Huge wildfire rages on Cape Town's Table Mountain forcing hundreds of students to evacuate - Daily Mail

Huge wildfire rages on Table Mountain forcing hundreds of University of Cape Town students to evacuate - as academic library burns and historic 300-year-old mill is destroyed

• More than 100 firefighters were sent to battle a blaze that broke out on Table Mountain early on Sunday morning
• The fire destroyed part of a memorial to Cecil Rhodes, located on Devils Peak, before spreading rapidly up the slopes
• Hundreds of students from the University of Cape Town were evacuated as runaway flames set several of the university's buildings ablaze 
• Residents have not been evacuated but have been cautioned to be on alert, keep windows closed and dampen their gardens

By Reuters and Afp and Charlotte Mitchell For Mailonline

Published: 19:16 BST, 18 April 2021 | Updated: 19:57 BST, 18 April 2021

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A wildfire is raging on the slopes of South Africa's Table Mountain, forcing hundreds of students to evacuate on Sunday.

Runaway flames set several University of Cape Town buildings ablaze as firefighters used three helicopters to water-bomb the area.

More than 100 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze and two were hospitalised for treatment after sustaining burns, officials said.

A wildfire is raging on the slopes of South Africa's Table Mountain, forcing hundreds of students to evacuate on Sunday

 More than 100 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze and two were hospitalised for treatment after sustaining burns, officials said

Runaway flames set several University of Cape Town buildings ablaze as firefighters used three helicopters to water-bomb the area

The fire began early on Sunday near a memorial to Cecil Rhodes, located on Devils Peak, another part of Cape Town's mountainous backdrop, before spreading rapidly up the slopes.  

The blaze has destroyed part of a cafe at the Rhodes Memorial, the BBC reported.

Capetownetc.com reported that the university's library had been reduced to 'ash and dust' and that the 200-year-old Mostert's Mill windmill at Mowbray had also been destroyed. 

The Jagger Library was nearly 200 years old and housed an original illustration of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book as well as drawings, maps and transcripts of stories from the indigenous peoples of the Cape within its collection.

Built in 1796 Mostert's Mill was the oldest surviving and only complete windmill in South Africa. 

Capetownetc.com reported that the university's library had been reduced to 'ash and dust'. Pictured: Firefighters try to extinguish the flames in the library

The fire began early on Sunday near a memorial to Cecil Rhodes, located on Devils Peak, another part of Cape Town's mountainous backdrop, before spreading rapidly up the slopes

Pictured: Fire fighters battle the blaze that destroyed the nearly 200-year-old Jagger Library on Sunday after a bushfire raged out of control

Heavy smoke could be seen from miles away and some roads were closed on Sunday.

Table Mountain National Park, which spreads over much of the city's unbuilt area, called on social media for hikers to leave the area and for motorists to remove cars parked in the vicinity.

A first alert went up shortly before 9 am (0700 GMT), the city said.  

The University of Cape Town said in a statement that all students had been evacuated from campus by emergency support staff

Pictured: Evacuated students from the University of Cape Town wait after leaving the campus where several buildings were engulfed in flames

Pictured: A student from the University of Cape Town coughs after suffering smoke inhalation during Sunday's fire

'All UCT students have been evacuated from campus by emergency services support staff,' the university said in a statement. 

The university, ranked among the best on the continent, is largely built on the slopes of Devil's Peak and is situated close to where the fire started.

Social media footage showed students milling around on the main road, amid billowing smoke fanned by strong winds.

The 200-year-old Mostert's Mill at Mowbray is among the historic structures to be damaged by Sunday's wildfire

Mostert's Mill is among the heritage sites destroyed by the wildfire on Sunday. It was built in 1796 and was the oldest surviving and only complete windmill in South Africa 

Fire inside the Table Mountain nature reserve above #UCT, fire services on the scene. Rhodes Memorial restaurant destroyed. ALL hikers to evacuate the area. pic.twitter.com/jhqAYlSIoi

— Mark Meyer (@markm269) April 18, 2021

City officials said they have not asked residents in the popular Rondebosch suburb and surrounding area to evacuate. Pictured: A firefighter at Mostert's Mill

In another video, tweeted by the local government, flames are seen raging inside an old building lined with columns as smoke plumes rose from its roof.

