Ten people — including three children — died after high winds tore through central Russia, emergency services and a local official reported Sunday.

Eight of the dead were part of a group of tourists camping close to Lake Yalchik in the Mari-El region when the storm hit Saturday, Russia’s emergencies ministry said.

The strong winds caused a large number of trees to fall in the area, including where the group’s tents had been pitched on a stretch of wild beach inside the Mariy Chodra National Park, regional leader Yuri Zaitsev wrote on social media. He said that three children were among the dead. Russia’s investigative committee has opened a criminal case to determine whether unsafe or sub-standard services provided by the park’s management company contributed to the deaths.

Across the wider Volga Federal District, 76 people were injured in the storm, with thousands of households losing power, emergency services said.
…

Manuela Vanegas scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time as Colombia upset Germany 2-1 at the Women’s World Cup on Sunday.

The defender headed in to settle a thrilling game and put her country on the brink of advancing to the knockout stage.

Alexandra Popp had scored an 89th-minute penalty and seemed to have earned two-time champion Germany a 1-1 draw after 18-year-old Linda Caicedo had struck a stunning opener for Colombia.

But Vanegas came up with a late twist to huge celebrations from Colombia fans who dominated the Sydney Football Stadium crowd.

The Germans thought they’d secured a point after Colombia goalkeeper Catalina Perez was penalized for bringing down Lena Oberdorf in the box.

Popp, who scored twice in her country’s 6-0 rout of Morocco in its opening game of the tournament, fired straight down the middle to level the game.

That had disappointed the crowd, which passionately cheered Colombia on throughout and erupted after Caicedo’s goal in the 52nd.

The Real Madrid teenager had suffered a health scare earlier in the week but produced a moment of magic to score her second of the tournament.

It was all the more special coming after she’d dropped to the ground holding her chest in training during the week.

Caicedo scored from distance in the 2-0 win against South Korea on Tuesday. But while that goal involved an error from goalkeeper Yoon Young-geul, on this occasion it was all about individual brilliance.

Collecting the ball from just inside the area after a corner, she worked her way into space by bewildering two German defenders in a fast-stepping move before lashing a shot into the top corner.

Caicedo, followed by her teammates, charged toward the corner to get closer to the crowd as it went wild.

Germany has never failed to advance from the group stage of the World Cup. It is still expected to beat South Korea in its last game of Group H, but will likely have to settle for second place.

The runners up at last year’s Euros should have been ahead in the first half when Popp was guilty of missing the target with a volley from close range —shortly before the break.

Earlier Lina Magull had the chance to test Perez from close range, but mis-kicked and the opportunity was wasted.

What’s next

In the last games in Group H, Germany faces South Korea and Colombia plays Morocco, with three teams still able to advance to the knockout stage.
…

The arrest and disappearance of dissidents and anti-war activists has become a common occurrence in Russia. But the detention in July of former Federal Security Service officer Igor Girkin has marked a turning point in how the government of President Vladimir Putin treats even those who support its military goals.

Known by the nickname Strelkov, meaning “shooter,” Girkin’s journey from key operative to political threat sheds light on the Kremlin’s complex history with ideological extremists.

Long before he became a wanted war criminal in the West, Girkin was a student at the Moscow State Institute for History and Archives, where he began his hobby of reenacting military history, especially that of the czarist White Army.

An avowed monarchist, Girkin fell in with far-right circles that were arising amid the Soviet collapse, writing for the newspaper Zavtra, which combined the idolization of Soviet militarism with antisemitic Russian nationalism and opposition to Western democracy.

However, his interest in war went beyond historical costume. He would fight in Russia’s brutal campaign against Chechen independence, as well as the 1992 intervention in Moldova that left the region of Transnistria as Russian-occupied territory.

Girkin also volunteered alongside ethnic Serb forces in the Bosnian War and was present at the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim civilians in Visegrad. Afterward, he is believed to have served in the FSB, where he reportedly rose to the rank of colonel before retiring in 2013.

But this would not be the end of Girkin’s military career.

Following the 2014 Euromaidan protests that toppled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Girkin appeared in Crimea among the so-called Russian volunteers — later revealed to be active-duty soldiers — who brought the peninsula under Russian control.

Next, he would surface in Ukraine’s Donbas region as the head of militants who seized government offices in Sloviansk to establish the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.

Despite claiming to be a local uprising with no Kremlin involvement, much of the militants’ leadership was composed of Russian citizens with close ties to the security services, such as Girkin’s old newspaper colleague Alexander Borodai. Girkin himself would later admit that the war in the Donbas would not have occurred without direct Russian support.

As defense minister of the small, breakaway state, Girkin imposed harsh discipline on enemies and allies alike, torturing and executing supporters of Ukraine, as well as petty criminals and even fellow separatist fighters, for infractions such as looting or abandoning their post.

His biggest war crime was yet to come.

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 298 people was shot down over the Donetsk region, killing everyone on board. Evidence showed that the plane had been hit by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile fired from rebel-controlled territory.

Deleted social media posts suggested Girkin had knowledge of the deliberate attack. He was found guilty in November 2022 by a Dutch court in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Publicly, Girkin denied any responsibility for the shooting and claimed it had been a false flag operation — a military action meant to blame an opponent or rival — mirroring Russian media’s own shifting explanations and conspiracy theories about the crash.

But this high-profile international attention made him a liability for Russia, which still denied involvement in the conflict. To make their denial more plausible, Girkin and other Russian citizens were removed from power and replaced with local separatist leaders.

Upon his return to Russia in late 2014, Girkin criticized Russian leadership. As a true believer, he viewed the Donbas as historic Russian land and had expected the Kremlin to fully commit to annexing the region, as they had with Crimea.

But for Putin, an ongoing stalemate in the Donbas provided a low-cost way to impede Ukraine’s integration into Western institutions while maintaining enough plausible deniability to avoid the full weight of international sanctions.

Dismayed by what he viewed as a betrayal of the cause, Girkin became an increasingly vocal critic of Putin. His media statements and interviews often undercut the official Kremlin line by revealing the extent of Russia’s involvement in the conflict.

With Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Girkin gained renewed prominence as one of the country’s top military bloggers.

While ordinary citizens and liberal activists were jailed for even referring to the “special military operation” as a war, Girkin and other far-right nationalists openly offered frank condemnation of the military strategy, as well as the top leadership, accusing them of incompetence and insufficient preparation.

The bloggers’ criticisms, which did not oppose the invasion but called for a more aggressive campaign, allowed for the venting of discontent without disrupting Kremlin narratives, while also positioning Putin as a relative moderate.

That calculus appears to have changed, however, with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted mutiny in late June. In the face of such a public challenge to his authority, experts believe Putin can no longer afford to tolerate criticism, even from so-called patriots.

Jailed liberal opposition figure Alexei Navalny has also weighed in, noting that despite his other crimes, Girkin should nevertheless be considered a political prisoner.

It remains to be seen what will become of other ultranationalist Putin critics, some of whom have already rushed to distance themselves from Girkin. His arrest, coming on the heels of the Wagner mutiny, underscores the Kremlin’s struggle to control the very forces it has unleashed.
…

PARIS – Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko says he only had to look into the eyes of Ukrainian children who lived under Russian occupation in a village to find the motivation to raise money to rebuild their school.

“You realize the mental injuries they will carry for the rest of their lives,” he told AFP.

The 26-year-old Ukraine international went home in May for his first trip since Russia invaded in February 2022 — “even the air smelt different,” he said — and visited the village and the school, the Mykhailo-Kotsiubynsky Lyceum in Chernihiv oblast, northern Ukraine.

It was heavily damaged in a rocket attack on March 4 last year killing a 62-year-old female cleaner — the death toll could have been a lot worse as there were around 100 civilians, the youngest aged 2 months, living in the basement.

“I was really upset, it was very hard for me morally to understand it,” the school’s headmaster Mykola Shpak told AFP.

“When I saw the level of destruction, I understood how much work will be needed to renovate it and restart education.”

The estimated cost of the rebuilding work is $1.7 million (1.54 million euros).

Zinchenko and Ukrainian football great Andriy Shevchenko, who accompanied him on the visit, played with some of the 412 pupils and chatted to them about their experiences when the Russians occupied the village from Feb. 28-March 31 last year.

As a result of the visit, the star pair decided with the charity United24 to organize an all-star match, Game4Ukraine, at the Stamford Bridge home of one of Shevchenko’s former clubs, Chelsea, on Aug. 5 to raise funds for the school.

The charity was launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to collect donations to cover Ukraine’s most pressing needs, among them rebuilding the country which has been devastated since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion.

“Around 800 schools have been damaged by the Russians, more than 200 of them we are not able to rebuild,” Zinchenko told AFP earlier this month.

“This school was important because 10 villages are using it.”

It was, though, not just that which left such a mark on Zinchenko but listening to the children and their accounts of life under Russian occupation.

“A few were telling us about the Russian army in their houses, you look in their eyes and you realize the mental injuries they will suffer from for the rest of their lives.

“That is a scary thing.”

‘Never understand’

Neither Zinchenko nor Shevchenko have a personal connection with the school — “I changed schools three times” explains Zinchenko with a wry smile — which makes it even more touching for Shpak, the headmaster.

“I feel what a person can feel when he receives hope,” he said.

“And of course this hope is great when it is initiated by such people as those two.

“I was filled with even more hope when they played football with our boys and girls on the field which was destroyed by missiles.”

Shpak speaks with the emotion of someone with deep ties to the school — his parents were both teachers there and after studying he returned as a geography teacher in 1993 and became head in 2015.

Although he would go home at night, he ensured the 100 or so people housed in the basement were fed — visits from the Russians were for him mercifully few.

“They only entered the school after the shelling of our district, I cannot say why they came to the school. I think they wanted to see the results of what they did,” he said.

“We had prepared food for our children, about 30 pieces of bread. But after their visit we could not find it as they had taken it.”

Shpak — who has two grown-up sons — feels enormous loss at the former pupils who have died in the war.

“There are a lot of children who graduated from this school who I will never see again and that is terrible,” he said.

Zinchenko has not lost any close friends but says he “will never understand” the invasion.

“When one has been born and raised on land where you know every single stone and tree and then one day someone comes from another place and they can do what they want, they can kill women, men and children and destroy everything around, in the 2020s, it is absolutely incredible.”

Zinchenko — whose wife, Vlada, is expecting their second child — is pleased he did not take up arms but is doing his bit for his country in a field he knows better.

“I hope if my children ask me ‘Daddy what did you do in that time, how did you help?’ I will be able to look them in their eyes and reply I was doing my best.”
…

Russian authorities say three Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow in the early hours on Sunday, injuring one person and prompting a temporary closure for traffic of one of four airports around the Russian capital.

It was the fourth such attempt at a strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, fueling concerns about Moscow’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.

The Russian Defense Ministry referred to the incident as an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime” and said three drones targeted the city. One was shot down in the surrounding Moscow region by air defense systems and two others were jammed. Those two crashed into the Moscow City business district in the capital.

Photos from the site of the crash showed the facade of a skyscraper damaged on one floor. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attack “insignificantly damaged” the outsides of two buildings in the Moscow City district. A security guard was injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

No flights went into or out of the Vnukovo airport on the southern outskirts of the city for about an hour, according to Tass, and the air space over Moscow and the outlying regions was temporarily closed for any aircraft. Those restrictions have since been lifted.

Moscow authorities have also closed a street for traffic near the site of the crash in the Moscow City area.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who rarely if ever take responsibility for attacks on Russian soil.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported shooting down a Ukrainian drone outside Moscow on Friday. Two more drones struck the Russian capital on Monday, one of them falling in the center of the city near the Defense Ministry’s headquarters along the Moscow River about 3 kilometers  from the Kremlin. The other drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting several upper floors.

In another attack on July 4, the Russian military said four drones were downed by air defenses on the outskirts of Moscow and a fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down. 
…

WARSAW – About 100 soldiers from the Russian Wagner group have moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday.

Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member that has been a full member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance since 1999, has been concerned about the possibility that the war could spill over onto its territory since Russian invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Earlier this month, Poland began moving more than 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concerns that the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.

“The situation is getting increasingly dangerous. … Most likely they (the Wagner personnel) will be disguised as the Belarusian border guard and help illegal migrants get to the Polish territory (and) destabilize Poland,” Morawiecki said at a press conference in Gliwice, western Poland.

“They will most likely try to enter Poland pretending to be illegal migrants and this poses additional threats,” Morawiecki said.

However, he did not disclose the source of his information on the Wagner movements, and Anton Motolko, founder of the Belarusian opposition Hajun project, which monitors military activity in the country, told Reuters his group had not seen any evidence of the Wagner group moving closer to Grodno.

The city has a potentially significant position because it is near the Suwalki Gap, a strategic strip of land along the Polish-Lithuanian border that divides Belarus, Russia’s ally, from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Earlier in July, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa, where they are involved in a number of conflicts, while they train the Belarusian army.

The following day, some Wagner fighters arrived at the training ground of the 38th airborne assault brigade outside the city of Brest, just a few miles from the Polish border.

Wagner’s move to Belarus was part of a deal that ended the group’s mutiny attempt in June, when they took control of a Russian military headquarters, marched on Moscow and threatened to tip Russia into civil war, President Vladimir Putin has said. 
…

After leaving it to the last minute against South Africa, Sweden left nothing to chance Saturday in a 5-0 win over Italy which sealed its place in the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup. 

Sweden relied on Amanda Ilestedt’s 90th-minute winner to salvage a 2-1 win from a sub-par performance in its opener against South Africa. 

Ilestedt was Sweden’s first scorer Saturday, this time in the 39th, and her glancing header from a corner sparked a flood of four Swedish goals in 11 minutes on either side of halftime. Her second goal came in the 50th and was a mirror image of the first. 

Rebecka Blomqvist finished it off in stoppage time with Sweden’s fifth goal. 

The Swedish attack again looked hesitant in the first 20 minutes. Italy appeared more composed over the ball in that period and more threatening with Sofia Cantore particularly dangerous on the right.  

But as the first half progressed, Sweden began to look more composed, more organized and then more ruthless. The crowd of just over 29,000 appeared to sense the change. 

Joanna Andersson curled the ball in from the right in the 39th, and Ilestedt rose highest at the near post to glance the ball on a narrow angle into the net. 

Fridolina Rolfo looked certain to score in the 43rd, one-on-one with Francesca Durante, but the goalkeeper threw herself toward Rolfo’s feet and snuffed out the threat. 

Rolfo had to wait only moments for her second goal of the tournament. Another corner and this time the delivery eluded Durante and found Rolfo on the far post who headed home. 

Rolfo turned deliverer in the first minute of stoppage time. Sent clear by a neat back-heel she passed low and beyond Durante, finding Stina Blackstenius, who tapped in; her goal was her 29th for the national team. 

Sweden led 3-0 at halftime, and the scoring continued after the break. On a corner in the 50th, Ilestedt was on station at the near post to head home. 

The clinical nature of Sweden’s attack was highlighted by the fact possession was almost evenly shared. But Sweden had 14 shots on target, Italy four and the Italians will be haunted by Sweden’s seven corners, all of which represented an immediate danger. 

Ilestedt was player of the match and in every sense a towering figure in attack. Blackstenius, Rolfo and Asllani also were back in form and there was every sign Saturday the third-ranked Swedes are peaking at the right time. 

Italy heads back to the drawing board with the first order of business to address its defense from set pieces. 
…

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday urged Denmark to take urgent action to prevent burnings of the Quran, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.

In a phone call with his Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Fidan condemned the “continuous vile attacks against the Quran.” He told Rasmussen it was unacceptable to allow such actions under the guise of freedom of expression, the source said.

Rasmussen on Saturday wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter: “Turkey and Denmark are close allies. Important to not let these acts succeed in creating division.”

He also reiterated Denmark’s “strong condemnation of these provocative acts by few individuals.”

The comments came after a small group of anti-Islam activists set fire to Qurans in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in Copenhagen on Tuesday, after similar protests in Denmark and Sweden over recent weeks.

Denmark and Sweden have deplored the burning of Islam’s holy book but say they cannot prevent it under rules protecting free speech.
…

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — French President Emmanuel Macron held discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart Saturday on an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region in the first-ever visit by a French leader to the Indian Ocean island nation.

As the fourth-largest creditor to Sri Lanka, France had pledged cooperation in debt restructuring to help the island nation recover from its economic crisis.

Macron arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday night, following his trip to the South Pacific region, to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, Sri Lanka’s president’s office said.

Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe praised France’s significant role in global affairs, particularly in areas such as climate mitigation, global debt restructuring, and matters related to the Indo-Pacific region, the statement said.

“Sri Lanka and France are two Indian Ocean nations that share the same goal: an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific. In Colombo we confirmed it: strengthened by 75 years of diplomatic relations, we can open a new era of our partnership,” Macron said in a Twitter message after the meeting.
…

African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to move ahead with their plan to end the Ukraine conflict and to renew a deal crucial to Africa on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow tore up last week.

While not directly critical of Russia, their interventions on the second day of a summit were more concerted and forceful than those that African countries have voiced previously.

They served as reminders of the depth of African concern at the consequences of the war, especially rising food prices.

“This war must end. And it can only end on the basis of justice and reason,” African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told Putin and African leaders in St. Petersburg.

“The disruptions of energy and grain supplies must end immediately. The grain deal must be extended for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, Africans in particular.”

Reuters reported in June that the African plan floats a series of possible steps to defuse the conflict, including a Russian troop pullback, removal of Russian tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Putin and sanctions relief.

Putin gave it a cool reception when African leaders presented it to him last month. In public remarks on Friday, he restated in similar terms his argument that Ukraine and the West, not Russia, were responsible for the conflict.

Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso said the initiative “deserves the closest attention,” calling “urgently” for peace.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told Putin: “We feel that we have a right to call for peace — the ongoing conflict also negatively affects us.”

