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WSJ journalist seen in court for first time since detained in Russia
02:28 – Source: CNN
- Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain in a Russian jail after a Moscow court decided to uphold the terms of his detention. US officials are looking at “creative and sometimes quite challenging options” to bring him home.
- Four civilians were killed and nearly 30 injured in the latest Russian attacks around the front lines, according to Ukrainian officials.
- The head of the Wagner mercenary group threatened retribution against former fighters who claimed they were ordered to commit atrocities against civilians, including children, in Ukraine.
- The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US sent last month.
Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised a framework introduced by China and Brazil, which proposed an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Lavrov explained the West would not accept the so-called “peace proposal” that would see the Crimean Peninsula fully integrated into the Russian Federation.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has repeatedly said peace in the conflict will only be achieved if Russia restores the country’s borders and Kyiv takes back Crimea.
Since taking office this year, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has suggested his country could help broker a negotiation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing Kyiv should relinquish sovereignty claims over Crimea in exchange for the end of the conflict.
Last week, Lula traveled to China and both countries reiterated calls for a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Lula has largely adopted a policy of non-intervention over the war in Ukraine, following in the same footsteps of many leaders in middle-income and developing countries.
On Saturday, Lula said the US and the EU need to start talking about peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Some context: The US and EU have been major suppliers of arms and aid to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
Lavrov is in Caracas as part of a five-day trip to Latin America, visiting Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. On Tuesday, Lavrov criticized US sanctions on Venezuela and said Russia intends to strengthen diplomatic and commercial relationships with the Andean country.
CNN’s Tatiana Arias and Duarte Mendonca contributed reporting.
Ann Simmons, Wall Street Journal Moscow bureau chief, described detained journalist Evan Gershkovich as a “terrific reporter, largely because he is very familiar with Russian culture and history and tradition.”
Some context: Gershkovich, a US citizen, was arrested in Russia last month on espionage charges. He is currently being held at the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow, where he’s expected to remain through at least May 29 and faces up to a 20-year-sentence.
The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the spying accusations against Gershkovich.
During a court hearing Tuesday, Gershkovich was denied an appeal to change the terms of his detention – a ruling the WSJ had expected, Simmons said.
Gershkovich’s attorneys are able to speak with him, and that’s how the newspaper has been gaining insight into his case. Gershkovich is in “good spirits right now,” she said, and has been watching culinary shows on TV while being held.
“We don’t know much more than that,” she said. “Espionage cases are typically classified, and a lot of the information is not revealed.”
A local Russian activist has been arrested after writing he didn’t “feel a shadow of sadness” about the death of Vladlen Tatarsky, a pro-war blogger who was killed in a bombing at an event in a St. Petersburg cafe this month.
Russian law enforcement authorities opened a criminal case against Yaroslav Shirshikov, accusing him of justifying terrorism, according to state news agency TASS.
In a Telegram post, Shirshikov wrote, in part, to “Tatarsky, who wanted to kill and rob everyone, as he liked, I wish glass wool lining his grave, as well as to those who voluntarily came to the creative evening of this scumbag in St. Petersburg.”
Shirshikov was also one of the first people to publicly post on Telegram about Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Yekaterinburg last month. He told CNN earlier in a phone call that Gershkovich was looking into a number of stories and had texted him to say he was returning to the city. Shirshikov said they met up in Yekaterinburg before Gershkovich was arrested.
CNN has reached out to the WSJ for comment.
The US will look at “creative and sometimes quite challenging options” to try and bring detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich home, but the process could take a long time, a senior administration official told CNN Tuesday.
At a Tuesday court hearing in Moscow, Gershkovich was denied an appeal to change the terms of his detention.
Gershkovich, a US citizen, was arrested in Russia last month. He is being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison until at least May 29 and faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges. The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the spying accusations against him and the US State Department has officially designated him as wrongfully detained by Russia.
Here are the latest headlines:
- Leaked documents: The leaked Pentagon documents are not impacting the actions of NATO allies when it comes to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN Tuesday, adding some of the items leaked are “incorrect and manipulated.” Western officials also told CNN during a Tuesday briefing the leaked documents have had no visible impact on the battlefield in Ukraine.
- US warns Russia: The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine and has warned Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month. The letter comes as Russian forces continue to control the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe and sits in one part of a region Russia occupied after its invasion of Ukraine last February. The plant is still physically operated by Ukrainian staff, but Rosatom manages it.
- Russia’s war equipment: Western officials say Russia is “going backwards” with the equipment it is using in Ukraine, and add that they’ve seen Moscow deploy tanks that were originally built after World War II while it struggles to replenish stocks of lost armored vehicles. The officials also said Russia was continuing to struggle with manpower, saying that despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was not providing them with adequate training.