City officials said they have not asked residents in the popular Rondebosch suburb and surrounding area to evacuate.

'The situation is being monitored and staff will go door-to-door in the event that evacuation is required,' officials said.    

Residents have been cautioned to be on alert, Charlotte Powell, spokeswoman for the city's disaster risk management center, said in a statement

Residents have been told there's no need to evacuate but have been advised to close all windows to prevent draft and reduce heat, damp down your garden using a hose or irrigation system

More than 100 firefighters were deployed to extinguish the blaze, which was reported on Sunday morning 

Residents have been cautioned to be on alert, Charlotte Powell, spokeswoman for the city's disaster risk management center, said in a statement.

'At this stage, there's no cause to evacuate, but we ask that residents adhere to the following: close all windows to prevent draft and reduce heat, damp down your garden using a hose or irrigation system,' Powell said. 

Firefighters try to revive a colleague who collapsed due to the smoke and heat while battling the forest fire on Sunday

Pictured: A firefighter looks on as buildings at the historic Mostert's Mill smoulder after a bushfire broke out on the slopes of Table Mountain on Sunday

Firefighter leave an area where the flames had become too aggressive on Sunday after a bushfire on the slopes of Table Mountain raged out of control

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2021-04-18 18:16:45Z
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Alexei Navalny's doctors denied access to him in jail amid fears he 'could die at any moment' - Sky News

Alexei Navalny's doctors say they have been denied access to him in jail, as his health is thought to be deteriorating severely while he remains on hunger strike.

The Russian opposition leader's physician, Yaroslav Ashikhmin, and head of the Alliance of Doctors union, Anastasiya Vasilyeva, said they spent two hours outside the prison in Pokrov but were not allowed to see him.

Mr Ashikhmin said Navalny could be on the verge of death, as latest test results show extremely high potassium levels, which put him at risk of cardiac arrest.

The physician also says he has high creatinine levels, which suggest his kidneys are damaged.

"Our patient could die at any moment," he wrote on Facebook.

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Ms Vasilyeva called his treatment in jail ''cruel and monstrous" and she demanded "action must be taken immediately" to address his condition.

Image: The 44-year-old in the dock in Moscow. Pic: AP

Navalny's allies are planning what they hope will be the largest street protests in modern Russian history to highlight the Kremlin critic's declining health and a crackdown on his supporters.

More from Alexei Navalny

"Things are developing too quickly and too badly," they wrote in a statement on Mr Navalny's website.

"We can no longer wait and postpone. An extreme situation demands extreme decisions."

The protests, which the authorities regard as illegal and have broken up with force in the past, are planned for Wednesday - the same day as president Vladimir Putin gives an annual state-of-the-nation speech.

Mr Navalny, a fierce opponent of Putin, started refusing food on 31 March in protest at what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to provide him with adequate medical care for acute back and leg pain.

Russia's state penitentiary service claims the 44-year-old is getting all the care he needs.

But his allies say he has lost 15kg (33lbs) since being held at penal colony number two in Pokrov, 60 miles from Moscow.

Prison staff have been threatening to force feed him, they claim.

Image: Anti-Putin protests in Russia feature pictures of his most vocal critic. Pic: AP

A spokesman for the UK's Foreign Office said: "Mr Navalny must be given immediate access to independent medical care.

"We reiterate our call for his immediate release from his politically motivated imprisonment."

US president Joe Biden said of Mr Navalny's deteriorating condition: "It's totally, totally unfair and totally inappropriate. On the basis of having the poison and then on a hunger strike."

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK was "deeply concerned" by the reports.

