Russia is “likely” gearing up to cast a wider net to increase its military forces, according to the British Defense Ministry’s daily Intelligence update on Ukraine.

Earlier in the week, the report says, Russian Duma deputies introduced a bill changing the age requirement for conscription to men 21 years of age to 30 years.  Currently, the age bracket is 18 to 27.

The law will “likely” pass, the ministry said, and would go into effect in January. “Russia continues to officially bar conscripts from operations in Ukraine, though at least hundreds have probably served through administrative mix ups or after being coerced to sign contracts,” the ministry said in the update.

The report said many 18- to 21-year-old men are claiming exemptions to continue their education.

The International Monetary Fund said Friday its executive board has approved changes to its financing policy aimed at countries facing “exceptionally high uncertainty.”

The measure is widely viewed as a way to open a new loan program for Ukraine as it enters the second year of fighting back a Russian invasion.

The IMF said in a statement, “The changes apply in situations of exceptionally high uncertainty, involving exogenous shocks that are beyond the control of country authorities and the reach of their economic policies, and which generate larger than usual tail risks.”

Meanwhile, Florida-based app developer and sleep research company DreamApp recently conducted a sleep quality research study on 745 Ukrainians and how the Russian invasion has affected their sleep, dreams and mental health.

A little more than 82% of the participants said they remembered their dreams, which is an indication, DreamApp said, of “superficial sleep that does not provide a full rest.”

“When the brain does not receive enough sleep, traumatic experiences cannot be processed adequately, causing further strain on mental health,” according to Jesse Lyon, DreamApp’s chief dream scientist.  “It effectively traps these experiences in the brain causing a state of constant tension and heightened fight-or-flight response.” 
…

In October last year, a Russian news site published a short video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary army, sitting with four men on a rooftop terrace in the resort town of Gelendzhik, on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Two are missing parts of a leg. A third has lost an arm. They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison.

“You were an offender, now you’re a war hero,” Prigozhin tells one man in the clip. It was the first video to depict the return of some of the thousands of convicts who joined Wagner in return for the promise of a pardon if they survived six months of war.

Reuters used facial recognition software to examine this video and more than a dozen other videos and photographs of homecoming convict fighters, published between October 2022 and February 2023. Reporters were able to identify more than 30 of the men by cross-checking the images with social media and Russian court documents.

In their ranks are murderers, thieves and a self-declared “Satanist.” Several are in hospital recovering from wounds sustained in the fighting. Reuters managed to make contact with 11 of these men. Five agreed to be interviewed by phone and messaging app. What follows is the most detailed insider account yet of Wagner’s convict army: the fighters’ recruitment and training, the combat they saw in Ukraine, and their uncertain future in a Russia turned upside down by war with its neighbor.

Four of the men said they were personally recruited by Yevgeny Prigozhin as he toured Russia’s prison system to bolster his private army. Some of the men were deployed to Ukraine’s eastern Bakhmut region, site of some of the most intense fighting of the one-year-old conflict, where one man described the “utter hell” of the battlefield. Thousands have been killed on both sides. The battle for the city of Bakhmut now hangs in the balance. A former Wagner commander who fled to Norway in January has said he witnessed members of Wagner’s internal security administering brutal treatment to prisoner recruits, including executions for desertion.

Combat training, some conducted by veterans of Russia’s special forces, was short but intensive, according to the men. Ukrainian and Western officials say Wagner is sending poorly prepared fighters to certain death in eastern Ukraine. Mike Kofman, an expert in the Russian military at the Arlington County, Virginia-based CNA think tank, told Reuters the two to three weeks of training received by the convict recruits would be unlikely to bring them up to speed, even if some of the men had prior military experience.

“It takes time to learn combat basics, receive individual training, and you also need some collective training as a unit on top of it – a couple of weeks alone isn’t going to do that much for you,” Kofman told Reuters. A more rigorous training scheme would last several months.

All five ex-prisoners expressed a fierce loyalty to Prigozhin for giving them a second chance at life. Though Reuters could not independently confirm the men’s accounts of their service, many of the details were consistent with one another. Russia’s Defense Ministry and penal service did not respond to detailed questions for this article, nor did Prigozhin and Wagner. Prigozhin has previously described Wagner as “probably the most experienced army that exists in the world today” and said its casualty rate is comparable with other Russian units.

From jail to the Ukraine front

When Prigozhin began touring Russia’s sprawling penal system in summer 2022 offering pardons to those who agreed to fight in Ukraine, word quickly spread among prisoners.

Rustam Borovkov, from the small town of Porkhov, near Russia’s border with Estonia, was one of the four men filmed on the rooftop terrace. Court records show that the 31-year-old was six years into a 13-year term for manslaughter and theft in late July when Prigozhin reached his prison, Penal Colony No. 6 in Russia’s western Pskov region. Borovkov and two friends had broken into a house to steal homebrewed alcohol, according to the court papers. One of them struck the homeowner, who died as a result.

Borovkov had heard from inmates in St Petersburg that Prigozhin was traveling from prison to prison in search of recruits. “I knew right away that I would go,” he told Reuters, “even before he came to us.”

Borovkov said he stood with several hundred other prisoners to hear Prigozhin speak. They were given three days to decide whether to join Wagner in return for freedom. About 40 signed up and after three days and a polygraph test, aimed at rooting out drug addicts, they were on their way to war.

Two months later, in September, as a Ukrainian counter-offensive gathered pace, a film emerged on social media of Prigozhin telling convicts in the Volga River region of Mari El that they had only five minutes to make a decision – and those who changed their minds after joining would be shot as deserters.

