Daily Archives: December 25, 2023

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Thursday the recent failure of Congress to pass a new round of aid to Ukraine is “a tremendous gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“You know who is going to have the best Christmas imaginable? Vladimir Putin,” the Virginia senator posted to his account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Our failure to renew aid to Ukraine is a tremendous gift to him. We must get it done next year.”

The Senate adjourned Wednesday without a deal on funding for Ukraine or border security, ending a historically unproductive legislative session. Its members are not scheduled to come back until early January.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attributed the absence of achievements to the influence of former President Trump on the Republican-majority House.

“Under a Republican House majority this year, we saw a year marked by chaos, extremism and paralysis. There’s no question that divided government and MAGA extremism made legislating in 2023 very difficult,” Schumer said in floor remarks.

“For much of the year it was as if Donald Trump himself were running the show over in the House, making it exceedingly hard to get anything done,” he lamented.  

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted that it would be “practically impossible” to pass military aid to Ukraine before Christmas, even though negotiations on a supplemental spending package were ongoing.

“All I have said is [it’s] practically impossible, even though we reach an agreement, to craft it, get it through the Senate, get it through the House before Christmas,” McConnell said. “Doesn’t mean it’s not important.”

Republican senators have insisted on major immigration policy changes in exchange for supporting President Biden’s $60 billion spending request for Ukraine. So far Democrats have rejected the GOP demands as too extreme.

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Sen. Warner: Congressional failure to pass Ukraine aid tremendous gift to Putin - The Hill

Independent Russian presidential candidate Yekaterina Duntsova will not be permitted to appear on the ballot in the March 2024 vote after the Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected her nomination documents.

Duntsova, 40, a journalist and local politician from the Tver region northwest of Moscow, announced her bid for the presidency in November on a pro-peace, pro-democracy platform.

This week, she secured the endorsement of an initiative group of more than 500 supporters as is required for candidates not running as part of a political party.

At a meeting Saturday, the Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected her documents, saying it found over 100 typos and other errors, the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram news channel reported.

We have carefully studied the documents, and we have the impression that they were filled out in haste without complying with legal standards, the BBC's Russian service quoted CEC memberYevgeny Shevchenko as saying at the commission's meeting.

If the CEC had accepted her documents, she would have then needed to collect 300,000 unique voter signatures from at least 40 regions of Russia to be able to appear on the ballot.

Following the meeting, Duntsova said she plans toappeal the commissions decision in court and intends to ask the liberal Yabloko party to nominate her as a candidate.

I want us all to believe that we will be able to take another chance. Dont lose faith, dont lose hope, she said.

Duntsovas campaign has reported several instances of pressure since she announced her bid for the presidency.

She was summoned to the prosecutor's office to discuss her campaign and attitude toward Russias actions in Ukraine shortly after announcing her campaign.

One of Duntsovas supporters wasdetainedin the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk after returning from the nomination meeting, according to womens activist group Myagkaya Sila (Soft Power).The supporter, who is also a member of Myagkaya Sila, was reportedly accused of falselyfiling a complaintagainst a police officer.

She has also facedspeculation that she could be a Kremlin-endorsed spoiler candidate.

The state-run RIA Novosti news agencyclaimedthis week without evidence that Duntsova had the financial backing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oligarch turned exiled Kremlin critic.

President Vladimir Putin, 71, is expected to handily win re-election to a fifth term keeping him in power until at least 2030 in the March 2024 vote after the elimination of virtually all opposition.

Yekaterina Sergeyevna, you are a young woman, you still have everything ahead of you. Any minus can always be turned into a plus. Any experience is still experience, CEC chief Ella Pamfilova told Duntsova at the end of Saturdays meeting.

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Pro-Peace Putin Challenger Blocked From Ballot - The Moscow Times

After Ukraine, the Kremlin's next targets could be Moldova and the Baltic countries, Belgian army chief Michel Hofman haswarned.

Russia has "already shown that they have the will to attack a neighbor," Hofman told Belgian news outlet VRT while visiting Belgian soldiers stationed in Romania. Russian President Vladimir Putin's language "is always ambiguous. It is absolutely possible that they will also have other ideas later. Either in the south in Moldova or the Baltic states," he said.

"Europe must urgently prepare and make it clear that it can defend itself" and that "it will ... counterattack if necessary," said Hofman, who is the chief of defense of the Belgian armed forces.

Ukraine has been fending off Putin's full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022 and shows no signs of abating despite fierce resistance from Kyiv's forces.

"Russia has switched to a war industry," Hofman added. Even if Moscow's forces seem weakened at the moment due to their ongoing war against Ukraine, this weakness is "temporary," he said. If Russia wins the war, it "will eventually regenerate the war machine and rebuild its armed forces," the army chief warned.

Moldova neighbors Ukraine and one of its regions Transnistria is backed by the Kremlin. It has functioned as an unrecognized state since the fall of the USSR, keeping its Soviet-era hammer and sickle flag and using Russian as its official language.