"Mr Navalny must be given immediate access to independent medical care. We reiterate our call for his immediate release from his politically motivated imprisonment," the spokesperson said.

A statement from the EU said it was "deeply concerned" about the situation.

"We call on the Russian authorities to grant him immediate access to medical professionals he trusts.

"The Russian authorities are responsible for Mr Navalny's safety and health in the penal colony, to which we hold them to account."

Mr Navalny was detained in January as he returned to Russia from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning.

He has blamed the Kremlin for targeting him with novichok - the same poison used on the Skripals in Salisbury - an allegation that Russian authorities reject.

Mr Navalny was jailed in February for two years and eight months for parole violations he says were exaggerated for political purposes.

Image: A man is arrested during a Moscow protest that saw thousands take to the streets. Pic: AP

Desperate measures for desperate times
Analysis by Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay

Alexei Navalny's team have done their best to keep his name in the focus even if he is behind bars.

It is difficult to gauge his medical condition given the lack of access and thus the claim he is at death's door.

If he starves himself to death in prison in defence of his rights - the right to have his own doctor in to see him - it will be on the Kremlin's conscience but at his hand.

Having survived so much it would seem a futile way to go. But his team are also savvy at making headlines, announcing another nationwide demonstration this coming Wednesday given what they say is his critical state.

Desperate measures for desperate times.

The scale of the turnout will be a mark of whether they can keep the protest momentum strong with its figurehead behind bars and physically at least extremely weak.

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2021-04-18 19:07:30Z
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Russia warns troops set to react if bloodbath threatened as Marr questions 'invasion' plan - Daily Express

Russia's ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin has warned that Ukraine wants a bloodbath - and Russia is ready to respond with force. This comes as Andrew Marr grilled Mr Kelin on the huge number of Russian troops amassing on its border with Ukraine. The BBC host suggested that this "looks like the beginning of an invasion" to many observers.

Mr Kelin claimed that Russia were not looking for war, but insisted "Russia will respond if Ukraine starts a bloodbath".

Eastern Ukraine is under the control of Russia-backed rebels, and Moscow has warned that attempts to attack these rebels from Ukraine would see a military response from Russia.

Mr Kelin told the BBC: "We are moving troops to tell Ukraine that there will be a price if they decide to advance on this territory and make a bloodbath on it."

He insisted that the number of troops on the border, understood to be a tenth of Russia's entire armed forces, were a "normal military exercise".

JUST IN: South China Sea: US Navy warship 'stalks' Chinese carrier - VIDEO

He added: "Inside the Ukraine, on the line of demarcation between the self-declared republics of Donbass and others, there are 60,000 Ukrainian troops and this build-up continues."

Mr Marr followed up: "But you will have seen the videos of what is being moved to that border and it's not simply troops.

"It is tanks and field hospitals and long-range communication. This looks like the beginning of an invasion."

Mr Kelin pointed out that "NATO wants to assemble 30,000 troops on the border of Russia and Ukraine, also assembling tanks, vehicles, and so on". 

The US has announced the deployment of two warships to the Black Sea in an attempt to shore up Ukrainian resistance to the Russians.

In Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned the situation in eastern Ukraine was “very unstable”.

He added that growing tension between the two countries could be the " beginning of the end " for Ukraine.

Amid the growing tensions, the US is said to have voiced fears the provocative Russian military exercises near the Black Sea could lead to passenger flights being caught in the crossfire.

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2021-04-18 09:15:00Z
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Russia Ukraine conflict: Fact-checking Russian TV's Ukraine claims - BBC News

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Russia has played down accusations of a military build-up near Ukraine's border - a view amplified by a state television channel, which has broadcast misleading footage about US tanks and planes.

We've fact-checked claims from one of the country's most well-known pro-government news shows - Vesti Nedeli ("News of the week").

The weekly news programme on Rossiya 1, Russia's most popular TV channel, is presented by Dmitry Kiselyov, a controversial media personality known for his anti-Western views.

