Mikhail Bogdanov relieved of duties as Russian deputy foreign minister
Bogdanov's departure, announced in a presidential decree, took place entirely at his own request for personal reasons, TASS quoted a source as saying.
Bogdanov, 74, graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1974 in the Soviet era and immediately embarked on a diplomatic career as a regional specialist that took him to numerous capitals.
He served as Russian ambassador to Israel from 1997-2002 and ambassador to Egypt from 2005 to 2011.
Under Putin, he served as special presidential representative to the Middle East from 2012, and as special representative to Africa from 2014.
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Time Magazine
11 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Russia Makes Battlefield Advance Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit
Russian troops have advanced deeper into eastern Ukraine in a surprise attack ahead of upcoming ceasefire negotiations between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian forces moved at least six miles deeper north into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine by Tuesday, according to Reuters. The move by Russia appeared designed to give it leverage over Kyiv in any potential land swap agreements in the upcoming peace talks in Alaska this week. 'We see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war. On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday. The Russian military appeared to be moving near Dobropillia, a coal mining town, and is launching efforts to approach Kostyantynivka and Pokrovsk. Ukraine's military said on Tuesday that it had sent in reserves to block advances by small groups of Russian troops and was engaged in 'difficult' combat. Speaking last week ahead of his talks with Putin, Trump said that an eventual peace deal would likely include 'some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.' Putin has long called for Ukraine to give up territory captured by the Russian military in eastern Ukraine, including Crimea. Zelensky has fiercely rejected the idea of handing over Ukrainian territory to Russia, which is reportedly seeking to take over the eastern Donbas region and Crimea, the latter of which was illegally annexed by Russia more than a decade ago. 'Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,' Zelensky said in response to Trump's suggestion of land swaps. European leaders have stood firmly by the Ukrainian president, criticizing the Trump Administration for facilitating negotiations without the presence of Ukraine and for considering granting Putin's demand for more land. 'We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,' a statement released on Saturday and signed by the leaders of France, Italy, the U.K., Germany, Poland, and Finland read. The White House is reportedly considering inviting Zelensky to the summit, though plans have not been finalized. The White House did not respond to TIME's request for comment about the matter on Monday. Trump vowed to help negotiate a peace deal between the Kremlin and Kyiv within the first 24 hours of his second presidential term, though he has faltered as Russian troops continue to launch strikes against Ukraine. Putin and Trump's Friday meeting in Alaska marks the first time the sitting presidents of Russia and the U.S. have met since 2021, and the first time these two in particular have met since 2019.
Los Angeles Times
40 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Land swaps with Russia are not only unpopular in Ukraine. They're also illegal
KYIV, Ukraine — A peace deal that requires Kyiv to accept swapping Ukrainian territory with Russia would not only be deeply unpopular. It also would be illegal under its constitution. That's why President Volodymyr Zelensky has categorically rejected any deal with Moscow that could involve ceding land after President Trump suggested such a concession would be beneficial to both sides, ahead of his meeting Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Zelensky said over the weekend that Kyiv 'will not give Russia any awards for what it has done,' and that 'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.' The remarks came after Trump said a peace deal would involve swapping of Ukrainian territories by both sides 'to the betterment of both.' For Zelensky, such a deal would be disaster for his presidency and spark public outcry after more than three years of bloodshed and sacrifice by Ukrainians. Moreover, he doesn't have the authority to sign off on it, because changing Ukraine's 1991 borders runs counter to the country's constitution. For now, freezing the front line appears to be an outcome the Ukrainian people are willing to accept. A look at the challenges such proposals entail: Russia occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, from the country's northeast to the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed illegally in 2014. The front line is vast and cuts across six regions — the active front stretches for at least 680 miles — but if measured from along the border with Russia, it reaches as far as 1,430 miles. Russia controls almost all of the Luhansk region and almost two-thirds of Donetsk region, which together comprise the Donbas, as the strategic industrial heartland of Ukraine is called. Russia has long coveted the area and illegally annexed it in the first year of the full-scale invasion, even though it didn't control much of it at the time. Russia also partially controls more than half of the Kherson region, which is critical to maintain logistical flows of supplies coming in from the land corridor in neighboring Crimea, and also parts of the Zaporizhzhia region, where the Kremlin seized Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Russian forces also hold pockets of territory in Kharkiv and Sumy regions in northeastern Ukraine, far less strategically valuable for Moscow. Russian troops are gaining a foothold in the Dnipropetrovsk region. These could be what Moscow is willing to exchange for land it deems more important in Donetsk, where the Russian army has concentrated most of its effort. 