Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says officials at the Arctic penal colony where he is serving a 19-year sentence have isolated him in a small “disciplinary cell. “
He was put in there for a minor infraction.
The prison government accused him of refusing to “report according to protocol” and ordered him to serve seven days in a disciplinary cell.
“The idea that Putin would simply lock me up in a barracks in the far north and prevent me from being tortured with disciplinary imprisonment was not only cowardly, but also naïve,” he said.
Navalny has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.
He was later jailed for extremism, something he and his allies vehemently deny.
While Ukraine has been at war for 22 months now, there are no signs of a manpower shortage – with fresh waves of recruits signing up regularly.
Here volunteers who aspire to enlist in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine receive their fundamental training.
If they succeed, they will join their colleagues on the front lines expanding eastward.
While Ukrainian officials are reporting an increase in internal weapons production (see previous post), Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the same cannot be said of Russia.
This comes after accusations that Russia had turned to North Korean and Iranian missiles, with some commentators suggesting this is due to chronic shortages in the Russian stockpiles.
Zelensky also said Russia will feel the full force of foreign sanctions, which add to the arms industry, to further isolate Moscow.
To do this, “gaps” had to be filled.
He did not specify which defects he was referring to.
Ukrainian factories have increased their production of military drones to such an extent that Kyiv’s budget for acquiring these drones is no longer sufficient, according to the Minister of Technology.
Drones or drones have an everyday component in the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, since they can be mass-produced and cost-effective by both parties, from available materials.
“So far, the market has accelerated much faster than the amount of money needed to buy all the drones,” Fedorov said.
“That is why we want to increase investment and open up the markets more, so that through the festival costs are lowered and part of the production can begin to be localized,” he said.
According to the minister, there are currently about two hundred corporations producing drones in Ukraine and about 70 local corporations have signed contracts to supply drones to the state.
The presidents of Ukraine and Poland have held a phone call, a statement from Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office has said.
This comes amid a dispute over agricultural and export rights, which they did not mention.
They are protesting against cheap Ukrainian grain being sold in the country, given the threat it poses to the internal farming industry.
The Russian government has arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with the sabotage of one of its military aircraft.
Investigators said the teenage suspect was detained in connection with the incident that occurred in the Chelyabinsk region “on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services. “
The relationship between Israel and Hamas is turning a blind eye to the conflict in Ukraine, the British Foreign Secretary said.
“The war between Israel and Hamas is diverting attention away from Ukraine, which I think is a disgrace,” Lord Cameron earlier told MPs.
“I think it’s the task of Ukraine’s most ardent supporters, of whom I would say Britain is rightly a component, to do everything in their power to keep this factor at the highest possible priority. “
He also called for more unity on the conflict, amid suggestions in the US that a crucial weapons tranche for Ukraine may not pass because of political infighting.
“[We must] keep the partnership and coalition of countries supporting Ukraine as strong, united and determined as possible,” he said.
“We want the Americans to provide this package.
He then asked if he thought it was more likely that this would eventually happen.
“I’m pretty confident they’ll pass it because, at the end of the day, there’s going to be a majority in Congress in favor,” he said.
A U. S. citizen has been arrested in Russia on drug trafficking charges, Russian said.
The US embassy in Moscow said it was aware of reports of the recent detention and that “the US department of state has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas”.
The news about the arrest come as Washington has sought to win the release of jailed Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich.
The State Department said last month that it had put several offers on the table but they had been rejected by the Russian government.
Mr Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was detained in March last year while on a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
Since then, he has been barred from paying spying fees, which he and the Journal have denied.
Mr Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, has been jailed in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage-related charges that both he and the US government dispute.
The Italian city of Modena has blocked the use of a public hall to host a private event on the reconstruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as it appeared to openly support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mariupol in southern Ukraine, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting at the start of Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
It had been almost completely destroyed by shelling when Russia captured and occupied it in May 2022.
The convention and exhibition “Mariupol. The Renaissance after the War”, organized through the Russian Emilia-Romagna Cultural Association, aimed to provide guest speakers on the reconstruction of the city, including the Russian consul general in Milan, Dmitry Shtodin, as reported by the organizers’ website.
But the Modena City Council withdrew its permission to use a civic corridor for the Jan. 20 occasion after “new things emerged,” he said.
It added that the makeup of the panel did not appear consistent with the commitment not to practise fascist and racist ideologies, and it violated Italy’s commitment to promote peace and international relations.
Ukraine’s ambassador, Yaroslav Melnyk, had called it “an open insult to the memory of thousands of civilian victims”.
Ukraine’s power grid operator said harsh winter situations have left more than 1,000 cities and towns in nine regions.
Electricity consumption peaked this week as temperatures dropped to around -15°C in many parts of the country, grid operator Ukrenergo said.
“The point of consumption continues to increase due to the sharp drop in temperatures in the country,” he said on the Telegram messaging application, adding that electricity consumption in the morning was already 5. 8% higher than the previous day.
“Since this morning, due to bad weather and strong winds, ice has been cut in 1,025 locations. “
The weather conditions severely damaged the distribution networks with strong winds, frost and a thick layer of ice on the equipment, forcing the work to be repaired late, Ukrenergo said.
Vitaliy Kim, governor of the southern Mykolaiv region, where 215 towns and villages have lost power, said the ice on the power lines is more than five centimeters thick.
Ukrenergo said the force’s formula is already working at its maximum capacity and suggested citizens save electrical energy as much as imaginable and avoid using multiple electrical appliances simultaneously to help the formula cope.