- Biden extends ban on Russian-affiliated vessels: US President Joe Biden extended the ban on Russian-affiliated vessels from US ports, an order that was originally published last April and set to expire this week. Russia’s policies and actions “continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine,” Biden wrote in a letter to Congress, explaining the extension.
President Joe Biden extended the ban on Russian-affiliated vessels from US ports. The order, originally published last April, was originally set to expire this week.
Five Shahed drones have been downed in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s president’s office.
The head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Yurii Malashko, said that “enemy ‘tin cans’ have been successfully landed today.”
A Russian man who said he had killed children and other civilians while serving with the Wagner private military company in Ukraine appears to have recanted the claim, suggesting he was blackmailed into making it.
Azamat Uldarov, a former convict, made his retraction in a video call with the Russian news agency RIA-FAN. It’s unclear if there were any conditions to the interview.
He and another former convict, Alexey Savichev, previously gave long and rambling interviews to Russian human rights group Gulagu.net, saying they were among the tens of thousands of Wagner fighters recruited from Russian jails to fight in Ukraine.
Speaking with Gulagu founder Vladimir Osechkin, Uldarov said he shot and killed a young girl, calling it “a management decision.”
“I wasn’t allowed to let anyone out alive, because my command was to kill anything in my way,” he said, estimating that the girl was five or six years old.
In his interview with RIA-FAN – which is associated with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin – Uldarov said he was drunk when he gave the interview, and alleged that Osechkin had blackmailed him about his time in prison.
Asked by RIA-FAN: “They made you say what you said in the video, correct?” Uldarov replied: “Not only correct, it’s [expletive] correct. I had to say it because I had no choice.”
“I said whatever I was told to say,” Uldarov then said.
“Prigozhin is a great guy,” he added, giving a thumbs up. “He saved our lives.”
But Gulagu’s Osechkin, who is based in France, told CNN he stood by the content of his interviews with the two men, citing Uldarov’s retraction as proof of how quickly dissenting voices are silenced in Russia.
Osechkin also claimed that both interviewees, Uldarov and Savichev, had been threatened with murder if they didn’t retract their statements to him. Savichev told Gulagu that his unit was ordered to kill any men 15 years old or older.
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The United States “will look at creative and sometimes quite challenging options” to try to bring home detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but the process could take a long time, a senior administration official told CNN on Tuesday.
The official declined to provide details on these options and also on whether any proposals have been discussed with Russia.
In the past the Russians have wanted legal proceedings – which the US views as “illegitimate” — to play out in court first before they will engage in any serious negotiations, the official said, and the process may take a long time
On Tuesday, a Russian court denied Gershkovich’s appeal to serve out his pre-trial detention under house arrest rather than at the notorious Lefortovo Prison. He will be held there until at least May 29 and faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years on espionage charges that the US has strongly condemned.
Calling the lack of regular consular access for Gershkovich “appalling,” the senior administration official said that the US hasn’t heard “specific” concerns about the conditions of the US national’s detention, but said that his detention writ large is “inhumane.”
The US State Department has officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained by Russia. “I think the starting point for our position on this, including engaging with the Russians, but also for helping the world to understand what’s happened, is that this just should never have been this way in the first place,” the official said, adding that officials are “still figuring out exactly where all of this goes” in terms of negotiations.
Last week, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens said that the Russians have not indicated what they would want in exchange for the release of Gershkovich.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that so far there is no evidence China is providing lethal military aid to Russia.
“We are watching very closely and so far we haven’t seen any evidence that China is providing lethal military aid to Russia,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Our message is very clear: It would be a big mistake to support President [Vladimir] Putin’s illegal war,” he added.
The relationship between Russia and China: China has claimed neutrality over the war in Ukraine and called for peace in the conflict. But it has also refused to condemn Russia’s invasion or make any public call for Russia to withdraw its troops. The leaders of both countries met in March.
Earlier on Tuesday, the head of US forces in the Indo-Pacific warned of the partnership between Russia and China, telling lawmakers it is “pretty concerning.”
“They have no friends,” Adm. John Aquilino, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee. “They have identified that it is better if they’re together in order to achieve their strategic objectives. That’s a concerning world.”
Aquilino added that the relationship ties “directly” the question of misinformation and disinformation.
CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed reporting to this post.
The investigator from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) who led the investigation into American Marine Paul Whelan in Russia is also investigating the case of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
FSB investigator Alexei Khizhnyak was named as an investigator for Gershkovich’s case during a hearing at the Moscow City Court on Tuesday.