The stream of calls prompted Putin repeatedly to defend Russia’s position and finally to make an eight-minute statement, later issued by the Kremlin in a video, at the start of evening talks with the African leaders behind the peace plan.

He again accused the West of backing a “coup” in Kyiv in 2014 — when a wave of street protests forced Ukraine’s pro-Russian president to flee — and of trying to draw Ukraine into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance and undermine Russian statehood.

He said it was Kyiv that was refusing to negotiate under a decree passed shortly after he claimed last September to have annexed four Ukrainian regions that Russia partly controls, adding: “The ball is entirely in their court.”

‘New realities’

Russia has long said it is open to talks but that these must take account of the “new realities” on the ground.

AU chair Azali Assoumani said Putin had shown his readiness to talk, and “now we have to convince the other side.”

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the idea of a ceasefire now that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 grinding months of war.

At the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi urged Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal which, until Moscow refused to renew it last week, had granted Ukraine a “safe corridor” to export grain from its seaports despite the conflict.

Egypt is a big buyer of grain via the Black Sea route, and Sissi told the summit it was “essential to reach agreement” on reviving the deal.

Putin responded by arguing, as he has in the past, that rising world food prices were a consequence of Western policy mistakes long predating the Ukraine war.

He has repeatedly said Russia quit the agreement because the deal was not getting grain to the poorest countries and the West was not keeping its side of the bargain.

Russia’s withdrawal and its bombardment of Ukrainian ports and grain depots have prompted accusations from Ukraine and the West that Russia is using food as a weapon of war and driving the global wheat price up by some 9%.

On Thursday, Putin promised to deliver up to 300,000 tons of free Russian grain — which U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a “handful of donations” — among six of the countries attending the summit.

Assoumani said this might not be enough, and what was needed was a cease-fire.

Putin wanted the summit to energize Russia’s ties with Africa and enlist its support in countering what he describes as U.S. hegemony and Western neo-colonialism.

Many of the leaders praised Moscow’s support for their countries in their 20th-century liberation struggles, and the final declaration promised Russia would help them seek compensation for the damage done by colonial rule.

The leaders of Mali and Central African Republic, whose governments have relied heavily on the services of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, both expressed gratitude to Putin.
…

A declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released Thursday says that support from China is “critical” to Russia’s ability to continue waging its war against Ukraine.

The report, which was requested by Congress, assesses how a range of actors, including the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, state-owned Chinese companies and other Chinese entities, are supporting Russia’s economy and its military, nearly 18 months after the Kremlin’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

“Beijing is pursuing a variety of economic support mechanisms for Russia that mitigate both the impact of Western sanctions and export controls,” the report finds.

“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has increased its importation of Russian energy exports, including oil and gas supplies rerouted from Europe. Beijing has also significantly increased the use of its currency, the yuan, and its financial infrastructure in commercial interactions with Russia, allowing Russian entities to conduct financial transactions unfettered of Western interdiction.”

The report also finds that China has been directly supporting the Russian war effort by selling technology and “dual use” equipment — meaning items that may have both civilian and military uses — to Moscow.

Enabling a ‘brutal invasion’

The report was released by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Representative Jim Himes, the most senior Democrat on the committee, said, “This unclassified assessment, mandated by last year’s Intelligence Authorization Act, details the extent of China’s support for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s ongoing invasion.

“Russia’s war against Ukraine has been enabled in no small part by China’s willingness to support them, in direct and indirect ways. I hope this report makes clear to Beijing that the United States, and the world, will know if they take further actions to enable Putin’s brutal invasion.”

Representative Mike Turner, the committee’s Republican chairman, had not issued a statement about the report as of Friday afternoon.

China responds

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning commented on the report in her daily news briefing Friday, saying there was nothing out of the ordinary involved in her country’s trade with Russia, while decrying Western sanctions on Moscow.

“China is engaged in normal economic and trade cooperation with Russia and other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” Mao said. “We oppose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law or mandate from the Security Council. China-Russia cooperation does not target any third party and shall be free from disruption or coercion by any third party.”

China and Russia have significantly deepened their relationship in recent years. In the days prior to the launch of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin announced that their countries’ partnership had “no limits.”

Oil and gas

In the wake of the invasion, a united front of nations led by the United States applied an extraordinary web of sanctions, severing the flow of goods and services between Russia and most major Western markets.

The report finds that since the invasion, trade with China has replaced much of that lost commerce. In 2022, bilateral trade between Russia and China hit a record high, with Russian imports from China rising by 14% and exports to China jumping by 43%.

Much of Russia’s exports to China came in the form of oil and gas products that Moscow previously sold to the West. China’s purchase of the petroleum products has been a valuable source of income for the Kremlin, and steep discounts on Russian fuel have been a boon to China.

China is providing supertankers to move Russian oil to market as well as the insurance coverage that shipping companies demand, after sanctions cut Russia off from the global maritime insurance market.

Semiconductor trade

One of the West’s major efforts against Russia has involved cutting the country off from a reliable supply of semiconductors needed for many modern devices, including military vehicles and weapons systems.

The report notes the appearance of a web of newly formed businesses in Hong Kong, which it characterizes as “shell companies” that are being used to purchase semiconductors on the open market and then resell them to Russia in violation of U.S. export control rules.

China is supplying both dual use goods and some explicitly military material to Russia, the report says.

“[C]ustoms records show PRC state-owned defense companies shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology and fighter-jet parts to sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies,” the report reads. “Russia has continued to acquire chips through circuitous routes, with a large portion flowing through small traders in Hong Kong and mainland PRC, according to foreign press.”

After Russian banks were largely cut off from systems that allow cross-border payments, many began to rely on Chinese banks to facilitate trade between the two countries and between Russian companies and firms in third countries that are not participating in Western sanctions.

Russia has also been accepting payments and purchasing goods using China’s currency, the yuan. By August 2022, six months after the beginning of the invasion, Russia’s use of the yuan in offshore payments had increased by a factor of 10.