An American plane lands in Alaska - not Ukraine

A recent report on the programme detailed the alleged build-up of Nato military hardware in Ukraine.

"Never before has there been so much of the alliance's military equipment on Ukrainian soil," said the narrator over footage of an American C-17 military transport plane landing on an airstrip.

• Why Putin may not be planning the invasion Ukraine fears
• Will a deal with Russia bring peace to Ukraine?

But the aircraft did not, in fact, land in Ukraine.

The footage - apparently taken from the website of the US Department of Defense - actually shows the C-17 landing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

In the original version of the clip, mountains can be seen faintly in the background, but in the Russian version, they are not visible at all.

The Russian news report was sourced to a YouTube channel which says it broadcasts "US military news". That channel posted a slightly different and longer version of the plane landing. And the clip appears to have been brightened - an effect that obscured the mountains in the background.

But other details in the clip align exactly with the US Department of Defense video from Alaska. For instance, a white building, a small shack with a green roof, and other small details are visible in both pieces of footage.

There's no doubt the video clips came from the same source material - shot in Alaska, not Ukraine.

Old footage shows an American tank in Bulgaria - not Kyiv

The Vesti Nedeli report went on to suggest that American tanks have been delivered to Ukraine.

It showed a clip of a US M1 Abrams tank being unloaded from a military transport plane, with a voiceover suggesting that the footage was either from the capital, Kyiv, or Lviv, in western Ukraine.

In fact, the footage is from Burgas, Bulgaria, site of a military exercise called Operation Speed and Power in 2015.

Again, it's US Department of Defence footage - a video and still images of the unloading were published by the American military.

We managed to find the original footage by searching through lists of details of the military hardware in the clip.

And again the details in the two clips match up, proving the falsehood beyond a doubt. Both the original video and the footage shown on Russian TV contain identical details such as a Lukoil truck and a man wearing a high-viz jacket.

Tracking down a Lord Palmerston 'quote' - that he never said

The high profile show also featured discussion about how the US was allegedly "pushing" Ukraine towards war with Russia.

Mr Kiselyov, once dubbed Russia's "chief propagandist", referenced a quote from an unlikely source to lament his country's plight: Lord Palmerston, British Prime Minister during the Crimean War in the 1850s.

The presenter quoted him saying: "It's so difficult to live when no-one wages war on Russia."

It was a useful historical argument for Mr Kiselyov's views, with one problem - there's no evidence that Lord Palmerston ever said it.

BBC Monitoring's Russia specialists went in search of the quote but were unable to find a credible record of the former prime minister ever saying it.

The University of Southampton, which holds an extensive Palmerston collection, also found no record of him making these comments. According to the university's archivist, there are no references to it in Palmerston: A Biography by David Brown.

In Russia, Lord Palmerston's observations have been reported as part of a speech he made in the House of Commons on 1 March 1848. But the quote is not in the official transcript of that address.

The earliest mention of the remarks that we've found attributed to Lord Palmerston are contained in a work of historical fiction - published in 2011.

The same phrase appeared in a blog post of another Russian fiction writer two years later.

The BBC has attempted to contact Vesti Nedeli for comment.

Getty Images

Analysis by Adam Robinson, Russian media analyst, BBC Monitoring

The main impression being transmitted on Russian state TV seems be that Ukraine and the West are somehow responsible for the upsurge in tensions. But the programmes offer little in the way of details as to what exactly they did to spark the tension.

The gap has been filled by various, at times conflicting theories- a tactic used in the past by Russian state media when Moscow is accused of something, such as during the Salisbury poisonings.

At times, a West bent on weakening Russia is cast as egging Ukraine on, at other times, it is a supposedly bloodthirsty Ukraine trying to drag the West into a war of revenge against Moscow.

There has also been an emphasis on emotional coverage of victims of alleged Ukrainian aggression in the conflict area. Ukraine alleges that Russia is to blame for most ceasefire violations.

