Tag: Wagner Group

A Prison at War: The Convicts Sustaining Putin’s Invasion

Aleksandr Mokin had lost the will to live. Convicted of selling drugs and ostracized by his family, he endured abuse from guards and frequent spells in solitary confinement at a high-security Russian prison. He told a friend he felt alone and racked with guilt. Then, in the summer of 2022, Mr. Mokin and other inmates […]

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Putin Hints Grenades and Cocaine to Blame for Wagner Chief’s Plane Crash Death

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  (Photos via Getty Images) Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed his theory on what caused the death of Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin—grenades and cocaine. Two months to the day after leading a failed mutiny against Putin, Prigozhin and 10 others–including two top Wagner members–were killed […]

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Putin Suggests New Narrative for Prigozhin Plane Crash: Cocaine and Grenades

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia claimed on Thursday that the warlord Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his associates may have brought down their private jet with hand grenades while possibly under the influence of cocaine — a new narrative from the Kremlin about the August plane crash widely seen as an assassination carried out by […]

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U.A.E. Talks Peace in Sudan War, but Secretly Backs One Side

Under the guise of saving refugees, the United Arab Emirates is running an elaborate covert operation to back one side in Sudan’s spiraling war — supplying powerful weapons and drones, treating injured fighters and airlifting the most serious cases to one of its military hospitals, according to a dozen current and former officials from the […]

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Zelensky’s Visit Reveals Strategy Divide Between Ukraine and U.S.

Ukraine will retake the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut from Russia by the end of the year, President Volodymyr Zelensky predicted during his visit to Washington, an assertion that shows the gulf between Kyiv and American war planners who believe that Ukraine should be focusing more on the south. Mr. Zelensky, at a meeting […]

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U.S. Aims New Sanctions at Russian Military Supply Chains

The United States on Thursday imposed one of its largest sanctions packages related to the war in Ukraine, penalizing more than 150 companies and individuals that officials said were profiting from Russia’s invasion and their proximity to the Kremlin and President Vladimir V. Putin. The sanctions are part of the U.S. effort “to target Russia’s […]

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Coups Are on the Rise. Why?

Following the news lately is enough to make one wonder if coups might be contagious. Military leaders seized power in Gabon on Aug. 30, adding it to a list of at least seven African countries — including Niger just a few weeks earlier — that have experienced military takeovers in the last three years. The […]

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After Prigozhin’s Death, a High-Stakes Scramble for His Empire

African leaders allied with Russia had grown used to dealing with Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the swaggering, profane mercenary leader who traveled the continent by private jet, offering to prop up shaky regimes with guns and propaganda in return for gold and diamonds. But the Russian delegation that toured three African countries last week was led […]

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