Open source

Ian Johnson, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that even though much of the material in the report was drawn from sources that were already public, its assembly in one place makes the scope of Beijing’s support for Moscow clearer.

“I don’t think it’s new, but it reinforces and systematically explains what many people have felt: that China is trying to help Russia as much as possible without getting in big trouble regarding sanctions,” Johnson said.

“They’re trying to push the envelope as much as possible, and anything they can do — by sopping up extra energy that Russia hasn’t been able to unload, letting them use the yuan — makes it a little bit easier for Russia,” he said. “All these things are also in China’s interest. It’s not entirely altruistic. They have many reasons for wanting to keep Russia afloat.”
…

Pope Francis urged governments to do more to fight climate change and protect “our common home” as improving weather conditions Friday helped firefighters contain wildfires in Greece, Italy and other countries in southern Europe.

Francis, who has been outspoken on environmental issues, sent a telegram of condolences to Greece, where wildfires killed five people over the past week, including the pilots of a water-dropping aircraft.

The pope noted that successive heat waves have exacerbated the dangers of the summer fire season. He offered his prayers for firefighters and emergency personnel in particular.

“[I hope] that the risks to our common home, exacerbated by the present climate crisis, will spur all people to renew their efforts to care for the gift of creation, for the sake of future generations,” Francis said.

Fueled by the heat waves and strong gusts of wind, wildfires in Europe’s Mediterranean region have kept travelers and residents on alert. In Greece, fires scorched hundreds of square kilometers of land outside Athens, on the island of Rhodes and elsewhere this month.

As the situation improved considerably on Friday, Greece’s minister for the police unexpectedly stepped down, citing “personal grounds.” Greek media said Notis Mitarachi’s resignation was requested after it emerged that he had been on a family holiday during the wildfire crisis.

The main opposition Syriza party issued a statement accusing the center-right government of using “personal grounds” as a euphemism for “[Mitarachi’s] holidays while the country was burning from end to end.”

In central Greece, authorities maintained an exclusion zone around one of the country’s largest air force bases after a wildfire triggered powerful explosions at a nearby ammunition depot Thursday. Fighter jets stationed at the 111th Combat Wing base were moved to other facilities.

The depot blasts near the central city of Volos shattered windows in nearby towns and prompted the evacuation of more than 2,000 people. Local news broadcasts showed a ground-shaking fireball erupting.

Residents were rushed onto private boats mobilized by the coast guard and taken to a conference center in Volos, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from the weapons storage site. A civilian traffic ban and evacuation order remained in effect Friday within a 3-kilometer radius of the depot.

The explosions did not affect flights at Volos international airport, officials told The Associated Press.

A drop in temperatures and calmer winds helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes in Greece and all major fires were contained by midday Friday, Greek Fire Service officials said.

Conditions also improved elsewhere in Europe’s Mediterranean regions thanks to cooler temperatures, allowing firefighters to contain wildfires along the Croatian coast and in Sicily.

Firefighting teams in Turkey also brought a wildfire burning close to the southern Mediterranean resort of Kemer under control, four days after it erupted, Ibrahim Yumakli, the country’s forestry minister, said.

The governments of the countries hit by heat waves and fires have steered public debate away from the potential impact on tourism. Rhodes, where a fire last weekend required about 19,000 people to be evacuated from several locations on the island, was promised state support Friday for its international advertising campaign.

In Germany, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach sought Friday to address Italian irritation over a mid-July social media post in which he described the heat wave he encountered on a visit to Italy as “spectacular” and added that “if it goes on like this, these vacation destinations will have no future in the long term.”

Lauterbach told reporters in Berlin that he wasn’t warning against vacations in southern Europe and plans to visit Italy again himself.

“Of course, it is more difficult now for the southern countries to organize heat protection in such a way that it is also accessible for every tourist, but I think those countries will know exactly what they have to do,” he said.

Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek minister for climate change and civil protection, said fires had burned 400 square kilometers of land in the country in July alone, while the recent average is 500 square kilometers (nearly 200 square miles) in a year.

“Is the situation any better in other countries bordering the Mediterranean? It’s a fair question … but the answer is no,” Kikilias said.

“The climate crisis that brought us this unprecedented heat wave is here. It’s not a theory. It is our actual experience,” he said. “This is not something that will just occur this year. It will last and we have to face the consequences of what that means.” 
…

A Pakistani journalist forced to flee for his own safety now runs a club for fellow exiles in France. They meet to exchange ideas and share their stories with locals. For VOA, Henry Ridgwell has the story of Taha Siddiqui. Video: Vahid Karami
…

Latest developments:

Ukrainian soldiers recaptured the southeastern village of Staromaiorske in Donetsk region. the recapture is part of Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive push through the Russian-occupied southeast.
U.S. Abrams tanks are now likely to arrive in Ukraine in September.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited a historic Odesa cathedral that was damaged by a recent Russian airstrike.

On Thursday, less than two weeks after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russia-Africa Conference opened in Saint Petersburg. 

The British Defense Ministry reported Friday that only 17 African heads of state attended the gathering.  Forty-three African leaders attended the last conference.  

Before Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, 30 million tons of Ukrainian grain were exported to Africa, the ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  Now, however, according to the ministry, Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian grain is not only resulting in higher grain prices but will also be responsible for food insecurity across the African continent “for at least the next two years.”

A photograph of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, who staged a failed mutiny in Russia in June, has emerged. The BBC reports after extensive scrutiny and the use of facial recognition software, that the photo is of Prigozhin and Freddy Mapoul, a senior Central African Republic official, who is attending the Russia-Africa Conference.  

The photo marks the first sighting of Prigozhin in Russia since his failed mutiny in June. The photo, according to the BBC, was taken in the Trezzini Palace hotel in St. Petersburg, which is reported to be owned by Prigozhin. 

Ukrainian soldiers have recaptured the southeastern village of Staromaiorske from Russian forces, a video published Thursday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed, as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive push through the Russian-occupied southeast.

