Президент России Владимир Путин в субботу обратился к нации и пообещал защитить страну и ее народ от вооруженного мятежа, объявленного вождем наемников Евгением Пригожиным.
Путин заявил, что мятеж представляет собой «смертельную угрозу нашей государственности», и пообещал в ответ «жесткие действия». «Все, кто готовил мятеж, понесут неминуемое наказание. Вооруженные Силы и другие госорганы получили необходимые приказы», — сказал Путин.
Он назвал действия Пригожина, не называя по имени владельца ЧВК «Вагнер», «предательством» и «изменой Родине». Он призвал «тех, кого втягивают в это преступление, не совершать роковой и трагической, уникальной ошибки, сделать единственно правильный выбор — прекратить участие в преступных действиях».
Путин осудил мятеж в то время, когда Россия «вела тяжелейшую битву за свое будущее» войной на Украине. «Вся военная, экономическая и информационная машина Запада развернута против нас», — сказал Путин.
«Эта битва, когда решается судьба нашего народа, требует объединения всех сил, единства, сплоченности и ответственности». Вооруженный мятеж в такое время — это «удар по России, по ее народу», — сказал президент.
«Те, кто замышлял и организовывал вооруженный мятеж, кто поднял оружие против его соратников, предали Россию. И они за это ответят», — сказал Путин.
Владелец частного военного подрядчика Вагнера, призывавший к вооруженному мятежу с целью свержения министра обороны России, подтвердил в субботу утром, что он и его войска достигли ключевого российского города после пересечения границы с Украиной.
Минобороны России осудило действия как «преступную авантюру» и призвало истребители «Вагнера» вернуться в точку дислокации. В министерстве пообещали обеспечить их безопасность.
Евгений Пригожин опубликовал видео, на котором он находится в Ростове-на-Дону в штабе российских войск, курирующих боевые действия на Украине. Он утверждал, что его силы контролируют военные объекты в городе, в том числе аэродром. Другие видеоролики, размещенные в социальных сетях, показывают военную технику, в том числе танки, на улицах снаружи.
Пригожин заявил рано утром в субботу, что его силы перешли границу России из Украины и достигли Ростова, добавив, что они не встретили сопротивления со стороны молодых призывников на блокпостах и что его силы «не воюют против детей».
«Но мы уничтожим любого, кто встанет у нас на пути», — сказал он в одной из серии гневных видео- и аудиозаписей, размещенных в социальных сетях в конце пятницы. «Мы движемся вперед и пойдем до конца».
В ответ на заявление Пригожина о вооруженном мятеже российские спецслужбы потребовали его ареста. В знак того, насколько серьезно Кремль отнесся к угрозе, власти объявили «контртеррористический режим» в Москве и окрестностях столицы, предусматривающий усиление безопасности и ограничение свобод, а в Москве были усилены меры безопасности.
Не сразу было понятно, как он смог войти в южнорусский город и сколько войск было с ним.
Пригожин утверждал, что полевые лагеря Вагнера на Украине были поражены ракетами, боевыми вертолетами и артиллерийским огнем по приказу начальника Генерального штаба генерала Валерия Герасимова после встречи в Ростове с министром обороны Сергеем Шойгу, на которой они решили уничтожить Вагнера. . Он также заявил, что его силы сбили российский военный вертолет, обстрелявший гражданскую колонну, но независимого подтверждения этому нет.
Пригожин сказал, что под его командованием находится 25 000 военнослужащих, и он накажет Шойгу в случае вооруженного мятежа, и призвал армию не оказывать сопротивления: «Это не военный переворот, а марш справедливости».
Хотя исход конфронтации все еще был неясен, казалось, что она еще больше помешает военным усилиям Москвы, поскольку киевские силы прощупывали российскую оборону на начальных этапах контрнаступления. Спор, особенно в случае победы Пригожина, также может иметь последствия для президента Владимира Путина и его способности сохранять единый фронт.
Войска Вагнера сыграли решающую роль в войне России на Украине, сумев взять город, в котором произошли самые кровавые и продолжительные бои, Бахмут. Но Пригожин все чаще критикует российское военное руководство, обвиняя его в некомпетентности и в том, что его войска лишаются оружия и боеприпасов.
В пятницу Национальный антитеррористический комитет, входящий в состав Федеральной службы безопасности (ФСБ), обвинил Пригожина в призывах к вооруженному мятежу, за что предусмотрено наказание до 20 лет лишения свободы.