Another claim is that Ukraine and the West are massing forces in the region.

But again, details are sketchy, and the footage used to illustrate this has at times been out of date.

So Ukraine says any military activity on its side is a response to the recent Russian military build-up in the region.

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2021-04-18 00:09:06Z
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US and China pledge joint action on climate change despite strained ties - Financial Times

The US and China have committed to work together to urgently combat climate change despite rising tensions over Beijing’s assertive policies on Taiwan and the South China Sea and over human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, the climate envoys for the world’s two biggest economies, have vowed to co-operate “to tackle the climate crisis”, committing to “concrete actions in the 2020s” to reduce emissions in line with the aims of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

“Both countries recall their historic contribution to the development, adoption, signature, and entry into force of the Paris Agreement through their leadership and collaboration,” they said in a joint statement.

The pledge, which follows two days of high-stakes meetings in Shanghai, is a signal that climate change could be a rare area of collaboration in a strained relationship.

US President Joe Biden’s climate policy has already departed sharply from that of his predecessor Donald Trump’s administration, bringing the US back into the Paris accord ahead of setting a new climate target for 2030.

Under the Paris deal, countries committed to limiting global warming to “well below” 2C, preferably about 1.5C, compared with pre-industrial levels.

Li Shuo, an energy policy officer at Greenpeace in Beijing, said the US-China statement, followed “difficult talks” and came “amid great geopolitical challenges”. But it should sharply increase the momentum on climate action globally.

“It is very important for the rest of the world to understand that at least on the issue of climate change the G2 are united again,” Li said.

He added: “We all know what could happen when these countries are aligned on this particular issue because we all saw that in the run-up to the Paris climate summit.”

Kerry’s trip to China came ahead of a US summit this week, which has been billed as a showcase for Biden’s new climate policies, and as Beijing vies to be seen as a leader in global climate negotiations.

In the statement, the countries committed to co-operating in multilateral processes, including the upcoming COP26 UN climate conference in Glasgow.

However, they stopped short of establishing a dedicated US-China working group on climate change, a suggestion that had been raised by the Chinese side during bilateral talks in Anchorage last month.

One critical issue is whether the two will agree to new emissions cuts in the near term, and the statement suggested progress on this.

“The United States and China will continue to discuss,” Kerry and Xie said.

The US will announce new climate targets this week at its summit. China has been under pressure to bring forward its peak emissions target — currently it aims to hit peak emissions before 2030 — and instead commit to doing that by the middle of this decade.

Edgare Kerkwijk, a board member of the Asia Wind Energy Association, said that while the US-China statement “provides only a high level commitment” and lacked detail, the joint promises will accelerate the world’s transition from fossil fuels.

“The probability that we will reach a more comprehensive climate agreement during the upcoming climate conference in Glasgow has grown significantly,” said Kerkwijk, adding: “It will be more difficult for smaller economies not to join the energy transition process.”

The meetings came against a backdrop of intensifying clashes between Washington and Beijing as Joe Biden’s administration maintained a tough posture towards China.

The US opposes Beijing’s actions to reduce the autonomy of Hong Kong and human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

It has also maintained pressure on technology companies with alleged links to China’s military.

In the latest flare up, China’s embassy in the US capital on Saturday criticised comments by Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga and Biden opposing an escalation in military activity near Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

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2021-04-18 05:03:49Z
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Salisbury poisoning suspects 'linked to Czech blast' - BBC News

Metropolitan Police

Two Russian men suspected of carrying out the 2018 Salisbury poisonings are being linked to an explosion at an arms depot in the Czech Republic.

Evidence links the 2014 explosion, and an attempted poisoning in Bulgaria, to a unit of Russian military intelligence - the GRU - the BBC has learnt.

European intelligence agencies believe the GRU's Unit 29155 is tasked with sabotage, subversion and assassination.

A senior Russian parliamentarian has called the claim absurd.