'There'll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody. To the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff, not bad stuff. Also, some bad stuff for both,' Trump said Monday. Ukrainian forces are still active in the Kursk region inside Russia, but they barely hold any territory there, making it not as potent a bargaining chip as Kyiv's leaders had probably hoped when they launched the daring incursion across the border last year. Swapping Ukrainian controlled territory in Russia, however minuscule, will likely be the only palatable option for Kyiv in any land swapping scenario. Surrendering territory would see those unwilling to live under Russian rule to pack up and leave. Many civilians have endured so much suffering and bloodshed since pro-Moscow forces began battling the Ukrainian military in the east in 2014 and since the full-scale invasion in 2022. From a military standpoint, abandoning the Donetsk region in particular would vastly improve Russia's ability to invade Ukraine again, according to the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War. Bowing to such a demand would force Ukraine to abandon its 'fortress belt,' the main defensive line in Donetsk since 2014, 'with no guarantee that fighting will not resume,' the institute said in a recent report. The regional defensive line has prevented Russia's efforts to seize the region and continues to impede Russia's efforts to take the rest of the area, ISW said. Ukraine's constitution poses a major challenge to any deal involving a land swap because it requires a nationwide referendum to approve changes to the country's territorial borders, said Ihor Reiterovych, a politics professor in the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. 'Changes in territorial integrity can be done only by the decision of the people — not the president, the cabinet of ministers or the parliament can change it,' he said. 'In the constitution it is written that only by referendum can changes to Ukraine's territory be conducted.' If during negotiations Zelensky agrees to swap territory with Russia, 'in the same minute he will be a criminal because he would be abandoning the main law that governs Ukraine,' Reiterovych said. Trump said he was 'a little bothered' by Zelensky's assertion over the weekend that he needed constitutional approval to cede to Russia the territory that it captured in its unprovoked invasion. 'I mean, he's got approval to go into a war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?' Trump added. 'Because there'll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody.' Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., brought a copy of her country's constitution to her interview on Sunday with CBS' 'Face the Nation,' and described how the president is 'the guarantor of the constitution' and cannot give away land under Article 133. Zelensky is still trying to regain the people's trust that was damaged when he reversed course on a law that would have diminished the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption watchdogs. The move was a red line for those citizens who are protective of the country's institutions and are suspicious of certain members of Zelensky's inner circle. Analysts like Reiterovych dismiss a land swap as a distraction. Freezing the conflict along the current front line is the only option Ukrainians are willing to accept, he said, citing recent polls. This option would also buy time for both sides to consolidate manpower and build up their domestic weapons industries. Ukraine would require strong security guarantees from its Western partners to deter future Russian aggression, which Kyiv believes is inevitable. Still, freezing the conflict will also be difficult for Ukrainians to accept. Along with the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the partial occupation of Luhansk and Donetsk after that, it would require accepting that the Ukrainian military is not able to retake lost territories militarily. Kyiv accepted its inability to retake these territories but never formally recognized them as Russian. A similar scenario could unfold in the new regions taken by Russian forces. It also is not a viable long-term solution. 'It is the lesser evil option for everyone and it will not provoke protests or rallies on the streets,' Reiterovych said. Kullab writes for the Associated Press. AP journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.
The Hill
40 minutes ago
- The Hill
Watch live: White House holds briefing amid Trump's DC police takeover
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will speak to reporters Tuesday afternoon as National Guard troops begin their deployment in Washington to crackdown on what President Trump has called 'violent crime' in the nation's capital. Trump on Monday activated the National Guard and announced he was putting the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) under federal control. He named Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terry Cole to lead the effort. Democrats and local leaders have denounced the move. The briefing also comes just days before the president is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss bringing an end to the Russia-Ukraine war that began over three years ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back on a proposed territory swap and urged his counterparts to allow Kyiv to be part of the conversation. The event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EDT.
