You've never seen Mars like this. Amazing NASA photos reveal Red Planet in ultraviolet light

Samantha Mathewson
Fri, June 23, 2023 

ultraviolet images of Mars show the planet in vibrant colors

New ultraviolet photos of Mars offer stunning views of the planet's changing seasons.

Astronomers using NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft photographed the Red Planet in July 2022, during the southern hemisphere's summer season when the planet was closest to the sun, and then again in January 2023 after Mars' northern hemisphere had passed the farthest point in its orbit from the sun.

MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument measures wavelengths between 110 and 340 nanometers, outside the visible spectrum. The purple areas of the photos represent the ozone in Mars' atmosphere, while the white and blue areas represent clouds or haze in the planet's sky. The planet's surface appears tan or green in the new images.


Related: 12 amazing photos from the Perseverance rover's 1st year on Mars

"By viewing the planet in ultraviolet wavelengths, scientists can gain insight into the Martian atmosphere and view surface features in remarkable ways," NASA officials said in a statement.

The photos, which NASA shared on June 22, were taken when the planet was near opposite ends of its orbit around the sun, capturing Mars' rapidly changing seasons. Like Earth, Mars rotates on a tilted axis, which causes the planet to experience four different seasons. However, seasons on Mars are roughly twice as long as those on Earth because the Martian year is almost twice that of Earth.

Mars orbits closest to the sun when its southern hemisphere is tilted towards it, whereas the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun when it's further away. As a result, temperatures are much hotter during the southern summer than the northern summer. The boost in temperature causes more turbulence, stronger winds and larger dust storms in the southern hemisphere.

The first image, taken in July 2022, captures one of Mars' deepest craters, Argyre Basin, near the bottom left of the planet. The crater appears filled with atmospheric haze, while the deep canyons of Valles Marineris near the top left of the planet appear filled with clouds.

The warmer temperatures of summer cause the southern polar ice caps to shrink, which, in turn, releases carbon dioxide and causes the atmosphere to be thicker. MAVEN, which launched in November 2013 to study the planet's atmospheric gasses, has also detected increased hydrogen loss from Mars at this time of year, which is likely the result of dust storms driving water vapor to very high altitudes.

Studying these systems will offer a better look into how the Red Planet has evolved over time. "Understanding atmospheric loss gives scientists insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability," NASA officials said in the statement.

RELATED STORIES:

— Curiosity rover: 15 awe-inspiring photos of Mars (gallery)

— This 'postcard' of a Mars day from NASA's Curiosity rover is gorgeous (photo)

— MAVEN: NASA's Orbiter Mission to Mars — Mission Details

The second image, taken in January 2023, captures the Red Planet's northern hemisphere after it passed the farthest point in its orbit around the sun, causing an abundance of white clouds in the north polar region. An accumulation of ozone can also be seen at the top of the planet (colored magenta), having built up during the northern winter's chilly polar nights. However, an increase in water vapor in the springtime would destroy this patch of ozone in the northern hemisphere.

NASA's MAVEN mission will celebrate its 10-year anniversary this fall, having entered Mars' orbit in September 2014.

Space Business: Lost in Orbit

Tim Fernholz

 Quartz
Thu, June 22, 2023 

A tourist submarine lost at sea has been at the center of the news, but next time it could be a tourist spacecraft in need of rescue.

The undersea tourism business operates in a similar regulatory environment to space tourism: Participants must be informed of the risks, and then anything goes. The passengers onboard OceanGate’s submersible as it dove to the Titanic this week include Hamish Harding, who had already been to space onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

From a passenger’s perspective, a spacecraft disabled in orbit would be much like the current situation in the north Atlantic: A trapped crew with limited resources, facing a race against time to be rescued. But while the US and Canadian governments have dispatched aircraft and ships to aid in the search for the missing submarine, the response to a disabled spacecraft in orbit would be very different.

There are no plans in place at NASA or at SpaceX, the only company that can currently fly humans off-planet, for how to mount a rescue in space. (SpaceX didn’t respond to a question about in-space rescue, nor did Axiom Space, a private company that operates passenger missions to the International Space Station.)

Grant Cates, a former NASA engineer who now works at the Aerospace Corporation, a government-backed think tank, argues that the situation needs to change. NASA learned through hard-won experience that redundancy is key: Having two spacecraft—a lunar lander and a command module—made Apollo 13's escape from disaster possible, while the Columbia tragedy might have been avoided had NASA sent a rescue rather than attempting to return the damaged Space Shuttle to Earth. China keeps a backup spacecraft ready for launch in case of problems that require a crew evacuation of its new space station.


