2023-10-21 11:20:14
At a diplomatic summit this Friday in Washington, US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen displayed a united front to support Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas and that of Ukraine to do the same against Russia. Joe Biden subsequently announced a request to the US Congress to release $61.4 billion for Ukraine. On the front, Russian strikes have caused new victims in southern Ukraine.
Two dead, two injured in strike in southern Ukraine
Several Russian strikes have left at least two dead and two injured in southern Ukraine during the last 24 hours, notably in Kryvyï Rig, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian authorities announced this Saturday, October 21. On Friday evening, the shelling of a residential area left one dead and one injured in Kryvyï Rig, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the national police.
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A fire was also caused during the night by a strike on an industrial complex, police said, adding that the fire had been extinguished. “Essential infrastructure is damaged,” added the presidential administration, referring to this fire. Even further south, in the Kherson region, a series of strikes has left one dead and one injured since Friday morning, according to the same source. Attacks also left two people injured in total in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions in the east, according to authorities. The presidential administration indicated that several localities in the Donetsk region had found themselves “under Russian fire”, including Avdiivka.
Russian-American journalist detained in Russia
A Russian court this Friday extended until October 23 the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, arrested this week and who became the second American reporter detained in Russia. “By decision of the court, the period of detention of Alsu Kurmasheva is extended by 72 hours,” said the Sovetsky court in Kazan, in the Russian region of Tatarstan. The journalist, who was arrested on Wednesday for violating obligations linked to her status as a “foreign agent” imposed by the courts, was present at the hearing, in the cage reserved for the accused and wearing an FFP2 mask. She was taken there by hooded agents, AFP journalists noted. She faces up to five years in prison.
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Russia has been waging a vast campaign of repression against independent media, NGOs, journalists, lawyers and opponents since the start of its assault on Ukraine in February 2022. While many Russian activists and reporters have fled their country, others – famous or anonymous – were incarcerated. Several Americans are also detained, including journalist Evan Gershkovich. The Russian authorities, for their part, deny any form of “persecution” targeting United States nationals. “There are American nationals who violate laws and against whom we take appropriate measures,” explained Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, adding that he was not following the case of Alsu Kurmasheva.
Biden requests exceptional package of $105.85 billion to help Israel and Ukraine
“The world is watching, and the American people rightly expect their leaders to come together to meet these priorities,” said Shalanda Young, White House budget director. Shortly after, the Republicans once again failed to elect one of their own as head of the House of Representatives, effectively prolonging the paralysis of the entire Congress – which also includes the Senate, with a Democratic majority. The leader of the Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer, estimated Friday that this request from Joe Biden was “too important to wait for the House to put an end to the chaos”, and promised that his camp would look into the text “very quickly”.
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The Democratic president, who will have to find a political consensus with conservative parliamentarians, is demanding 61.4 billion dollars (of which 30 would be spent on arms) for Ukraine and 14.3 billion (of which 10.6 on arms) for Israel . By linking the two causes, he hopes in a way to twist the arm of the Republican Party, which wants muscular assistance to Israel but whose most right wing contests the continuation of aid to Kiev.
US intelligence services denounce Russian interference in the electoral process of many countries
Russia is using its network of spies, state media and social networks to undermine the credibility of elections around the world, according to a US intelligence report published Friday and shared with around a hundred countries. “Russia is carrying out operations aimed at reducing public confidence in the integrity of the elections,” underlines this report, reiterating that Russian actors attempted to undermine the credibility of the 2020 American presidential election won by the Democrat Joe Biden against his Republican rival Donald Trump.
“This is a global phenomenon. Our information indicates that senior officials in the Russian government, including the Kremlin, give merit to this type of influence operation and consider them effective,” the report continues. This document, transmitted by diplomatic cable to the embassies of around a hundred countries, in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, comes at a time when tensions are already high between Moscow and Washington against a backdrop of invasion. of Ukraine by Russia.
According to American intelligence, Russia led “concerted efforts” between 2020 and 2022 to undermine public confidence in at least eleven elections in nine democratic countries, including the United States. These operations are carried out via “secret or public” mechanisms, notes the report which mentions for example the case of clandestine interference by the FSB, the Russian intelligence services, aimed at intimidating electoral staff during a campaign in a country. European unspecified in 2020. Russian state media amplified “false allegations of electoral fraud” in numerous elections in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America in 2020 and 2021, this report continues.
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