Russia-Ukraine war updates from May 7, 2024

Veteran Russian journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova was placed in pre-trial detention for two months by a Moscow court on Tuesday on suspicion of “justifying terrorism”, her son said.

Kevorkova, 65, is a war correspondent who has reported extensively in the Middle East and has written numerous books about Palestine. She was detained on Monday following a search of her home.

Her son, Vasily Polonsky, also a journalist, said in a Telegram post that her detention would last until July 6.

Kevorkova’s lawyer, Kaloy Akhilgov, said she had been arrested due to a Telegram post she wrote about the Taliban, which Russia recognises as a terrorist organisation.

Under Russian law, the charge carries between five and seven years in prison. Kevorkova denies any guilt, Akhilgov said.

Russian independent news outlet Mediazona said Kevorkova’s arrest also stemmed from a Telegram post about a Russian journalist killed in the Central African Republic in 2018 while filming a documentary about the Wagner mercenary group, whose chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led an attempted mutiny last June.

Prigozhin died two months later in a plane crash.

— Reuters

The U.S., UK and Australia sanctioned Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev, a senior leader of cybercrime gang LockBit on Tuesday, the British government said in a statement.

LockBit was “responsible for extorting over $1 billion from thousands of victims globally,” the statement said. “The gang was responsible for 25% of ransomware attacks globally last year, targeting thousands of victims over the years,” it added.

Khoroshev will now face various asset freezes and travel bans, according to the statement.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that Khoroshev has handled a range of operational and administrative tasks for the group, recruited developers, benefitted financially from LockBit’s attacks and worked to keep the group going after its operations were disrupted by the U.S. and its allies.

The department also said there would be a reward of up to $10 million for information that led to Khoroshev being arrested or convicted of transnational organized crime.

“Russia, where groups such as LockBit are free to launch ransomware attacks against the United States, and its allies and partners, continues to offer safe harbor for cybercriminals. The United States has previously stressed that Russia must take concrete steps to prevent cyber criminals from freely operating in its jurisdiction,” the statement added.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Belarus is carrying out a “surprise inspection” of its non-strategic nuclear weapons, local state media agency Belta reported on Tuesday.

“The entire range of activities from planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear weapons will be checked,” the Belarusian defense minister Viktor Khrenin said, according to a Google translation of Belta’s reporting. Khrenin said the order for the inspection was issued on Tuesday and was a “surprise.”

Last month, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported that Belarus had taken steps to station “non-strategic nuclear weapons” across the country.

Non-strategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons, are designed to be used on battlefields in a military context.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, said Tuesday that it had exposed a network of Russian security service (FSB) agents who were preparing the assassination of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Counterintelligence were detained and SBU investigators foiled the plans of the FSB to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the top military and political leadership of the state,” the SBU said on Telegram.

The network included two colonels of Ukraine’s department of state protection, the UDO — which is responsible for Vladimir Zelenskyy’s security — who “leaked” secret information to the Russian Federation, the SBU said.

“One of the tasks of the FSB intelligence network was to search for executors among the military close to the protection of the President, who could take the Head of State hostage and later kill him,” the SBU claimed.

It said the agents also planned to eliminate the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service (GUR) Kirill Budanov and other high-ranking officials.

“The enemy’s plan was as follows: first, the recruited agent had to observe the movement of the person under guard and pass information to the enemy. According to the coordinates of the house where the official was supposed to be, a rocket attack was planned. Then they were going to attack the people who remained at the affected area with a drone. After that, the Russians planned to target with another missile, including to destroy traces of the use of the drone,” the SBU claimed, without presenting evidence.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the claims made in the SBU’s report and the FSB has not yet commented.

— Holly Ellyatt

Here’s a few pictures from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace on Tuesday.

A Moscow court has authorized the seizure of some 12.4 million euros ($13.34 million) of assets held in Russia by a European subsidiary of JPMorgan and Germany’s Commerzbank, it said in a preliminary ruling.

The court made the ruling on April 26 in favor of a case lodged by Russia’s Transkapitalbank, a lender that came under Western sanctions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“The application is motivated by the fact that on April 20, 2022, sanctions were introduced against the plaintiff” by the U.S. Treasury, the court document said.

Western banks and other companies have long worried about their funds and property in Russia since the onset of the war and retaliation by Russia after sanctions were imposed.

Russia has seized assets, installed new management at Western companies’ subsidiaries and forced departing firms to sell at huge discounts in response to Western sanctions.

About 1,000 companies have exited the country. But hundreds of companies including French retailer Auchan and Benetton are still operating or have put business on hold there, according to analysis by Yale School of Management.

Transkapitalbank didn’t immediately respond to an emailed questions about the case. JPMorgan and Commerzbank, which have both pared down their footprint in Russia, declined to comment.

Interfax reported on the ruling last week and German media, including Handelsblatt, this week reported the development.

