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Minggu, 07 Mei 2023

Russia’s Wagner group signals it will stay in Bakhmut after threat to quit - The Guardian

The head of Russia’s Wagner group appears to have ditched plans to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, after receiving promises overnight that they would get all the arms needed to capture the devastated city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Friday that his fighters, who have spearheaded the months-long assault on Bakhmut, would pull out because he said his men had been starved of ammunition and taken “useless and unjustified” losses as a result.

Prigozhin, who has publicly heaped scorn on Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and army top brass over their conduct of the war in Ukraine, said officials in Moscow consumed by “petty jealousy” were holding back crucial supplies to his men.

However, in an audio message posted on his Telegram channel on Sunday, Prigozhin said: “Overnight we received a combat order, for the first time in all this time. We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off [from supplies] will be deployed on the flank.”

The battle for Bakhmut, which Russia sees as a stepping stone to capturing other cities in Ukraine’s Donbas region still beyond its control, has been the most intense of the conflict, costing thousands of lives on both sides in months of grinding warfare.

Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in recent weeks but have clung on in the city to inflict as many Russian losses as possible before Kyiv’s planned big push against the invading forces along the 620-mile (1,000km) frontline.

Prigozhin also said on Sunday that Russia’s defence ministry had assigned Gen Sergei Surovikin to work alongside Wagner. “This is the only man with the star of an army general who knows how to fight,” he said.

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Surovikin commanded Russia’s Ukraine campaign for several months before the chief of the general staff, Gen Valery Gerasimov, was given overall operational command above him.

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2023-05-07 16:06:00Z
1999098378

Texas shooting: Eight killed by gunman in Allen mall - BBC

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By Robert Greenall & Laurence Peter

BBC News

A gunman has shot and killed eight people shopping at a mall north of Dallas, Texas, emergency services say.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Allen Premium Outlets mall as eyewitnesses described a man firing indiscriminately at passers-by.

A police officer on an unrelated call killed the gunman after hearing shots.

Some of the victims are reported to be children. At least seven people are being treated in hospital, three of whom are critically ill.

Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people - including the gunman - were pronounced dead at the scene and two died later in hospital.

A police officer at the mall "heard gunshots, went to the gunshots, engaged the suspect and neutralised the suspect," Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said.

The victims' ages range from 5 to 51, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Some witnesses described the gunman as dressed all in black and wearing combat gear. Footage taken after the gunman's death appeared to show an AR-15 style rifle lying near his body.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott described the shooting as an "unspeakable tragedy" and said the state was ready to offer any assistance to local authorities.

US police have asked members of the public with video captured at the scene to contact the FBI, as they collect evidence.

"I heard about 10 pops go off, then ten to fifteen more shots - we see this guy dressed all in black, a vest, just shooting at people," said one witness, adding "we just got to the back of the store".

Video from the scene showed people running for cover across a car park as a series of shots rang out.

Allen has about 105,000 residents and is 20 miles (32km) north of central Dallas.

Most adults aged 21 or over in Texas are allowed to carry a handgun without a licence, unless they have a previous conviction. In addition, there are few restrictions on possession of rifles and shotguns. Republicans control the Texas state legislature.

In the US so far this year there have been at least 198 mass shootings in which four or more people were killed or wounded, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That is the most at this point in the year since at least 2016.

One eyewitness at the mall, Fontayne Payton, told the AP news agency he heard gunshots though his headphones as he shopped at H&M.

When people were allowed to leave the mall, he described seeing bodies outside.

"I pray it wasn't kids, but it looked like kids," he said. "It broke me when I walked out to see that."

Allen Mayor Ken Fulk called it "a tragic day" for the city. "Allen is a proud and safe city, which makes today's senseless act of violence even more shocking," he said on the city's website.

"However, I want to commend our police and fire departments for their quick response. Their thorough training not to hesitate to move toward the threat likely saved more lives today."

Texas Senator John Cornyn tweeted that he was "grieving with the Allen community" and praised the quick response of "all of those involved in responding to this afternoon's horrific incident".

Earlier this week police in Texas arrested a man accused of shooting dead five neighbours, including a nine-year-old boy.

Francisco Oropesa was found hiding in a cupboard after a four-day manhunt.

Sabtu, 06 Mei 2023

Zakhar Prilepin: Russian pro-war blogger injured in car bomb - BBC

Zakhar Prilepin's car after the explosion

By Matt Murphy

BBC News

A prominent Russian writer and pro-war blogger has been wounded by a car bomb, officials say.

Zakhar Prilepin, an vehement supporter of the Ukraine war, was reportedly conscious after the attack in the Nizhny Novgorod region but his driver was killed.

A suspect was detained, the interior ministry said.

It comes a month after another pro-Kremlin blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, died in a bombing at a St Petersburg café.

Less that two hours after Saturday's attack was reported, the interior ministry said a suspect with previous convictions had been detained near a forest in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

"The search for possible accomplices continues," the statement said.

Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin said: "Law enforcement officers are now investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident. Zakhar is OK."

The explosion reportedly took place on a remote road some 80km (50 miles) from the town of Bor. State media said the blogger suffered a concussion and fractured bones.

The partisan group Atesh, which is made up of Ukrainians and Crimean Tartars, claimed it was behind the attack.

"We had a feeling that sooner or later he would be blown up," they wrote on Telegram. "He was not driving alone, but with a surprise on the underside of the car."

The BBC cannot verify Atesh's claims.

As well as being one one of Russia's best-known novelists, Prilepin is known for his involvement with Russian ultranationalist politics.

A veteran of Russia's bloody wars in Chechnya in the 1990s, the 47-year-old has admitted fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

He has called for the "return of Kyiv to Russia". Last year a group founded by Prilepin called on officials to "purge the cultural space" of all who oppose the conflict.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the alleged bombing until the investigation was complete.

But Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sought to blame the attack on the UK and the US.

"The fact has come true: Washington and Nato fed another international terrorist cell - the Kiev regime," she wrote on Telegram. "We pray for Zakhar."

The attack is the latest to target high-profile supporters of President Putin's war in Ukraine.

Vladlen Tatarsky was killed last month. The blogger had reported from the Ukraine front line and gained notoriety last year after posting a video filmed inside the Kremlin in which he said: "We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it."

Activist Darya Trepova, 26, was later arrested and was charged with terrorism following the publication of a video - believed to have been recorded under duress - in which she admitted bringing a statuette to the café that later blew up.

And in August 2022, Darya Dugina - the daughter of a close ally of Mr Putin - was killed in a suspected car bombing near Moscow.

It is thought her father, the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known as "Putin's brain", may have been the intended target of that attack.

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2023-05-06 15:20:10Z
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Wagner chief to Moscow: Swap in Chechens in Bakhmut - POLITICO Europe

Chechen units should relieve the Wagner forces in the battle for the fiercely contested Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the head of the Russian paramilitary group urged Moscow on Saturday.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for the Akhmat battalion, led by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, to take over the Bakhmut positions by midnight on May 10, in a letter to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu dated Saturday and posted on Telegram.

Prigozhin has threatened to pull the mercenary force out of Bakhmut amid a striking breakdown in relations between the Russian government and the paramilitary group. In a statement published Friday, Wagner commanders said Russian defense ministry units were supposed to back up the Wagner group’s flanks, but were struggling to do so.

The commanders accused the Kremlin of artificially creating supply shortages and mass casualties. Prigozhin himself posted a video ranting from the front lines about fallen fighters.

Kadyrov had offered to take over the position on Friday, according to AFP. Prigozhin replied on Saturday, saying the Akhmat battalion would “no doubt” take Bakhmut.

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2023-05-06 17:46:00Z
1999098378

Businessman who alleges Indian kidnap plot wins Antiguan court ruling - The Guardian

A fugitive Indian-born businessman has won the first round of a court battle to prove that a UK-based group including a younger woman was part of an Indian intelligence service plot to lure him to a Caribbean villa to be kidnapped and extradited to his home country.

The high court of Antigua and Barbuda has found that Mehul Choksi has an “arguable” case in relation to his civil claim against the country’s attorney general and chief of police over the response to his alleged abduction and illegal rendition to Dominica in May 2021.

A submission from Choksi’s lawyers details an alleged conspiracy in which he is said to have been subjected to “inhuman or degrading treatment” after his alleged kidnapping in Antigua. It is claimed that the elaborate plot to steal him away had been carefully prepared in collusion with the Indian state.

Should it go to trial, the case could open up to scrutiny the world of secret service operations and the alleged role of experienced individuals in the UK.

Choksi, 64, is seeking an admission from the Antiguan police that they failed to properly look into the alleged crime and a declaration that they will now relaunch a “speedy and effective” investigation.

Antigua’s attorney general and police commissioner had sought to have the claim struck out as “vexatious”. But the high court said the defendants had not shown the case to be “unsustainable”. It ordered the defendants to file a defence and awarded Choksi 75% of his costs.

According to the businessman’s affidavit, Choksi, who is wanted on fraud and money laundering charges in India, was invited to a villa near his luxury home in the Antiguan resort of Jolly Harbour in May 2021. A separate police report identified the person who invited Choksi as a 33-year-old woman.

Immediately after arriving, it is alleged, he was surrounded by a group of men who claimed to be police officers and repeatedly punched to his head, arm, chest and leg, leaving him covered in cuts and bruises.

Choksi alleges that a stun gun was discharged into his face and other exposed areas of skin, causing burns, and he was threatened with a kitchen knife.

As the beating continued, he was gagged, forced into a wheelchair and tied to its frame, and a mask was placed over his head, it is claimed.

His assailants are said to have pushed him on to a chartered yacht registered in St Lucia, which then set sail for Dominica, arriving about 15 hours later.

