(C) Meduza This story was originally published by Meduza and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Real Russia. Today. Monday, June 10, 2024 — Meduza [1] [] Date: 2024-06-11 The war in Ukraine 🧑‍✈️ The sensitive politics of training Ukraine’s pilots and storing its warplanes: “Ukraine may keep some of the F-16 fighter jets it's set to receive from its Western allies at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes,” Serhii Holubtsov, head of aviation within Ukraine’s air force, told RFE/RL on Monday. He said the aircraft will not directly participate in combat operations, serving instead as replacements for planes lost or damaged in the war and in training exercises for Ukrainian pilots learning the aircraft. (Ukrainian officials have expressed impatience with the pace of training Ukrainian pilots to fly F16s. Earlier this month, POLITICO reported that the U.S. has agreed to train only a dozen pilots beginning in September, while Kyiv has offered 30 candidates to begin exercises immediately.) The mercenary group Wagner, led by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, recruited at least 48,366 convicts from Russian prisons to fight in the invasion of Ukraine, according to a joint investigation by journalists at Mediazona and BBC Russia, who obtained and analyzed internal records from the private military company documenting payments to the families of fighters killed in battle. Wagner’s recruiters asked inmates to serve at the front for six months in exchange for a pardon and the expungement of their criminal records, along with good pay and insurance payouts to their relatives in case they died or were injured. Meduza summarizes the new report’s findings about Wagner Group’s high death toll and the mixed honesty of the late Yevgeny Prigozhin. More than 400 Ukrainian women are currently being held in Russian captivity, according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Those who’ve been released recount inhumane conditions, sexual assault, and torture during their detention. In the new film Captivity, the independent television channel Dozhd (TV Rain) interviews some of these women about their experiences and speaks with the daughter of a woman who is still imprisoned. Meduza shares excerpts from their stories. It’s a tense moment for Ukraine. The optimism that followed Ukraine’s early successes on the battlefield in 2022 started to fade last summer as its counteroffensive failed to achieve a breakthrough. By late 2023, Ukraine’s then-commander-in-chief said the war had reached a “stalemate” — and by the start of the spring, things were looking even worse, with high-ranking Ukrainian officers warning a collapse of the front lines could be imminent without more weapons from Washington. In mid-April, U.S. lawmakers finally passed a $60-billion aid package, buying Ukraine some time and some hope. But Ukraine’s defense still faces major headwinds, and Russian forces have continued gradually advancing along various sections of the front line in recent weeks. Amid this enormous uncertainty, a new report from the International Crisis Group titled “Ukraine: How to Hold the Line” aims to distill the lessons of the past year for Ukraine and its backers. According to Simon Schlegel, the group’s senior Ukraine analyst, if Ukraine and its partners take these lessons into account, Russia’s aggression is “likely to fail” — but applying them will be anything but easy. As the world turns 🇨🇿 ‘Suspicion that the attack was organized and financed probably from Russia’: Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Monday that officials in Prague believe Moscow may be behind an attempted arson attack on city buses last week, calling it “part of a hybrid war waged against us by Russia.” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Monday that officials in Prague believe Moscow may be behind an attempted arson attack on city buses last week, calling it “part of a hybrid war waged against us by Russia.” 🇫🇮 A first airspace violation for NATOized Finland: Finnish defense officials say a Russian warplane allegedly violated the country's airspace on Monday in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The aircraft reportedly spent about two minutes in Finnish airspace, penetrating roughly 1.5 miles from the border. Finnish officials last reported a similar incident in August 2022, before Finland’s NATO membership. On June 10, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its long-range planes performed scheduled flights over the neutral waters of the Baltic, Barents, and Norwegian seas. Finnish defense officials say a Russian warplane allegedly violated the country's airspace on Monday in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The aircraft reportedly spent about two minutes in Finnish airspace, penetrating roughly 1.5 miles from the border. Finnish officials last reported a similar incident in August 2022, before Finland’s NATO membership. On June 10, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its long-range planes performed scheduled flights over the neutral waters of the Baltic, Barents, and Norwegian seas. 