Week-ending 8 November 2024
Russia’s War against Ukraine
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said he is “very concerned” about reports that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia. (The Guardian, 4/11/24)
Russia has granted citizenship to 3,344 foreigners since the start of the year under a decree allowing passports to be issued to participants in the Ukraine war and their family members. (RFE/RL, 4/11/24)
A Russian court has sentenced Alexander Kraychik to 13 years in prison on “treason” charges after he was reported to have donated around $54 to Ukraine’s military. The Moscow City Court said Friday it had found guilty of “high treason” saying he provided “financial assistance to a foreign state [to support] activities against the security of the Russian Federation.” (The Moscow Times, 8/11/24)
Major General Pavel Klimenko in charge of a unit alleged to have tortured its own soldiers and murdered a U.S. citizen was reportedly killed in Ukraine this week, becoming the eighth Russian general to die since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Klimenko commanded the Russian ground forces’ 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, which is based in the occupied Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 8/11/24)
The Biden administration has confirmed that theUS will keep surging aid to Ukraine before Donald Trump becomes president in January. (The Guardian, 8/11/24)
Other news
Danil Mukhametov, an engineer at a tank manufacturer, has been sentenced to 16 years for high treason on a charge of giving military information to Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 5/11/24)
A Moscow court on Tuesday upheld a 12-and-a-half year prison sentence for a U.S.-Russian man, Robert Woodland, convicted earlier this year on drug charges. (The Moscow Times, 5/11/24)
Russia’s Supreme Court upheld the four-year prison sentence for nationalist and former rebel commander Igor Girkin. (The Moscow Times, 6/11/24)
Sergei Markelov, a Russian journalist living in the United States, said he is wanted in Russia, where a criminal case has been opened against him. (RFE/RL, 7/11/24)
A court in Khabarovsk sentenced an unnamed foreign student to 14 years in prison on charges of promoting and participating in terrorist activities. (The Moscow Times, 7/11/24)
Law enforcement officers seized weapons and handed out military summons to Roma in a fresh wave of police raids in the Chelyabinsk region, where a murder last month ignited long-simmering ethnic tensions and sparked local reprisals against the local Romani community. (The Moscow Times, 8/11/24)
Germany has condemned what it called “a massive, coordinated attempt” to prevent Moldovans abroad from voting in the second round of the country’s presidential election. (The Guardian, 4/11/24)
Russia-linked disinformation operations falsely claimed officials in battleground states plan to fraudulently sway the outcome of the US presidential election. (The Guardian, 5/11/24)
The FBI said on November 5 that polling locations in several U.S. states were the target of bomb threats, many of which appear to originate from Russian domains. (RFE/RL, 5/11/24)
Moscow is responsible for sending incendiary devices in packages from Lithuania to other countries in Europe, an adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. (The Moscow Times, 5/11/24)