ФСБ призвала контрактников Вагнера арестовать Пригожина и отказаться выполнять его «преступные и предательские приказы». Он назвал его заявления «ударом в спину российским войскам» и заявил, что они равносильны разжиганию вооруженного конфликта.
Путин был проинформирован о ситуации, и «принимаются все необходимые меры», заявил пресс-секретарь Кремля Дмитрий Песков. В субботу утром он добавил, что Путин «в ближайшее время» обратится к нации.
В начале субботы в нескольких частях центра Москвы были замечены тяжелые военные грузовики и бронетехника, а солдаты с автоматами стояли у главного здания Минобороны. Территория вокруг администрации президента возле Красной площади была перекрыта, затруднено движение транспорта.
Но даже при усилении военного присутствия бары и рестораны в центре города были заполнены посетителями. В одном клубе возле штаб-квартиры ФСБ люди танцевали на улице возле входа.
Пригожин, чья вражда с Минобороны началась несколько лет назад, отказался выполнить требование о том, чтобы военные контрактники подписывали контракты с министерством до 1 июля. В заявлении вечером в пятницу он сказал, что готов найти компромисс, но «у них есть предательски обманул нас».
«Сегодня они нанесли ракетный удар по нашим тылам, и погибло огромное количество наших товарищей», — сказал он. Минобороны отрицало нападения на лагеря Вагнера.
«Зло, воплощенное военным руководством страны, должно быть остановлено», — кричал он.
Генерал-полковник Сергей Суровикин, заместитель командующего российской группировкой войск, воюющей на Украине, призвал силы Вагнера прекратить любые действия против армии, заявив, что это сыграет на руку врагам России, которые «ожидают, когда обострение нашей внутриполитической ситуации».
Политолог Татьяна Становая предсказала, что это будет конец Пригожина.
«Теперь, когда государство активно участвует, пути назад нет», — написала она в Твиттере. «Увольнение Пригожина и Вагнера неизбежно. Единственная возможность сейчас — это полное уничтожение, при этом единственной переменной является степень сопротивления со стороны группы Вагнера. Суровикина послали убедить их сдаться. Конфронтация кажется совершенно бесполезной».
Генерал-лейтенант Владимир Алексеев, высокопоставленный военный, осудил действия Пригожина как «безумие», угрожающее гражданской войной.
«Это удар в спину стране и президенту. … Такую провокацию могли устроить только враги России», — сказал он.
В заявлении Минобороны говорится, что Украина концентрирует войска для наступления в районе Бахмута, чтобы воспользоваться «пригожинской провокацией». В нем говорилось, что российская артиллерия и боевые самолеты вели огонь по украинским силам, готовившимся к наступлению.
В Вашингтоне Институт изучения войны заявил: «Насильственное свержение сторонников Путина, таких как Шойгу и Герасимов, нанесет непоправимый ущерб стабильности предполагаемой власти Путина».
В Белом доме официальный представитель Совета национальной безопасности Адам Ходж заявил: «Мы следим за ситуацией и будем консультироваться с союзниками и партнерами по поводу этих событий».
В Киеве в результате ракетного обстрела России по меньшей мере два человека погибли и восемь получили ранения В субботу, когда упавшие обломки вызвали пожар на нескольких этажах 24-этажного жилого дома в центральном районе, написал в Telegram глава военной администрации города Сергей Попко. .
По его словам, было обнаружено и уничтожено более 20 ракет. На видео с места происшествия видно, как возгораются верхние этажи здания, а парковка засыпана пеплом и мусором.
- The shipwreck took place on Thursday and at least one newborn baby is among those missing
ROME: More than 40 people are missing after a migrant boat capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the UN said.
The shipwreck took place on Thursday and at least one newborn baby is among those missing, said UNHCR representative to Italy Chiara Cardoletti.
The vessel left from Sfax in Tunisia and was carrying 46 migrants from Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN migration agency IOM, said Friday.
The boat capsized in strong winds and high waves, he said. “Some survivors were taken to Lampedusa and others were brought back to Tunisia.”
“Among those missing were seven women and a minor. The survivors are all adult men,” he added.
“We have noticed more arrivals of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa than Tunisians” via the Tunisian route since November, he said.
