Category Archives: Russia

Britain, Russia, Syria, United States

UN Secretary-General pleads for Syrian ceasefire

SYRIA

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY children are feared to have been killed in bloody Syrian air attacks on a rebel-held enclave near Damascus.

Bashar al-Assad’s warplanes pounded the eastern Ghouta district earlier this week for five consecutive days, turning it into a “hell on earth” according to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

As the UN pleaded for a ceasefire to prevent a “massacre”, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 368 people, including 150 children, had been killed since last Sunday night.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, visiting neighbouring Lebanon, said Britain was considering extending its commitment to resettle 20,000 vulnerable refugees from the brutal Syrian civil war.

Concern is growing that Russia has deployed a new stealth fighter to Syrian for weapons testing. Footage appeared to show two Su-57 fifth-generation jets landing at Russia’s Khmeimim air base in the country. The killing machine – which is yet to be tested in combat – is difficult to track on enemy radars – and is capable of autonomously assessing battlefield situations before striking targets with its deadly weaponry.

Map of Damascus locating the besieged rebel enclave in Eastern Ghouta.

 

The deployment of the aircraft would represent the latest the high-tech military system Russia has exhibited in Syria. The Kremlin has been accused of using the war-ravaged nation as a weapons-testing playground.

A Royal Navy warship has, once again, been forced to escort three Russian warships as they travelled through the English Channel on their way back from the region.

Russian spy ship Feodor Golovin, landing ship Alexander Ostrakovskiy and tanker Yelnya had been supporting Russian military operations in Syria.

The deployment of Portsmouth-based HMS Mersey and a Wildcat helicopter from RNAS Yeovilton is the third time in two months that the Royal Navy has been scrambled to keep a watch on Russian vessels passing the UK.

In Lebanon Miss Rudd said 10,538 people from the Syrian war zone have already been granted refuge under a government scheme and the UK would reach its target of bringing in 20,000 by 2020.

The Home Secretary said she was already holding talks about what would follow when the target was met. She failed to rule out the option of bringing in more refugees, although other ways of helping – such as providing support in the region – could also be likely.

The Home Secretary said: “I am consulting with stakeholders and engaging with other departments to decide what we should have to replace that after 2020. I am going to make sure we have something post-2020 but I’m not sure yet what shape it is.”

World leaders have ramped up the pressure for an urgent ceasefire in Syria.

The UN Security Council was expected to vote on a resolution, called for by Sweden and Kuwait, ordering a ceasefire to allow relief agencies to deliver vital aid and evacuating the sick and wounded from besieged areas.

A spokesperson for Syrian Civil Defence, a search-and-rescue group, said eastern Ghouta was being targeted for “extermination”, adding: “This is a war against civilians. The civil defence is being targeted as they rescue women and children.”

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Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs, Government, Russia, United States

13 Russians charged with meddling in US election

UNITED STATES

A 37-page indictment filed by the special counsel Robert Mueller names 13 individuals indicted on conspiracy and election fraud charges.

THIRTEEN Russians have now been charged with meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

They used fake Twitter and Facebook accounts, prosecutors said, as they revealed the extent of Russia’s interference aimed at destabilising American democracy.

Three Russian companies have also been indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington for being part of a campaign run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.

The companies include the Internet Research Agency, which runs a troll factory based in Putin’s home city of St Petersburg.

The breath-taking claims of meddling in the 2016 election have been revealed by US prosecutors for the first time, exposing an alleged multimillion-dollar conspiracy which employed hundreds of people.

US deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstien said the federal grand jury indictment exposed a campaign of “information warfare”.

He described how the Russians sought to sow discord in America both before and after President Trump’s election.

By mid-2016 the campaign was spreading disinformation about the Democratic White House candidate Hillary Clinton and supporting Republican Donald Trump.

In other mischief, shortly after the election the Russians were responsible for organising two protests – one in support of Mr Trump and one against – on the same day in New York.

Posing as Americans – in some cases using stolen identities of real US citizens – the alleged conspirators sought to interfere “with the political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016”. A 37-page indictment filed by the special counsel Robert Mueller named 13 individuals, believed still to be in Russia, and three companies for alleged interference from 2014 onwards. According to the indictment, they had a ‘strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system’. An unnamed Texas-based American political operative is said to have instructed them to focus on so-called ‘purple states’ which swing between Republican and Democratic control.

