La narrativa di Putin sull'attentato di Mosca 🗞️ Rassegna del 25/03/2024

Russia

Nella rubrica del sabato #WorldWildLO sono state analizzate le prime informazioni inerenti l’attacco terroristico alla sala concerti del Crocus City Hall di Mosca. Di seguito alcuni aggiornamenti:

(The Guardian) New Islamic State videos back claim it carried out Moscow concert hall attack + (Novoya Gazeta) Kremlin propagandists lead charge to implicate Ukraine in Crocus City Hall attack

• Islamic State has released new videos of the attack on the Crocus City concert hall outside Moscow that left 137 people dead, corroborating the terror group’s claim to have masterminded the slaughter [...] The videos, which were published by IS’s news agency Amaq, showed the gunmen filming themselves as they hunted concertgoers through the lobby of the Crocus City Hall and fired at them from pointblank range [...]
• Russia is observing a nationwide day of mourning on Sunday for the worst terror attack on the country’s soil in two decades, as the official number of wounded rose to 154. Russian authorities have said they expect the death toll to rise with at least one dozen victims still in critical condition.
• Putin said 11 people had been detained, including the four gunmen, and Russia’s investigative committee released a video on Sunday showing the suspects being led, blindfolded, into its headquarters in Moscow.
• The Russian leader also claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine had “prepared a window” for the terrorists to cross the border from Russia into Ukraine. 
• [...] Just a few hours before Putin’s address to the nation, reports emerged that the perpetrators had been detained in Russia’s western Bryansk region while travelling towards the Ukrainian border, with the FSB alleging that those behind the attack had “links with Ukraine”.
• Kyiv has vociferously denied any links to the attack and has indicated it believes Moscow is preparing a pretext to escalate the conflict, in fact Russian officials and state media have largely ignored IS’s claims to be behind the attacks. → (Meduza) Kremlin tells pro-government media to emphasize possible ‘traces’ of ‘Ukrainian involvement’ in reporting on Moscow terrorist attack
• [...] Podolyak said, the attack was the work of Putin himself to provide a pretext for “a sharp increase in military propaganda, accelerated militarisation, expanded mobilisation, and, ultimately, the scaling up of the war. And also to justify manifestly genocidal strikes on the civilian population of Ukraine”.
• Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has previously been reported to have recruited radicalised nationals from central Asia, including Tajikistan.

(Meduza) "Siamo in uno stato di guerra. Tutti dovrebbero capirlo". Peskov ha smesso di chiamare la guerra "operazione speciale"

• L'invasione russa dell'Ucraina dopo l'intervento dell'Occidente si è trasformata da "operazione militare speciale" [SMO] in una vera e propria guerra. Lo ha detto il portavoce presidenziale russo Dmitriy Peskov in una conversazione con i giornalisti di Argumenty i Fakty.
• [...] “Sì, è iniziata come un'operazione militare speciale, ma [...] quando l'Occidente collettivo vi ha preso parte a fianco dell'Ucraina, per noi è già diventata una guerra.”
• Durante un briefing con la stampa, a Peskov è stato chiesto se le sue parole significassero che lo status legale della SMO fosse cambiato. Ha risposto [...] “È un SMO de jure, ma de facto per noi si è trasformato in una guerra dopo che l'Occidente collettivo sta aumentando sempre più direttamente il suo livello di coinvolgimento nel conflitto".
• Non è la prima volta che Peskov definisce la SMO come una guerra. Ad esempio, nel febbraio 2024, ha affermato che "l'operazione contro l'Ucraina con determinati obiettivi continua in realtà come una guerra con l'Occidente collettivo e l'Alleanza Nord Atlantica".

Ucraina

(Reuters) US has urged Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, FT reports + (Reuters) Ukraine says Russian oil refineries are legitimate targets

• Ukraine dramatically stepped up its attacks on Russian energy facilities this month, launching numerous long-range drones to strike Russia's biggest refineries, resulting in the temporary suspension of production at some of them.
• The United States has urged Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, warning that drone strikes risk provoking retaliation and driving up global oil prices, the Financial Times reported on Friday [...]
• The attacks helped boost oil prices that have risen nearly 4% so far since March 12, when Ukraine first started targeting Russia's energy infrastructure.
• "We understand the calls of the U.S. partners, but at the same time we are fighting with the capabilities, resources, and practices that we have," Olha Stefanishyna, the minister, told the Kyiv Security Forum.

(Reuters) Russia pounds Ukrainian power facilities; Zelenskiy seeks air defences, 'political will'

• Russia pounded Ukrainian power facilities on Friday in an attack described by Kyiv as the largest airstrike on its energy infrastructure in two years of war, and portrayed by Moscow as revenge for Ukrainian attacks during its presidential election.
• The missile and drone attack hit a vast dam over the Dnipro river, and left more than a million [people] without power, forcing Kyiv to seek emergency electricity supplies from Poland, Romania and Slovakia [...]
• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said the strikes proved again that Russian attacks on infrastructure could be halted only with more air defence systems and that required political will from Ukraine's allies.