The light-touch regulation for space tourism is designed for suborbital flights like those offered by Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic. These are short hops to the edge of space in vehicles that aren’t capable of staying in orbit. The companies are responsible for their own safety practices, and their vehicles are designed with parachutes to bring them safely back to the ground (New Shepard) or able to glide to a landing without engine power (VSS Unity). They also fly brief missions in designated areas, under close observation. If something goes wrong, finding the vehicle and deploying emergency services are straightforward tasks.

Flying humans into orbit is different. While launch abort systems can keep astronauts safe before they get to space, and the International Space Station offers shelter, free-flying spacecraft—like the Dragon on the Inspiration4 mission—are on their own. If a micrometeroid or space debris damaged the vehicle’s heat shield, solar arrays, avionics or propulsion systems, its passengers would depend on being rescued within about a five days of launch.

Cates and other experts expect that if a crew were in need of rescue, space agencies and private companies would rally to the effort. Indeed, spacefaring nations like the US, China, and Russia are obligated by UN treaties to assist in search and rescue missions for astronauts in distress, according to Chris Johnson, a space law expert at the Secure World Foundation.

The issues are capability and preparedness: Launching a crewed spacecraft within five days is big ask. Moreover, not all spacecraft have compatible docking systems that would allow for a crew rescue. Cates thinks the US should be doing more to prepare in advance for rescue missions, including promoting universal docking standards and making rescue planning a part of the launch licensing process.

While that may not seem necessary today, with comparably few human spaceflight missions, NASA and the space industry writ large envision a future in which multiple commercial space stations are orbiting the planet and frequently visited by a variety of human crews. The more time people spend in orbit, the more likely an accident is to occur.

The good news, per Cates, is that “we are very close to having the capability for space rescue.” The growing launch cadence around the world and proliferation of human-rated vehicles mean that a little coordination could go a long way toward making space rescue possible. Companies and countries launching crewed missions could be aware of when the next human-rated spacecraft is expected to launch and consider it as a rescue solution—assuming the vehicles in question have compatible docking systems.

“We can cobble together, in that fashion, a limited rescue capability to close the gap,” Cates says. “It doesn’t need to be all that expensive.”

The alternative is contemplating the fate of fellow humans caught in a death trap. Cates references the story of Admiral Charles Momsen, a US Navy submariner who was unable to rescue the crew of sunken submarine in 1925. “I myself never felt more useless,” Momsen said of finding the wreck in 131 feet of water and being unable to reach it. He would pioneer new technologies to rescue trapped submariners, which were used to save 33 people from a flooded sub in 1939.

Today, we have the tools needed to rescue people trapped in space. It’s just a matter of making sure they’re ready at hand.

🌕🌖🌗
IMAGERY INTERLUDE

Two SpaceX Dragon spacecraft are docked at the International Space Station; you can see one sticking up vertically, and another just to the right of module. In an orbital emergency, it might be possible to dispatch a spacecraft from the ISS to act as a rescue vehicle, depending on the specific orbit of a disabled spacecraft.

Photo: NASA
🛰️🛰️🛰️
SPACE DEBRIS

Intelsat has had enough of SES. The two satellite telecom companies were considering a tie-up capable of creating a stronger competitor for SpaceX’s Starlink, but talks have foundered in recent days. That helps explain the unexpected departure of SES CEO Steve Collar earlier in the month, but it doesn’t change the pressure for consolidation in space communications.

Virgin Galactic has meme stock power. The company’s stock (SPCE) soared this week as the company announced the return of revenue-generating flights, but true profitability will have to wait for a new class of ships launching in 2026.

Ursa Major has layoffs. The rocket engine start-up laid off 80 people, just over a quarter of its workforce, last week; the company said it needed to restructure despite a $150 million round in Oct. 2022 and several new contracts.

Northrop has another satellite servicing mission. Intelsat purchased a Mission Extension Pod, a propulsion module that can be attached to an existing satellite to extend its operational life. Northrop will fly a robotic spacecraft in 2025 that will attach the pods to two Intelsat satellites and another operated by the Australian company Optus. The deal is another step forward for the nascent satellite-servicing industry.

Rocket Lab has a hypersonic testbed. The US-New Zealand rocket company launched HASTE, a modified version of its Electron rocket that will be used to test hypersonic weapons, for the first time this week.