In another video, published in February this year, Prigozhin tells convicts that fighters are paid 100,000 rubles ($1,300) monthly, with the possibility of additional bonuses. That’s far above Russia’s average monthly wage of around 65,000 rubles . But Borovkov told Reuters his only motivation for joining Wagner was the promise of a pardon. “I have a small child. I wanted to get back to my family.” He said prison officers tried to persuade him not to go because he played an important role as head of his cellblock’s medical unit.

Six-time convicted thief Yevgeny Kuzhelev said a sense of patriotic duty drew him to Wagner. The 29-year-old was serving time in Russia’s southwestern Samara region for stealing cognac, beer and instant coffee from supermarkets in the Volga car-making city of Togliatti, according to court papers.

“I was sentenced to 3 years and 7 months and I’d already served two years. So I didn’t have long left. But I went anyway. Why? I thought about it, and I am sure that if I had been free at the time, I would have one hundred percent gone to fight. I would have gone as a volunteer,” he said. “I remember how from February, when it all started, I called my aunt from time to time from prison. She kept telling me that this friend of yours went [to Ukraine], then another one, then a third, a fourth … And I knew that I would have done the same.”

Kuzhelev said the recruitment process took about two weeks, and during this time inmates were free to back out without consequence. Those who enlisted were moved to separate accommodation in the prison, where they encountered a new respect from the prison officers.

“Among us there was a man who was serving a 25 year sentence,” Kuzhelev said. “He had a few months left of his term and he signed up. The prison officers asked him: ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ And he told them: ‘Everything is fine, I’m going.’ How can you not respect such a decision?”

Reuters was unable to establish the identity of the prisoner or what happened to him.

‘It was clear they were going to die’

Prigozhin has said previously that Wagner’s convict fighters spend a month undergoing rigorous combat drills, sleeping for only four hours a day. The fighters who spoke to Reuters said they received two to three weeks of intensive and well-organized training. Some credited it with saving their lives.

The war in Ukraine is straining Russia’s military capacity. Late last year, Putin announced the mobilization of reservists into the army. They would receive just 10 to 20 days’ training before deployment to the front. Basic training for infantrymen in the U.S. and British armies is around 22 weeks.

One of the convict recruits told Reuters he traveled to a Wagner training camp in the Russian-controlled part of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Borovkov said training was conducted by former members of Russia’s special forces. “Everything was organized at the highest level,” said Borovkov, who previously served with the military force that secures Russia’s railways. “It wasn’t that they gave me a machine gun, showed me how to shoot and that’s it. No, they explained everything, and in great detail. Mining, demining, tactics, shooting, physical training. Everything.”

The men who spoke to Reuters said that most of the inmates who joined Wagner had some kind of military experience. They had previously served as conscripts under Russia’s one-year military draft or as professional soldiers. The convicts with the most military experience were appointed squad commanders, two of the men said.

“When we got to training, we were asked in detail who knew what, who had served, where they served,” said 38-year-old Dmitry Yermakov, who joined Wagner 10 years into a 14-year sentence for kidnapping. He declined to discuss his criminal record. “And then, when we had been divided into units, they let the lads choose their own commanders. By that time I had already earned some kind of authority, so I was chosen.”

Yermakov said the recruits who realized the gravity of the situation and asked instructors to repeat drills were the best prepared for what was to come. “Those were the men who were genuinely ready to go to war,” he said. Others hoped merely to run down the clock on their six-month stints, hoping that they would receive their pardon having seen as little combat as possible. Of these men, Yermakov said: “It was absolutely clear they were going to die.”

Paralyzing fear and adrenaline

Of the five men who spoke to Reuters, three said that they had fought in the area around the eastern city of Bakhmut, where intense fighting has cost thousands of lives on both sides. Wagner is spearheading Russia’s months-long push to take the city, which had a pre-war population of 75,000 but is now in ruins. Prigozhin has referred to Bakhmut as a “meat grinder,” and said his men’s task there is to bleed the Ukrainian army dry.

Ukrainian and Western officials have compared the battles around Bakhmut to the First World War, and accused Wagner of using convicts in human wave attacks. According to the United States, by mid-February Wagner had suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, including 9,000 dead, almost all of them convicts. Prigozhin has insisted, however, that the casualty rate among convict fighters is comparable to other Russian units.

Yermakov, the convicted kidnapper, said that some fighters lost their nerves in the first hours of battle. “What do they see there? Corpses ripped to shreds. And what do they do? Some of them vomit, some of them cry, and some of them don’t want to climb out of the trench. Fear takes over.”

Other fighters recalled only the thrill of combat.

“It was amazing,” said Andrei Yastrebov, a 22-year-old native of St Petersburg, who was serving time for car theft when he joined Wagner. Yastrebov also goes by the name Andrei Kiriyenko on social media. “So much adrenalin. I wish all real men would join Wagner. You can write that. The Ukies ran and Wagner fucked them up.”

Four of the men interviewed by Reuters were seriously injured and invalided out of Ukraine long before completing their stints. They said Wagner had told them that time spent in hospital and rehabilitation would be counted towards their six-month terms and they would receive clemency regardless. Two said they have already got their pardons.

Yermakov lasted only four days before receiving a serious wound to his arm and groin in mid December while dragging a wounded comrade to safety. He said his squad had been tasked with taking and holding a road junction near the village of Pokrovske, on the eastern approach to Bakhmut. He described his final day on the front as “utter hell,” lying flat on the ground for 24 hours as Ukrainian tanks and mortars shelled his squad’s position and drones flew overhead.

“In a war, you’re almost always lying flat on the ground. It’s the only way to survive,” said Kuzhelev, the convicted thief. He told Reuters he spent two months at the front before receiving a shrapnel wound to his arm. “We always wish people ‘Happy Birthday’ after they have been wounded” because they have dodged death. “That’s what they said to me,” he added.

