Evgenia Novozhenina AFP | Getty Images The defense team of Brittney Griner, the American basketball star sentenced to nine years in Russia on drug charges, has appealed her conviction for drug possession and trafficking, Griner’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina told Reuters on Monday. Griner, who had played in a Russian club, was arrested at a Moscow airport on February 17 after cannabis-infused vapor cartridges were found in her luggage. She pleaded guilty to the charges but said she made an “honest mistake” by entering Russia with cannabis oil, which is illegal in the country. He was sentenced on August 4. The US government says Griner was wrongfully detained. He offered to trade her for Viktor Butt, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States. — Reuters
Russia is likely to be in “advanced planning” for the referendum in Donetsk
A DPR army fighter is seen in front of the tank as Russian attacks continue in Mariupol, Ukraine on May 4, 2022. Leon Klein | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Russia is likely to be in “advanced planning” for a referendum to be held in the pro-Russian “Donetsk People’s Republic” in Ukraine on whether to become part of Russia. It has been widely reported and speculated by Western officials and experts that Russia will try to bring the breakaway region (and its neighboring self-proclaimed “People’s Republic” in Luhansk, also in Donbas in eastern Ukraine) into the Russian Federation. Russia used the “defense” of these separatist regions, which it has supported since 2014 and made various “Russification” efforts, such as handing over Russian passports, as a justification for invading Ukraine. Moscow has said that “liberating” these territories in the Donbass is the main goal of the war, and its forces have seized much of Donetsk and are trying to push into Luhansk. The UK Ministry of Defense said on Monday that it was “likely that Russia is in the advanced stages of planning to hold a referendum, although it is unclear whether a final decision has yet been made to go ahead with a vote”. He noted that on August 11, Russian media reported that Denis Pushilin, head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), had said that the date of the referendum on the DPR’s accession to Russia would be announced after the “complete liberation of the DPR . “ “Previously, in June 2022, investigative journalists published evidence of a strategic plan by the DPRK to hold such a referendum and to ensure that at least 70% of the vote was in favor of joining Russia,” the UK ministry said, adding that “the Kremlin will likely view the military’s failure to capture all of Donetsk Oblast so far as a setback for its maximalist goals in Ukraine.” Proposals for planned referendums in Russian-held parts of Ukraine or pro-Russian separatist regions are widely seen as sham attempts to assert Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian territory and have been criticized by Ukrainian authorities and the international community. — Holly Elliott
The base of the private military group Wagner was destroyed in Luhansk, an official said
Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly destroyed a base used by the shadowy Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group, or Wagner PMC, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Command, said in a Facebook post translated by Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform on Monday that the country’s armed forces “successfully struck the enemy’s headquarters. This time in Popashna, where a PMC Wagner base was located. destroyed by.” The death toll is being clarified, Heidai said. Private military company Wagner is a state-backed Russian paramilitary group, widely seen as a mercenary network, believed to have close ties to President Putin, although the Kremlin denies any such ties. — Holly Elliott
Putin wants to expand ties with North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks in 2019. Alexander Zemlianichenko Afp | Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly sent a message of friendship to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressing his desire for Russia and North Korea to deepen relations. North Korea’s state media KCNA reported on Sunday that Putin sent the North Korean leader a congratulatory cable on North Korea’s Liberation Day on Monday, expressing his willingness to “continue to expand comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations” between of countries. . A deepening of such ties would reportedly help “enhance the security and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asian region.” Kim then reportedly sent a reply to Putin in which he noted that the North Korea-Russia friendship had been forged in World War II with the victory over Japan. “Strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity between the two countries,” Kim said, united them against what he called “the military threat and provocation of hostile forces and lofty and arbitrary practices.” The North Korean leader did not elaborate on the countries he was referring to, but North Korea often criticizes the West. North Korea, a secretive, closed and authoritarian country, is among the few states that has openly supported Russia’s war in Ukraine and has officially recognized the independence of two pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. — Holly Elliott
The West is calling on Russia to withdraw its forces from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant
A soldier with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant outside the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on August 4, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters The US, UK, EU and other countries have called on Russia to immediately withdraw its military forces from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and all of Ukraine. “We call on the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its military forces and all other unauthorized personnel from the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, its immediate surroundings and all of Ukraine, so that the operator and the Ukrainian authorities can resume their sovereign responsibilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. and legitimate operational staff can carry out their duties without external interference, threat or unacceptably harsh working conditions,” said a joint statement published on Sunday on the website of the EU Delegation to International Organizations in Vienna. The statement, endorsed by 42 countries, said Russia’s control of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant — Europe’s largest nuclear power plant — “poses a great risk” to international authorities on nuclear safety and security, as described by International Atomic Energy Agency. “The deployment of Russian military personnel and weapons at the nuclear facility is unacceptable and disregards the safety, security and safeguards principles that all IAEA members are committed to respecting,” the statement said. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and there was widespread concern when Russian forces seized the facility on March 4, with reports of military equipment and ammunition being placed there. Russian and Ukrainian forces have accused each other of shelling the power plant in recent weeks, raising fears of a catastrophic incident at the plant. — Holly Elliott
Ship carrying 23,000 tons of wheat prepares to leave Ukrainian port
Another grain ship is set to leave Ukraine on Monday, this time bound for Ethiopia. Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook on Sunday that more than 23,000 tonnes of wheat had been loaded onto the bulk carrier “Brave Commander” at the port of Pivdenny and that the ship was due to disembark on Monday. “Today we see how the initiative for the safe transport of grain and agricultural products, signed in Istanbul, works. On Friday, the Brave Commander, a ship chartered by the UN World Food Program (WFP), arrived at the port of Pivdenny for Now we can to see the ship finally preparing for its departure, carrying more than 23,000 tons of wheat to the people of Ethiopia,” the minister said. Grain ships have begun to temporarily leave Ukraine following an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and brokered by the UN and Turkey, to allow ships carrying vital commodities such as wheat to leave Ukrainian ports after blocking such ships during the war which has exacerbated the rise in world food prices. — Holly Elliott
Foreign fighters will be tried in the pro-Russian “republic” of Ukraine
Three British citizens, a Swede and a Croat who fought for the Ukrainian armed forces are due to go on trial on Monday. “The hearing is scheduled for August 15, it will be held behind closed doors,” Russia’s state-run Interfax news agency reported last week, citing a court spokesman. Sweden’s Matthias Gustavsson, Croatia’s Vekoslav Prebeg and Britain’s John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy will be tried in the “High Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic”, a pro-Russian breakaway region in Donbas in eastern Ukraine. If the court – widely considered a kangaroo court in the West – finds the defendants guilty, they could face the death penalty. — Holly Elliott