Czech authorities say they are expelling 18 Russian diplomats believed to be intelligence operatives in retaliation for the explosion, which killed two people.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the country had to react to revelations tying the blast to the GRU.

The country will inform Nato and European Union allies about its suspicions, and will discuss the matter at an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, its acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said.

• Russian spy: What happened to the Skripals?
• What is the Salisbury poisoning's legacy?
• Skripal poisoning: Third man 'commanded attack'

A huge explosion tore apart an ammunitions storage depot in a forest in the Czech Republic on 16 October 2014.

Windows in nearby buildings were blown out and local schools were evacuated as emergency vehicles rushed to the scene. The remains of two men - aged 56 and 69 - who worked at the site were found more than a month later.

The blast was assumed to have been an accident.

But painstaking detective work by Czech authorities has pointed the finger at Moscow - and Unit 29155 of the GRU.

In the wake of the Salisbury poisoning, European security services have been investigating a series of previously unexplained events.

For Czech police, that included the October 2014 explosion. A crucial find, sources close to the investigation have told the BBC, was an email sent to Imex Group, the company which operated the depot.

It claimed to come from the National Guard of Tajikistan. It asked for two men to be given access to the site for an inspection visit. Scans of their passports were attached. The men were said to be Ruslan Tabarov from Tajikistan and Nicolaj Popa, a Moldovan citizen.

The pictures on the passports match those of the two men accused by Britain of the Salisbury poisoning.

Salisbury link

The two men travelled to the UK in March 2018 under the names Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov.

Both were caught on CCTV at Salisbury and identified by the Metropolitan Police as suspects in smearing Novichok nerve agent on the door handle of the house of former GRU officer Sergei Skirpal.

Skripal and his daughter fell ill while a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, was killed months later by Novichok from a discarded perfume bottle.

The investigative site Bellingcat soon after identified Ruslan Boshirov as Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Petrov as Alexander Mishkin, both GRU officers.

The pair then appeared on Russian TV denying involvement, claiming they were sports nutritionists who visited Salisbury to see the spire of the cathedral.

Metropolitan Police

On 11 October 2014, the men used the same cover identities they used in Salisbury - Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov - to arrive at Prague airport.

They stayed in Prague for two days (Chepiga's presence had previously been noted based on social media posts but not linked to the explosion).

They then booked into accommodation in Ostrava, near the ammunition depot on 13 October. They were booked to stay until the 17 October.

The explosion took place on the 16th and that day the pair headed to Vienna airport to fly to Moscow. The authorities do not appear to know exactly how the depot was blown up.

Facebook

Another clue, the BBC has learnt, was the email used to request the men's visit to the arms depot. It was traced to a user in Russia rather than Tajikistan and when entered in a Skype directory linked to a username "Andrey O".

The commander of Unit 29155 was first reported by the New York Times to be Andrey Averyanov and he is believed to have used Andrey Overyanov as a cover identity.

Another poisoning

Why would Russian intelligence blow up the arms depot?

One of the people storing weapons there was a Bulgarian arms dealer called Emilian Gebrev, sources have told the BBC.

That provided another link to Unit 29155.

In April 2015, six months after the Czech explosion, Gebrev fell seriously ill in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. After a month in hospital, he was released but then fell sick again. Despite suspicions, Bulgarian authorities made little progress amid talk it was simply food poisoning.

It was only after events in Salisbury in 2018 that people paid more attention.

The 'third man'

A third man, using the name Sergei Fedotov had been identified as coming to the UK to oversee the Salisbury poisoning. And he was also found to have been in Bulgaria at the time of Gebrev's poisoning.

Bulgarian authorities found that Fedotov and two other men from Unit 29155 had checked into a hotel in the same complex as Gebrev's office in April 2015 and insisted on rooms with a view of the underground car park.

Surveillance of that car park released by a Bulgarian prosecutor last year shows one man approaching the cars of Gebrev, as well as his son and business partner who would also fall ill.

