Andrei Medvedev, fled Russia after the Russian guards opened fire on him in his account of his January flight from Russia over the country’s Arctic border with Norway…reports Asian Lite News
Former commander of the Wagner mercenary group, Andrei Medvedev, who sought asylum in Norway earlier this year, has been arrested by Norwegian police over suspicions of attempting to illegally re-enter Russia, CNN reported citing the man’s attorney on Saturday.
Andrei Medvedev, fled Russia after the Russian guards opened fire on him in his account of his January flight from Russia over the country’s Arctic border with Norway.
He has talked about his experience fighting with the Wagner organisation in Ukraine. Police stated in a statement late on Friday that a man in his 20s had been arrested for trying to enter Russia illegally, but they did not give his identity. The identity of the individual who had been arrested was withheld by a Finnmark local police officer, reported CNN.
When he first arrived in Norway, Medvedev said he was looking for refuge because he feared for his life after seeing Russian captives who had been carried to the front lines of the Ukrainian conflict killed and treated badly.
His escape in January garnered international attention as a then-rare instance of defection to a Western nation while claiming to have participated in the Ukraine War as a mercenary for Russia, according to CNN.
Although he acknowledged that doing so may endanger his life, he stated in a YouTube video that he wanted to go back to Russia and described himself as “some kind of a boy in a big game” that he no longer wanted to be a part of. (ANI)
Committing a proscription offence could lead to 14 years in prison or a fine of up to 5,00 pounds…reports Asian Lite News
The UK Home Office has decided to declare the Russian Wagner mercenary group as a terrorist organistation which will make it a criminal offence to be a member or support the outfit.
A draft order to be laid in Parliament will allow Wagner’s assets to be categorised as terrorist property and seized, reports the BBC.
The order will make it a criminal offence to support the group, including by arranging a meetings aimed at furthering the organisation’s activities; expressing support for its aims; and displaying its flag or logo.
Committing a proscription offence could lead to 14 years in prison or a fine of up to 5,00 pounds.
The UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 gives the Home Secretary the power to proscribe an organisation if they believe it is concerned in terrorism.
Before the act, it was only possible to proscribe organisations connected to terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Wagner will now join other organisations like the Hamas and Boko Haram that have been proscribed by the UK, the BBC reported.
In a statement, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Wagner was “violent and destructive… a military tool of Vladimir Putin’s Russia”.
She said its work in Ukraine and Africa was a “threat to global security”.
“Wagner’s continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin’s political goals. They are terrorists, plain and simple – and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law,” Braverman added.
Wagner had played a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as operating in Syria and countries in Africa including Libya and Mali.
Its fighters have been accused of a number crimes including killing and torturing Ukrainian citizens.
The UK Foreign Office had earlier imposed sanctions on the group, including freezing the assets of Wagner late chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and several top commanders.
Prigozhin, who led a failed mutiny against the Russian military leadership in June, was killed in a plane crash along with other Wagner members on August 23.
Wagner Chief's First Video Address After Failed Rebellion
The identities of all 10 people killed in the plane crash correspond to the manifest of the flight, the committee added on Sunday…reports Asian Lite News
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed that the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash in the Tver region near Moscow.
The identities of all 10 people killed in the plane crash correspond to the manifest of the flight, the committee added on Sunday.
“As part of the investigation into the plane crash in the Tver Region, molecular genetic examinations have been completed. Based on their results, the identities of all 10 victims have been established, they correspond to the list stated in the flight manifest,” the committee wrote on Telegram.
A private Embraer plane en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed in the Tver Region last Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, according to the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.
According to the name list released by Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport, Wagner Group private military company’s leader Prigozhin was among the 10 victims.
Kremlin has also rubbished the Western reports which claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin had been killed on its orders and called it an “absolute lie.”…reports Asian Lite News
In a bid to bring the mercenary group Wagner under its tight control, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered its fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state. The move comes after it was reported that the chief of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prighozhin had been killed in a deadly plane crash exactly after two months he led a mutiny against Moscow. The Kremlin has still not confirmed Yevgeny Prighozhin’s death and has cited the need to wait for test results.