(Reuters) Russian missiles hit Ukrainian gas storage site, Ukraine boosts power imports

• An underground gas storage site in Ukraine has been hit in the recent wave of Russian missile strikes on power facilities, Ukraine's state-run Naftogaz energy firm said on Sunday, but it said natural gas supplies to consumers have been unaffected.
• The energy ministry and distributors said Ukraine ramped up imports of electricity and halted exports on Sunday. [...] Top energy producer DTEK lost 50% of its capacity.

(POLITICO) Major missile barrage targets Kyiv, western Ukraine; Russian ships hit in Crimea - One Russian cruise missile violated Poland’s airspace, prompting the NATO member to scramble F-16 jets.

• Moscow launched a huge attack with [57] missiles and drones on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv and the western region of Lviv on Sunday [...] in the Kremlin's third large missile attack in the past four days, and the second to target the capital.
• One of the missiles launched at western Ukraine briefly entered Polish airspace, Poland said, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets. [...] The object entered Polish space near the town of Oserdów and stayed there for 39 seconds.
• At the same time, Ukraine said it hit two Russian landing ships, a communications center and other infrastructure used by Russia's Black Sea fleet in Crimea. The Yamal and Azov ships were damaged, Ukrainian officials said, according to media reports.

Israele

(Associated Press) Russia and China veto US resolution calling for immediate cease-fire in Gaza

• Russia and China on Friday vetoed a U.S.-sponsored United Nations resolution supporting “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, calling the measure ambiguous [...]
• In previous resolutions, the U.S. has closely intertwined calls for a cease-fire with demands for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. This resolution, using wording that’s open to interpretation, continued to link the two issues, but not as firmly.
• Before the vote, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow supports an immediate cease-fire, but he criticized the diluted language, which he called philosophical wording that does not belong in a U.N. resolution.

Europa

Unione Europea:

(Consiglio dell’Unione Europea) Morte di Alexei Navalny: l'UE sanziona 33 persone e due entità nell'ambito del suo regime globale di sanzioni in materia di diritti umani

• [Venerdì 22] il Consiglio ha deciso di imporre misure restrittive nei confronti di 33 persone e due entità connesse alla morte improvvisa [...] del politico dell'opposizione russa Alexei Navalny. La decisione è stata adottata nel quadro del regime globale di sanzioni dell'Unione europea in materia di diritti umani.
• I nuovi inserimenti in elenco comprendono le colonie penitenziarie in cui Alexei Navalny è stato detenuto dal giugno 2022 fino alla sua morte, ossia la colonia correttiva IK-6 e la colonia correttiva di massima sicurezza IK-3.
• Sono stati sottoposti a sanzioni anche Vadim Kalinin - capo della colonia IK-3 - vari vicecapi della colonia, [...] Andrey Suvorov, [...] Kirill Nikiforov, [...] Evgenia Nikolaeva e Natalia Dudar [...]
• Tra gli altri inserimenti in elenco figurano alti funzionari del sistema penitenziario e del ministero della Giustizia che sono stati responsabili dell'esecuzione di pene detentive nei confronti di Alexei Navalny e di altri oppositori politici o che non hanno garantito la protezione dei diritti umani e civili e delle libertà.
• Le persone inserite in elenco nell'ambito del regime di sanzioni sono soggette al congelamento dei beni, e la fornitura di fondi o risorse economiche, direttamente o indirettamente, a loro o a loro beneficio è vietata. Inoltre, alle persone fisiche inserite in elenco si applica il divieto di viaggio verso l'UE.

Slovacchia:

(POLITICO) Slovak president election: Pro-EU diplomat tops coalition stalwart in first round

• Career diplomat and pro-West candidate Ivan Korčok won the first round of Slovakia’s presidential election Saturday on 42 percent support with over 99 percent of districts reporting.
• His opponent, ruling coalition member Peter Pellegrini, was in second on 37 percent. With no candidate having won a majority, a runoff ballot is set for April 6.

Irlanda:

(The Economist) Simon Harris became the leader of Fine Gael and he is set to be formally appointed prime minister until April 9th.

• Simon Harris became the leader of Fine Gael, Ireland’s centre-right ruling party. He was the only candidate to be nominated by his colleagues. Mr Harris is set to be formally appointed prime minister when Ireland’s parliament reconvenes on April 9th. Mr Harris, currently the higher education minister, will replace Leo Varadkar, who unexpectedly resigned on Wednesday.