He explained this was due to people from sub-Saharan Africa fleeing discrimination in Tunisia.
“It is unacceptable to continue counting the dead at the gates of Europe,” Cardoletti wrote on Twitter, referring to deadly shipwrecks of migrant boats which have already occurred in Italy, Greece and Spain.
“A coordinated and shared rescue mechanism at sea between states is now also a matter of conscience.”
Di Giacomo also stressed the fragility of the badly welded boats, which sank at the first damage.
“We are therefore not aware of certain shipwrecks,” he said, calling for “patrols of European ships to monitor the Tunisian route as well as the Libyan route, otherwise we will witness a disaster this summer.”
Located about 145 kilometers from the Tunisian coast, the southern Italian island of Lampedusa is one of the main entry points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
Last year, more than 46,000 people arrived there, out of a total of 105,000 in Italy, according to the UNHCR.
Migrant boat shipwrecks have increased in recent months, while the number of migrants entering the EU via the central Mediterranean “more than doubled” in 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to the European border agency Frontex in mid-June.
Last week a crammed trawler from Libya sank off the Greek coast. The death toll stands at 82, with 104 survivors pulled from the water, but witness accounts suggest many hundreds more went down with the ship, with their remains still missing at sea.
The tragedy occurred a few days after EU ministers reached agreement on a long-stalled revision of the bloc’s rules to share the hosting of asylum seekers and migrants more equitably.
In September 2020, the European Commission presented a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, a package of reforms which it hopes to see adopted by spring 2024 which notably concerns compulsory help between EU members in the care of asylum seekers and a strengthening of the external borders.
- The origins of the coronavirus pandemic have been a matter of furious debate in the United States almost since the first human cases were reported in Wuhan in late 2019
WASHINGTON: US intelligence agencies found no direct evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic stemmed from an incident at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, a report declassified on Friday said.
The four-page report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said the US intelligence community still could not rule out the possibility that the virus came from a laboratory, however, and had not been able to discover the origins of the pandemic.
“The Central Intelligence Agency and another agency remain unable to determine the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, as both (natural and lab) hypotheses rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reporting,” the ODNI report said.
The report said that while “extensive work” had been conducted on coronaviruses at the Wuhan institute (WIV), the agencies had not found evidence of a specific incident that could have caused the outbreak.
“We continue to have no indication that the WIV’s pre-pandemic research holdings included SARSCoV-2 or a close progenitor, nor any direct evidence that a specific research-related incident occurred involving WIV personnel before the pandemic that could have caused the COVID pandemic,” the report said.
The origins of the coronavirus pandemic have been a matter of furious debate in the United States almost since the first human cases were reported in Wuhan in late 2019.
US President Joe Biden in March signed a bill declassifying information related to the origins of the pandemic.
Biden said at the time of signing that he shared Congress’ goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of COVID-19.
The debate was refueled by a Wall Street Journal report in February that the US Energy Department had assessed with “low confidence” in a classified intelligence report that the pandemic most likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies.
FBI director Christopher Wray said on Feb. 28 his agency had assessed for some time that the origins of the pandemic were “most likely a potential lab incident” in the Chinese city of Wuhan. China said this claim had “no credibility whatsoever.”
As of March 20, four other US agencies still judged that COVID-19 was likely the result of natural transmission, while two were undecided.
- The Pentagon has put the hourly cost at tens of thousands of dollars for turboprop P-3 Orion and jet-powered P-8 Poseidon sub hunters, along with C-130 Hercules, all utilized in the search
BOSTON: The around-the-clock search for the missing Titan submersible engrossed the world for days, but after news of the catastrophic implosion that killed the pilot and his four passengers near the Titanic shipwreck, investigators are focusing on how it happened — and if it could have been prevented.
Deep-sea robots will continue searching the North Atlantic sea floor for clues. Investigators in Canada are looking at the Titan’s Canadian-flagged support ship. US authorities are looking into other aspects of the tragedy.
The Titan, owned by undersea exploration company OceanGate Expeditions, had been chronicling the Titanic’s decay and the underwater ecosystem around the sunken ocean liner in yearly voyages since 2021.
Authorities and experts are seeking answers: Exactly when and why did the implosion occur? Will the victims’ bodies ever be found? What lessons are there for the future of undersea exploration?
Here’s what we know so far:
WHEN AND WHERE DID THE TITAN GO MISSING?