‘Defendants posted derogatory information about a number of candidates and, by early to mid-2016, defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J Trump… and disparaging Hillary Clinton,’ the indictment says.

Hundreds of people were said to be involved in the operation, working in shifts and with a budget of millions of dollars. They allegedly used bogus social media postings on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

After it emerged that Facebook was cooperating with Mr Mueller’s inquiry, investigators found some of the Russians discussed how they were covering their tracks, the deputy attorney general has said.

Two of the firms are said to have also held Russian government contracts. Charges on the indictment include conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Mr Rosenstein maintains that no evidence exists the Russians’ activities had affected the election result.

 

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Britain, Foreign Affairs, France, Government, Politics, Russia, Syria, Ukraine

UK blames Russia for ‘huge cyber-attack’

SECURITY

War of words: The Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson

BRITAIN has publicly blamed the Russian government for a “reckless and destructive” cyber-attack.

In an extraordinary move likely to spark a diplomatic storm, the Foreign Office accused the Kremlin of “malicious cyber activity”.

The attack, which occurred last year, targeted Ukraine and spread across Europe. Its primary targets were the Ukrainian financial, energy and government sectors.

But it was designed to spread further and affected other European and Russian firms in June.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson accused Vladimir Putin of “ripping up the rule book”.

Mr Williamson said: “We have entered a new era of warfare, witnessing a destructive and deadly mix of conventional military might and malicious cyber-attacks.

“Russia is ripping up the rule book by undermining democracy, wrecking livelihoods by targeting critical infrastructure, and weaponising information. We must be primed and ready to tackle these stark and intensifying threats.” Ukraine has been locked in a simmering conflict with Russia-backed separatists since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.

Foreign minister for cyber-security Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said the UK’s decision to identify the Kremlin as responsible for the attack underlines the fact the Government will not tolerate “malicious cyber-activity”.

He said: “The UK Government judges that the Russian government, specifically the Russian military, was responsible for the destructive Not-Petya cyber-attack of June 2017.

“The attack showed a continued disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty. Its reckless release disrupted organisations across Europe costing hundreds of millions of pounds.”

He added: “The Kremlin has positioned Russia in direct opposition to the West, yet it doesn’t have to be that way. We call on Russia to be the responsible member of the international community it claims to be rather than secretly trying to undermine it.

“The United Kingdom is identifying, pursuing and responding to malicious cyber-activity regardless of where it originates, imposing costs on those who would seek to do us harm.

“We are committed to strengthening, co-ordinated international efforts to uphold a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace.”

His comments point to UK intelligence agencies discovering evidence indicating the involvement of the Russian military.

Meanwhile, the Defence Secretary has risked igniting a diplomatic firestorm by claiming there is no point in Britain listening to Emmanuel Macron.

Mr Williamson has taken aim at the French president amid growing concerns in London at his hard-line position on Brexit.

He spoke out after Mr Macron threatened to launch strikes on the Syrian government for allegedly using chemical weapons against civilians. Mr Williamson, who has been tipped as a potential future Prime Minister, said the UK felt no need to “copy” decisions in neighbouring countries.

“What is the point in listening to French politicians,” he said. “We have our own foreign policy, we don’t need to copy.”

He said he would “dutifully study” Mr Macron’s comments but refused to be drawn on a change in the UK’s policy.

The UK refused to join retaliatory strikes launched by Donald Trump in Syria last year over suspected chemical weapons use. Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon later said Britain would support similar actions if “legal, proportionate and necessary”.

Mr Williamson’s dismissal of Mr Macron, during a ministerial meeting at NATO’s Brussels headquarters, will stoke fears that ties between Paris and London are under increasing strain.

Mr Macron threatened a major escalation in Syria this week by threatening to launch air strikes against president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The warning followed claims that Syrian government forces dropped a chlorine bomb from a helicopter on Saraqeb, a rebel-held town, earlier this month.

The Syrian Government has denied the accusations, while Mr Macron said that French officials had yet to find enough evidence to launch a strike.

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