affaires Sergei Riabokon:
A note was issued to a Russian diplomat explaining the application of European Union (EU) restrictive measures to certain categories of goods in transit through Kaliningrad. During the meeting, the information disseminated by Russian representatives that Lithuania has banned transit through the Kaliningrad region was denied.
The transportation of passengers and goods not subject to the EU sanctions regime to and from the Kaliningrad region continues through the territory of Lithuania. Lithuania has not imposed any unilateral, individual or additional restrictions on this transit. Lithuania is consistently implementing EU sanctions, which have different transition periods and deadlines.
Occupiers deported more than 300,000 children to Russia since the start of the full-scale war, says Russian mass media
Since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24 and as of June 18, the occupiers have illegally deported more than 1.9 million Ukrainians to Russia, including more than 307,000 children.
This was stated by the Head of the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mizintsev, quoted by Russia's Interfax.
On June 18 alone, the Russian forces deported 29,733 people, including 3,502 children, from so-called "L/DPR" territories without agreeing with the Ukrainian side.
The Book of Executioners of the Ukrainian People
The database of Russian militaries who committed war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia's war crimes against Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, more than 1,700 Russian war crimes cases are currently being investigated in Ukraine. Numerous cases of destruction of housing infrastructure, killings of civilians and looting by the Russian military in the occupied Ukrainian territory have been reported.
This project collects evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, and those who committed them. The investigation has just begun and will continue until the last executioner is found. Everyone involved in crimes against the Ukrainian people will be here.
EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore visits Irpin, Bucha. “I saw the mass graves of victims of Russia’s war of aggression, talked with the local priest who knew them, and stood in a bombed-out shopping center. War crimes, and those who commit them must be called to account,” he tweeted on June 19.
Michael O’Toole, Up to 40 Russian spies are working undercover in Ireland and hiding in general population
UP to 40 Russian spies are working undercover in Ireland, it has emerged.
Senior security sources told the Mirror that intelligence services now have dozens of men and women working for them here – gathering information to pass to Moscow.
Daniel Boffey, Russian emails appear to show ‘network’ holding $4.5bn assets linked to Putin
Palaces, yachts and vineyards reportedly provided to Vladimir Putin by friends and oligarchs can now be linked to what appears to be an informal network holding assets worth more than $4.5bn (£3.7bn), Daniel Boffey, Olesya Shmagun and Miranda Patrucic report.
A digital paper trail appears to suggest that an array of holiday homes and other assets reportedly used by the Russian president, which according to available records belong to or have been owned by separate individuals, companies and charities, are linked through a common email domain name, LLCInvest.ru.
Sergey Kolesnikov, a businessman, claimed 10 years ago that he had been behind a scheme that allowed a group of Russia’s top oligarchs to pool billions of rubles into a type of “investment fund” for the benefit of Putin, who was then serving as prime minister. The claims were denied and Kolesnikov fled from Russia.
Russia’s weaponisation of everything
In future posts, I’ll be writing about Russia’s weaponisation of everything. The idea came from a thread that Sergej Sumlenny crafted on the militarisation of novels and how Russia had actively sought to publish this genre as a way to seed propaganda in the Russian information space.
In a totalitarian system, every aspect of life must be under state control, and in Putin’s Russia, this is the case. Putin is terrified of losing a hold on the state, and we’ve seen it in reports about his micro-managing of his renewed war of aggression against Ukraine, and his management of the Russian state inter alia.
Putin and his siloviki not only control all minute facets of life, they have militarised political, economic, religious and social aspects internal and external as well. Take whatever the enemy fears or loves and turn it against them. Is your weakness energy dependence? Perfect. Let’s weaponise energy to sollict a response that is favourable to Russia. That’s only one. I could list others: sex, food, information, social media, history, novels, health, dissent, demonstrations, deportation, adoption, the courts, sport, refugees, monuments, education, think tanks, space, homosexuality, death and violence, and like in this example below, dolls.
In a totalitarian state, reality must be under state control: there can be no room for any other vision. In his seminal work, “ The Invention of Russia” (2015), Arkady Ostrovosky shows us how Putin built and continues to propagate his world, his vision of the past, present and what he believes is the future. Putin would have us all believe it is reality.
Politico, French legislative elections
French President Emmanuel Macron last night lost his absolute majority in the National Assembly, meaning he will need the support of other parties in the parliament to back his government and pass laws.
Thanks for reading…
Mo & Scott