Meduza’s latest daily newsletter: Monday, August 26, 2024 The first POW swap since the Kursk incursion began, Kyiv accuses Minsk of border troop buildup, and a drone scare at a German NATO base
The latest in Russia and Ukraine
💥 Russia pounds Ukrainian cities with over 100 missiles and dozens of drones in response to Kyiv’s cross-border offensive (9-min read)
The Russian Armed Forces carried out a massive attack on civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine on Monday, using various types of missiles and combat drones. According to maps of missile and drone movements published by Ukrainian media, the strikes targeted regions in western, eastern, and central Ukraine. The attack left multiple people dead and dozens injured, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian State Duma Defense Committee chairman Andrey Kartapolov said the assault was a response to Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and that there will be “more to come.” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, meanwhile, said that Kyiv is preparing a response using weapons of its own production.
🪖 Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Kursk share their views on the largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war (9-min read)
Nearly three weeks into Kyiv’s cross-border offensive, Ukrainian forces control over 366 square miles of Russian territory and 66 settlements, according to Meduza’s latest estimates. While the Ukrainian authorities have stated that the operation aims to create a “buffer zone” to protect against Russian shelling, the incursion’s broader objectives remain unclear. Ukrainska Pravda spoke with three members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces who are participating in the operation to gather their perspectives. Here’s what they shared.
- 🪖 Russia and Ukraine conduct first prisoner swap since Kursk incursion began: On Saturday, Russia and Ukraine carried out their first prisoner exchange since the start of Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. The swap, which was brokered by the UAE, saw each side receive 115 conscripts. According to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, “most” of the servicemen released by Ukraine were captured in the Kursk region in recent weeks. The Ukraine-based organization Nash Vykhod, which lobbies for Russian POWs to be returned to Russia, wrote that the swap was carried out “thanks to the tireless efforts of mothers who refused to stand aside and searched for their sons.” The organization also published a list of soldiers included in the exchange — and parents of at least five missing or captured conscripts have told independent journalists that their sons’ names are not on the list (though the document’s authenticity has not been confirmed). The Russian soldiers who were released are currently in Belarus undergoing medical treatment.
- 🔄 From prison to war to prison to war: A 29-year-old Russian inmate who was pardoned of murder charges upon joining Wagner Group in 2022 but returned to prison after committing another murder while on leave has signed a new contract with the Russian Defense Ministry and will be released from prison to join the war once again, human rights advocates report. Ivan Rossomakhin was first convicted of murder in 2020 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was released to join Wagner Group following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but in March 2023, he raped and murdered an 85-year-old woman while on leave in his hometown in central Russia. He reportedly confessed to the crime and was later sentenced to 23 years in prison.
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🎧Podcast episode: The science of Russian Internet censorship and surveillance (35-min listen)
Russia’s federal censor has been throttling YouTube playback speeds for the last month or so, just like it slowed Twitter data transfer speeds back in 2021. Throughout August, Russian Internet users have reported sudden and widespread outages in access to popular apps and services like Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype, Wikipedia, Steam, Discord, and more. While the RuNet crackdown has become a familiar feature of the Putin regime, its technical side is hard to understand.
For help with the science of Russian Internet censorship and surveillance, Meduza spoke to Sarkis Darbinyan, a senior legal counsel to the digital rights group RKS Global (which recently published a report titled “State of Surveillance: A Study on How the Russian State, Through Laws and Technology, Carries Out Digital Surveillance”) and Philipp Dietrich, a project officer for the “Risks of the Sovereign Internet for Russia and Beyond” project at the German Council on Foreign Relations’s Center for Order and Governance in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia.
Please note: This episode was recorded before Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s arrest.
As the world turns
- 🪖 Kyiv accuses Minsk of border build-up: Ukraine accused Belarus on Sunday of building up troops along the two countries’ border and urged Minsk to withdraw its forces so that Ukrainian territory is no longer in firing range. “We warn Belarusian officials not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow’s pressure,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. On Monday, a Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed that Ukraine has not filed any “official requests.”
- 🚨 German press says NATO base raised security level due to possible Russian threat: German media reported on Monday that a security alert at a NATO base in the town of Geilenkirchen last week was due to information about possible Russian sabotage activity. On Friday, the base’s security level was raised to “Charlie,” which applies when there’s an indication that “some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely,” according to its official description. The heightened level remained in effect until about 24 hours later, and most employees were sent home. According to the German news agency dpa, warnings of a possible Russian sabotage attack came from foreign intelligence. According to a security source who spoke to Reuters, the alert was sparked by a “potential drone threat,” though the source said the word “Russia” was “never mentioned” in discussions of the threat.
The arrest of Pavel Durov
On Saturday evening, Pavel Durov, the Russian billionaire founder of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested in Paris upon arriving in his private jet at Le Bourget airport. The news sent shockwaves throughout the tech world and caused a stir in Russian society, which relies largely on Telegram for communications from the authorities (a Kommersant article published Monday calls the app a “messenger of national importance”) as well as for private messaging and access to non-Kremlin-aligned media.
According to a press release put out by French prosecutors on Monday, Durov’s arrest is part of an ongoing investigation launched in early July by the government’s Center for the Fight Against Cybercrime related to charges including the refusal to provide information requested by law enforcement, money laundering, and complicity in the distribution of child pornography and drug trafficking. It’s still unclear whether Durov himself will face charges.
Durov is currently being interrogated by state investigators. A judge has authorized the extension of his arrest for up to 96 hours, which means he could be released from custody on August 28 if his detention isn’t extended further.
Despite Moscow’s years-long attempt to block Telegram beginning in 2018 and its apparent renewed efforts to do so last week, Russia’s propaganda media has liberally amplified the voices of those claiming Durov’s arrest is an attack on free speech.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested on August 24 after his plane landed in Paris. According to French media reports, Durov likely faces charges for a range of offenses related to his failure to moderate illegal activities on the platform, although so far, French prosecutors have only stated that he is being questioned. While many Russian politicians and elites were swift to denounce Durov’s arrest, the reasons they gave were notably inconsistent. Meduza special correspondent Andrey Pertsev spoke with Kremlin insiders, officials, and a state-media employee to find out how the Kremlin might spin Durov’s arrest and why it’s taking so long to establish a consistent narrative.
🗣 Public figures in Russia and beyond react to Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s arrest (14-min read)
Pavel Durov’s arrest in France sparked a range of strong initial reactions in Russia and beyond, with many Russian opposition figures finding themselves in rare agreement with pro-Kremlin voices on the purported injustice of the tech mogul’s detention. Meduza has compiled initial reactions to Durov’s arrest from public figures in Russia and around the world.
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