Gershkovich is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison after he was arrested in late March. His appeal against his detention was denied earlier today and he faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges. The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the spying accusations against Gershkovich. The US State Department has officially designated the journalist as wrongfully detained by Russia.
Whelan, a former Marine who is a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities who alleged he was involved in an intelligence operation. He was convicted and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.
NATO allies need to give more weapons and supplies to Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
Referring to the information contained in leaked United States documents that suggests Ukraine may soon run out of air defense ammunition, Stoltenberg said military aid is going to be critical in helping Ukrainians take back positions.
Swedish vodka brand Absolut Vodka will once again stop exporting to Russia, a spokesperson for Absolut’s parent company Pernod Ricard confirmed to CNN.
Exports of the vodka had been suspended when the war started but Pernod Ricard renewed exports of some of its brands, including Absolut, to Russia at the end of last year, the spokesperson said.
The decision to do so prompted backlash in Sweden, where Absolut is produced.
Absolut’s CEO Stephanie Durroux said in a statement on Tuesday that “the reaction over the recent days is clearly reflective of the role Absolut plays for its extended community in Sweden… Therefore, The Absolut Company has decided to stop the export of its brand to Russia.”
Durroux said since March 2022, in compliance with international sanctions and local legal restrictions, “activity in Russia has been strongly reduced and marketing investments have been stopped. By ensuring the economic viability of its distribution subsidiary through limited supply, Pernod Ricard has been able to protect its local team from any local criminal liability, relating to ‘intentional bankruptcy’ in particular.”
She went on to say the company has a “duty of care towards our employees and partners, we cannot expose them to massive criticism in all forms.”
The leaked Pentagon documents are not impacting the actions of NATO allies when it comes to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN Tuesday.
“We have all seen that some of these leakages are incorrect and manipulated,” he said. “I don’t think they will impact what NATO allies are doing when it comes to Ukraine.”
Fact check: CNN has reviewed 53 leaked documents, all of which appear to have been produced between mid-February and early March. They contain a wide range of highly classified information – providing a rare window into how the US spies on allies and adversaries alike. Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.
Poland has reached an agreement on restarting the transit of Ukrainian grains through its territory from Friday, according to government officials.
“We will introduce electronic seals and the SENT system for these goods. The regulation will contain a record that will protect us from leaving goods in Poland,” the tweet added.
Kyiv is awaiting official communication from the Polish side on the technical aspects of transporting the products, Ukraine’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade Yulia Svyrydenko said.
The announcement comes following Ukraine-Poland negotiations in Warsaw on Tuesday.
“We treat the problems faced by our Polish colleagues with the same attention Poland treats our problems. Therefore, we must respond promptly and constructively to this crisis situation,” she said, according to a statement released by Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy.
Some background: Poland banned imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine “to protect the Polish agricultural market against destabilization,” the Polish Prime Minister’s office said in a statement over the weekend.
When Russia invaded Ukraine it blocked ports and sea routes used to export Ukrainian grain to Africa and the Middle East. In response, the European Union lifted duties on grain from Ukraine to ease distribution to those global markets.
Ukrainian grain has since flowed into Poland but much of it has remained in the country, bringing down the price and causing Polish farmers to suffer significant financial losses.
CNN’s Mayria Knight and Jonny Hallam contributed reporting to this post.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to discuss the Black Sea grain deal with United Nations Secretary General António Guterres when he visits New York next week, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday citing Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN.
On Monday, Ukraine accused Moscow of threatening the UN-brokered grain deal — which aims to ease a global food crisis sparked by the war — and said that the inspections of ships in Turkish territorial waters were blocked for the second time. Russian state news agency RIA reported inspections under the grain deal had resumed on Tuesday, citing Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the department for international organizations at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lavrov’s trip to New York was made possible after Russian Ambassador to US, Anatoly Antonov, urged Washington last week to issue a permit for the foreign minister’s special aircraft and visas for the Russian delegation to chair the UN Security Council meeting in New York.
In response, a State Department spokesperson said last week that as a host country of the UN, the United States takes its obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement seriously, “including with respect to visa issuance.”
The agreement states, “the federal, state or local authorities of the United States shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district of: (1) representatives of Members or officials of the United Nations, or of specialized agencies as defined in Article 57, paragraph 2, of the Charter, or the families of such representatives or officials.”
The Russian foreign ministry has summoned the US, Canadian and UK ambassadors “in connection with gross interference in the affairs of the Russian Federation and activities that do not correspond to diplomatic status,” the ministry said as quoted by state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.
Video shows US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy arriving to the foreign ministry and departing about an hour later.
What the ministry told US diplomat: The ministry issued a “strong protest” to Tracy on Tuesday for statements of support for jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In a statement, the ministry also accused the US envoy of violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and threatened to end her stay in Moscow ahead of schedule if she abused her status.
