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5 mins ago
A pro-Putin TV presenter criticizes the Russian recruitment project
By Josh Pennington
State media anchor Vladimir Soloviev criticized Russia's handling of "partial mobilization" on live state television this Sunday, a rare move for the pro-Kremlin anchor.
Soloviev questioned why employees, musicians, people with a "million diseases" or students—all of whom he argued should be exempt from compulsory military service—should be called up.
But he refrained from directly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Idiots who are calling musicians or individuals with a million diseases [...] or students, despite the clearly defined exemption, should not only be punished, but should be sent to the front lines first. If someone wishes to discredit our supreme commander-in-chief, I strongly advise him not to do so," Soloviev said.
"And if it turns out that someone [overseeing the partial mobilization] decides to turn a blind eye, then he must be punished in the harshest way conceivable."
Soloviev was previously singled out by the US State Department as the Russian government's "most forceful" propagandist, who figures prominently in the Kremlin's information warfare.
7 mins ago
Occupied zone of the Kherson region "completely closed to entry and exit"
By Olga Voitovych
The occupied zone of Kherson has been "completely closed for entry and exit" after the so-called "referendum" on the region's accession to the Russian Federation held by the separatist authorities, the Armed Forces General Staff declared on Tuesday. from Ukraine.
On Monday, the deputy head of the Russian-backed administration in Kherson reported that there was a sufficient margin to approve a vote in which the controlled areas would secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
Travel in and out of the occupied part of the neighboring Zaporizhia region is also very difficult for civilians and almost impossible for men between the ages of 18 and 35, according to the National Resistance Center of Ukraine, a unit of the Ministry of Defense. Defending.
In recent days, Ukrainian officials have reported that the movement of young people out of Russian-occupied areas across the country has become extremely difficult, since the Kremlin announced partial mobilization to recruit some 300,000 soldiers for the Russian invasion. .
Humanitarian corridors in southern Ukraine — including Kherson — have been affected and, in some cases, effectively closed, according to Ukrainian government sources.
10 mins ago
The detention of a Japanese diplomat by Russia is "unacceptable", according to the foreign minister of Japan
By Junko Ogura, Uliana Pavlova
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in New York on September 23.
(Photo: David Dee Delgado/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
Russia's detention of a Japanese consular officer on Monday is "extremely regrettable and unacceptable," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
"The consular officer was taken in a state of immobility, blindfolded from start to finish, with his hands and head restrained, and was subjected to intimidating interrogation," Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday, adding "there is no absolutely no evidence of illegal activities as claimed by the Russian side."
Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin on Tuesday morning, Hayashi said.
Mori filed a formal protest, demanding a formal apology and prevention of repetition.
The Japanese government will take "appropriate measures," Hayashi said.
A bit of background:
Russia's Federal Security Service said Japanese consul Motoki Tatsunori was detained Monday in Vladivostok for receiving confidential information.
According to the state news agency RISA Novosti, the FSB said the diplomat "was arrested red-handed while receiving, in exchange for a monetary reward, limited distribution [i.e., confidential] information on current aspects of Russia's cooperation with one of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, the impact of the Western sanctions policy on the economic situation of Primorsky Krai".
The consul was also declared persona non grata by the Russian Foreign Ministry "for activities incompatible with the status of a consular officer and detrimental to Russia's security interests," they said in a statement.
12 mins ago
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church says that Russian soldiers who die in Ukraine will be cleansed of all sin
By Josh Pennington, Sharon Braithwaite
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, leads a service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Russia, on April 24.
(Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool/AP)
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, said that Russian soldiers who die in the war against Ukraine will be cleansed of all their sins.
"We know that today many die in the fields of internal war," Kirill said during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy this Sunday.
"The Church prays that this battle ends as soon as possible, so that as few brothers as possible kill each other in this fratricidal war," he added.
"At the same time, the Church realizes that if someone is driven by a sense of duty to fulfill his oath of office, he remains faithful to his calling and does what his duty tells him to do. And if, in fulfilling of this duty, a person dies, then he has undoubtedly committed an act worthy of a sacrifice. He is sacrificing himself for others. I am sure that such a sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed," he said.
Kirill's words come days after Putin announced an immediate "partial mobilization" of citizens, to recruit 300,000 more soldiers, intensifying his invasion of Ukraine.
war in ukraine
