Meduza’s latest daily newsletter: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 Russia restricts entry to Kursk nuclear plant town, Pavel Durov indicted in France, and Belarus arrests former protester after Sweden rejects his asylum claim

The war against Ukraine

• 🪖 Zelensky says situation ‘difficult’ as Russian troops approach Pokrovsk: In his daily video address on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky described the combat situation in the Donetsk region as “extremely difficult,” saying Russia has concentrated its “main efforts and largest units” there. Meanwhile, citing the country’s top military commander, he said Ukraine has continued taking control of new territory in Russia’s Kursk region and that the “pressure” Ukrainian forces have “moved into Russia” will prevent Moscow from sending additional forces to the Donetsk region. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has made “significant tactical advances” around the city of Pokrovsk, an important logistics hub for Ukrainian forces in central Donbas, in recent days.
• ⛔ Russia restricts entry to Kursk nuclear plant town: The Russian authorities have restricted entry to the town of Kurchatov, where the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located, amid Ukraine’s ongoing offensive in the Kursk region, acting Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov announced on Wednesday. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces are not abandoning their attempts to penetrate the town,” he wrote on Telegram. Only registered residents of the town and citizens who obtain special passes will be allowed to enter Kurchatov, and public transportation into the town is being suspended.

📱 Telegram has become a key tool for the Russian military. Why does Moscow continue to rely on a Dubai-based civilian messaging app? (10-min read)

Tech billionaire Pavel Durov’s arrest in France has reignited debate in Russia over the Telegram messenger app’s role in the war in Ukraine. The last round of discussion surrounding the issue came as recently as July, when the State Duma passed a law allowing new punishments for soldiers who use “civilian” devices while deployed. After a wave of criticism from pro-war bloggers and state media “war correspondents” who feared the new policy would leave Russian troops with no reliable means of communication, the law was watered down. Now, the same groups are discussing whether the “keys to Telegram” are at risk of being handed over to the West, and whether the messenger could be blocked by the Russian authorities. According to these commentators, Telegram has become the main communication tool of the war, linking various military branches and hierarchy levels into a single management, intelligence sharing, and target engagement complex, though this is a gross exaggeration. Meduza explains what we know about how the Russian military actually uses Telegram, what other programs its uses for battlefield communication, and why it still hasn’t developed its own platform to replace the Dubai-based app.

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Meanwhile in Russia

🛡 Russia spends billions on protecting its border. So why is it so easy to break through? (21-min read)

Russia devotes huge amounts of money to guarding its 22,000-kilometer (13,670-mile) land border. Since February 2022, Moscow has spent more than three billion rubles, the equivalent of more than $32 million, on fortifying the section of the border in the Kursk region alone. But this didn’t stop the Ukrainian Armed Forces from breaking through at least two border checkpoints on August 6, and quickly advancing tens of kilometers into Russian territory. As of August 20, Kyiv claimed to have captured more than 100 Russian settlements (though Meduza’s analysts estimate the real number somewhat lower). That said, you don’t necessarily need a tank to cross Russia’s border without permission. Over the past two years, hundreds of people have successfully fled the country through forests and fields. iStories journalist Irina Dolinina reports on the Russian border’s vulnerabilities and what’s changed since the Kremlin began its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

As the world turns

• 🇧🇾 Belarus arrests former protester after Sweden rejects his asylum claim: A Belarusian man who was deported from Sweden after authorities there denied his asylum claim was arrested upon returning to his home country, Swedish Radio said on Wednesday. The man and his mother reportedly fled Belarus after Alexander Lukashenko’s government began its violent crackdown on dissent following the pro-democracy protests that rocked the country in 2020. In their asylum application, the refugees said that a felony case had been launched against them in Belarus and that they feared politically motivated repressions if they returned. It’s unclear whether the man’s mother was arrested along with him.
• 🇫🇷 Durov indicted and banned from leaving France: The French authorities charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov on Wednesday with a series of offenses including complicity in the spread of child sexual abuse images and aiding organized crime, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a press release. Following his indictment, the Russian-born billionaire was released from state custody on a 5-million-euro ($5.6-million) bail and banned from leaving France. State prosecutors said the investigation against Durov was launched after authorities noticed Telegram had been largely unresponsive to legal requests. According to Politico, the French authorities issued arrest warrants for both Durov and his brother Nikolai back in March. Meanwhile, Forbes reports that in addition to the Telegram case, Durov is the subject of an active criminal complaint in Switzerland for allegedly harming his son. 

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