— Reuters

Newly re-inaugurated Russian President Vladimir Putin has told officials that Russia would not shut off dialogue with the West but said Western allies had to “make their choice.”

Speaking in his inaugural address after being sworn in for his fifth term in office, which will keep him in power until 2030, Putin said Russia wants relations with other countries and said talks on “strategic stability” were possible, but on “equal terms,” he said, in comments reported and translated by Reuters.

Putin said Russia’s state system should also be resilient to threats and challenges.

— Holly Ellyatt

Vladimir Putin is about to be inaugurated for a fifth term in office that will run until 2030. The inauguration will be followed by the resignation of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s government.

The Cabinet’s resignation is not unusual as it’s mandated by the Russian Constitution, but it’ll be interesting to see which officials remain in post, and who’s promoted or demoted.

“This largely formal step will be used to reshuffle the cabinet, with PM Mishustin widely expected to continue in his role,” Andrius Tursa, Central and Eastern Europe advisor at risk consultancy Teneo, said in a note Tuesday.

“The new cabinet is expected to be approved by both chambers of parliament and president within around two weeks,” he said.

“One immediate priority for the Mishustin 2.0 cabinet will likely be tax changes corresponding to Putin’s calls for ‘a more equitable distribution of the tax burden towards those with higher personal and corporate incomes.’ Putin is expected to head to China on his first foreign trip later this month,” Tursa noted.

— Holly Ellyatt

China’s ambassador to Russia told Russian media Tuesday that Moscow should be included in a forthcoming Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland.

Ambassador Zhang Hanhui told RIA Novosti that Beijing supports the peace conference, set to be held on June 15-16, but said Russia should be involved. Russia has not been invited to the conference, its Swiss organizers said, but Moscow has already said it would not participate anyway. It has said a peace conference without it is pointless.

“China supports the timely convening of an international peace conference, approved by the Russian and Ukrainian sides, with equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all options for peace,” Zhang was reported by RIA Novosti as saying.

China has tried, somewhat half-heartedly, to position itself as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, although it is widely seen as more ideologically and geopolitically allied with Moscow, with the countries’ respective leaders describing themselves as firm partners and friends.

Beijing put forward its own 12-point peace plan last year but it was criticized for lacking substance, and China has not promoted its proposals.

The Chinese ambassador to Russia told RIA that Beijing is “ready to continue to play our own role and bring China’s wisdom and strength to advance a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis.”

— Holly Ellyatt

A U.S. soldier who was detained in Russia on charges of criminal misconduct was arrested by a Vladivostok court on theft charges, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported on Tuesday.

Citing the court’s press office, RIA said that the soldier, whom the court identified as Gordon Black, is to be detained until July 2.

“The Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok arrested the American soldier Gordon Black … under the ‘Theft’ article (of Russia’s criminal code),” RIA cited the court’s spokeswoman as saying.

The U.S. Army, which said on Monday it had been informed about the detention, has not officially named the soldier. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the soldier had been based in South Korea. Another U.S. official said the soldier was accused of stealing from a woman.

The Russian daily Izvestia, quoting an unnamed source, said the South Korea-based Army sergeant met a woman from Russia’s far eastern port of Vladivostok on the Internet.

Izvestia said the couple lived together for a time and that he stole 200,000 roubles ($2,196) from her. Reuters could not independently verify the Izvestia report.

— Reuters

Western nations are boycotting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony Tuesday in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, with the U.S., Canada and the U.K. among those refusing to send officials to the ceremony.

Putin is set to serve another six years in office following his March election win with around 87% of the vote, but Western countries described the vote as neither free nor fair. The inauguration comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 27th month.

“We will not have a representative at his inauguration,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Monday.

“We certainly did not consider those elections as free and fair, but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity,” Miller said.

Most EU nations are also not expected to send officials to the ceremony, although France, Slovakia and Hungary are expecting to send representatives, Reuters reported. The news agency cited an unnamed EU spokesperson as saying the bloc’s ambassador to Russia would not attend the ceremony.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow does not conduct elections or inaugurations “in order to be appreciated, loved or hated by the West.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Vladimir Putin is set to be sworn in as Russia’s president for the fifth time in his political career.

Putin’s allies have heaped praise on the “strongman” leader ahead of the inauguration ceremony in the Kremlin on Tuesday, saying society is consolidated around the president, who first took office 24 years ago.

State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin was among the Russian officials heaping praise on the president ahead of the inauguration ceremony at noon Moscow time (10 a.m. London time), saying “Putin saved the country.”

“He revived it, restored state capacity, and ensured social and economic development. Putin is Russia’s advantage. The consolidation of society around our President will continue to lead the country to new victories,” he said on Telegram.

The Russian government led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will resign on Tuesday and a government reshuffle is expected to take place in the coming days and weeks.

Close followers of Russian politics will be looking to see which allies — several of whom have been in ministerial posts for many years — Putin keeps close and who is promoted or demoted.

— Holly Ellyatt