“It was especially noted that any steps by the American side aimed at inciting discord and enmity in Russian society, as well as using the diplomatic mission to cover up subversive work, will be severely suppressed,” the ministry said.
A US State Department spokesperson confirmed Tracy met Russian officials at the foreign ministry on Tuesday, but would not provide details about what was discussed. “As a general rule, we do not discuss diplomatic discussions,” the spokesperson said.
What the ministry told British diplomat: British Ambassador to Moscow Deborah Bronnert was summoned following “provocative statements” over the sentencing of Kara-Murza, the ministry said.
The UK condemned the sentencing Monday, calling it “politically-motivated.” The UK also summoned the Russian ambassador.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in the statement that it regards “calls of foreign diplomats to cancel the verdict of the Russian court” as “gross interference” in internal affairs.
Russia’s foreign ministry has not released a statement regarding the summoning of the US and Canadian ambassadors so far.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this post.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that they have not seen Russia deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus yet, despite claims from Moscow that they intended to do so.
NATO has not yet seen “any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that demands any changes in our nuclear posture,” Stoltenberg said via video to the NATO Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Weapons of Mass Destruction Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC.
Stoltenberg said that Moscow’s threatened deployment “is part of a pattern we have seen actually [for] many years — but especially since the invasion of Ukraine — of dangerous, irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.”
NATO is monitoring the situation closely, Stoltenberg said.
Sherman echoed Stoltenberg’s comments. She said that Russia has yet to move weapons to Belarus but called the threat “a dangerous escalation, no doubt about it.”
Some background: In March, Putin told state media that Moscow will complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by the beginning of July. He said an Iskander short-range missile system, a device which can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, had already been transferred to Belarus.
Belarus is one of Putin’s closest allies and was used as a launching pad for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine, and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month.
In the letter, which was reviewed by CNN and is dated March 17, 2023, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Nonproliferation Policy, Andrea Ferkile, tells Rosatom’s director general that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the United States Government.”
Goods, software and technology are subject to US export controls when it is possible for them to be used in a way that undermines US national security interests.
The Energy Department letter comes as Russian forces continue to control the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe and sits in a part of the Zaporizhzhia region that Russia occupied after its invasion of Ukraine last February. The plant has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling in the area, raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident.
While the plant is still physically operated by Ukrainian staff, Rosatom manages it. The Energy Department warned Rosatom in the letter that it is “unlawful” for any Russian citizens or entities to handle the US technology.
CNN has reached out to Rosatom for comment.
It is not clear whether Rosatom has responded to the letter. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration told CNN in a statement that the letter is authentic.
The letters were first reported by the news outlet RBC Ukraine.
“The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration can confirm that the letter is legitimate,” said Shayela Hassan, the deputy director of public affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
She added, “The Secretary of Energy has the statutory responsibility for authorizing the transfer of unclassified civilian nuclear technology and assistance to foreign atomic energy activities. DOE does not comment on regulatory activities.”
Another letter from Ferkile to the Energy Department’s Inspector General, reviewed by CNN and dated October 24, 2022, outlines the technology the US has exported to Ukraine for use in the Zaporizhzhia plant and reiterates that the department has “no record of any current authorization to transfer this technology and technical data to any Russian national or entity.”
The Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy has been public about the US’ support for the plant, and stated on its website in June 2021 that “the United States helped implement new maintenance procedures and operations at the reactor that should ultimately strengthen energy security” in Ukraine.
Correction: This post incorrectly described the news outlet which first reported the letters. It was RBC Ukraine.
The UK’s top defense official cast doubt on the veracity and impact of the recently leaked US intelligence documents — some of which contain information about the war in Ukraine — going further than US officials have in questioning the contents of the hundreds of pages of classified intelligence that were posted online.
UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace declined to comment on specific subjects in the documents. Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, he acknowledged that some of the information “might be a bit compromising, might be a bit difficult for a number of nations” but expressed confidence that the leak won’t have significant effects.
While members of the US government — from President Joe Biden to his top national security officials — have repeatedly said they are taking the leak seriously, engaging with allies to smooth things over and referring to the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation, Wallace was more dismissive and said he wouldn’t “be the only one who would look at those reports and see they’re not entirely accurate.”
“I know for a fact having read what I’ve seen in the open source that some of those assertions are untrue,” Wallace said on Tuesday.
Aside from a clearly doctored document that changed Russian and Ukrainian casualty numbers, American officials have largely not expressed doubt about the legitimacy of the leaked documents, most of which have “top secret” or “secret” headings.
Wallace is in the US this week for meetings at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.
Remember: Last week, Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials in connection to the leak.
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