September 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine News

Vladimir Putin’s announcement of increased military conscription to bolster Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine shows the Russian President “has been outsmarted” by Kyiv, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss told CNN in an exclusive interview.

The new British leader, who takes power at a time of historic upheaval, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that Putin had ordered an immediate military escalation “because he isn’t winning.”

“He made a strategic mistake, invading Ukraine,” Truss said in her first interview with a US network, which aired Sunday.

Truss, who faces perhaps the biggest set of challenges of any incoming British prime minister since Winston Churchill, met with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

In a subsequent interview at 10 Downing Street, she told CNN that Washington “is an incredibly close partner” but did not roll back controversial comments she made last year, while UK Foreign Secretary, in which she described the US-UK relationship as “special but not exclusive.”

When asked how Western leaders should respond if Putin ramps up military activity in Ukraine, Truss said they “should not be listening to his saber-rattling and his bogus threats.”

“Instead, what we need to do is continue to put sanctions on Russia and continue to support the Ukrainians.”

Read more here.

Concerts planned in Poland next year for rock legend and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters have been cancelled amid backlash to the musician’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Live Nation Poland, the concert’s promoter, confirmed the cancellation Saturday without giving a reason.

“A town councilor in Krakow, a Mr Łukasz Wantuch has threatened to hold a meeting asking the council to declare me 'Persona non grata' because of my public efforts to encourage all involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the governments of the USA and Russia, to work towards a negotiated peace, rather than escalate matters towards a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet,” Waters said in a statement on Facebook today.

Wantuch leveled his criticism in a Facebook post published Sept. 10.

What started all this? Waters penned a controversial open letter in early September to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, where he stated his opposition to the West sending weapons to Ukraine to aid the embattled country in its war against invading Russia.

Waters also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of doubling back on his 2019 election campaign promises and said, without offering proof, that “the forces of extreme nationalism that had lurked, malevolent, in the shadows, have, since then, ruled the Ukraine.” 

Tension was in the air as a long trail of cars lined up near the Petkuhovo checkpoint on the border between Russia and Kazakhstan late Friday night.

Andrei Alekseev, a 27-year-old engineer from the city of Yekaterinburg, was among many men in the queue who were fleeing Russia in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization orders.

Cars had to go through Russian and Kazakh border checks, both of which lasted about two hours.

Alekseev woke up to the news of Putin’s mobilization order Wednesday morning and knew he had to flee Russia. He met up with his friends that night to discuss their next steps and decided to avoid taking any risks and to leave Russia with no plan in mind.

“At the border, all the men were asked whether they served in the army and what is their military service category,” Alekseev told CNN.

Kirill Ponomarev, 23, who also fled Russia via a Kazakhstan border, said he struggled to book a ticket. The night before Putin’s address he was looking up tickets out of Russia.

Men rushed to the borders, exchanging tips on Telegram channels and among friends. One-way flights out of Russia sold out within hours of the mobilization announcement.

Four of the five European Union countries bordering Russia have banned entry for Russians on tourist visas, while queues to cross land borders out of Russia to the former Soviet countries Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia take over 24 hours to cross.

You can read Pavlova's full report here.

The far-right Brothers of Italy party – led by Giorgia Meloni – appears poised to make big gains in today's national election.

The race has been dominated by hot-button issues including Italy’s cost-of-living crisis and Covid-19 recovery – but also, critically, the country’s support for Ukraine.

Leading Italy would require a governing alliance for Meloni, including with former Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s League and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia parties.

Why does that matter? Well, while Meloni has steadfastly supported defending Ukraine in public statements, Salvini and Berlusconi have said they would like to review sanctions against Russia because of their impact on the Italian economy.

Both Salvini and Berlusconi have historically been friendly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Salvini once wore a shirt with Putin's face emblazoned on it and, in 2014, CNN reported on Berlusconi's "bromance" with the authoritarian leader.

Many of Europe's populist leaders have moved to distance themselves from Putin in the time since his invasion of Ukraine. But it remains to be seen what a more skeptical governing coalition would mean for Italy's previously ironclad support for the embattled nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed several amendments to the country's criminal code today, making wartime punishments for various offenses more severe.

Under the amendments, published Saturday on the government's legal portal, crimes such as refusing to follow the orders of a senior officer during wartime, during an armed conflict or combat operations — or the refusal to participate in military or combat operations during such times — may result in jail terms of up to 10 years.

The punishment for those sentenced to imprisonment for committing especially grave crimes can now be replaced by forced labor or another milder type of punishment only after at least two-thirds of the imprisonment term has been served, the Kremlin statement said. 

The Russian president also signed a law that would punish the violation of the terms of a state contract in the field of state defense, especially if such violation caused damage to the state in the amount of at least 5% of the contract price and at least 5 million rubles (about $86,000), as well as failure to fulfill the contract. 

Exemption from punishment is possible "if violations are voluntarily eliminated," the Kremlin statement says.

Some context: In the wake of Ukraine's successful counteroffensive this month, Putin and Russian authorities have taken a series of steps to bolster the country's military and clamp down on dissent at home.

Some 300,000 reservists have been called into military service in what Putin terms a "partial mobilization."

Nearly 1,500 anti-war protesters have been detained in cities across Russia since the announcement, with some directly conscripted into the military, according to a monitoring group. The punishment in Russia for refusing the draft is now 15 years in jail.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Saturday that would make it easier for foreigners serving in the Russian military to apply for citizenship.

According to the law, which was published on the official state portal of legal information, foreigners serving in the Russian military can now apply for citizenship without presenting a residence permit, as previously required. 

Those foreigners who have signed a contract with the Russian Armed Forces for at least a year will be eligible for the procedure, according to the amendments, made to the law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation."

The move comes after Putin announced a "partial mobilization" this week, as Moscow seeks to replenish depleted forces after a successful counteroffensive from Kyiv. The move is set to change the scope of Russia’s invasion from an offensive fought largely by volunteers to one that embroils a larger swath of its population.

The announcement unleashed a scramble for some Russians, with social media chatter on platforms like Telegram exploding with people frantically trying to figure out how to get seats in vehicles headed to the borders, with some even discussing going on bicycle.