A new start

Now free years ahead of schedule, whether at home or facing long periods of treatment and rehabilitation, the surviving fighters are returning to a country where their actions on the frontline are lionized by many. Prigozhin has previously said that he is giving convicts who join Wagner a “second chance” at life, and an opportunity to redeem themselves.

Earlier this month the State Duma passed a law making it a crime to “discredit” Wagner fighters. The law, which previously applied more narrowly to Russia’s armed forces, was extended at Prigozhin’s request.

Prigozhin’s growing power has not been greeted warmly by all sections of the Russian elite. In February, a long-running feud between the Wagner leader and Russia’s military chiefs exploded into open hostility. Prigozhin accused Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov of “treason,” saying they were starving Wagner of munitions out of personal animosity towards him. Shoigu and Gerasimov could not immediately be reached for comment. Earlier the same month, Prigozhin said he had ended Wagner’s recruitment of prisoners, hinting in an interview that he was forced to do so by unnamed officials.

The five fighters interviewed by Reuters felt a deep personal gratitude to Prigozhin for recruiting them and wiping their criminal records.

“We’re better than ordinary citizens,” said Yastrebov, the car thief, now at home in his native St Petersburg. “We are not ex-convicts now, thanks to Wagner.”

In a January video, Prigozhin is shown telling injured convict fighters: “The police must treat you with respect. Everything has already been agreed at various levels, so that there is no nit-picking… If necessary, I myself will call and talk to the governors and so on, and we will find a solution.”

For Kuzhelev, who as of February had been in a Krasnodar region hospital for four months, Prigozhin had given him a new lease on life. Court documents show he spent almost seven of his 29 years in prison for six separate convictions. “The last time I was sent to prison, I was thinking: ‘Well, here I am again, what’s next?'” he said. “I’ll serve a year, another, a third, and then what? I’ll go out, and what am I going to do on the outside? What am I going to do with myself, given my background?”

“Well, now I’m clean. I have some money. I can think about the future. Think about getting a mortgage to buy an apartment … I have all this thanks to our esteemed Yevgeny Viktorovich,” Kuzhelev added, using Prigozhin’s patronymic as a sign of respect.

All five of the men who spoke to Reuters said either that they would remain with Wagner after their six month service, or were seriously considering doing so.

Some said they wanted to get back to the frontlines as soon as they were able to. Nikita Lyubimov, a native of the Volga city of Cheboksary who had been serving a four and a half year sentence for grievous bodily harm, said his first priority was “to support the lads, to recover as soon as possible, and get back to the front line.” The 23-year-old had received a shrapnel wound two months into his initial stint in Ukraine, and was invalided out.

The men said that the able-bodied among them were offered the chance to sign on as professional full-time mercenaries, while the injured were offered supporting roles. Borovkov, who is getting a prosthetic arm after amputation, said that he had been offered a job at a Wagner hospital in Luhansk when he recovers.

Yermakov said he hoped to recover sufficiently to re-enroll as a contract mercenary, and hoped to be deployed in future to Libya, Syria or the Central African Republic, where Wagner operations predate the group’s present campaign in Ukraine. He cited limited prospects available in Russia’s civilian economy as pushing him towards returning to Wagner.

“People work hard without days off for 12-14 hours a day, and at best they earn 50-60,000 rubles ($672-$806) a month,” said Yermakov, who told Reuters he has two small daughters. “I will return to the (Wagner) company and I will definitely be able to earn 150,000 rubles ($2,000) a month.”

For others, a return to Wagner offers an alternative to sinking back into a life of crime. Kuzhelev, who has spent almost seven of his 29 years in prison, told Reuters that he hoped that service in Wagner would enable his young daughter to build a career in future, without the stigma of her father’s criminal past.

“My daughter, when she grows up, can go on to study banking, or attend the police academy,” said Kuzhelev. “And she will not have problems because her father was in prison. Isn’t that motivation? Of course it is.”
…

The International Monetary Fund said Friday its executive board has approved changes to its financing policy aimed at countries facing “exceptionally high uncertainty.”

The measure is widely viewed as a way to open a new loan program for Ukraine as it enters the second year of fighting back a Russian invasion.

The IMF said in a statement, “The changes apply in situations of exceptionally high uncertainty, involving exogenous shocks that are beyond the control of country authorities and the reach of their economic policies, and which generate larger than usual tail risks.”

Meanwhile, DreamApp recently conducted a sleep quality research study on 745 Ukrainians and how the Russian invasion has affected their sleep, dreams and mental health.

A little more than 82% of the participants said they remembered their dreams, which is an indication, DreamApp said, of “superficial sleep that does not provide a full rest.”

“When the brain does not receive enough sleep, traumatic experiences cannot be processed adequately, causing further strain on mental health,” according to Jesse Lyon, Dream App’s chief dream scientist. “It effectively traps these experiences in the brain causing a state of constant tension and heightened fight-or-flight response.”
…

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, speaks with VOA Chinese Service White House correspondent Paris Huang, March 17, 2023.
…

Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Will Ukraine-Russia grain deal continue?

The package deal that facilitates the export of Ukrainian grain, Russian food and fertilizer products to international markets faces another renewal on Saturday. If neither party objects, it will automatically continue. But Russia has said it wants only a 60-day extension, rather than the agreement’s mandated 120 days. Ukraine and Turkey, which helped broker the deal, have both backed the four-month extension.

During a Security Council meeting Friday afternoon on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told council members that the deal is “vital for global food security” and must continue and be fully implemented. He said the U.N. is doing everything it can to make sure the Black Sea Grain Initiative can continue. Under it, Ukraine has exported almost 25 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs from three ports since the deal was signed in late July, while Russia has received assistance in removing obstacles to the export of its food and fertilizer products.