“The 35th brigade and the ‘Ariy’ territorial defense unit have fulfilled their task and liberated the village of Staromaiorske. Glory to Ukraine!” a soldier said in a video that was not immediately geolocated, according to Reuters.   

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar declared Staromaiorske liberated, saying, “Our defenders are now continuing to clear the settlement.”

Staromaiorske is located in the region of Donetsk, south of a group of small settlements that Ukraine recaptured during a counteroffensive it began in June. 

Zelenskyy has recognized that the counteroffensive against Russian forces, who hold parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, has been slower than he wanted. But Wednesday, he lauded “very good results” from the front.  

Russian forces have established an expansive network of minefields and trenches in the south to deter the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukrainian attacks in the strategically significant south had escalated, but he told Russian television that the Ukrainians had made no progress.  

The recapture of Staromaiorske is part of Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive push through the Russian-occupied southeast. The strategy has focused on retaking villages as Ukrainian forces move southward.  

Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military analyst, said the new focus on the southward push was Staromlynivka, a village less than three miles away. 

“It really serves as a stronghold for the Russian occupiers, the peak of the second defensive line in this location,” he said in an interview with the RBC UA media outlet. 

For months, Ukraine has been running low on ammunition it needs in its lengthy fight against Russia.  

But now, U.S. Abrams tanks are likely to arrive in Ukraine in September, Politico reported Thursday, citing six officials familiar with the plan.

Previously, Pentagon officials said the tanks would arrive on Ukrainian battlefields sometime in the fall. The United States is planning on sending 31 tanks in total.  

A batch of tanks will go to Germany in August, where they will undergo final refurbishments before getting shipped to Ukraine. In June, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he hoped the tanks would arrive in time for the ongoing counteroffensive.  

This development comes a couple of weeks after the United States announced it would send controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine.   

In a joint statement Thursday evening, U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni affirmed their commitment to continue providing political, military, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

Also on Thursday, Zelenskyy visited the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, which was damaged by a recent Russian airstrike on the southern port city of Odesa. The cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

Ukrainian culture has been a target since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Since the war began, at least 274 Ukrainian cultural sites have been damaged, including 117 religious sites, according to UNESCO. 

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Latest developments:

Ukrainian soldiers recaptured the southeastern village of Staromaiorske in Donetsk region. the recapture is part of Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive push through the Russian-occupied southeast.
U.S. Abrams tanks are now likely to arrive in Ukraine in September.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited a historic Odesa cathedral that was damaged by a recent Russian airstrike.

 

Ukrainian soldiers have recaptured the southeastern village of Staromaiorske from Russian forces, a video published Thursday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed, as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive push through the Russian-occupied southeast.

“The 35th brigade and the ‘Ariy’ territorial defense unit have fulfilled their task and liberated the village of Staromaiorske. Glory to Ukraine!” a soldier said in a video that was not immediately geolocated, according to Reuters.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar declared Staromaiorske liberated, saying, “Our defenders are now continuing to clear the settlement.”

Staromaiorske is located in the region of Donetsk, south of a group of small settlements that Ukraine recaptured during a counteroffensive it began in June.

Zelenskyy has recognized that the counteroffensive against Russian forces, who hold parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, has been slower than he wanted. But Wednesday, he lauded “very good results” from the front.

Russian forces have established an expansive network of minefields and trenches in the south to deter the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukrainian attacks in the strategically significant south had escalated, but he told Russian television that the Ukrainians had made no progress.

The recapture of Staromaiorske is part of Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive push through the Russian-occupied southeast. The strategy has focused on retaking villages as Ukrainian forces move southward.

Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military analyst, said the new focus on the southward push was Staromlynivka, a village less than three miles away.

“It really serves as a stronghold for the Russian occupiers, the peak of the second defensive line in this location,” he said in an interview with the RBC UA media outlet.

For months, Ukraine has been running low on ammunition it needs in its lengthy fight against Russia.

But now, U.S. Abrams tanks are likely to arrive in Ukraine in September, Politico reported Thursday, citing six officials familiar with the plan.

Previously, Pentagon officials said the tanks would arrive on Ukrainian battlefields sometime in the fall. The United States is planning on sending 31 tanks in total.

A batch of tanks will go to Germany in August, where they will undergo final refurbishments before getting shipped to Ukraine. In June, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he hoped the tanks would arrive in time for the ongoing counteroffensive.

This development comes a couple of weeks after the United States announced it would send controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine.

In a joint statement Thursday evening, U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni affirmed their commitment to continue providing political, military, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

Also on Thursday, Zelenskyy visited the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, which was damaged by a recent Russian airstrike on the southern port city of Odesa. The cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ukrainian culture has been a target since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Since the war began, at least 274 Ukrainian cultural sites have been damaged, including 117 religious sites, according to UNESCO.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

President Joe Biden met with Italy’s new leader Thursday at the White House, where the two reaffirmed their support for Ukraine and talked of countering Beijing’s growing ambitions – a particularly salient point for Rome as it mulls quitting China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Biden suggested that the U.S. could fill the gap.

“We’re going to talk about our deepening economic connection that has fueled more than $100 billion in trade last year,” Biden said. “In my mind, there’s no reason why that can’t increase.”

“We know who our friends are in times that are tough,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, in English, sitting next to Biden in the Oval Office. “And I think Western nations have shown that they can rely on each other much more than some have believed.”

After the meeting, the two leaders released a lengthy joint statement affirming their “unshakable alliance, strategic partnership and deep friendship.”

“The United States welcomes the increased presence of Italy in the [Indo-Pacific] region,” the statement read. “The two sides reiterate the vital importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is instrumental to regional and global security and prosperity. The United States and Italy also commit to strengthen bilateral and multilateral consultations on the opportunities and challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China.”

The far-right Italian leader is facing heavy pressure and “thinly veiled threats from Beijing” to stay in the agreement, which comes up for renewal in early 2024, wrote Brookings Institution analyst Carlo Bastasin this week.

“The prime minister, in other words, is finding out how unrealistic it would be for a country the size of Italy to pursue an isolated nationalism or aggressive rhetoric against China,” he wrote. “It would be much more reasonable for her to join forces with the other European countries in search of an agreement with the Biden administration.”

