Putin Replaces Long-Serving Defense Minister With Economist |
Russian President Vladimir Putin reshuffled (NYT) his national security team yesterday in a surprise move, replacing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with economic advisor Andrei Belousov. Shoigu had led Russia’s defense ministry since 2012 and will now instead become the head of Russia’s security council; its former leader, Nikolai Patrushev, is expected to take an unspecified new post to be announced in the coming days. Belousov is known as a technocrat and has long advocated (FT) for greater state control of the Russian economy.
The shake-up at the top of Russia’s leadership comes (Bloomberg) amid its battlefield push to take over villages and settlements in the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Nearly six thousand Ukrainians have evacuated from areas under Russian attack, a regional official said, while Ukraine is deploying troops to stabilize its front line in the area.
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“[Putin] removed from the military’s helm a man whom Russian pro-war commentators and Western analysts alike held partly responsible for Moscow’s many failures at the outset of the invasion. And by installing an economist, he tacitly acknowledged the importance of industrial might to any military victory,” the New York Times’ Paul Sonne and Anton Troianovski write.
“Russia’s basic grand strategy appears simple: vastly overinvest in the military, roguish capabilities, and the secret police, and try to subvert the West. No matter how dire its strategic position gets, and it is often dire, Russia can muddle through, as long as the West weakens, too,” Stanford University’s Stephen Kotkin writes in Foreign Affairs.
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Mass Protest Against Georgia’s ‘Foreign Agents’ Bill Ahead of Final Vote |
Around fifty thousand people demonstrated (CNN) in the capital, Tbilisi, on Saturday against a bill that would force foreign registration requirements on groups that receive funding from abroad. Russia has used a similar law to crack down on dissent. Hearings for the bill’s final reading in the legislature were due to begin today. |
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South Korean Foreign Minister Talks Shift in Economic Relations on Visit to China |
Today’s visit by Cho Tae-yul is the first by a South Korean foreign minister to China in more than six years. He told South Korean business leaders that economic relations between the countries are shifting (Reuters) from a “once mutually complementary partnership to a competitive one.” South Korea, China, and Japan are preparing (Bloomberg) for a rare trilateral summit later this month.
China/Hong Kong: Students from China and Hong Kong who are studying overseas face a pattern of harassment and surveillance by Chinese authorities, Amnesty International said in a new report released yesterday. It documented several examples, including being photographed and followed at protests and having their families at home threatened by police. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson called (FT) the report “malicious slander.”
This Backgrounder by Lindsay Maizland and CFR’s Clara Fong looks at China’s crackdown on Hong Kong.
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Flooding in Afghanistan Kills More Than Three Hundred People |
Unusually heavy rainfall in recent days has caused (CNN) flash flooding in northern Afghanistan as the country is still recovering from a series of earthquakes at the beginning of the year. Unseasonably strong rain and flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan also killed more than one hundred people in April.
India: General elections have reached their halfway point (Bloomberg) as voters in the volatile region of Jammu and Kashmir take to the polls today. So far, the election has seen lower-than-expected turnout.
This Expert Brief by CFR Senior Fellow Manjari Chatterjee Miller explains what to know about India’s election.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Israeli Forces Conduct Operation in Northern Gaza’s Jabalia |
Israeli forces warned civilians to evacuate the city of Jabalia before they moved in (NYT) to combat Hamas’s suspected resurgence there. The offensive in the northern Gaza Strip comes as Israel continues to weigh wider military action in the southern city of Rafah. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was concerned that Israel’s failure to establish a template for postwar governance of Gaza could lead to victories that are not “sustainable.”
In this CFR media briefing, experts give an update on the war and potential Rafah incursion.
Kuwait: The country formed a new cabinet (Reuters) led by Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a royal decree mandated yesterday. Kuwait’s emir dissolved parliament indefinitely on Friday following disagreements between the government and elected lawmakers. He also suspended some parts of Kuwait’s constitution, including a requirement that a new parliament must be chosen within two months after dissolution.
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Dozens Killed in Weekend Fighting in Sudanese City Where 2.5 Million Civilians Are Trapped |
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary has encircled the city of El Fasher and fighting over the weekend killed dozens of people, an emergency responder told The Washington Post. It was unclear if the fighting was the beginning of a full assault on the city or a prelude. The RSF’s seizure of a main road into the city has severely hampered the flow of food entering the area.
Benin/Niger: Niger’s prime minister accused (Bloomberg) neighboring Benin of violating bilateral trade agreements by blocking the transit of outgoing Nigerien crude oil shipments. The move was in response to Niger’s refusal to open its land border to goods from Benin.
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Police Arrest Brother and Lawyer of Peruvian President in Influence-Peddling Probe |
Peru’s attorney general launched (Reuters) an additional investigation into President Dina Boluarte Zegarra for disbanding the police unit responsible for the probe into her brother and lawyer. A presidential spokesperson said the unit failed to abide by administrative norms. Both detentions occurred on Friday.
Argentina/Venezuela: The Venezuelan government has reneged on a pledge to allow six Venezuelan opposition aides sheltering at the Argentine embassy in Caracas safe passage to Argentina, an unnamed official from Argentina’s foreign ministry told Reuters. Venezuela’s information ministry did not immediately comment on the matter.
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U.S. Sends Equipment to Haiti to Prepare for Security Mission |
Several U.S. military planes have arrived (FT) in Haiti in recent days to set up temporary living quarters for the personnel who will carry out a multinational security mission in the country, U.S. Southern Command said. Kenya is due to lead the mission with one thousand police officers, while the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Chad, and Jamaica have also agreed to provide personnel.
In this YouTube Short, the Haitian Times’ Garry Pierre-Pierre discusses rebuilding Haitian society. |
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