Hague tribunal seeks Putin’s arrest for war crimes

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes for his alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine.

This comes on the heels of a report published Thursday from an international commission of inquiry that alleges Russia has committed wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine. The report is based on more than 500 interviews as well as satellite images and visits to detention sites and graves.

Special envoy for Myanmar warns no political settlement in sight

The United Nations envoy for Myanmar said Thursday that the prospect for a political settlement to that country’s military takeover is unlikely. “With both sides intent on prevailing by force, there is no prospect for a negotiated settlement,” Special Envoy Noeleen Heyzer told the General Assembly in a briefing on the situation.

Nuclear watchdog says uranium missing in Libya

Some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in a site in war-torn Libya have gone missing, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday, raising safety and proliferation concerns. The IAEA said it is working to “clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location.”

Labor study: Essential workers underpaid, ill-treated

A new study by the International Labor Organization finds that essential workers are undervalued, underpaid, laboring under poor working conditions, and exposed to treatment that “exacerbates employee turnover and labor shortages, jeopardizing the provision of basic services.” Data from 90 countries show that during the COVID-19 crisis, key workers suffered higher mortality rates than non-key workers overall, with transport workers being at highest risk.

In brief

— The United States, Albania, Japan and South Korea co-hosted an informal meeting of the Security Council, known as an Arria meeting, on Friday to highlight North Korea’s ongoing human rights violations and their link to Pyongyang’s illegal WMD and ballistic missile programs. Two North Korean defectors shared their stories. The hosts pointed to Pyongyang’s use of forced labor to earn revenue and other abuses used to fund its weapons program while its population struggles with food insecurity. China blocked the hosts from airing the meeting on the U.N. website and their representative said the session was not constructive.

— Humanitarian efforts continued this week to assist victims of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi and Mozambique. Search-and-rescue operations continue in Malawi and aid efforts are scaling up as floodwaters subside. Aid workers are mobilizing air transport and boats to ship supplies to areas that cannot be reached by road. In Mozambique, the U.N. is working with authorities to reach more than 49,000 displaced people and access areas that remain cut off by floodwaters. The U.N. says cholera is also spreading and there is a shortage of water purification supplies. On Thursday, the U.N. released $10 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund for cyclone relief.

­— The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to renew its assistance mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, for another year. In a second decision, the council was also united in passing a resolution calling on the secretary-general to launch an independent assessment for an international approach to Afghanistan. The panel would report to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by mid-November with recommendations for an “integrated and coherent approach” to dealing with humanitarian, political and development challenges in the country.

— The secretary-general announced the members of his next Youth Climate Advisory Group on Thursday. The seven young climate leaders come from Colombia, Gambia, Ireland, Philippines, Poland, St. Lucia and the United States and will each serve a two-year term. Guterres has said that young people are on the front lines of the climate fight and are central to keeping society on track to meet global goals to slow the planet’s warming. The U.N. says the advisers will work with youth climate movements and leaders around the world to bring youth perspectives and solutions directly to the secretary-general and to major climate decision-making meetings.

Next week

March 22 is World Water Day and the U.N. will mark it this year with a three-day conference on charting a course to a more water-secure world. The U.N. says by the end of this decade, the global demand for fresh water is expected to exceed supply by 40%. The conference will look at ways to integrate water and climate policies for current realities. A major outcome is expected in the Water Action Agenda, which will include commitments from governments, businesses, civil society and other groups.
…

International donors pledged more than $850 million at a conference in Brussels to help support millions of refugees and migrants who have fled Venezuela, the European Union said on Friday.

The EU and Canada co-hosted the two-day meeting aimed at raising awareness and funds to help tackle what they call one of the world’s largest displacement crises.

“Almost 810 million euros [$860 million] have been pledged at the 2023 Solidarity Conference with Venezuelans and their hosts,” European crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said. “I am encouraged by the renewed commitment of the international community.”

More than 7 million Venezuelans have left their country, propelled by grinding poverty and a political crisis, according to estimates by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

Among the main pledges were $171 million from the United States, $80 million from the EU and $42 million from Canada.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government had accused Canada and the European Union of convening a “hostile” conference that politicizes migration.

Caracas strongly objected to the International Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants and their Host Countries and Communities, with the foreign ministry calling it a “spectacle that only serves the commercial interests of some participants.”

The UNHCR and International Organization for Migration, which were both involved in the conference, had urged increased international support for Venezuelan refugees and migrants and the Latin American and Caribbean countries that host them.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi thanked the EU and Canada for hosting the event. He called the plight of the Venezuelan refugees “one of many dimensions of human mobility in the Americas that need humanitarian and development responses.”
…

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday, part of the longstanding White House tradition of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations of Irish culture in the United States.

“It’s a big day in my grandparents’ household, our household, big day here,” Biden told Varadkar in reference to his Irish heritage. “Ireland and the United States share great friendship and long, long traditions,” added the president, who was wearing a green tie and shamrock in his suit pocket, traditional Irish symbols.

Varadkar thanked Biden for his “support and understanding for our position on Brexit.”

During negotiations on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, also known as Brexit, the Irish government pushed to include the Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to maintain an open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member.

The Irish government feared that a hard border could threaten the U.S.-brokered Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 peace deal that ended decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland over the question of whether it should unify with Ireland or remain part of the UK.

Under the 2021 protocol, Northern Ireland remains in UK customs territory, but it follows many EU rules and regulations.

“And we’ve got to a good place now I think with the Windsor framework, where we can have an agreement that lasts,” Varadkar noted, referring to the post-Brexit deal designed to fix trade issues under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The White House said the framework is an important step in maintaining the peace accord.

Biden is expected to visit Ireland in coming weeks to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The White House has not officially announced the trip, but Varadkar said he was looking forward to it.

