(C) Meduza This story was originally published by Meduza and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Real Russia. Today. Monday, June 17, 2024 — Meduza [1] [] Date: 2024-06-17 The war in Ukraine Delegations from about 100 countries gathered in Switzerland for a Summit on Peace in Ukraine on June 15-16. On the eve of the conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward Moscow’s conditions for a ceasefire, demanding that Ukraine hand over four of its regions and formally renounce its plans to join NATO, and that the West lift sanctions against Russia. Both Ukrainian officials and representatives of Western countries rejected Putin’s demands and, as a result of the summit, signed a joint communiqué promising to “undertake concrete steps” towards a “dialogue between all parties.” Having attended the peace summit, Meduza special correspondent Elizaveta Antonova reports on what officials in Kyiv think it achieved. Citing the country's Prosecutor General's Office, the Ukrainian President's Office reported Monday that at least 12,000 Ukrainian civilians are confirmed to have been killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale war (though the true number is almost certainly much higher). At least 551 of these confirmed victims were children. At the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland on Saturday, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said that law enforcement officials in the country have documented nearly 130,000 war crimes committed by Russian soldiers. On June 10, a petition appeared on the website of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers calling on the country’s authorities to block the video-sharing app TikTok. The document has already gathered nearly half of the signatures necessary for lawmakers to be required to consider it. It argues that because TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is Chinese, and China is one of Russia’s partners, the app could pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security. The initiative comes just two months after Washington gave the Chinese firm an ultimatum, giving it nine months to sell TikTok to an American company if it wants to avoid a block in the U.S. Here’s what we know about the bid to ban TikTok in Ukraine. We got The Beet. Don’t miss Meduza’s weekly newsletter (separate from the one you’re reading here)! Meanwhile in Russia Inflation is rising in Russia. At the same time, banks are increasingly denying citizens’ loan applications. As a result, Russians are turning more and more to payday lenders to buy basic necessities like food and clothing — and this doesn’t bode well for the country’s economy. Journalists from the independent Russian outlet Holod spoke to two economists and a lawyer about how Russia’s payday loan services work and what their rise could bring in the future. Meduza shares an English-language summary of their reporting. In April 2022, Russian language and literature teacher Natalia Taranushenko reportedly told her class about the brutal acts committed by the Russian army in Bucha and told them that the invasion of Ukraine violates international law. After the lesson, one of Taranushenko’s students complained to his father, who proceeded to report the teacher to law enforcement. For two years, law enforcement declined to launch a criminal case, but in mid-June 2024, according to the Telegram channel Astra, Taranushenko was charged with spreading “disinformation” against the army, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison. On June 12, a source told the independent outlet Agentstvo, she fled Russia. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the West has imposed over 16,000 sanctions on Russia, intending to cripple the economy driving the Kremlin’s war machine. But the much-anticipated collapse of Russia’s economy never came to pass. In fact, Russia’s wartime economy has proven to be surprisingly resilient, with the IMF estimating that Russia’s GDP grew by 3.5 percent in 2023 and will continue to grow by 3.2 percent in 2024. The Kremlin has managed to keep Russia’s economy afloat, in large part, by increased military spending and forging new partnerships with countries like China and India who don’t mind flying in the face of Western sanctions. And although the Kremlin touts all of this as evidence that the West and its sanctions have failed in their endeavors to defeat Russia, a closer look under the hood reveals a more desperate disposition. A recent Financial Times article paints a more bleak picture of Russia’s relative power in the world's geopolitical hierarchy and the economic consequences it brings. Financial Times’ Russia correspondent Anastasiia Stognei joined The Naked Pravda to reconcile these two vastly different images being painted of Russia’s economy and to discuss the potential long-term consequences of the war in Russia. Russia’s Sverdlovsk regional court said Monday that the trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will begin on June 26 and will be held behind closed doors. Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo remand prison since he was arrested on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg on March 30, 2023. Last week, the Russian authorities formally charged him with espionage. Prosecutors claim that he “gathered classified information” and was secretly working for the CIA. Vladimir Putin fired four deputy defense ministers and appointed Anna Tsivileva, the daughter of his first cousin, as one of their replacements, according to a presidential decree published online Monday. Tsivileva’s husband, Sergey Tsivilev, was appointed Russia’s energy minister in May 2024, after previously serving as governor of the country’s Kemerovo region. Additionally, Putin appointed Leonid Gornin, who had been serving as first deputy finance minister, to the post of first deputy defense minister. Oleg Savelyev and Pavel Fradkov, the latter of whose father served as Russia’s prime minister back in the aughts, were tapped to fill the remaining two posts. Tsivileva, Gornin, Savelyev, and Fradkov will serve under Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, who replaced Sergey Shoigu last month. 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. Donate here. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.meduza.io/en/brief/2024/06/17/the-real-russia-today Published and (C) by Meduza Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/meduza/