As per the news agency Reuters, the decree which was published on the website of Kremlin calls for the formal oath of allegiance to Russia for anyone working on behalf of the Russian government in its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to all those who died in the plane crash and spoke about Yevgeny Prighozhin in the past tense. While praising the Wagner chief, President Vladimir Putin mentioned that he made some “serious mistakes.”
Kremlin has also rubbished the Western reports which claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin had been killed on its orders and called it an “absolute lie.”
“There is now a great deal of speculation surrounding this plane crash and the tragic deaths of the plane’s passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin. Of course, in the West, all this speculation is presented from a well-known angle,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“All of this is an absolute lie, and here, when covering this issue, it is necessary to base yourself on facts. There are not many facts yet. They need to be established in the course of investigative actions,” he said.
As per the “preliminary information” all the top executives of the Wagner group were killed in the crash along with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian officials said.
When asked about the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in the crash, Peskov said “If you listened carefully to the Russian president’s statement, he said that all the necessary tests, including genetic tests, will now be carried out. The official results – as soon as they are ready to be published, will be published.”
French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday announced that it is preparing to evacuate its citizens and people of European nations who wish to leave Niger, days after President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by members of his presidential guard…reports Asian Lite News
General Salifou Mody, one of the Niger officers who seized power in a military coup last week, visited Mali on Wednesday, CNN reported citing the Mali presidency.
Notably, this comes amid speculation of possible interest in the Wagner mercenary group, which has a presence in the country.
Mali’s transitional president, Assimi Goïta, hosted Mody and a large Nigerien military delegation on Wednesday, CNN reported citing the pictures and a statement posted on Facebook by the Mali presidency.
Mody called the meeting “part of a complex regional context,” the Mali presidency said, and thanked Malian authorities “for their support and accompaniment since the seizure of power by the CNSP,” referring to the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland where Mody is vice president.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Wagner contractors are stationed in Mali at the invitation of the country’s military junta, to quell an Islamist insurgency brewing in an area where the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger meet.
Last week, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin celebrated the coup in the landlocked West African country, saying his private military company could also help with situations like the one unfolding in Niger, CNN reported.
The dramatic ouster of Niger’s President Bazoum last week alarmed Western leaders, including the US and France, which are both key stakeholders in Niger’s crackdown on local insurgencies.
US officials have warned that the Russian mercenary group could now seek new opportunities in Niger.
“I would not be surprised to see Wagner attempt to exploit this situation to their own advantage as they’ve attempted to exploit other situations in Africa to their own advantage,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday.
Miller added that “any attempt by the military leaders in Niger to bring the Wagner forces into Niger would be a sign, yet another sign that they do not have the best interests of the Nigerien people at heart.”
Meanwhile, at least four European countries announced that plans to evacuate their citizens are underway in Niger.
Recently over the weekend, pictures from Niger showed protesters waving Russian flags, chanting Putin’s name.
French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday announced that it is preparing to evacuate its citizens and people of European nations who wish to leave Niger, days after President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by members of his presidential guard.
French Foreign Ministry’s statement comes after the supporters of the coup in Niger on Sunday burned French flags and attacked the French embassy in Niger’s capital, Niamey, Al Jazeera reported.
Germany also suspended collaboration and withhold financial aid to Niger, reported Al Jazeera.
At a press conference, a representative of the German foreign ministry said that all direct assistance payments to the Nigerian central government will be halted until further notice.
However, the coup has provoked a split reaction from countries in the Sahel region, where the threat of militant extremism in recent years has destabilized local governments and led to volatility.
On Monday, Mali and Burkina Faso’s governments said they would consider any military intervention “an act of war” against them and put their armies on standby.
On the other hand, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday threatened to use force if Niger’s ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, was not reinstated within one week.
