(C) Meduza This story was originally published by Meduza and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Real Russia. Today. Tuesday, June 25, 2024 — Meduza [1] [] Date: 2024-06-25 The war in Ukraine ⚖️ International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia’s Sergey Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov for directing attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine. The Hague-based court has accused Shoigu and Gerasimov of war crimes and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts, it said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the ICC statement, the Court’s judges considered there are reasonable grounds to believe that Shoigu and Gerasimov are responsible for “missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure” from at least October 10, 2022 until at least March 9, 2023. ⚖️ European Court of Human Rights finds Russia guilty of human rights abuses in occupied Crimea The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Russia is guilty of committing systemic human rights violations in Crimea since it annexed the peninsula a decade ago. In its official decision, which comes in response to a complaint filed by the Ukrainian government in 2014, the court said that the Russian-backed occupation authorities in Crimea have overseen documented cases of disappearances, cruel treatment, unlawful detention, and forced citizenship changes, as well as “prosecution and conviction of Ukrainians for their thoughts, expression of views, political stance, and pro-Ukrainian activity, on politically motivated grounds.” Ukraine’s representative for the ECHR, Margarita Sokorenko, called the decision a “crushing decision for the aggressor.” 🪖 A draftee’s funeral and an enlistee’s send-off party were held mere meters apart in a Russian village. Here’s how the day unfolded. In the nearly two and a half years since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, more than 75,000 Russian soldiers are estimated to have been killed on the battlefield, according to the best available data. Soldiers’ funerals have become a regular occurrence in all of Russia’s regions, including in small villages, where many residents view enlistment as a relatively quick way to earn the kind of money they wouldn’t otherwise have access to — assuming they survive. An eventful day in a small village in Tatarstan recently laid bare the tension of this relationship to war: the funeral of a local soldier named Ilnaz was held at the same time as a send-off party for a new recruit named Sergey. The two gatherings were so close to one another that they nearly merged into one. A Meduza correspondent visited the scene to observe how the two events unfolded. 🇪🇺 E.U. begins accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova The E.U. officially launched membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday. Both countries applied to join the bloc shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In her statement on the opening of the negotiations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that the process ahead will be “rigorous and demanding” but said the citizens of both countries have “demonstrated their unwavering commitment and determination” to become a part of the E.U. We got The Beet. Don’t miss Meduza’s weekly newsletter (separate from the one you’re reading here)! Meanwhile in Russia 🚫 Russia announces ban on 81 E.U. media outlets, including Der Spiegel and Politico Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced it will block domestic access to 81 E.U.-based media outlets in retaliation for a new E.U. ban on four Kremlin-backed outlets that went into effect on Tuesday. The agency claimed that the 81 outlets “systematically disseminate false information about the progress of the special military operation” and said it will reconsider the ban if the E.U. lifts its ban on the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The list of banned outlets includes prominent outlets like Politico (both its European and American editions), Germany’s Der Spiegel, and France’s Le Monde, among others. 👁️ New data on how Russians report neighbors’ speech crimes Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Russians have published at least 3,500 public denunciations of their fellow citizens on Telegram for offenses such as anti-war speech, pro-LGBT statements, and “Russophobia,” iStories reported on Tuesday. The vast majority of these cases involved statements published not by censorship activists like Ekaterina Mizulina and Vitaly Borodin but by faceless accounts to whom ordinary Russians can anonymously report others. These accounts usually publish the personal information of the “offenders” they’re targeting along with instructions for subscribers to report these people to the authorities. 🏳️‍⚧️ Russia’s first openly trans politician says she detransitioned due to threats Russia’s first openly transgender politician, Yulia Alyoshina, who announced last month that she had decided to detransition, said in an interview with Novaya Gazeta Baltia on Tuesday that she had done so under pressure from the Russian government. “[I received] inside information that the Russian authorities want to lock me in a psychiatric hospital,” she told journalists. “It was this stress that led me to make those posts [about detransitioning] in May and June.” Alyoshina said she really did attempt to detransition, but when she consulted the Russian Orthodox Church for help, she received “disgusting” treatment and was turned away. The politician, who led the Civic Initiative party in Russia’s Altai region until 2022, also said she asked the country’s Supreme Court whether she has the right to exist in Russia as a transgender person following its ban on the “international LGBT movement” in November 2023. In response, she said, the court said it “does not provide explanations.” 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/2024/06/25/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/