To the Kremlin's west, the Baltic countries are protected by NATO's common defense clause and an attack by Putin's troops on Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania could trigger a wider conflict.

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Putin could attack Baltics and Moldova next, says Belgian army chief - POLITICO Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference earlier this month. ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Russian President Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference earlier this month.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2023 began with his war against Ukraine stagnating. It went on to deliver one of the most public challenges to his leadership, ever.

Now as 2023 comes to a close, the man who lead the rebellion against Putin Yevgeny Prighozin is dead. US aid to Ukraine is on the Congressional chopping block, and Putin is getting ready to embark on a fifth campaign for the presidency of Russia. Odds are, he'll win.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to Russia correspondent Charles Maynes about Putin's year that was, and how things are looking for 2024.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

This episode was produced by Marc Rivers. It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Mark Katkov. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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Vladimir Putin's Horrible, Terrible, but in the End Pretty Good Year : Consider This from NPR - NPR

U.K. Defense Minister Grant Shapps has told the Sunday Times in a Dec. 24 interview that the West "cannot afford" to lose the war in Ukraine and that there would be "severe consequences" if Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wins.

"If we allow Putin to win this war by dragging it out, and he somehow wins it by exhausting everybody else, then we will suffer the consequences. And the consequences would be incredibly severe for Europe, for Britain, for the world," Shapps said, as quoted by the media.

"And the reason I say that is because we know what happens when dictators march across Europe. We know what happens when others look at a weakness or what they perceive to be a weakness, and that could have implications in the Indo-Pacific or elsewhere," he said. "So we can literally not afford not to win this war."

Shapps, who previously served as the U.K. energy secretary, was appointed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Aug. 31, replacing the outgoing Defense Minister Ben Wallace.

According to the Sunday Times, Schapps said the "expenditure on defense across the West, including in the U.K., is insufficient to see off the threat of a resurgent Russia."

The United Kingdom spent 2.3 billion British pounds (about $2.9 billion) on defense assistance to Ukraine last year and has committed the same amount in 2023.

Shapps told the Sunday Times that providing support to Ukraine "isnt some kind of charity approach."

"I know its often called gifting but its actually in our own bloody interests," he said.

In September, Shapps traveled to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It was his second visit to Kyiv and his first in his new role as defense minister. In addition to meeting with Zelensky, Shapps also participated in talks with other Ukrainian officials, including his Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Back then, he also emphasized that the support of the U.K. for Ukraine "remains unwavering."

Dutch minister: If you dont stop Russia now, theyll go further. Its not just Ukraine

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Netherlands has taken a leading role in providing Ukraine with what it needs to survive. Seven years after voting down an EU Association Agreement with Ukraine in a referendum, effectively delaying it for a year, the Netherlands now ranks eighth in te

Become our Secret Santa!

This holiday season, your support is on top of our wish list. Become a member and help us bring independent, locally-sourced news about Ukraine to the world in 2024.

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UK defense minister warns of 'severe consequences' if Putin wins war in Ukraine - Kyiv Independent

Czech President Petr Pavel expects "significant developments" in Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine next year and these are not likely to be favorable to Kyiv, he said.

In an interview with Czech online news outlet Seznam Zprvy, Pavel was asked about his profile in POLITICO's annual ranking of the most powerful people in Europe, in which he was described as a "hawk when it comes to both Russia and China" who fully supports Ukraine as well as further NATO expansion.

Asked about his expectations on those issues for the upcoming year, Pavel said: "We have a lot ahead of us, because the development of the conflict in Ukraine shows that we are very likely to see some significant developments next year.

"And the indications so far are that it will not be in the best sense of the word, as we would like it to be," the president warned in an interview published Monday, asserting there would be "a new situation that we will have to deal with."

The comments from the Czech president who is a former general, senior NATO leader and staunch Ukraine supporter come at a challenging time for Kyiv.

By Ukrainian officials' own admission, Kyiv's counteroffensive to fight off Moscow's invasion has progressed more slowly than hoped for. Now, as winter approaches, positions on the battlefield are set to remain entrenched for the next few months.

In the meantime, Kyiv is scrambling to maintain support from its allies.

But in Europe, reinvigorated opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, known for his proximity to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is threatening to derail a crucial 50 billion aid package. In the U.S., plans to provide further aid for Kyiv have been stalled for weeks due to opposition from Republican lawmakers.

The U.S. is also headed for an uncertain presidential election next year, which will influence what happens in Ukraine, Pavel said in the interview.

"The anticipation of the elections will also bring about certain changes on the battlefield," the Czech president explained, because Putin has said he considers the U.S. as the only "partner for possible negotiations," which can only happen after the elections.

"On Vladimir Putin's side, there is an expectation that if Donald Trump succeeds, he would be able to get along with him regardless of what Ukraine or the rest of Europe thinks, and ... return Russia to the status of a key player," Pavel said.

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Ukraine war set to turn in Putin's favor in 2024, Czech president warns - POLITICO Europe