Earlier this week, Beijing urged Rome to stay on the path.

“For China and Italy, Belt and Road cooperation began as a new platform for practical cooperation,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. “It has achieved mutually beneficial results in a range of areas. It is in both sides’ interests to further tap into the potential of our Belt and Road cooperation.”

The White House disagrees.

“It’s becoming increasingly obvious that more and more countries around the world are seeing the risks and, quite frankly, the lack of reward for economic partnerships with China in — in that regard,” John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, said ahead of Meloni’s visit.

“We’ve created an alternative,” he said, referring to Biden’s Partnership for Global Investment and Infrastructure (PGII). “I mean, that is a good alternative, and it is getting some traction. And so, we’re going to continue to invest in that and continue to encourage our partners to as well.”

Meanwhile, Meloni, who swept to power in 2022 as leader of the right-wing populist Brothers of Italy party, faces criticism for her harsh stance on sexual minorities and recent moves to restrict rights for same-sex parents. When asked if Biden would raise that, Kirby said the president would.

“We approach our engagement with countries around the world from that perspective — a respect for human rights, civil rights, freedom of expression and equality,” he said. “And we’re never shy about stating that either publicly or privately, and we’ll continue to do that.”
…

Sweden’s prime minister said Thursday that police have received several permit applications for the burning of religious texts in the country next week, and that he fears this may escalate tensions further with the Muslim world.

In his first public comments since the start of the Quran burning crisis that has severely strained Stockholm’s ties with Muslim nations, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT he was “extremely concerned” about a new wave of desecrations. 

“It’s the police that make those decisions, not me. If they [permits] are granted, we face a number of days with the obvious risk of serious things happening,” Kristersson told TT.

A recent string of public Quran desecrations by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Sweden — and more recently in neighboring Denmark — has sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.

Sweden does not have a law specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or other religious texts. The right to hold public demonstrations is valued and protected by the Swedish Constitution. Police generally give permission based on whether they believe a public gathering can be held without major disruptions or risks to public safety.

The Swedish Security Service said Wednesday that Sweden’s image among Muslim nations and its security situation have deteriorated after the recent Quran burnings, and that it could face threats from “within the violent Islamist milieu.”

Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom and security service representatives appeared before the Swedish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee Thursday to discuss the Quran burning crisis, at the request of the opposition Social Democratic Party.

After the meeting, Billstrom told TT that the situation was serious but that there was no “quick fix” to cool down the anti-Swedish mood in the Muslim world.

“Our primary and most important task is to protect Swedish interests and the safety of Swedes both here and abroad,” Billstrom was quoted by TT. “We should take the developments that are now underway very seriously; everyone in our country should do so.”

Kristersson said his government has created a new task force among security agencies to come up with measures to combat terrorism and violent extremism.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has called an emergency remote meeting of members’ foreign ministers on July 31 at the ministerial level to discuss the Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark. 
…

The Biden administration is dismissing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to supply free grain to several African nations whose leaders are attending a summit in St. Petersburg, and calling instead for a full Russian return to the agreement that allowed Ukraine to send products from their Black Sea ports. 

John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, also told VOA on Thursday that the White House is closely watching a coup in Niger, a West African nation seen as a close U.S. partner in the struggle against Islamic extremism and instability caused by violent Russian mercenaries on the continent. 

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: John, thank you very much for your time. With Russia nixing the grain deal (to allow shipments out of Ukrainian ports), which is vital for the Global South, it turns out that two-thirds of African leaders are not attending the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg. Does this poor showing mean that Putin’s food-weaponizing strategy, as you call it, is now playing against him?

John Kirby: I certainly can’t speak for the African leaders who decided to go or not to go, or what motivated them. I think the whole world, including African nations, are seeing, quite plainly, the effect of Russia’s decision to pull out of the grain deal, the effect that’s going to have on their economies, on food scarcity across the continent. And I hope that for those leaders who did show up, I hope Mr. Putin is honest with you. I hope he tells them, ‘I’m the reason why food prices are volatile. I’m the reason why you’re going to have more problems with starvation, and with access to food and grain in your countries.’ Because it is, there’s only one party responsible for the volatility we’re seeing, and for the fact that the grain is now going to be much harder to get out of Ukraine. And that’s Russia, that’s Mr. Putin.

VOA: Russia, at least publicly, is trying to downplay the impact of terminating the grain deal. And now Putin is offering, to at least six African countries, free grain and is trying to sort of replace Ukraine as a major food supplier to African nations. First of all, is it possible and how dangerous are those statements from Putin?

Kirby: On the face of it, it looks like a desperate attempt by Mr. Putin to try to paper over the impact that his decision to not extend the deal is going to have on African nations. Obviously, each of these sovereign nations have got to decide for themselves whether this new offer by Mr. Putin is legitimate and whether they want to accept it. But it’s increasingly clear that nations around the world and in the Global South are seeing this reckless, irresponsible decision by Putin for what it is.

VOA: As for alternative ways of executing the grain deal, besides ground transportation, are the U.S. and allies considering sending convoys to escort ships in the Black Sea?

Kirby: No, there’s no active discussion now about inserting warships into the Black Sea. I think we all understand that that will only escalate the tensions and increase the odds of conflict between the West and Russia and that’s not what we’re looking for. What we’re looking for is for the grain to get out. What we’re looking for is for the deal to get extended. And short of that we’re going to work with our allies and partners on other ground routes and maybe even river routes.

VOA: It seems like Bolivia is interested in obtaining (drone) technology from Iran to protect its borders, as they say. Do you find this concerning?

Kirby: We’re concerned about any export of Iranian technology that can be destabilizing. We have leveled many sanctions on Iran, some of them tied directly to their support for Russia and their export of this drone technology to Moscow. We urge all nations, no matter where they are, to carefully consider before they enter into defense arrangements with a nation like Iran.

VOA: Can you elaborate on the coup in Niger? What’s the administration’s strategy and next move to try to get the country back on the path towards democratic governance?