China has launched 41 satellites in one rocket. It’s a new record for the country (the global record of 104 spacecraft at once is held by India’s PSLV rocket) and speaks to the rapid growth of assets in Earth orbit.

Last week: What is the future of satellite telecommunications?

Last year: Redwire sells the first manufactured goods from space.

This was issue 185 of our newsletter. Hope your week is out of this world! Please send your space rescue plans, tips, and informed opinions to tim@qz.com.

China’s Solution to Inequality? Cracking Down on Displays of Wealth and Poverty

Koh Ewe

TIME
Fri, June 23, 2023 

A woman walks across a road in a high-end shopping district in Beijing, China, on March 24, 2022. 

Credit - Kevin Frayer—Getty Images

High earners in China’s financial sector may be walking into their offices with a little less pizazz, after financial firms told employees to tone down on flaunting wealth, be it posting photos of their fancy meals on social media or showing up to work in expensive clothes.

This recent wave of austerity measures came after authorities warned bankers in March to steer away from “hedonistic” lifestyles, Reuters reported earlier this week. But China’s campaign to censor affluence has been in full swing for at least a decade.


Back in 2013, as public anger simmered over the country’s yawning wealth gap, authorities banned the advertisements of luxury products on state radio and television channels. In 2021, social media sites in China removed thousands of videos and accounts that featured large amounts of cash and luxury items. And just last year, a state-owned investment bank asked its employees to stop flying business class.

It’s not just displays of wealth that Beijing wants to make disappear. Content about the lives of people living in poverty has also been subjected to sweeping censorship, the New York Times reported in March, citing the erasure of a viral video of a retiree living on a monthly pension of $14.50 and a singer’s tongue-in-cheek song on dismal job prospects.

“The government has long realized that [economic inequality is] a threat, and they need to do something,” Shan Wei, a senior research fellow of Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore, tells TIME. “But so far, I think what they have successfully done is control the flow of information on inequality issues.”

The ongoing crusade to stop China’s rich from doing rich people things—and to try to keep poverty out of sight and out of mind—is closely linked to President Xi Jinping’s mantra of “common prosperity,” his sweeping pitch to reign in the excesses of capitalism and corruption in Chinese society. Targets of this campaign range from bankers who have had their salaries slashed to business tycoons who have been secretively detained to even mooncake companies that sell overpriced baked goods with “excessive packaging.”

Yet, despite all these measures, many Chinese people today remain exasperated at a lack of social mobility in the country, as the Chinese economy finds itself in the throes of a sluggish post-pandemic recovery.

The latest crackdown on wealth-flaunting “seems largely symbolic and itself alone may barely have any material impact on improving distribution,” Tianlei Huang, the China Program coordinator at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, tells TIME. “What China really needs to do is more progressive and effective taxation and greater social transfers.”

China’s economic woes

In recent weeks, senior Chinese officials held urgent meetings with business leaders to discuss revitalizing the economy. The country’s youth unemployment rate has climbed to a record 20.4% in April, and then to 20.8% in May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. (When officials revealed that they considered anyone working at least an hour a week to be employed, speculation abounded online that the real unemployment rate is in fact much higher.)

This has come as a rude awakening for millions of Chinese young adults, who have long been told that studying hard would come with the reward of financial stability. In response, Chinese authorities have urged them to swallow their pride and accept lower-end jobs—a proposition that has left many feeling betrayed.

Read More: China’s Aging Population Is a Major Concern. But Its Youth May Be an Even Bigger Problem

“In a context like today’s China, the wealth gap is so big that young people from an average family background realize that no matter how hard they try they can never reach that kind of wealth. So they just stop trying,” says Huang.

China’s Gini coefficient, which measures inequality, has decreased significantly since the 2000s, but continues to hover above 0.46, which by international standards signals a high level of income inequality.

“The showing off of wealth among wealthy people, especially those who work in the government and state companies, is like adding oil to fire,” says Shan. “It just reveals the hard truth of how unequal the society is.”
All about the optics

Set against this backdrop of disparity, even media portrayals of the poor have turned out to be a big no-no for a government that in 2021 declared “complete victory” in eradicating extreme poverty. Return to Dust, a critically acclaimed film released last year about an impoverished couple’s hardships in rural China, was abruptly scrubbed from streaming platforms weeks ahead of the Chinese Communist Party congress in October.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor who researches Chinese governance at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, tells TIME that China’s attempt to control narratives surrounding extreme wealth and poverty has more to do with politics than practicality.