ECOWAS also imposed a travel ban and asset freeze for the military officials involved in the coup attempt, as well as for their family members and civilians who accept to participate in any institutions or government established by the officials.
Burkina Faso and Mali expressed their solidarity with Nigerien authorities and said they would not participate in any measures against Niger by ECOWAS, calling the sanctions “illegal, illegitimate and inhuman.” Guinea also expressed its solidarity with Niger on Monday. (ANI)
The troop movements appeared to be another element in this campaign to destabilize the border…reports Asian Lite News
Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, on Saturday, claimed that over 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, CNN reported.
The Poland PM said that his government had received information that Wagner mercenaries went near the Grodno, a city in western Belarus close to the land, which is also known as the Suwalki gap or corridor. Thousands of Wagner troops are reportedly in Belarus following a failed military uprising in Russia.
Morawiecki alleged that Belarus, a key ally to Russia, has been sending migrants westward in an attempt to overwhelm Polish border forces. And till now, this year, around 16,000 attempts were made by migrants to cross the border illegally, he added.
The troop movements, Morawiecki added, appeared to be another element in this campaign to destabilize the border., according to CNN
“They will probably be disguised as Belarusian border guards and will help illegal immigrants to enter Polish territory, destabilize Poland, but they will also probably try to infiltrate Poland pretending to be illegal immigrants and this creates additional risks,” he said, according to CNN.
What exactly Wagner’s troops are doing in Grodno is unclear, as Wagner has not commented on the reports. But deploying Russian-allied forces near the Suwalki corridor would represent an escalation that could rattle NATO and EU members.
Earlier, the Lithuanian deputy interior minister said his country and Poland were considering blocking their respective borders with Belarus amid concerns about the presence of the Wagner mercenary group there, Al Jazeera reported.
Following their brief insurrection against the senior military brass of Russia, the Wagner fighters have been staying in Belarus.
“The considerations are real. The possibility of closing the border exists,” Arnoldas Abramavicius told reporters regarding the border closure, according to Al Jazeera.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, took credit for arranging the agreement between Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin that put an end to the insurrection. Since then, Lukashenko has invited the Wagner forces to Belarus to assist in military training. (ANI)
Labour’s proposed legislation could also be used to proscribe the IRGC, which sends hit squads to assassinate dissidents on British soil…reports Asian Lite News
The Labour Party has said that it will introduce legislation to ban dangerous state-sponsored organisations that pose a threat to the UK, including Russia’s Wagner group and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the UK anti-terrorism legislation doesn’t “fit” the dangers posed by emerging “hostile-state threats” such as Wagner, the Russian private military company accused of human rights abuses in Africa and Ukraine. The mercenaries’ leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, mounted an armed rebellion against President Putin’s regime last month.
The government has repeatedly signalled its intention formally to proscribe Wagner, which would make it a criminal offence to belong to the group, attend its meetings, encourage support for it or display its logo in public, putting it on the same footing as groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda. However, ministers have so far failed to do so. A senior government source said the plans to proscribe Wagner were being blocked by the Foreign Office, which “didn’t want to upset Russia”.
“At the moment the government is left having to use terrorism legislation to proscribe organisations,” Cooper said. “And the terrorism legislation doesn’t quite fit. We think there should be parallel legislation . . . around state threats.”
Cooper, 54, said Labour’s proposed legislation could also be used to proscribe the IRGC, which sends hit squads to assassinate dissidents on British soil. Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, recently disclosed that ten IRGC plots in the UK had been foiled in the past year. In February, the television channel Iran International TV, acting on advice from the Metropolitan Police, closed its London studios after state-backed threats.
It is understood the Foreign Office is concerned banning the IRGC would lead the UK to lose its embassy in Tehran, which would damage the “protection of UK interests”.
Cooper, a minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, criticised successive Conservative governments for failing to provide the required “leadership” against myriad new threats to the UK.
