Daily News Brief

June 26, 2024

Top of the Agenda

The trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich began in Yekaterinburg, Russia, today, with main proceedings closed to the press. Russian authorities have not produced public evidence to back up their allegation that Gershkovich conducted espionage “under instructions from the CIA.” Gershkovich, the U.S. government, and the Journal have vehemently rejected the charges; the U.S. State Department designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained soon after his March 2023 arrest and called for his immediate release. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow today called on Russia to stop using Gershkovich and other detained Americans as “bargaining chips.”

Gershkovich was reporting for the Journal when he was arrested in a broader landscape of worsening relations between the United States and Russia following Moscow’s invasion in Ukraine a year prior. As the conflict continues in its third year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants yesterday for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and current Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The court cited grounds to believe they held individual criminal responsibility for attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine. (CNN, BBC)

Analysis

“Remember that more than 99 percent of Russian court cases end in conviction,” CFR Press Fellow Miriam Elder said on this episode of The World Next Week podcast. “In those cases where Russia engages in prisoner swaps or releases people early, it tends to do so after a verdict has been handed down, so that Evan's case is moving ahead could give some hope that some sort of a swap might be possible.”

“Putting the trial into historical context over the past century suggests that it represents a dangerous development. You have to go back to the 1980s, and the last, confrontational, phase of the Cold War, to find a case of a Moscow correspondent being locked up on spying charges,” the University of London’s Dina Fainberg and James Rodgers write for the Conversation.

Sub-Saharan Africa

At least twenty-two people were killed and more than three hundred injured in clashes at yesterday’s demonstrations against a bill to overhaul Kenya’s tax system, Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights said today. President William Ruto called the protests “treasonous” and deployed the military in response. Youth-led demonstrations were reported in thirty-five of the country’s forty-seven counties. (NYT, Daily Nation)

Africa: The World Health Organization called for urgent action to address the spread of mpox in Africa yesterday. A scientist from the University of Rwanda said in a separate briefing that an extremely dangerous strain is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province; it has fatality rates of around 5 percent in adults and 10 percent in children. Earlier this month, two people in South Africa died from the virus. (Reuters)

For Think Global Health, Linda Nordling discusses the implications of South Africa’s fatal mpox cases.

Pacific Rim

Defense relations between the two countries are on the “fast track,” China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chair Zhang Youxia said during yesterday’s meeting. While the United States is by far Saudi Arabia’s largest weapons supplier, Riyadh has increased military purchases from Beijing in recent years. (SCMP, Al-Monitor)

Philippines: Manila continues to ask Washington for information about a Reuters report that described a secret U.S. information campaign to cast doubt about the efficacy of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines, a Philippine foreign affairs official said yesterday. An initial inquiry from Manila yielded neither confirmation nor denial and a referral to speak to the U.S. Defense Department, he said. A Philippines congressional committee is investigating the matter. An unnamed U.S. Defense Department official acknowledged in the original report that the U.S. military engaged in the campaign but did not give detail; Reuters determined it was terminated in mid-2021. (Inquirer, The Philippine Star, Reuters)

South and Central Asia

Thailand-registered companies transferred more than $120 million worth of military equipment to Myanmar’s regime last year, up from $60 million in 2022, according to a new report from the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar. Procurement through Singapore dropped sharply, reflecting a crackdown by the Singapore government. The Thai government does not have an explicit policy opposing the transfer of weapons to Myanmar, but the report said that adopting one would “significantly” impair the regime’s ability to attack people in Myanmar. (Nikkei)

For the Asia Unbound blog, CFR expert Joshua Kurlantzick details the deteriorating grip of Myanmar’s junta.  

Sri Lanka: The government reached a deal today with bilateral creditor nations including France, India, and Japan to restructure around $5.8 billion in sovereign debt. Sri Lanka’s state finance minister said they were also working toward a deal with the Export-Import Bank of China. (PTI)

Middle East and North Africa

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the importance of avoiding further escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border in a Washington meeting yesterday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the State Department said. As cross-border attacks mount between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Canada warned its citizens in Lebanon yesterday to leave the country “while they can.” (Times of Israel, AFP)

Palestinian territories: Almost half a million people in the Gaza Strip face “catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity,” a UN-backed group of experts said in a report yesterday. They stopped short of declaring that the mass starvation is yet considered famine, but the report prompted renewed calls to facilitate access to aid in the enclave. (NYT) 

Europe

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will lead the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after member countries approved his appointment today. It comes ahead of the alliance’s annual summit in Washington in two weeks. His predecessor, Jens Stoltenberg, said he “warmly welcome[d]” the selection, calling Rutte “a true trans-Atlanticist, a strong leader, and a consensus-builder.” (AP)

Americas

A majority of judges supported decriminalization in what has been a slow-moving voting process since it began in 2015. The decision sets up a clash with Brazil’s congress, which is advancing a constitutional amendment to criminalize marijuana possession in any quantity. (AFP, Bloomberg)

Canada: Justin Trudeau says he plans to stay on as prime minister despite an election upset against his Liberal Party in a Toronto district it had held for thirty years. He said he heard Canadians’ “concerns and frustrations” in response to the upset. (BBC)

United States

Yesterday’s thirty-nine-page advisory was the first time the country’s top health official made an urgent pronouncement on gun deaths. It called for measures to make gun access more difficult, many of which face legislative opposition, as well as more research and violence prevention programs. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said the issue does not belong in the realm of politics, but public health, and referenced a 1964 Surgeon General report on the dangers of smoking that is largely credited with reducing tobacco use. The National Rifle Association president called the report part of “the Biden Administration’s war on law-abiding gun owners.” (WaPo, AP)

At this CFR virtual roundtable, experts discuss the epidemic of gun violence in American schools.

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