“This is kind of a pure ideological concern by a socialist country. They want people to be more equal,” he says. “They want people to be good-spirited, contribute to society, [and not] just engage with materialism.”

“I don’t think in reality they actually fundamentally changed the situation,” he added, pointing to continuing regional wealth disparities.

Curating the optics surrounding the country’s inequality may be a bandaid to boost public morale, but it rests precariously on socio-economic frustrations simmering across Chinese society. While some may find schadenfreude in seeing the wealthy forced to leave their luxury bags at home under the banner of “common prosperity,” others remain painfully aware that curbing the rich doesn’t really do much to improve their own lives.

“I finally get it now,” one Weibo user wrote last month. “Common prosperity means laying off and cutting the salaries of high earners in tech, finance, and foreign companies, bringing them closer to the average; not improving the wages and welfare of those in lower and middle income jobs.”

Taxes Going Unpaid Could Fund UK Transport Department for a Year

Alex Morales
Thu, June 22, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Britain is losing £36 billion ($46 billion) in unpaid taxes, almost enough to fund the entire Department for Transport, according to official figures.

HM Revenue and Customs collected 95.2% of the £739 billion ($941 billion) theoretically owed during the fiscal year to March 2022, leaving a 4.8% “tax gap,” the tax authority said in a statement Thursday.

The data, published on Thursday, is from a year when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, opening him up to criticism from the opposition Labour Party for his failure to clamp down on non-payment, especially among wealthier taxpayers.

While the tax gap was £5 billion more than in 2020-21, as a percentage of total potential revenue it remained at the lowest in a data series going back to 2005-06. Labour said Sunak should have made further progress.

“These are hugely concerning figures, showing that the Treasury failed to close the tax gap at all in percentage terms in Rishi Sunak’s final year in charge,” a Labour treasury spokesman, Pat McFadden, said in a statement.

Iran wants to lure disaffected American allies to a new naval coalition in the Indian Ocean


Team Mighty
Thu, June 22, 2023 

Iranian, Chinese and Russian naval forces, start a joint military exercise for 5 days at Indian Ocean on March 15, 2023. (Photo by Iranian Army / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Officials from the United Arab Emirates recently announced the country stopped participating with the Combined Maritime Forces, a 34-member coalition task force fighting terrorism and piracy in the Red Sea and around the Persian Gulf.

Although it hasn’t officially left the security force, The UAE now finds itself with a new suitor: Iran, who wants to form a new naval coalition in the Indian Ocean, specifically, countries with an interest in the littoral areas of the ocean.

The Combined Maritime Forces is an American-led security coalition protecting some of the world’s most important shipping lanes. It also bolsters counterterrorism efforts, efforts from which all nations in the Gulf region (including the UAE) benefit.

The UAE publicly mentioned that it was reviewing all of its cooperation partnerships including the CMF and had simply not participated in two months. UAE officials told some news outlets that it was still dedicated to combating terrorism but was frustrated with lack of American action when Iran seizes oil tankers in the region.

Iranian state media has reported that a new coalition of countries who operate naval forces along the north shores of the Indian Ocean are forming a naval security coalition. Iran’s state news agency Tasnim reported that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan and India have all expressed an interest.

NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA - JANUARY 5: In this handout provided by the U.S. Navy, U.S. sailors assigned to the guided missile destroyer USS Momsen (DDG 92) respond to a medical emergency aboard the Iranian fishing vessel Al Molai off the coast of Somalia approximately 400 nautical miles north of the Republic of Seychelles January 5, 2012, in the Arabian Sea. 

Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images 

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in Cape Town, South Africa. Oman’s sultan recently visited Iran on a diplomatic trip, but only pro-Iranian news outlets seem to know anything about the “new coalition.”

Iran actually operates two navies, the Iranian Navy and a naval force operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In May 2023, forces connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. The first was a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. The second was a Panama-flagged tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States responded by increasing its forces in the area. France and the United Kingdom followed suit soon after. The UAE – or any other Saudi Arabian neighbor – is unlikely to join a coalition with Iran because Iran is the primary threat in the region.

“It defies reason that Iran, the number one cause of regional instability, claims it wants to form a naval security alliance to protect the very waters it threatens,” US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces spokesperson Cmdr. Tim Hawkins told Breaking Defense.

The new coalition would require longtime regional rivals like Saudi Arabia and Iran to suddenly come together over a new military objective. The two countries only recently resumed diplomatic relations, relations that were severed after it was revealed that Saudi agents had assisted the U.S. with the targeted killing of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani. Moreover, the supposed coalition also includes rivals India and Pakistan, who are unlikely to agree on any military operation unless it involves the use of force against each other.

