Surprisingly and more than two years after the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a reshuffle at the top of the Defense Department. Andrei Belousov, an economist and former deputy prime minister, has been named the new defense minister to replace Sergei Shoigu, who will replace intelligence chief Nikolai Patrushev as secretary of the Russian Security Council. Belousov’s appointment indicates that Putin wants closer scrutiny of Russia’s record defense spending. On the ground, Russian forces are continuing the cross-border offensive that began a few days ago, while Ukrainian military leaders are raising the alarm about the worsening situation on the north-eastern front and in the Kharkiv region, where Russia captured nine villages over the weekend . A Ukrainian missile shot down by Moscow hit an apartment building in the Russian region of Belgorod, killing at least 15 people. We talk about it with Carolina De Stefano, professor of Russian History and Politics at LUISS and author of “History of power in Russia. From the Tsars to Putin ” published by Scholé – Morcelliana (2022) and with Filippo Mancini, field manager of NRC, Norwegian Refugee Council, in Kharkiv. | Horrifying new testimonies describe one of the worst atrocities of Sudan’s year-long civil war: Genocide may have been committed in the West Darfur town of El Geneina, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report said ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity were committed against the city’s ethnic Massalit and non-Arab communities by the rapid support paramilitary force and its allies. The report calls for sanctions against those responsible for the atrocities, including RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. According to the United Nations, it is feared that around 15,000 people were killed in El Geneina last year: we spoke about this with Irene Panozzo, former EU political advisor on the Horn of Africa and one of the members of Lettera22. At the microphones, Laura Silvia Battaglia.
13 May 2024