“I promise you that we’re going to roll out the red carpet and it’s going to be a visit like no other,” Varadkar said.

Support for Ukraine

Biden thanked Varadkar for his support in Ukraine. “It means a great deal, speaking out against Russian aggression,” he said.

The taoiseach, as the Irish prime minister is officially known, in turn thanked Biden for his leadership against Moscow.

“I never thought we’d see a war like this happen in Europe in my lifetime,” Varadkar said, repeating a line often used by Western leaders that his country will stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

After their meeting, Biden and Varadkar headed to Capitol Hill for a Friends of Ireland Caucus luncheon hosted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, before returning to the White House for a St. Patrick’s Day reception in the evening, where the taoiseach presents the president with a crystal bowl full of shamrocks, as per tradition.

St. Patrick’s Day in-person meetings at the White House and lunch with congressional leaders at the Capitol were suspended the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 44-year-old Varadkar served as prime minister from 2017 to 2020 before returning to the office in December 2022 and was the last Irish leader to visit the White House in person in March 2020 under former president Donald Trump. Biden met with Varadkar’s predecessor, Micheal Martin, virtually in 2021 because of the pandemic, and virtually in 2022, after Martin tested positive for COVID-19 while already in Washington.

With Indian heritage from his father’s side, Varadkar is the first minority taoiseach in the country’s history. He also is the first openly gay Irish leader.

Prior to his White House engagement, Varadkar and his partner, Matthew Barrett, attended a breakfast with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, at the vice president’s official residence.
…

Around 100,000 people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have fled their homes following a string of recent attacks, and fighting between M23 rebels and government forces, according to the United Nations. The U.N. accuses Rwanda of backing the rebels, a claim Rwanda denies.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says at least 800,000 people have been forced to flee the fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the past 12 months. Many are living in refugee camps in the DRC and in neighboring countries.

Espoir Ndagije, who fled to a camp in Goma in the DRC, said he had no choice.

“Coming here to Goma was the only option because the M23 rebels control all the other territories. Life is hard here. We need help,” Ndagije told Agence France-Presse.

M23 rebels

The M23 rebels claim they are defending ethnic Tutsis in the eastern DRC, drawing on longstanding tensions between Tutsis and Hutus that led to the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when over half a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by armed Hutu militia forces.

The heavily armed M23 rebel group has seized swathes of territory in the DRC’s North Kivu province since reemerging in late 2021.

A panel of United Nations experts released a report in December that found widespread evidence that Rwanda was supporting the M23 rebels and sending its own troops over the border. The rebel group is accused of conducting widespread atrocities, including the arbitrary slaughter of civilians and mass rape.

The DRC, the European Union and the United States also blame Rwanda for supporting the insurgency.

Following the visit of a U.N delegation to the region this week, the DRC’s minister of humanitarian affairs, Modeste Mutinga Mutushayi, called on the rebels to withdraw.

“We are all listening, hoping that clear instructions, clear messages, will be sent to Rwanda and to the M23 so that on the 31 (of March) at the latest, our territory can be liberated,” Mutushayi told reporters March 12.

France’s ambassador the United Nations, Nicolas De Rivière, was also part of the delegation. He urged a political solution and said the U.N. Security Council will address the conflict.

“It is clear that Rwanda supports the M23,” De Rivière said. “It is also clearly established that there are incursions by the regular Rwandan army in North Kivu and that this too is unacceptable. So, this is one of the subjects that must be discussed (at the U.N. Security Council) and it must stop.”

Rwandan backing

Observers say the evidence of Rwandan involvement is clear.

“The weaponry they have, the Kevlar jackets they have, the backpacks, the RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], these are all identical to what the Rwandan army sports when it goes into battle. So essentially, it’s just a branch of the Rwandan army,” said Michela Wrong, a British journalist focusing on the Great Lakes region and author of a recent book on Rwanda, Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad.

However, Rwanda has denied supporting M23 rebels and accuses Kinshasa of supporting Hutu rebels. At a March 1 news conference in Kigali, Rwandan President Paul Kagame accused his critics of ignoring history.

“People who want a short cut blame it all on Rwanda,” Kagame told reporters. “In Congo, there are over 120 armed groups, of which M23 is only one of them. … This fighting that started a couple of years ago was not started by Rwanda by any means,” he said.

DRC resources

The DRC government suspects Rwanda is seeking control of its rich mineral resources.

“Ever since President Mobutu [Sese Seko] fled what was then Zaire in 1997, there’s been a long-standing tradition of neighboring Uganda and Rwanda reaching into Congo and hoovering up its ‘coltan’ [columbite-tantalite metallic ore] — which is what we use to make mobile phones — its diamonds, its gold, its tin,” said Wrong.

There are other possible drivers of the conflict. In 2021, the DRC signed a series of trade deals with its neighbor, Uganda. Analysts say Rwanda’s president disapproved.

“He felt sidelined. He felt bypassed,” Wrong told VOA. “He felt that he is the key player in the Great Lakes region, and he wasn’t easy with the idea that these two neighbors were getting on so well and that in [the] future economic trade was going to be bypassing Rwanda.”

France

French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to broker a cease-fire on a visit to the region earlier this month. In Kinshasa, a few dozen protesters demanded that Macron impose sanctions against Rwanda. Some burned the French flag, angered by a widespread perception of a close relationship between Macron and Kagame.

Macron insisted he would pressure Rwanda to end its support for the M23.

“France has consistently condemned the M23 and all those who support it. And I am here to make sure that everyone takes responsibility, including Rwanda,” he told reporters in Kinshasa on March 4.

Britain

Britain, meanwhile, has not directly blamed Rwanda for backing the M23. Critics say the British government is reluctant to criticize its African ally after striking a deal last year with Rwanda to send asylum-seekers there for processing.