She said a Labour government would seek to build a new integrated strategy for dealing with threats from hostile states, similar to the Contest anti-terrorism strategy. “You would have the same broad approach that brings together not just the intelligence agencies, the police, different government organisations, different non-government private sector – public sector organisations as well, as part of the comprehensive response and strategy to the homeland security threat.
Cooper added: “Foreign security threats are actually increasingly become domestic security threats.” She pledged that Labour would create a “joint cell” between the Home Office and the Foreign Office to build a “combined team working together to co-ordinate . . . across different departments”.
The government and intelligence agencies have repeatedly been criticised for failing to tackle the challenges posed by hostile states such as China and Russia. Last week, the intelligence and security committee (ISC), a group of senior MPs and peers that reviews the work of the intelligence agencies, published a damning report revealing that China had penetrated every sector of the UK economy, and lambasted successive governments for pursuing short-term economic interests rather than addressing the threat. The report concluded that Britain was being subjected to a “whole-state assault” by China, which had targeted politicians, sensitive infrastructure, the military, private companies and the academic sector.
In 2020 the ISC published a similar report on the government’s policy towards Russia. It claimed British intelligence agencies took their “eye off the ball” over Russian interference and that the government “badly underestimated” the threat.
Cooper said China posed a “complex strategic challenge” and committed Labour to conducting a “comprehensive” review of critical national infrastructure. “We’ve seen concerns about the secret Chinese police stations [in the UK] and also some long-term economic concerns as well [around] security of supply chains and the use of Chinese equipment as part of police security cameras,” she said. “Obviously we have substantial trade with China. We also have to be very clear-eyed about areas where there is an impact on our long-term economic resilience, but also on our national security. We want to see leadership and a proper overarching strategy, rather than this piecemeal approach.” Cooper claimed “security [would] underpin everything that Labour does”.
“Keir [Starmer] has talked about us needing to face down the age of insecurity, whether that’s a threat to economic security that families face, the sense of insecurity that people have in their own communities and their own streets,” she added. “People concerned at the cost-of-living crisis on mortgage insecurity, through to community and safety issues, or the security of knowing that public services will be there for you when you need them. But, of course, national security is the bedrock on which everything else has to be built. And you know, it’s the bedrock for opportunities, for social justice. And so that’s why we see national security as being the first duty of any government, and certainly the first duty of a Labour government to make sure that our country is safe.”
Pentagon seen from an airplane over Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie/IANS)
On Wednesday, Russia announced that its army had received more than 2,000 pieces of military hardware, including tanks, from Wagner, following the rebellion…reports Asian Lite News
Wagner mercenaries are no longer participating in “any significant capacity” in combat operations in Ukraine, the Pentagon said Thursday, more than two weeks after the group’s aborted mutiny in Russia.
“At this stage, we do not see Wagner forces participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told a news briefing.
The armed group, which played a key role in the Ukraine offensive, sought to topple Russia’s military leadership during the brief rebellion, before backing down.
The whereabouts of its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin are largely unknown in the wake of an agreement with the Kremlin that allowed for him to be exiled to neighbouring Belarus.
Ryder said the United States assessed that “the majority” of Wagner fighters were still in areas of Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Russian army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov Gerasimov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had for months been the targets of fierce criticism from Prigozhin, leading up to the attempted rebellion.
Since the failed mutiny, speculation has been rife that there could be a reshuffle among Russia’s military leadership, while details about the deal that ended the Wagner rebellion remain uncertain.
The Kremlin has said that President Vladimir Putin met with Prigozhin during an hours-long meeting in Moscow days after the mutiny.
On Wednesday, Russia announced that its army had received more than 2,000 pieces of military hardware, including tanks, from Wagner, following the rebellion.
Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Putin held secret talks at the Kremlin with the Wagner warlord who staged an armed mutiny against his regime.
The unannounced session took place on July 1, a week after the revolt by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary army, according to French publication Liberation, which cited secret service sources.
Since the alleged meeting, Prigozhin appears to be remaining in Russia rather than forced into exile in neighbouring Belarus as seemed his fate earlier.