The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.
The vessel was reported overdue about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Titan was launched from an icebreaker that was hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship has ferried dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan has made multiple dives.
WHAT HAPPENED ABOARD THE TITAN?
The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard, sometime after it submerged Sunday morning. It’s not clear exactly when or where the implosion occurred, but a US Navy acoustics system detected an “anomaly” Sunday that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion.
The Coast Guard announced that debris from the submersible had been found and the end of rescue efforts Thursday, bringing a tragic close to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.
A deep-sea robot discovered the debris, near the Titanic shipwreck, that authorities say came from the submersible.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OCCUPANTS WHEN THE TITAN IMPLODED?
Experts say the catastrophic implosion likely killed its pilot and four passengers instantly amid the intense water pressure in the deep North Atlantic.
Maritime researchers called an implosion the worst possible outcome of all the scenarios envisioned during the desperate round-the-clock search to find the missing vessel.
Experts had cautioned that under intense pressure at extreme depths the Titan’s hull could implode, which would result in instant death for anyone aboard.
While OceanGate Expeditions, which owned and operated the craft, touted the Titan’s roomier cylinder-shaped cabin made of a carbon-fiber, industry experts say it was a departure from the sphere-shaped cabins — considered ideal because water pressure is exerted equally on all areas — made of titanium used by most submersibles.
The 22-foot long (6.7-meter long), 23,000-pound (10,432-kilogram) Titan’s larger internal volume — while still cramped with a maximum of five seated people — meant it was subjected to more external pressure.
The water pressure at 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface at the site of the Titanic wreck is roughly 400 atmospheres or 6,000 pounds per square inch.
WHO WAS KILLED?
The Titan victims are: Oceangate chief executive and Titan pilot Stockton Rush; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Worldwide condolences have poured in, offering tributes to the men and support for their families.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”
WHO REGULATES DEEP-SEA EXPEDITIONS?
The Titan’s voyage down into the North Atlantic highlights the murkily regulated waters of deep-sea exploration. It’s a space on the high seas where laws and conventions can be sidestepped by risk-taking entrepreneurs and the wealthy tourists who help fund their dreams. At least for now.
The Titan operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the United States or other nations. It wasn’t registered as a US vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.
Stockton Rush, the OceanGate Expeditions CEO and Titan pilot who was among the dead, had said he didn’t want to be bogged down by such standards.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Coast Guard will continue searching near the Titanic for more clues about what happened to the Titan.
Officials say there is not a timeframe for when they will call off the effort, and the prospect of finding or recovering remains is unknown.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday it’s launching an investigation involving the loss of the Titan that will focus on the cargo vessel Polar Prince.
Polar Prince is a Canadian-flagged ship that served as mothership to the Titan submersible. The Transportation Safety Board will investigate the Polar Prince in its role as a support vessel and will conduct a safety investigation into the circumstances of the operation, the agency said.
Experts say wrongful death and negligence lawsuits are also likely next in the Titan case — and they could be successful. But legal actions will face various challenges, including waivers likely signed by the Titan passengers that warned of the myriad ways they could die.
HOW MUCH DID THE SEARCH COST?
The cost of the search will easily stretch into the millions of dollars for the US Coast Guard alone. The Canadian Coast Guard, US Navy and other agencies and private entities also rushed to provide resources and expertise.
There’s no other comparable ocean search, especially with so many countries and even commercial enterprises being involved, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author based in Virginia.
The aircraft, alone, are expensive to operate.
The Pentagon has put the hourly cost at tens of thousands of dollars for turboprop P-3 Orion and jet-powered P-8 Poseidon sub hunters, along with C-130 Hercules, all utilized in the search.
Some agencies can seek reimbursements. But the US Coast Guard is generally prohibited by federal law from collecting reimbursement pertaining to any search or rescue service, said Stephen Koerting, a US attorney in Maine who specializes in maritime law.
- The public should refrain from speculating about the cause of the disaster and wait for the release of any official report after data had been collected and analyzed
MADRID: The co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, which owned the submersible that imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck, has defended the chief executive’s commitment to safety and risk management after he died with four others on the craft.
Guillermo Sohnlein, who co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009, left the company in 2013, retaining a minority stake.
Rush was piloting the Titan submersible on the trip that began on Sunday.
Debris from the vessel was found on Thursday.