“Rwanda is a key part of that plan, and so, as long as Britain is counting on Rwanda to play a role in its ‘Illegal Migration bill’ we’re not going to see any outspoken statements or any criticism of Rwanda coming from the British government, that’s absolutely clear,” said Wrong.

“So, I’m afraid Britain is highly compromised on this issue and it’s not going to form part of a united donor front and that’s what we need.”

The British government did not respond directly to VOA requests for comment on the accusation that it is failing to criticize Rwanda due to the migrant deal. Government ministers have previously called on all parties to end support for rebel groups and commit to peaceful dialogue.

Rwandan donors

Western aid donors to Rwanda should present the country with a united front, Wrong said.

“What we saw in 2012 when the M23 was previously in action in eastern Congo and creating massive floods of displaced people was that Western donors got together and announced that they were cutting aid. And very, very quickly, you saw M23 fighters withdrawing to Uganda and Rwanda. It was a really startlingly fast reaction.”

“At the moment, what you’re seeing is Western donors, who — because they are not all agreed and they haven’t presented a united front — all they’re doing is just expressing public dismay. But that’s not going to cut it,” Wrong added.
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Chinese President Xi Jinging is making a state visit next week to Russia where he will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin from Monday to Wednesday, China and the Kremlin said Friday. 

The two last met in China last year when Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and in September at a regional conference in Uzbekistan.

Next week’s visit was announced a day after China urged Russia and Ukraine to begin peace talks to end their conflict. 

Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago. 

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Friday that Xi’s Russian visit will “promote strategic coordination and practical cooperation between the two countries and inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that he would meet with Xi  after Xi called for talks between Russia and Ukraine.  

China and Russia have strengthened their ties in a number of fields and have entered what they say in a “no limits” partnership.   

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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The Ukrainian government says that nearly one-third of its territory is mined, and that when the war ends, demining could last a decade or more. Evgeny Maslov has more in this story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Michael Eckels  
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Russian military and Wagner Group forces have recently gained footholds west of the Bakhmutka River in the town of Bakhmut, according to a British Defense Ministry intelligence update.

The river, the ministry said, had recently marked the front line of the battle in the fighting in the Donbas town of Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces continue to defend the western portion of the town, the report said.

Meanwhile, the report said, Russia is conducting some of its lowest rates of local offensive fighting since January.

“This is most likely because Russian forces have temporarily depleted their combat power to such an extent that even local offensive actions are not currently sustainable,” it said.

The Russians will likely increase their “offensive potential” once personnel and munitions stocks are replenished. Until then, the ministry said, Russian commanders “will likely be forced to choose between carrying out offensive operations and conducting a credible defense of the full line.”

China is hoping there will be a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine and is urging Russia and Ukraine to come to the table for peace talks, China’s foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart in a telephone conversation Thursday.

China’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Qin Gang told Dmytro Kuleba that China “has committed itself to promoting peace and advancing negotiations and calls on the international community to create conditions for peace talks.”

Qin also said “China hopes that all parties will remain calm, rational and restrained,” according to the statement, as Russian’s invasion of Ukraine has recently passed its one-year anniversary.
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French President Emmanuel Macron is moving forward with a controversial plan to reform the country’s pension system without a parliamentary vote, as protests continue across the country and opposition parties prepare to call a no-confidence vote Friday.

Macron on Thursday used a constitutional power to pass legislation raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote.

The Senate passed the bill Thursday, but right-wing politicians in the National Assembly opposed the measure, which meant the bill did not have enough votes.

Two-thirds of French voters oppose the pension overhaul, according to polls.

Strikes protesting the reform have been staged around the country since January, affecting trains, schools, public services and ports. Thousands of protesters demonstrated outside Parliament on Thursday.

“I feel like I’m being cheated as a citizen,” said 55-year-old teacher Laure Cartelier.

Unions have called for another day of protest around the country for next Thursday.

A rolling strike by municipal garbage collectors in Paris who oppose the pension reform has resulted in mounds of trash, which have attracted rats and disgusted tourists.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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China is hoping there will be a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine and is urging Russia and Ukraine to come to the table for peace talks, China’s foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart in a telephone conversation Thursday.

China’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Qin Gang told Dmytro Kuleba China “has committed itself to promoting peace and advancing negotiations and calls on the international community to create conditions for peace talks.”

Qin also said “China hopes that all parties will remain calm, rational and restrained,” according to the statement, as Russian’s invasion of Ukraine has recently passed its one-year anniversary.

The U.S. military released a video Thursday of a Russian military intercept that resulted in the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone Tuesday over the Black Sea.

The video shows a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 dumping fuel as it approaches the U.S. MQ-9 drone from behind and passes over the top.

A second Sukhoi Su-27 approaches in a similar manner, and as it reaches the drone, the video feed is disrupted at the moment the U.S. military says the Russian fighter aircraft collided with the drone.

A final shot shows the video feed restored and that one of the drone’s propeller blades has been bent.

The video’s release came a day after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to his Russian counterpart about the encounter.

“The United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows, and it is incumbent upon Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner,” Austin told reporters after announcing that he had “just got off the phone” with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

It was the first call between the two defense leaders since October, according to officials.

Meanwhile, Poland became the first NATO country to dispatch fighter jets to Ukraine, agreeing to send four Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Kyiv’s forces in the coming days. The U.S. and other Western allies far have balked at Kyiv demands for attack jets.

The downed U.S. MQ-9 drone was “conducting routine operations” in international airspace Tuesday, according to the U.S. military, when the pair of Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft intercepted it. U.S. forces brought down the drone in international waters after the Russian jet struck the drone’s propeller.

“We know that the intercept was intentional. We know that the aggressive behavior was intentional. We also know it is very unprofessional and very unsafe,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Wednesday.

Milley said he was “not sure yet” whether the physical contact between the Russian aircraft and the drone was intentional.

Russia said it is considering whether to try to retrieve the drone, but U.S. officials said its operatives were able to remotely erase sensitive software on the drone to prevent Russia from collecting secret information before sending the aircraft into the Black Sea.

The U.S. does not have ships in the Black Sea, which is largely controlled by Russia.

“But we do have a lot of allies and friends in the area, and we’ll work through recovery operations. That’s U.S. property,” Milley said.

Another top U.S. military leader, Gen. Erik Kurilla, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that since March 1, the U.S. is seeing an increase “in the unprofessional and unsafe behavior of the Russian Air Force.” He said armed Russian fighter jets fly over U.S. bases in Syria “in an attempt to try and be provocative.”

Kurilla said that Russia tries to “renegotiate the deconfliction protocols that they violate every day.”

Russia denied that its Su-27 jets came into contact with the U.S. drone and pinned blame for the crash on the operation of the drone. A U.S. military official told VOA the unmanned MQ-9 has not yet been recovered. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday the United States summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the incident.

The Russian Defense Ministry Telegram channel reported Wednesday that Shoigu has blamed the incident on the United States’ “non-compliance with the restricted flight zone declared by the Russian Federation, which was established as part of a special military operation.”

Earlier Wednesday, Austin and Milley hosted the 10th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group more than a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The virtual meeting included 51 participants. Milley said the group promised “a broad mix of air defense systems,” in addition to providing more artillery, armor and ammunition. For example, Sweden will provide 10 more Leopard tanks to Ukraine, and Norway will partner with the United States to provide two additional National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS.

“Ukraine matters. It matters not to just Ukraine or to the United States, it matters to the world. This is about the rules-based international order,” Austin told reporters Wednesday.

“Russia is running out of capability and out of friends,” he added. “Putin still hopes he can wear down Ukraine and wait us out, so we can’t let up, and we won’t.”
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The Biden administration said it is not seeking armed conflict with Russia as it releases footage of a Russian jet spraying fuel on a U.S. surveillance drone and — seconds later, the drone with a broken propeller — in international airspace over the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine.
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Unions representing more than a million health care workers in England, including nurses and paramedics — but not doctors — reached a deal Thursday to resolve months of disruptive strikes for higher wages.

The announcement came as early-career physicians spent a third day on picket lines and the day after U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt announced a budget that included no additional money for labor groups that have staged crippling strikes amid a punishing cost-of-living crisis and double-digit inflation.

Any strike actions will be halted while rank-and-file members vote on whether to accept an offer of a lump-sum payment for the current year and a 5% raise next year.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was a good deal for National Health Service staff who persevered through the pandemic along with patients and taxpayers. He encouraged other striking unions to come to the bargaining table.

“We don’t want disruption for patients. We don’t want disruption for schoolchildren in our classrooms,” Sunak said during a visit to a London hospital, where he met with nurses. “Today’s agreement demonstrates we are serious about this, and we can find workable solutions.”

But the head of the Royal College of Nursing, one of at least five unions supporting the deal, said the pay offer would not have come if nurses hadn’t made the difficult decision to go on strike, forcing the government to negotiate.

“It is not a panacea, but it is real, tangible progress. And the RCN’s member leaders are asking fellow nursing staff to support what our negotiations have secured,” Royal College of Nursing General Secretary Pat Cullen said.

Unite, the largest trade union in the U.K. but with a smaller presence in the health care field, blasted the government for months of “dither and delay” that caused unnecessary pain to staff and patients, and said it would not recommend the deal but let workers vote on it.

“It is clear that this government does not hold the interest of workers or the NHS at heart,” Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said. “Their behavior and disdain for NHS workers, and workers generally, is clear from their actions. Britain has a broken economy, and workers are paying the price.”

Unions argue that wages in the public sector have failed to keep pace with skyrocketing food and energy costs that have left many households struggling to pay their bills.

Inflation in the U.K. reached a 40-year high of 11.1% in October before dropping in January to 10.1%.

A wave of strikes by train drivers, airport baggage handlers, border staff, driving instructors and postal workers since last summer has created havoc for residents.

Firefighters, who canceled a planned strike, and London bus drivers recently reached deals to keep working. But many other professions remain locked in pay disputes. Tens of thousands of teachers, civil servants and workers on the capital’s subway system all walked off the job on Wednesday.

Some have criticized health care workers for jeopardizing lives, though ambulance crews said they responded to the most urgent calls, and emergency rooms were staffed.

The health care workers, including midwives and physical therapists, had been in talks since they held what organizers said was the largest strike in the history of the country’s National Health Service last month.

The labor actions echo the economic unrest that has rippled across France, including over the government’s plan to increase the retirement age.

The U.K.’s lackluster economy is likely to avoid a recession this year, though growth will still shrink. The International Monetary Fund last month said the country would be the only major economy to contract this year, performing even worse than sanctions-hit Russia.

It was not immediately clear where the funding for raises would come from because they weren’t in the budget Hunt announced Wednesday, and The Department of Health and Social Care had recently claimed that raises above 3.5% were unaffordable.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said they would look for cost savings and the funding would ultimately be up to the Treasury and would not come at the expense of patients.

If the Treasury doesn’t provide the additional money, the overburdened public health system could be forced for a second consecutive year to cut spending or positions, said Ben Zaranko of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, an independent think tank that analyzes U.K. government fiscal and economic policies.

“There must be a risk that the NHS is asked to make heroic efficiency savings to absorb these costs, struggles to do so, and instead has to be bailed out in six months or a year’s time,” Zaranko said. “That would hardly lend itself to sensible financial planning.”