Choksi’s lawyers’ submission states that he endured violent mistreatment throughout the voyage and was made to listen to a man on a mobile phone who purported to be in charge of the operation to have him deported to India.

He claims in his submission that he was informed that the plot was orchestrated by the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence agency.

Further details appear in a police report dated 25 June 2021 that has been referenced in the court’s judgment. In it, the police wrote that a “plethora of real and circumstantial evidence makes it clear that a case of kidnapping with broad collusion among multiple conspirators exist”, a point highlighted by the court.

The police report also contains a copy of a flight manifest for a private jet that flew from Antigua to Dominica immediately after the abduction, and names a man travelling on a diplomatic passport, a 68-year-old British citizen from Essex and a 33-year-old Hungarian woman registered on Companies House at an address in London as being involved in the plot. They all deny involvement.

In January, a press release issued on behalf of the Antigua and Barbuda commissioner of police indicated that a warrant had been secured requesting that Interpol issue a red notice against three of those named.

The British barrister Michael Polak, the director of Justice Abroad, which is representing Choksi, said: “The evidence that Mr Choksi was kidnapped from Antigua and tortured during his unlawful rendition to Dominica is clear. It has been a long road to get to this point, and we continue to fight to secure justice for Mr Choksi.”

Oliver Laurence, the managing partner of I-OnAsia, which is leading investigations into Choksi’s alleged kidnapping on behalf of his family, said a dossier of material gathered over the last year had been handed to the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan police.

“We have spoken to several key witnesses who have bravely come forward to give us information which has led us to where we are today,” he said. “We have examined everything, from flight manifests to hotel documents, which has painted a disturbing picture.”

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2023-05-06 05:00:00Z
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Ukraine war: Russia accused of using phosphorus bombs in Bakhmut - BBC

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By Matt Murphy

BBC News

Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking the besieged city of Bakhmut with phosphorus munitions.

In drone footage released by Ukraine's military, Bakhmut can be seen ablaze as what appears to be white phosphorus rains down on the city.

White phosphorus weapons are not banned, but their use in civilian areas is considered a war crime.

They create fast-spreading fires that are very difficult to put out. Russia has been accused of using them before.

Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months, despite its questionable strategic value. Western officials have estimated that thousands of Moscow's troops have died in the assault.

Writing on Twitter, Ukraine's defence ministry said the phosphorus attack targeted "unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition".

Kyiv's special forces command added that Moscow's forces continued "to destroy the city".

It is unclear when exactly the alleged attack took place. But the footage shared by Ukraine - seemingly captured by a surveillance drone - showed high-rise buildings engulfed in flames.

Other videos posted to social media showed fires raging on the ground.

Russia has been accused of using white phosphorus several times since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, including during the siege of Mariupol at the beginning of the war.

Moscow has never publicly admitted to using white phosphorous, and last year Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov insisted "Russia has never violated international conventions" after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it had been used.

White phosphorus is a wax-like substance which ignites on contact with oxygen, creating bright plumes of smoke.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned the chemical is "notorious for the severity of the injuries it causes".

It burns at 800 degrees Celsius and can cause extreme burns on human flesh. It is also extremely sticky and hard to remove, and can re-ignite when bandages are removed.

Russia is a signatory to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which bans the use of incendiary weapons in civilian areas - that is, those designed to catch fire.

But HRW says white phosphorus does not fall under the treaty as its primary purpose is to "create a smokescreen to hide military operations".

The chemical has been used "repeatedly over the past 15 years", including by US forces against IS fighters in Iraq and Syria, according to HRW.

Some analysts say its use as an incendiary weapon near civilians would still be illegal. While Bakhmut had a pre-war population of 80,000, there are practically no civilians left in the area.

Wagner Group boss says he will pull fighters out of Bakhmut

The attack comes a day after the commander of Russia's Wagner paramilitary group said he would pull his forces out of Bakhmut on 10 May in a row over ammunition supplies.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said Wagner's casualties were "growing in geometrical progression every day", and pinned his decision to withdraw from Bakhmut squarely on the defence ministry.

Despite Prigozhin's claims, senior Ukrainian officials said Wagner was actually redeploying mercenaries towards Bakhmut in a bid to capture the city before Tuesday's Victory Day celebrations in Russia.

"We are now seeing them pulling [fighters] from the entire offensive line where the Wagner fighters were, they are pulling [them] to the Bakhmut direction," Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Ukrainian television.

The intense fighting comes amid reports that Ukraine is preparing to launch a large-scale counteroffensive in the coming weeks. Prigozhin himself has said he believes the attack could come as soon as 15 May.

An offensive could take place in the Zaporizhzhia region which is about 80% controlled by Russia.

On Friday, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia region said he had ordered the evacuation of villages near the front line.

Russia considers the area as its own territory, following self-styled referendums and an illegal annexation last year.