Rush “was one of the most astute risk managers I’d ever met. He was very risk-averse. He was very keenly aware of the risks of operating in the deep ocean environment, and he was very committed to safety,” Sohnlein said.
“I believe that every innovation that he took ... was geared toward two goals: one, expanding humanity’s ability to explore the deep ocean. And secondly, to do it as safely as possible,” he said in video interview from his home in Barcelona.
Sohnlein said the public should refrain from speculating about the cause of the disaster and wait for the release of any official report after data had been collected and analyzed.
Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in 2018 during a symposium of submersible industry experts and in a lawsuit by OceanGate’s former head of marine operations, which was settled later that year.
This incident has prompted further debate.
“There’s going to be a time for (making assessments), and I don’t think right now is the right time to do that,” he said.
Liability waivers signed by passengers on the submersible may not shield the vessel’s owner from potential lawsuits by the victims’ families, legal experts said.
The passengers, who paid as much as $250,000 each for the journey to 3,810 meters below the surface, are believed to have signed liability waivers.
A CBS reporter who made the trip with OceanGate Expeditions in July 2022 reported that the waiver he signed mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone.
Waivers are not always ironclad, and it is not uncommon for judges to reject them if there is evidence of gross negligence or hazards that were not fully disclosed.
“If there were aspects of the design or construction of this vessel that were kept from the passengers or it was knowingly operated despite information that it was not suitable for this dive, that would absolutely go against the validity of the waiver,” said personal injury attorney and maritime law expert Matthew D. Shaffer, who is based in Texas.
OceanGate could argue it was not grossly negligent and that the waivers apply because they fully described the dangers inherent in plumbing the deepest reaches of the ocean in a submersible the size of a minivan.
The degree of any potential negligence and how that might impact the applicability of the waivers will depend on the causes of the disaster, which are still under investigation.
“There are so many different examples of what families might still have claims for despite the waivers, but until we know the cause we can’t determine whether the waivers apply,” said personal injury lawyer Joseph Low of California.
The families could not be reached on Thursday. It is possible none of them will sue.
- It’s unclear whether the UN will do so in the face of strong opposition from Russia
- Russia denies using the Iranian drones, despite widespread evidence that they have been used to attack Ukrainian cities
UNITED NATIONS: The United States, Britain and France demanded Friday that the United Nations urgently investigate Russia’s reported use of hundreds of Iranian-provided drones in the war in Ukraine, which would violate UN sanctions. But it’s unclear whether the UN will do so in the face of strong opposition from Russia.
Russia denies using the Iranian drones, despite widespread evidence that they have been used to attack Ukrainian cities.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield noted that the US this month released further information documenting Iran’s provision of hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs or drones, as well as equipment that can be used in their production. Ukraine and the UK also submitted evidence to the United Nations of Iranian drones recovered by the Ukrainian military, she said.
“This is a matter of life or death for the Ukrainian people,” the US ambassador told the UN Security Council after delivering the statement calling for an investigation, which also was signed by Albania and Ukraine.
The five countries accused Russia of violating the Security Council resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six major powers, not only by procuring hundreds of MoHajjer and Shahed drones by also by working with Iran to produce drones inside Russia.
The 2015 resolution prohibits all countries from transferring such weapons from Iran without advance Security Council approval, which was not given, the statement said.
“Russia has been using these UAVs in recent weeks to strike Kyiv, destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, and kill and terrorize Ukrainian civilians,” the US and its allies said. “The United Nations must respond to growing calls from the international community to investigate these violations.”
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the UN Secretariat, which is headed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is still analyzing information it received regarding “the alleged transfer of un-crewed aerial vehicles by Iran in a manner inconsistent” with the 2015 resolution.
He said a report expected soon from Guterres will be discussed this month by experts on the committee monitoring implementation of the resolution, and by the 15-member Security Council in July. Russia is one of five permanent members with veto power.
Thomas-Greenfield told reporters the resolution gives the secretary-general a mandate to open an investigation. Haq gave no indication of whether Guterres would do so.
Представитель России в ООН Василий Небензя заявил Совету Безопасности, что Украина не предоставила России или Ирану «ни малейшего достоверного доказательства» использования иранских беспилотников.
«Мы надеемся, что у генерального секретаря достаточно мудрости, чтобы не быть введенными в заблуждение нашими бывшими западными партнерами», — сказал Небензя.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий