‘He is a war criminal,’ Russian intelligence defector says about Putin
Macron says “anyone helping the aggressor would be an accomplice” on Ukraine
From CNN’s Joseph Ataman in Paris
French President Emanuel Macron told reporters as he arrived in Beijing that “anyone helping the aggressor would be an accomplice” with regards to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Elysée Place told CNN that Macron had made the comments to AFP on Wednesday.
Macron added that “China’s interest isn’t to have a lasting war.”
“We have decided since the beginning of the conflict to help the victim,” he also said.
Macron and and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Beijing on Wednesday on a three-day visit. In a readout, the Elysée Palace said the two heads of state discussed their common desire to engage China to accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine.
Macron had said China can play a “major role” in the conflict in Ukraine because of its close relationship with Russia.
“He is a war criminal,” Russian intelligence defector says about Putin in Dossier Center interview
From CNN Staff
Gleb Karakulov was an officer in President Vladimir Putin’s federal guard service, who fled while he was on a government trip to Kazakhstan, making him the highest-ranking defector to speak out about the war on Ukraine.
Karakulov managed to escape by faking a stomach ache on the last day of Putin’s trip to Astana, Kazakhstan, last October, giving enough time to fetch his wife and daughter to board a plane to Istanbul, he told investigative journalist Ilia Rozhdestvenskii from the Dossier Center.
In the report, Karakulov said the “invasion of the territory of a sovereign state is simply beyond comprehension,” and called Putin a “war criminal” for the “war of aggression, terrorism, and genocide of the Ukrainian people.”
Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett, Rozhdestvenskii said the former guard was compelled to share his account what it was like to work around Putin to try to help end the war.
“He wanted to speak out and to tell everybody that he’s against this war. He wanted to address to his colleagues to his federal guard service colleagues and to let them know that probably they should do something, that they should stop this war,” Rozhdestvenskii told CNN.
Karakulov also revealed that Putin does not use the internet or mobile phones, receiving information only from the his closest circles, describing the Russian President as having “lost touch with the world.”
Officers assigned on duty with Putin also have go under strict quarantine two weeks before any event, even those lasting 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
“He has been living in an information cocoon for the past couple of years, spending most of his time in his residences, which the media very fittingly call bunkers. He is pathologically afraid for his life,” Karakulov was quoted as saying in the report.
Russia needs to “continue to support” its US relations, foreign minister says
From CNN’s Josh Pennington
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to a reporter’s question Wednesday regarding Russia’s relationship with the United States while it continues to supply aid to Ukraine.
“We really are in a hot phase of the war, because Ukrainian Nazis are using American weapons, first and foremost. And the American administration keeps threatening to deliver longer-range and more deadly weapons systems,” Lavrov said. “But nevertheless, I think we should continue to support our relations, and we hope that the Americans will wake up at once and return to the negotiating table. We’ll see, we won’t have to wait much longer.”
Some background: Throughout the conflict Russian President Vladimir Putin has continuously framed his invasion of Ukraine – a country with a Jewish president – as a campaign of supposed “denazification,” a description dismissed by historians and political observers alike.
Last year, Lavrov – Putin’s top diplomat – sought to justify Moscow’s goal of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine by claiming Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood” and that “the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews.”
Zelensky and Putin both met with neighboring countries’ leaders. Here are the top headlines
From CNN staff
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to neighboring Poland on Wednesday for an official visit to the country, one of its closest partners.
Meantime, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The leaders discussed weapons in Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor.
Lukashenko has also said he intensified talks with Putin about deploying both tactical and strategic — more powerful — nuclear weapons to deal with threats from Ukraine’s Western allies, who he claimed are planning a coup against him.
Here’s what to know:
- Belarusian president in Moscow: Lukashenko and Putin began a two-day summit in Moscow discussing weapons in Belarus. Putin said last month that Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in the neighboring country. He said Moscow had already transferred an Iskander short-range missile system, a device that can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, to Belarus. Lukashenko’s Ukraine “peace proposal” will also likely be discussed during meetings with Putin, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
- Zelensky in Poland: Zelenksy is in Poland to sign bilateral agreements and hold an economic forum with Polish President Andrzej Duda. The Polish president said he supports Ukraine’s “pursuit of EU and NATO membership” and announced that Poland is delivering four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, in addition to four it has given in recent months.
- European leaders in Beijing: Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are on a three-day visit to Beijing. In a readout, the Elysée Palace said the two heads of state discussed their common desire to engage China to accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine. Macron and von der Leyen will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
- Putin on Russia’s global role: Moscow is open to “constructive partnership with all countries” and is not going to isolate itself, Putin said. The Russian president also said Russia has “no bias or hostile intentions towards anyone.”