A toxic substance is believed to have been smeared on the handles - similar to the way Novichok was placed on the handle of Sergei Skripal's house.

Although he had a return flight booked two days later, Fedotov left the country on April 28th - the day of the poisoning.

Why was Gebrev targeted?

It has been reported he was supplying weapons to a number of countries against Moscow's wishes, possibly including Ukraine, or to other countries in competition with Russian suppliers, including in Asia.

And one business deal may also have brought him into direct conflict with powerful Russian businessmen linked to the GRU.

The explosion at the Czech depot in October 2014 looks like it could have been an initial attempt to hurt Gebrev's business or issue a warning which was then followed up with an attempt to kill him.

Reuters

But the only people to die were two innocent Czech men working at the depot. (There were also explosions at Bulgarian arms factories in 2015 although no link has publicly been made.)

On Saturday, the Czech Prime Minister announced evidence linked the explosion to the GRU and said 18 employees of the Russian embassy - identified as intelligence operatives - had to leave the country within 48 hours.

Czech police issued pictures of the two suspects saying they wanted to speak to them. Russian authorities say their constitution prevents the men being extradited.

Unit 29155

Czech ministers pointed the finger specifically at Unit 29155. European intelligence officials say its mission is sabotage, subversion and assassination.

They think it numbers around 200 but with only 20 or so of those involved in carrying out operations with the rest support staff.

As well as Salisbury, Bulgaria and now the Czech Republic, the unit has been linked to other operations including an attempted coup in Montenegro in 2016.

A number of European countries are investigating past travel to see if it correlates with suspicious events. That means this revelation may not be the last.

The pair involved in Salisbury and now linked to the Czech explosion have not been seen since they were identified in 2018. But Unit 29155, western intelligence officials say, is still active.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK stands "in full support of our Czech allies, who have exposed the lengths that the Russian intelligence services will go to in their attempts to conduct dangerous and malign operations in Europe".

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2021-04-17 23:32:07Z
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Russian invasion fears escalate after Moscow deploys 50 warplanes to the Black Sea - Daily Express

Moscow is conducting aerial exercises involving missile launches and bomber movements over the contested region. Currently, 50 Russian fighters, bombers, and attack aircraft are taking part in “exercises over the Black Sea”. A report by Russian independent news agency Interfax said the war games held by Moscow are likely to exacerbate tensions in the region.

Involved in the aerial drills were Russian-made Su-27SM and Su-30SM fighters, Su-24M and Su-34 bombers, and Su-25SM3 attack aircraft.

The report by Interfax said: “During the exercises, the planes will perform missile launches and bombardment of naval targets.

Both the Russian air force and the Russian Black Sea Fleet are set to also perform, "tasks to accompany ship strike groups and actions as part of reconnaissance strike complexes while ensuring security in the Black Sea".

The military war games have seen involvement from naval aircraft and helicopters from Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

The naval deployment from Moscow also involves the Admiral Makarov frigate, that is equipped with Caliber cruise missiles.

The Grayvoron and Vyshny Volochek small missile ships have also been sent to the region.

Russia is also deploying their Samum hovercraft and the Ivan Golubets minesweeper to the Black Sea region near Crimea.

On Tuesday Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said these naval and aerial exercises were in response to threats from NATO.

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In July 2014 298 people were killed after Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-flight MH17 was shot down by pro-Russian rebels operating out of eastern Ukraine.

The show of force from Vladimir Putin comes as intelligence suggests Russia is massing its military might close to the Ukrainian frontier.

Now Russian military videos have depicted a detachment of warships of the Russian navy moving from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.

This is the first time a large number of naval vessels have made the move from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea since Soviet times.

There have been more intelligence reports showing Russian troops moving by rail in Krasnodar, Rostov, and Bryansk regions, near the Ukrainian border.

Now almost 100,000 Russian troops are believed to be massed on the border with Ukraine.

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2021-04-17 18:36:52Z
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