Former Russian minister sentenced to 40 months in prison for violating British sanctions
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, who was appointed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea by Russian President Vladimir Putin, became the first person convicted of violating the sanctions put in place after the illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
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New York Post
9 minutes ago
- New York Post
Moscow troops make massive advance in Ukraine just days before Trump set to meet with Putin
Moscow troops made one of their most dramatic advancements of the year Tuesday when they pushed deeper into the Donetsk region of Ukraine — just three days before President Trump is set to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Russia's invasion forces marched some six miles past the frontlines in Donetsk to encircle the towns of Kostyantynivka and Pokrovsk, advancing Moscow's goal of taking full control of the region, according to Ukraine's authoritative DeepState war map. 3 Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on August 8, 2025. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 3 Police explosives experts carry a fragment of Russian cruise missile outside a residential building in Kyiv on August 1, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 3 The wreckage of a Ukrainian military vehicle, bombed by a Russian FPV drone, sits at the train station on August 11, 2025 in Kostyantynivka, Ukraine. Getty Images 'The situation is quite chaotic, as the enemy, having found gaps in the defense, is infiltrating deeper, trying to quickly consolidate and accumulate forces for further advancement,' DeepState said in an update.
The Hill
9 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump has the cards as Putin's Russia is falling apart
President Trump is scheduled to meet Friday with Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss the Russo-Ukrainian War and possible ways of ending it. Trump, who was supposed to impose ruinous secondary sanctions on Aug. 8 but did not (shades of TACO?), apparently has hopes of coming to some sort of agreement. He will be sorely disappointed, as Putin's openly and persistently declared war aims and views of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky preclude compromise. Putin has accused Zelensky of being an illegitimate president, even though Zelensky won a fair and free election in 2019, and Ukraine's constitution expressly permits elections to be suspended at a time of war. The truly illegitimate president is of course Putin, who has been elected in rigged ballots several times, most recently in 2024. This matters only because Putin has indicated that he won't sign any official documents with Zelensky, inasmuch as the Ukrainian leader is supposedly not a real president. If Zelensky attends the Alaska summit, any agreement that is reached — however unlikely such an eventuality — will remain without Putin's signature and thus have no importance. Seen in this light, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's Aug. 4 comment that 'Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky after preparatory work at the expert level,' while sounding at first glance like a concession, must be taken with a huge grain of salt. Equally important, Peskov's reference to preparatory work is meaningless if Putin continues to demand Ukraine's capitulation, dismemberment and transformation into a Russian colony. A recent article by a Russian propagandist suggests that the Kremlin may even have Ukraine's total annihilation in mind. The headline reads, 'There is no other option: no one should remain alive in Ukraine.' A clearer statement of genocidal intent could not possibly be made. Just as clearly, this maximalist demand brooks no compromise and dooms all 'preparatory work' to meaningless verbiage masking the Kremlin's 'final solution' to the Ukrainian 'problem.' The bottom line is that Putin will not and cannot negotiate in good faith, whether in Alaska or elsewhere. Which means that he will be willing to seek something resembling an end to the fighting only if he is forced to do so. Trump could bring about such a result by arming Ukraine and enabling it to stop and push back Russia's incremental territorial advances. Russian elites who know that Putin has led his country — and their own fortunes — to disaster could also follow in the historical footsteps of many Russian leaders and stage a coup. This scenario seems unlikely, but the reality is that a coup may be the only thing keeping Russia from disintegration. The choice facing Russian elites is simple: Russia or Putin? If they opt for Russia, then Putin must go. If they opt for Putin, then Russia will go down the toilet. Janusz Bugajski, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, convincingly argues that Russia may be facing an imminent demise. 'Russian officials are sounding increasingly alarmed and even paranoid in their public statements about the future of their country,' he writes. 'What may appear to be political paranoia or an attempt to mobilize citizens behind the regime is not necessarily based on imagined enemies. It reveals the official realization that numerous negative trends are converging on Russia and that the current regime, and even the state itself, may be running out of time.' 