🇰🇵🇻🇳 Putin to set sail for Pyongyang and Hanoi: Vladimir Putin reportedly plans to visit North Korea in the near future. Russia’s ambassador to the nation told the newspaper Vedomosti that “active preparations” are underway for the trip. Putin is expected to fly to Vietnam afterward. Putin has visited North Korea only once as president — at the very start of his reign in 2000. North Korean Supreme Leader ​​Kim Jong Un last came to Russia in September 2023. Neither North Korea nor Vietnam recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Putin on charges of the unlawful deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine. On June 8, under the open sky at Poland’s largest club, Ukrainian singers Luna and Ivan Dorn shared a concert stage with Russian singer Monetochka and rapper Noize MC. The performances were part of a charity event called Music 4 Life, and a portion of the ticket proceeds were donated to the organization Gen.Ukrainian, which helps provide psychological support to Ukrainian children who have experienced trauma as a result of Russia’s invasion. Here’s how the evening unfolded. We got The Beet. Don’t miss Meduza’s weekly newsletter (separate from the one you’re reading here)! Politics and human rights 🚕 These colors don’t run: State Duma deputy Irina Filatova has petitioned the Prosecutor General’s Office to audit reports that Yandex Taxi prohibits drivers from displaying the Russian tricolor flag. This follows a scandal in which a driver was told he couldn’t post the flag in his vehicle, according to Yandex’s policies on visible political paraphernalia. Last month, Yandex already clarified that it does not ban the Russian tricolor and attributed the incident to an over-zealous quality-control officer. State Duma deputy Irina Filatova has petitioned the Prosecutor General’s Office to audit reports that Yandex Taxi prohibits drivers from displaying the Russian tricolor flag. This follows a scandal in which a driver was told he couldn’t post the flag in his vehicle, according to Yandex’s policies on visible political paraphernalia. Last month, Yandex already clarified that it does not ban the Russian tricolor and attributed the incident to an over-zealous quality-control officer. 💎 Outlawed jewelry: A court in Moscow sentenced an 18-year-old woman to a week in jail for wearing a pendant bearing the symbol of a trident. The judge convicted her of the misdemeanor offense of displaying an “extremist symbol,” in this case Ukraine’s coat of arms. Victoria Mumrina was arrested on June 4 at Borisov Cemetery, where supporters mourned the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny on what would have been his 48th birthday. Mumrina reportedly confessed to the charges, saying she didn’t know the symbol on her pendant was illegal. The court ordered her to destroy it. A court in Moscow sentenced an 18-year-old woman to a week in jail for wearing a pendant bearing the symbol of a trident. The judge convicted her of the misdemeanor offense of displaying an “extremist symbol,” in this case Ukraine’s coat of arms. Victoria Mumrina was arrested on June 4 at Borisov Cemetery, where supporters mourned the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny on what would have been his 48th birthday. Mumrina reportedly confessed to the charges, saying she didn’t know the symbol on her pendant was illegal. The court ordered her to destroy it. ⚖️ Three years behind bars for yelling at a Z-kid: After initial reluctance from the police to press charges, a judge’s decision to forgo even house arrest, and an earlier court ruling that ended with a small fine, Yekaterinburg local Alexander Neustroev faced retrial this week and was sentenced to three years in prison for shouting at and berating an 11-year-old boy in April 2023 for wearing a baseball cap bearing the pro-invasion “Z” symbol. The incident was captured on a doorcam. The boy reportedly wore the hat on his own initiative to honor his father, who is currently serving in Ukraine. Neustroev’s original ruling was sent for a review after multiple State Duma deputies criticized the verdict for being overly lenient. The second ruling found Neustroev guilty of aggravated disorderly conduct motivated by political hatred. Since he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vladimir Putin has regarded the members of his economic team as the Kremlin’s most effective officials. Throughout the war, the president has repeatedly championed the strength of Russia’s economy, and he recently even replaced his long-time defense minister with a former deputy prime minister and adviser who specializes in economic policy. Steffen Kailitz, a political scientist and a senior research fellow at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism, has spent more than two decades studying authoritarianism. In 2020, he co-authored an article in the International Political Science Review where he measured economic development’s impact on the survival of different types of autocracy. In that research, Kailitz learned that economic development prolongs the survival of ideocracies and personalist autocracies. Meduza special correspondent Margarita Lyutova spoke to Kailitz about how economic modernization affects autocrats and what a regime’s technocrats can do to influence the process. No country can be free without independent media. In January 2023, the Russian authorities outlawed Meduza, banning our work in the country our colleagues call home. Just supporting Meduza carries the risk of criminal prosecution for Russian nationals, which is why we’re turning to our international audience for help. Your assistance makes it possible for thousands of people in Russia to read Meduza and stay informed. Consider a small but recurring contribution to provide the most effective support. 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