russia Archives - The African Mirror

Jul

2023

Exclusive: Russia is rotting in absurdity and repression, veteran rights campaigner says

RUSSIA is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev era of the Soviet Union, Oleg Orlov, one of Russia's most respected human rights campaigners, told Reuters. Orlov, 70, is on trial in Russia for articles he published last year which cast Russia as a "fascist" state seeking revenge for the perceived humiliations of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He faces up to three years in prison. One of the leaders of the Memorial rights group, which won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 a year after…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia wants to join the BRICS group of nations: an expert unpacks the pros and cons

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

A few years ago, the BRICS grouping – Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – had lost salience because three of its members were in severe economic difficulty. Brazil, Russia and South Africa are primarily natural resource exporters and were badly affected by the global commodity price bust of 2014. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has now given BRICS a new geopolitical salience as the members and their respective allies respond to events. PADRAIG CARMODY, Professor in Geography, Trinity College Dublin In the emerging world order, there is also now increased demand to join BRICS, in part as a countervailing…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian, Turkish ministers talk after Turkey sends Ukrainian commanders home

WORLD

THE foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement. The Russian and Turkish foreign ministries said Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Ukraine, as well as a Black Sea grain export agreement that lifted a Russian de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports last year. Moscow has threatened to quit the grain export deal when it comes up for renewal on July 17, saying demands to facilitate sales of its…

Jul

2023

By ANDRIUS SYTAS

NATO flexes muscle to protect Vilnius summit near Russia, Belarus

WORLD

NATO has turned Vilnius into a fortress defended by advanced weaponry to protect U.S. President Joe Biden and other alliance leaders meeting next week only 32 km (20 miles) from Lithuania's razor-wire topped border fence with Russian ally Belarus. Sixteen NATO allies have sent a total of about 1,000 troops to safeguard the July 11-12 summit, which will take place only 151 km (94 miles) from Russia itself. Many are also providing advanced air defence systems which the Baltic states lack. "It would be more than irresponsible to have our sky unprotected as Biden and leaders of 40 countries are…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia launches first overnight drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days, Ukraine military says

WORLD

PAVEL POLITYUK RUSSIA launched an overnight drone attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region after a 12-day break, with air defence systems destroying all the weapons on their approach, Ukrainian military officials said. The country's air force said that the attack included eight Iranian-made Shahed drones and three cruise missiles which were shot down. "Another enemy attack on Kyiv," Serhiy Popko, a colonel general who heads Kyiv's military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel. Three private houses were damaged as a result of falling drone debris in the Kyiv region, injuring one person, the military head of…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia asks to join BRICS bloc of emerging economies

BUSINESS

ETHIOPIA, one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, has asked to join the BRICS bloc of emerging markets, the foreign ministry said. The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to describe the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined in 2010. "We expect BRICS will give us a positive response to the request we have made," foreign ministry spokesman Meles Alem told journalists, according to the state-run news agency ENA. Ethiopia will continue to work with international institutions that can protect its…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa to host BRICS summit despite Putin arrest warrant

NEWS

CARIEN DU PLESSIS SOUTH Africa said it will host the BRICS bloc summit in August as planned, amid speculation that it may move to China so Russia's President Vladimir Putin can attend in a nation not obliged to arrest him on war crimes accusations. South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine. Putin denies the charges. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with him on…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Wagner debacle in Russia raises red flags for African states and how they manage their security

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE brief rebellion led against the Kremlin by the head of the Wagner mercenary forces in Russia last week sent shock waves across the world. This was no less true in Africa, where some countries have, over the last decade, turned to the Wagner group for security support. OLUWOLE OJEWALE, Regional Coordinator, Institute for Security Studies Many states in Africa are contending with multidimensional insecurity. This includes violent extremism, terrorism, insurgency, banditry, communal clashes, sea piracy, separatist violence, kidnapping and oil theft. Non-state actors have entered the scene as security providers. As a coordinator of observations of organised crime in…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian mercenary leader says he did not aim to overthrow government

WORLD

THE boss of Russia's Wagner mercenary group broke his silence, two days after leading an aborted mutiny, saying he had never intended to overthrow the government while giving few clues about his own fate or the deal under which he stood down. In the first public remarks released since he was last seen on Saturday night smiling and high-fiving bystanders from the back of an SUV as he withdrew from a city occupied by his men, Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters had halted their campaign to avert bloodshed. "We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia to stay in touch with African peace mission, some ideas workable – Kremlin

NEWS

THE Kremlin said that Russia would continue to talk to a group of African countries seeking to mediate in the conflict with Ukraine, notably at a Russia-Africa summit next month, and that some of their ideas were workable. President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave the seven-country African delegation that had come to see him in St Petersburg a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided, pouring cold water on a plan already largely dismissed by Kyiv. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that talks with the delegation would continue nonetheless as some of its suggestions…