'Three overarching fears preoccupy Russian officialdom: losing the war, economic collapse, and state fracture,' writes Bugajski. 'The prospect of all three occurring soon looms on the horizon.' Putin, Peskov and the Kremlin's propagandists would dispute Bugajski's analysis and insist that all is well with the war, economy and state. One expects nothing less from them, but the reality is markedly different. Russia has lost over a million soldiers and is largely dependent on North Korea for ammunition and manpower. The militarized Russian economy is crushing the consumer economy, which is headed for stagflation. And elite discontent with Putin and rising ethno-regionalism bodes ill for the integrity of the state. Indeed, Putin's Russia looks more and more like Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union. And we know how that ended. If Zelensky, Trump and Putin do in fact meet, the Ukrainian and American presidents should remember that, as long as Ukraine enjoys the support of the U.S., they and not Putin have the far better cards. Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as ' Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires' and ' Why Empires Reemerge
Newsweek
37 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Russian and Chinese Warships Reach Alaska's Doorstep
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A fleet of Russian and Chinese warships has moved closer to Alaska during a joint patrol in the Asia-Pacific region, as Moscow and Beijing challenge the United States' military supremacy. Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Northern Command via email for comment. The Russian and Chinese foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Why It Matters Russia and China have deepened military ties under their "no limits" strategic partnership. The quasi-alliance has previously deployed a range of military assets—including naval vessels, strategic bombers, and coast guard ships—for joint patrols around Alaska, outside America's sovereign airspace and waters, which extend up to 13.8 miles from the coastline. The presence of Russian and Chinese navies near Alaska comes as China sent five research vessels to Arctic waters around the state. It also comes ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting in Alaska on Friday, where the leaders are expected to discuss a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Russian and Chinese naval vessels take part in a naval war game near Vladivostok, Russia, on September 15, 2024. Russian and Chinese naval vessels take part in a naval war game near Vladivostok, Russia, on September 15, 2024. Vitaliy Ankov/Sputnik via AP What To Know Citing the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Tass news agency reported on Tuesday that Russian and Chinese naval vessels tasked with a joint patrol arrived at the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, on the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, to replenish supplies. The ships were docked in the Avacha Bay, which borders the port city. The Avacha Bay is approximately 575 miles from Attu Island, the westernmost island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain. The Russian and Chinese ships will continue to sail along what the Russian Pacific Fleet calls the "pre-approved patrol route" in the near future. Last September, U.S. warships were deployed in the Northern Pacific Ocean for homeland defense operations to protect Alaska as Russia and China conducted a joint naval patrol. It remains unclear whether the patrol flotilla will transit northward to the Bering Sea, north of the Aleutian Islands, or head south near Japan following its stopover in the Avacha Bay. According to the report, the ships were the Chinese destroyer CNS Shaoxing and the supply ship CNS Qiandaohu, as well as the Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs. They were spotted transiting off northern Japan on Friday after departing Vladivostok, Russia, for the patrol. Main tasks of the patrol included conducting maritime surveillance and protecting Russian and Chinese "maritime economic activities," according to the Russian Pacific Fleet. Earlier this month, the Russian and Chinese navies conducted the Joint Sea 2025 exercise near Vladivostok. Beijing said that the war game was an arrangement within the "annual cooperation plan" between the two militaries and was not targeted at any third party. The Pacific Fleet's destroyer Admiral Tributs(564),the PLA Navy's comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu and the destroyer Shaoxing(134) have anchored in Avacha resupply,the ships will continue to move along a pre-approved patrol 📸Vladimirov — Massimo Frantarelli (@MrFrantarelli) August 12, 2025 What People Are Saying The Russian Pacific Fleet, in a press release on Tuesday: "The first joint Russian-Chinese naval patrol in the Asia-Pacific region took place in 2021 and has been held annually since then." Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China's Defense Ministry, at a press conference on Friday: "The Joint Sea exercise is an institutionalized cooperation program between the Chinese and Russian navies. Since its inception in 2012, the exercise has been held 10 times and has become a key platform for China-Russia military cooperation." What Happens Next It is unclear whether the U.S. Navy or the U.S. Coast Guard has deployed ships or aircraft around Alaska in response to the Russian and Chinese joint naval patrol.