A ratified deal with nurses and others will ease some of the pain on the state-funded public health system, which has been beset by winter viruses, staff shortages and backlogs from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deal only applies to workers in England, because Scotland and Wales have semiautonomous governments in charge of health policy.
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A court in Namibia is hearing an appeal by the local branch of Russia’s state-owned atomic energy agency, Rosatom, which is seeking water permits needed for uranium mining.

The government of Namibia, the world’s second-biggest producer of the nuclear fuel, said last year that a mining company owned by Rosatom had failed to prove its uranium extraction method would not cause pollution.

The Uranium One mining company is asking the court to set aside the decision by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform on the ground that it is contrary to an article of the Namibian constitution that requires administrative bodies to act fairly and reasonably.

The company said it was not given an opportunity to prove that its method of uranium extraction would not contaminate the underground water that farmers in the area rely on for their livelihoods.

Riaan Van Rooyen, Uranium One’s Namibian spokesperson, said the company “has launched review proceedings in the High Court of Namibia in terms of which it seeks to assail the decision taken by minister of agriculture, water and land reform in respect of an application for drilling permits submitted by Uranium One. As the case is currently sub judice [under judicial consideration], Uranium One will refrain from further commenting in respect to pending litigation.”

Calle Schlettwein, the minister of agriculture, water and land reform, told VOA in an earlier interview that Uranium One must present scientific data that show no contamination of underground water will take place if the company is granted permits to continue with uranium exploration.

“It is not anything against the company or investment,” Schlettwein said. “It is the principle that we have to look at that guards against the possible contamination of a very important renewable resource.”

Local support

Schlettwein’s decision to not grant Rosatom’s Namibian subsidiary a water permit is supported by various local farmers, who are listed in an affidavit in the court case.

One of those farmers, Goddy Riruako, who is also a community activist, lamented what he termed extractive industries that come to Namibia with the promise of spearheading development.

He said the community cannot seek development at the expense of the long-term effects that pollution may have.

“Now, who says the method is clean and does not contaminate the underground water?” he asked. “No one knows what happens underground, and anything that you put into water that others drink or that we drink will have a detrimental effect on our health and the health of our children and generations to come.”

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform is listed among 39 other respondents in the affidavit.

Scientists say the global demand for energy is likely to increase by 40% in the next 17 years, and countries like Russia are looking to Africa to meet growing energy needs.
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United Nations investigators accused Russian authorities of a pattern of grave, wide-ranging human rights violations against Ukrainian civilians that, in many cases, could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In its first comprehensive report on the situation in Ukraine since Russia invaded that country on February 24, 2022, the three-member International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has concluded that “the Russian authorities have committed numerous violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, in addition to a wide range of war crimes.”

The war crimes include attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, willful killings, torture and inhuman treatment, unlawful confinement, rape and unlawful transfers and deportations of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

“The conflict in Ukraine has had devastating effects at various levels,” said Erik Mose, chair of the commission. “Human losses and the general disregard for the life of civilians are shocking.

“The number of displaced persons or those seeking refuge abroad is the highest in Europe since the Second World War,” he said.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that more than 5.4 million people are internally displaced, and more than 8.1 million Ukrainians have fled as refugees to neighboring European countries.

Mose said the destruction of essential infrastructure — schools, health facilities, residential buildings and other facilities — has had an immense impact on people’s lives.

“The effects of the aggression upon people and on the country will not be overcome without great effort and commitment,” he said.

Over the past year, the commission has traveled to Ukraine eight times, visited 56 localities, and interviewed nearly 600 women and men.

“While the commission could establish a dialogue with Ukraine authorities and receive responses to its questions, it regrets that it was not able to establish such a dialogue with the Russian Federation,” Mose said.

Among its findings, the commission has gathered evidence of the use of explosive weapons by Russian armed forces in populated areas “with an apparent disregard for civilian harm and suffering.”

The report said the attacks were indiscriminate and disproportionate “in violation of international humanitarian law.”

According to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, such attacks have caused 90.3% of civilian casualties in the conflict. Since the start of the war, the U.N. has recorded at least 8,000 deaths and nearly 13,300 injured, although it believes “the actual figures are considerably higher.”

The commission has collected evidence showing a widespread pattern of summary executions, which commissioner Pablo de Greiff said show that “Russian authorities have committed unlawful killings of civilians in areas which came under their control …which are violations of the right to life and in certain cases are war crimes.”

The commission has documented numerous cases of rape and sexual and gender-based violence affecting women, men and girls ages 4 to 82 committed by Russian authorities “as they undertook house-to-house visits in localities under their control and during unlawful confinement.”

Commission member Jasminka Dzumhur said the group has investigated the situation of forced transfer and deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

“The commission documented that Russian officials have taken legal and policy measures regarding Ukrainian children deported to Russian Federation.

“This includes citizenship and family placement measures, which have profound implications for a child’s identity,” she said. “Such measures are in violation of the right of the child to preserve his identity, including nationality, name and family relations, without unlawful interference as recognized by international human rights law … and may also amount to a war crime.”

The Ukrainian government reports that 16,221 children have been deported to Russia. The commission said it has not been able to verify these figures.

The commission found that the Ukrainian armed forces in a limited number of cases violated international humanitarian law. It said they have used cluster munitions, which are banned under international law, and that Ukrainian troops in two incidents had tortured and abused Russian prisoners of war, which could amount to war crimes.

The commission has drawn up a list of individuals identified as being responsible for war crimes. That list will not be made public and will be turned over to the U.N Human Rights Office for future prosecution.

The commission is calling for all violations and crimes to be investigated and for those responsible to be held accountable either at the national or the international level.

The report will be submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council next week.
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