Kirby: Well, we also obviously want to see the democratically elected government fully respected and free to govern as the people of Niger want them to govern. We’re watching events there, very closely. … We continue to urge as we did yesterday, that President (Mohamed) Bazoum be released and be allowed to execute the office that he was voted into to represent the people of Niger. Our State Department colleagues are doing the best they can to keep people advised and aware of the situation on the ground. We advise Americans to be safe, safety first. 

VOA: Some American media outlets reported that President Biden ordered the transfer of evidence to the International Criminal Court to investigate Russian war crimes. Can you elaborate on that?

Kirby: President Biden has been exceedingly clear that we want to make sure that Russia is properly held accountable for war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, that Russian forces and paramilitary forces and private contractors like the Wagner Group are clearly perpetrating on the people of Ukraine. And we’ve been clear from the very beginning that we’re going to help Ukraine. They have a special counsel who’s gathering evidence. We’re going to do what we can to help them collect that evidence, analyze that evidence and have it available for the appropriate international accountability mechanisms that might occur when the war is over. And that will include some coordination, some support of the work that the International Criminal Court is doing. 

VOA: Thank you very much. 

Kirby: Thank you. 
…

KIRKENES, Norway — In a place far above the Arctic Circle, a group of Russian journalists are working with Norwegians to break through the strict state controls that have gripped the media in their homeland.

At the Barents Observer, an online newspaper that has become a leading provider of news from the Far North over the past two decades, the two local journalists are now in the minority.

Based in the town of Kirkenes, close to the Russian border, the news outlet opened its doors to reporters who fled Russia after a clampdown on the press followed the invasion of Ukraine.

Denis Zagore left the Russian city of Murmansk in September, he said.

“When the war started, in my podcasts for Barents Observer, I said ‘dictator Putin,’ I said, ‘not SMO’ (special military operation) or something like that,” Zagore told AFP. “I started to understand it could be unsafe if I continued to do it in Murmansk,” which lies 220 kilometers (137 miles) over the border.

“If you (want to) say Putin is a dictator and war is war, it’s more safe here,” he said.

Blocked in Russia

The Barents Observer now has three Russian reporters and a Russian trainee and has started publishing more articles in Russian than English.

“We were already blocked in Russia and have been in tremendous trouble with the Russian censorship agency,” editor Thomas Nilsen said. “So we said, OK, they want to make more trouble for journalists, then we can make more trouble for them.

“We don’t care about Russian censorship laws. We are here for the freedom of speech and free journalism,” Nilsen said.

Blocked since 2019, the publication is using a multitude of tricks to circumvent Russia’s attempts to limit access. Mirror sites hosted on different addresses, access via VPN services, podcast formats and a presence on YouTube mean tens of thousands of views are maintained, Nilsen said.

Coverage includes general interest news like setbacks facing a marine park in Murmansk or invasions by pink salmon, as well as stories directly linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

“We have a lot of viewers, especially among young people in Russia, that get access and get information about what’s happening with the war, with the repression in Russia, about who ends up in jail and so on,” Nilsen said, “news articles that they don’t get in their local or regional media at home.”

A Putin spider 

Russia has fallen to 164th place — out of 180 — in the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, which Norway has topped for several years.

In early July, Elena Milashina, a Russian journalist with independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was badly beaten in Chechnya.

Foreign media are also on the receiving end. Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal correspondent, has been in prison since March facing espionage charges.

“Every day we were sitting in our office and didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Elizaveta Vereykina, who worked for the BBC in Moscow before joining the Barents Observer. “Would the police suddenly storm into our office and take us?

“It’s hard to live in a society that absolutely despises everything about you,” she said.

The number of Russian journalists in exile has grown in places such as Tbilisi, Yerevan, Vilnius, Riga and Kirkenes.

Trainee Olesya Krivtsova is waiting for a work permit before she can begin contributing.

She has a tattoo on her right leg: an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the shape of a spider with the Orwellian inscription “Big Brother is watching you.”

On the other ankle, she once wore an electronic bracelet. Reported by university friends in Arkhangelsk for criticizing the war on social networks, Krivtsova was placed under house arrest pending a trial for justifying terrorism and discrediting the Russian army — charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

“In the end, I realized the injustice of what was happening, so I left,” she said.

After ridding herself of the ankle bracelet, she traveled via Belarus and Lithuania before reaching Kirkenes.

“She said, ‘I want to change Russia and I want to do it through journalism,’” said Nilsen. “We said, ‘OK, welcome.'”
…

Wildfires reached the outskirts of Athens on Thursday as strong gusts of wind caused flare-ups around Greece, disrupting highway traffic and rail services.

The fires have raged across parts of the country during three successive Mediterranean heat waves over two weeks, leaving five people dead, including two firefighting pilots, and triggering a huge evacuation of tourists over the weekend on the island of Rhodes.

Water-dropping helicopters and a ground crew scrambled early Thursday to a blaze in Kifissia, just north of Athens, which was quickly put out.

Near the central city of Volos, a wildfire burned on two fronts, forcing a section of Greece’s busiest highway to close for several hours, while national rail services passing through the area were delayed.

Firefighters also battled flames on Rhodes for a 10th successive day, while flare-ups were reported on the island of Evia.

Wildfire carbon emissions for July in Greece were the highest by a huge margin — totaling over 1 metric megaton and doubling the previous record — since records started 20 years ago, according to the European Union agency that analyzes satellite data, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

“Unfortunately, it is not all that surprising, given the extreme conditions in the region,” said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the agency. “The observed intensity and estimated emissions show how unusual the scale of the fires have been for July relative to the last 20 years of data.”

In Athens, senior members of the armed forces paid tribute to the two pilots killed in a firefighting plane crash this week, at a ceremony held at the Defense Ministry.

Cpt. Christos Moulas and Lt. Pericles Stephanidis died during a low-altitude water drop on the island of Evia.

Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said the operators had shown “self-denial in the line of duty.”

“Greece today is in mourning. Their memories will live on,” Dendias said.

Funeral services for the two airmen will be held in northern Greece later Thursday and on the island of Crete on Friday.

 
…