Post has attachment
The #Kremlin ally indicted last week as a key figure in Russia's online election influence operation is also tied to a shadowy military contractor whose Russian mercenaries recently launched an attack on American forces in Syria, U.S. officials tell ABC News

Yevgeny #Prigozhin — a Russian businessman and restauranteur dubbed “#Putin's chef" by the Russian media — is deeply involved in the Wagner Group, officials said, a paramilitary firm based in southern #Russia. According to those officials, the firm deployed mercenaries in Syria who tried to strike U.S. special operations forces earlier this month

According to a senior U.S. official, Prigozhin finances the #Wagner Group’s current operations in both #Syria and #Africa
#TyrantPutin #US
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
The U.S. intelligence community developed substantial evidence that state websites or voter registration systems in seven states were compromised by Russian-backed covert operatives prior to the 2016 #election — but never told the states involved, according to multiple U.S. officials

Three senior intelligence officials told NBC News that the intelligence community believed the states as of January 2017 were #Alaska, #Arizona, #California, #Florida, #Illinois, #Texas and #Wisconsin
#TyrantPutin #Russia #Kremlin #Putin #US
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
The last year of Nemtsov’s life was marked by opposition to the war the #Kremlin had unleashed on Ukraine after mass protests there toppled a corrupt and authoritarian president, Viktor Yanukovych. This was an analogy too close to home for Vladimir #Putin. #Nemtsov was firm and persistent in his criticism of Putin’s #annexation of #Crimea and his proxy war in the #Donbas region. “The war against Ukraine is a crime,” he wrote in August 2014. “It is not our war. It is Putin’s war for his power and his money.” For his position, he was vilified by the Kremlin’s propaganda machine and denounced as a “traitor.” In September 2014, Nemtsov led a 50,000-strong Peace March through the streets of central Moscow. Another antiwar rally was planned for March 1, 2015; Nemtsov also began work on a new report—this time, on Putin’s war against #Ukraine. As always, he believed that the Russian people deserved to know the truth
#TyrantPutin #Russia
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
A senior U.S. general accused #Russia on Tuesday of playing a destabilizing role in #Syria and acting as “both arsonist and firefighter,” as a brief truce unilaterally declared by Moscow in the eastern #Ghouta region collapsed

The United States and Russia have been on different sides of the seven-year-old war, with Moscow heavily backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad whose forces are besieging eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held area near Damascus

“Diplomatically and militarily, Moscow plays both arsonist and firefighter, fueling tensions among all parties in Syria... then serving as an arbitrator, to resolve disputes, attempting to undermine and weaken each party’s bargaining positions,” said U.S. Army General Joseph #Votel

Over the past week, Syria’s army and its allies have subjected eastern Ghouta to one of the heaviest bombardments of the war, killing hundreds

A Russian call for a five-hour truce on Tuesday failed to halt the bombing, with residents saying that government warplanes had resumed striking the region after a brief lull
#TyrantPutin #War #Russia #Kremlin #Putin #US
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
Last time it was #Russia’s Ministry of Defence. This time it was the state TV channel Pervy Kanal that couldn’t resist the temptation to include screenshots from a computer game to spice up alleged reporting from #Syria
#TyrantPutin #Kremlin #Putin
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
One of 26 tank drivers from the so-called Wagner private military company [PMC] was the proud recipient of a Russian state award ‘For Bravery’ in 2014. It is illegal in #Russia to be a mercenary, but that is only one of many reasons for dismissing Moscow’s pretence that it has nothing to do with the #Wagner PMC which has been deployed in both #Ukraine and #Syria
#TyrantPutin #War #Kremlin #Putin
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
WHY?
Public
5d
Add a comment...

The #Russian oligarch Yevgeniy #Prigozhin was in close touch with the #Kremlin and #Syrian officials ahead of the pro-Syrian government forces assault on #US. troops and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (#SDF) on Feb. 7, U.S. #intelligence believes that Prigozhin “almost certainly” controls Russian #mercenaries fighting in #Syria, and the U.S. responded to the Feb. 7 advance on their position near Deir al-Zour with airstrikes, killing scores of pro-regime forces. Prigozhin has been in the spotlight recently as he was indicted by special counsel Robert #Mueller last week as part of his investigation into #Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. #election. Ellen Nakashima and Karen #DeYoung and Liz Sly report at the Washington Post.
Add a comment...

Post has attachment
Add a comment...
Wait while more posts are being loaded