Ukrainian War, Day 965. –

Putin may soon travel to a country where he can be arrested

Ukraine has obtained intelligence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering participating in the G20 meeting to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November, reports the news agency Reuters.

Brazil is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

The president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, invited Putin to a meeting already last year. According to him, Brazil would not arrest Putin during the visit.

– I can tell you that if I am the president of Brazil and he comes to Brazil, he will not be arrested under any circumstances, da Silva said during the Delhi G20 meeting in September last year.

In September of this year, Putin already visited ICC member country Mongolia without difficulty. Mongolia justified the decision not to arrest Putin by saying that the country is dependent on Russian energy.

Among other things, the European Union criticized Mongolia for the decision.

– The EU regrets that, as a member state of the Rome Statute of the ICC, Mongolia did not comply with its obligation under the statute to comply with the arrest warrant, the EU stated in its statement published at the time.

However, French President Emmanuel Macron has previously said that he is open to Putin’s participation. However, according to him, the decision on the invitation should be shared by all G20 countries.

– The purpose of this group is that the other 19 countries should also support the decision, Macron said last March.

ICC spokesperson Fadi El-Abdallah told Reuters the ICC trusted its member states to implement the criminal court’s arrest warrants. According to El-Abdallah, member states have a “duty to cooperate” as stipulated in the court’s founding treaty.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. EPA/AOP

The Pope’s ambassador to Ukraine arrived in Moscow

Pope Francis’ ambassador to Ukraine, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, arrived in Moscow on Monday, Reuters news agency reported, referring to information from the Russian state news agency RIA.

According to RIA, a meeting between Zuppi and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is possible.

Patriarch Kirill is a close ally of the Kremlin.

Zuppi previously visited Moscow in June 2023. At that time, Pope Francis sent Cardinal Zuppi to Moscow “to start a dialogue and look for a peaceful solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine”.

Ukraine is evacuating tens of thousands of its citizens from the border area

During the early autumn, Ukraine has evacuated 37,000 residents from the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, reports the Kyiv Independent.

The Sumy region borders the Kursk region in Russia.

The military administration of the Sumy region has issued a mandatory evacuation order for 45,000 residents. The Sumy region has been the target of daily Russian bombardment

In August, Ukraine launched a ground attack on the Kursk region and continues to occupy land areas from there, even though Russia has launched counterattacks.

Russia has also evacuated tens of thousands of civilians in the Kursk region from the Ukrainian attack.

German intelligence chief: This is how quickly Russia is ready for war with NATO

According to the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence (BND), Bruno Kahl, Russia has the military capabilities to attack NATO by 2030.

Kahl gave his speech at the country’s parliament on Monday. During the speech, he warned that Russia is now more willing to use hybrid and covert measures, but also reminded of the existence of a real military threat.

– A direct military confrontation with NATO has become an option for Moscow, Kahl stated.

According to Kahl, Russia is currently trying to disperse the unity of Western countries in order to hinder Europe’s ability to defend itself. At the same time, the Kremlin is trying to prepare for a possible military confrontation.

– In terms of personnel and material, the Russian armed forces are probably in such a position that they can launch an attack against NATO by the end of this decade at the latest, Kahl estimates.

However, before this, according to Kahl, Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to test “the red lines of the West and accelerate the confrontation even more”. According to Kahl, this is about the West’s readiness to provide help before the start of an open conflict and to break up NATO before a possible war begins.

The site bearing the name of a service blocked by Russia now leads to army recruitment pages

At the beginning of August, the Russian authorities blocked the use of the group chat application Discord in Russia. Now, a website operating under the misleading name of discord.ru directs you directly to a page that urges you to sign an agreement with the Russian army, reports the Russian opposition media Meduza.

Despite the similarity, discord.ru has nothing to do with the popular Discord application, especially among computer gamers.

Iltalehti previously reported that the blocked application was also actively used by Russia’s own armed forces in Ukraine. The group chat application was at least used to plan drone strikes.

According to Meduza, the ban raised outright anger among some pro-Kremlin war bloggers. Also head of the semi-official Safe Internet League group, Ekaterina Mizulina called the block a mistake.

The Russian communications authority Roskamnadzor justified the blocking by saying that Discord was used to commit crimes.