- NATO: After Finland officially became a member of NATO Tuesday, the chief of the transatlantic military alliance said he is “confident” Sweden will also become a member despite Turkey’s current opposition. Finland’s fold into the alliance also reignited calls from Ukraine to join, and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has indicated that Zelensky has been invited to the alliance’s summit in July.
- The situation in Bakhmut: Russian forces have made “very slow progress” in Bakhmut over the past six months, despite committing large numbers of soldiers and suffering huge losses, according to Western officials. The Ukrainian military and a soldier near Bakhmut say that heavy battles are raging in the eastern city. Zelensky acknowledged a possible military withdrawal from Bakhmut, but said ammunition deliveries from allies would bolster the defense.
- The latest on fighting: Ukraine has been carrying out deep strikes and stockpiling some ammunition ahead of an expected counteroffensive in the coming months, Western officials believe. The officials said they also believe Russia has a problem getting people to join the military as well as difficulties in providing them with training.
- Detained American reporter: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to release detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich “immediately.” The Biden administration is preparing to officially declare Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, two US officials told CNN, a move that will trigger new US government resources to work towards his release, CNN reported earlier.
Poland announced Zelensky’s visit to Warsaw ahead of time because it isn’t afraid of Russia, official says
From CNN’s Alex Hardie and Sugam Pokharel
Poland announced the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Warsaw a few days before his arrival because “we don’t feel so afraid of Russians anymore,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.
“It wasn’t easy – and again we are very successful in hiding this information (of senior officials traveling to Warsaw) like we did with (US President Joe) Biden a few weeks ago – but we don’t feel so afraid of Russians anymore, and we decided to communicate (Zelensky’s visit) two days before to give the Polish people possibility to travel to Warsaw and participate in two leaders’ speech,” spokesperson Lukasz Jasina said in an interview with CNN’s Isa Soares.
“It wasn’t easy because Warsaw today was blocked much more than during Biden’s, Obama’s or Trump’s visits, but it was worth it because there was a symbolism,” he added.
Zelensky met with senior Polish officials and signed bilateral agreements on Wednesday during his first official trip to Poland since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Putin and Lukashenko begin summit in Moscow discussing weapons
From CNN’s Josh Pennington and Katharina Krebs
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin began a two-day summit in Moscow discussing weapons in Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor.
“In your office, when we discussed what to do, it turned out that there was an opportunity to work,” Lukashenko said, sitting alongside Putin. “The missiles are flying and military equipment is on the move, so we will overcome everything with a little bit of time.”
Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, Putin said last month. He said Moscow had already transferred an Iskander short-range missile system, a device that can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, to Belarus.
“I must say that a lot has been done as a result of our joint work in all areas,” Putin said. “Tomorrow we will discuss all this. This concerns our interaction in the international arena and the joint solution of issues of ensuring the security of our states. I am especially pleased to note the results of our work in the economic sphere.”
Lukashenko noted that Russia’s population “feared hunger, cold, and so on,” but that those fears did not come to pass.
“Tomorrow we will sum up what we have done,” Lukashenko said. “We have definitely worked for our paychecks.”
CNN’s Hira Humayun contributed reporting to this post.
White House says the US doesn’t “enable or encourage” Ukrainians to strike outside of Ukraine
From CNN’s Maegan Vazquez
White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent allegation that “Western intelligence services” are involved in “terrorist attacks” carried out within Russia, saying Wednesday that the United States does not “enable or encourage Ukrainians to strike outside of Ukraine.”
CNN previously reported that during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Wednesday, Putin alleged without evidence that “terrorist attacks are regularly carried out against government officials and law enforcement agencies, journalists, public figures, school and university teachers. … Moreover, neo-Nazis and their accomplices operate not only on the territory of the new subjects of the Federation, but also commit crimes in other regions” – references to the Ukrainian regions Russia claims to have annexed, and the rest of the Russian regions.
“There is reason to believe that the potential of third countries of Western intelligence services is involved in the preparation of such sabotage and terrorist attacks,” Putin added.
Vladlen Tatarsky, a pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger, was killed by an explosion at a St. Petersburg café on Sunday. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said Monday that the explosion that killed him involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Kirby underscored that American intelligence involvement has been aimed at helping Ukrainians defend their territory.
“(F)rom the early days of this war, we have been providing intelligence and information support to the Ukrainian armed forces to enable them to better defend themselves, to conduct operations and to continue to try to claw back territory that the Russians illegally took from them when they invaded – actually, even since 2014. And I won’t get into the details of what that intelligence is or how it’s delivered, but it is very much intended to help … them defend their territory,” Kirby said.
“We do not enable nor do we encourage the Ukrainians to strike outside of Ukraine. And I really just – I’m going to leave it at that,” he added.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-04-06-23/index.html