The claims about a sensational head-to-head between Putin and Prigozhin come amid a chilling separate theory that the Wagner boss may be tasked with using his armed force to assassinate Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky — and ‘bring his head’ to the Kremlin.
Prigozhin may seek to carry out ‘some great atrocity for the benefit of Russia’ to work his way back in with the Putin regime after his armed revolt aimed at toppling Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Defence Staff Valery Gerasimov, said one of Moscow’s most-respected editors, Nobel prize-winner Dmitry Muratov.
“I think [Yevgeny Prigozhin] may not ask for forgiveness [from Putin],” Muratov, who runs the pioneering investigative news outlet Novaya Gazeta, told Zhivoy Gvozd in his YouTube show.
Under the deal to end the stand-off brokered by Lukashenko, charges against the Wagner chief were dropped and he was offered a move to Belarus…reports Asian Lite News
Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko on Thursday said that Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Russian Wagner mercenary group that staged a short-lived rebellion last month, is in Russia.
Since the rebellion on June 24, the whereabouts of Prigozhin remains unknown, the BBC reported.
Under the deal to end the stand-off brokered by Lukashenko, charges against the Wagner chief were dropped and he was offered a move to Belarus.
But on Thursday, the President said: “As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus.”
His announcement came just over a week ago when he said that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus.
The BBC had tracked Prigozhin’s private jet flying to Belarus in late June, and returning to Russia the same evening.
It has since made several flights between St Petersburg and Moscow — although it remains unclear if the Wagner chief was on board.
In his announcement on Thursday, the Belarusian President further said that “as far as I know” the rest of the Wagner fighters were still at their bases — which could include eastern Ukraine or a training base in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
He said an offer for Wagner to station some of its fighters in Belarus still stands and he has offered several Soviet-era military sites for their use.
“But Wagner have a different vision. Of course I won;t tell you about that. At present, the issue of their relocation has not been resolved,” the BBC quoted the President as saying.
Prigozhin, in an audio message published on Monday by his news service, said that the march was a demonstration of protest and not intended to overthrow power…reports Asian Lite News
Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has reached Belarus, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, reported CNN.
According to Belarusian state media, Lukashenko in his address on Tuesday said that he had warned Prigozhin that if he continued his march into the Russian capital, his soldiers would be obliterated. He reportedly told Prigozhin during a conversation on Saturday that “halfway you’ll just be crushed like a bug.”
In his address, Lukashenko also revealed additional information regarding his discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prigozhin over the weekend, stating that his discussions with the Wagner chief lasted the entire day on Saturday, CNN reported.
The President of Belarus further said that the nation is not currently erecting camps for Wagner mercenary soldiers on its soil, and he has given the group some undeveloped area inside Belarus if they require it.
The Belarusian military can benefit from the combat experience of the Wagner Group fighters, President Lukashenko has said.
“They were at the very front of the attacking troops. They will tell us what’s important now,” Lukashenko said, according to Belarusian news agency Belta. The fighters could report on which weapons worked well and how attack and defence could be conducted successfully, he said.
“This is very valuable. We have to get this from the Wagner fighters,” Lukashenko said, reported CNN. After the chaotic weekend in Russia, Putin spoke out strongly, reminding security guards that they had “virtually stopped a civil war” by putting down the failed uprising by Wagner troops.
Prigozhin, in an audio message published on Monday by his news service, said that the march was a demonstration of protest and not intended to overthrow power.
“We started our march because of an injustice. We went to demonstrate our protest and not to overthrow power in the country,” Prigozhin said in an audio message, Al Jazeera reported.
In his new audio message, Prigozhin also said that about 30 of his fighters died in the Russian army’s attack on the mercenary group on Friday. He said the attack came days before Wagner was scheduled to leave its positions on June 30 and hand over equipment to the Southern Military District in Rostov.
“Overnight, we have walked 780 kilometres (about 484 miles). Two hundred-something kilometres (about 125 miles) were left to Moscow,” Prigozhin claimed in the latest audio message, as per CNN.
