WAR IN UKRAINE: March 14, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 384
Russia's war in Ukraine and China's aggression over Taiwan threaten to create a world "defined by danger, disorder and division", the UK prime minister has warned. Rishi Sunak predicted a "difficult and dangerous decade" as his government published a long-awaited update to a major defence, security and foreign policy review on Monday. The most immediate security priority was to tackle the threat posed by Russia's war in Europe, the Integrated Review Refresh said. But it warned that any future war in the Indo-Pacific, where tensions have increased with China over Taiwan, could have "global consequences greater than the conflict in Ukraine". The paper did not change the fundamental assessments of the original review, published in 2021, before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the language was starker - SKY News
Senior UN officials are hosting Russian envoys in Geneva in a bid to extend an export agreement amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and prevent a potential new spike in world food prices.
Ukrainian forces repelled several waves of Russian attacks in and around Bakhmut the over the past 24 hours, the military said, as commanders on both sides described the situation in the city in the eastern Donetsk region as "difficult” - RFE/RL
Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to travel to Russia to meet with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said, which would be sooner than previously expected. Plans for a visit come as China has been offering to broker peace in Ukraine, an effort that has been met with skepticism in the West given China's diplomatic support for Russia - VOA
Human Rights Watch says the war in Ukraine has had “devastating consequences for children” in residential institutions. In a report issued Monday, the rights group said “Children have been forcibly transferred to Russia and separated from their families and have suffered traumatic experiences of war and displacement.” Russia has not commented on the HRW report.
Ukraine becomes third largest weapons importer: Ukraine accounts for 2% of global arms imports during the last five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
A Belarusian court upholds journalist Ivan Muravyou’s 2.5-year prison term. In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement condemning the ruling: “In Belarus, where trials of members of the media are ruthless and politically motivated, any hope of a fair verdict seems sadly naïve,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Belarusian authorities should drop all charges against journalist Ivan Muravyou, release him along with all other imprisoned journalists, and stop using the country’s extremism legislation to retaliate against members of the press.”
A late Uzbek dictator's daughter who moonlighted as a pop star and diplomat spent $240m on properties from London to Hong Kong. Gulnara Karimova used UK companies to buy homes and a jet with funds obtained through bribery and corruption, the Freedom for Eurasia study, to be released today, says. It raises fresh doubts about the UK's efforts to tackle illegal wealth. Read the BBC story here
Required reading…
Russia’s Putin is forcing foreign-owned companies to participate in his conscription campaign. It’s time to get out
Foreign companies still operating in Russia are estimated to employ some 700,000 people–and a new law says employers must compile lists of conscripts.
Since President Putin announced a so-called “partial military mobilization” on Sep. 21, the Russian government is pushing businesses into direct involvement in the war that borders on complicity.
The mobilization call enacted Article 9 of Russian Federal Law No. 31-FZ. The law mandates all organizations to assist with delivering the summons from the military to their employees, to ensure the delivery of equipment to assembly points or military units, and to provide the Russian forces with buildings, communications, land plots, transport, as well as information. Significantly, the law applies to all 1,610 foreign-owned companies that are currently operating on a full or limited scale in Russia.
Read the full article here