For now, it appears the US-led Combined Maritime Force is still the best game in town, even if it loses the occasional oil tanker from the Marshall Islands.

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Former presidential candidate is buying up apartments for a surprising reason: ‘The impact and the returns are linked’



Laurelle Stelle
Fri, June 23, 2023 

Former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer is planning to make buildings across the country more energy efficient through his investment company Galvanize Climate Solutions.

In April, Bloomberg reported that Galvanize Climate Solutions has a new real estate investment strategy. The plan is to buy real estate, primarily low-density multifamily homes between one and three stories tall with parking, and upgrade them to be more energy efficient.

Galvanize Climate Solutions will add solar panels to the parking areas of these buildings as well as make further eco-friendly renovations using its proprietary methods, The Hill reported.

The result will be a major investment in apartment buildings, student housing, self-storage, and industrial properties all across America. The goal is to make them cost less money to run while also being good for the environment.


“This is a real estate strategy with a decarbonization goal,” Joseph Sumberg, head of Galvanize Real Estate, told Bloomberg. “Capitalism will look at this successful strategy, and replicate it, creating ripples through the built environment.”

Decarbonization reduces the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas (CO2) pollution produced through human activities, like burning dirty energy sources to drive our cars and heat or cool our homes.

Decarbonizing a building involves switching to non-polluting energy sources when possible — like swapping from expensive gas or coal power to cheaper, abundant solar power — and taking steps to minimize total energy use as well.

For example, a homeowner might add more efficient insulation so there’s less need to use the HVAC heating and cooling systems to stay at a comfortable temperature. Less HVAC use means less energy use, so the building causes less pollution.

Energy-efficient homes are great for owners and residents, who enjoy far lower energy bills. They’re also good for the environment, since potent heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide and methane are the reason our Earth is heating up.

According to The Hill, Galvanize Climate Solutions is not the only large firm investing in such projects. Climate technology company BlocPower has raised $150 million to do the same in low-income communities.

“We’re trying to show that doing this is a good investment from an absolute, straight up financial point of view,” Steyer told Bloomberg. “The impact and the returns are linked; it’s not a trade-off.”

Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.

CORN; FOOD NOT FUEL

Biden’s Ethanol Plan Rattles an Industry Already Under Pressure

Kim Chipman and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Thu, June 22, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- The US ethanol industry, already under pressure from rising corn costs and weak gasoline demand, saw its long-term outlook dampen further after the federal government’s surprise pullback in support for the plant-based fuel.

The Environmental Protection Agency blending mandates issued Wednesday limit the amount of conventional ethanol that can be used to fulfill quotas in 2024 and 2025 to 15 billion gallons, a cut from the target of 15.25 billion gallons proposed earlier. With rising input costs already threatening to squeeze margins that had just started to improve, the trimmed quotas are a concerning development for ethanol producers fighting for a bigger share of American gas tanks.

The EPA’s move is “inexplicable and unwarranted,” said Renewable Fuels Association Chief Executive Officer Geoff Cooper.

The latest blending requirements come at a time when gasoline usage is still lagging pre-pandemic levels. Demand is about 3% below the same period in 2019, according to recent government data, and a growing market for electric vehicles only threatens to make things worse. It’s not just ethanol that’s reeling: Critics say the latest biofuel-blending requirements also hinder the Biden administration’s own clean energy and climate goals.

“Higher blending targets would enable fuels such as E15 and E85 to quickly displace carbon pollution from gasoline, but EPA’s proposal will rein in those opportunities,” said American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings, referring to higher ethanol blends the industry seeks to make more widely available nationwide.

How Plan to Boost Ethanol Will Reverberate Across US: QuickTake

The industry is hopeful demand picks up soon. Pat Bowe, CEO of Andersons Inc., an ethanol producer and grains handler, said he sees driving demand holding roughly 1% to 2% above last year’s levels. Meanwhile, Renewable Fuels Association’s Cooper expects gasoline usage during the busiest summer periods to surpass levels not seen since August 2019. Still, for now, the proposed quotas make sense based on lackluster gasoline consumption, said Ken Morrison, a St. Louis-based independent commodity trader.

While the trimmed quotas won’t have a near-term impact on blending, they still sent tumbling the value of tradable credits known as RINs, which are used to prove quotas have been fulfilled. On Wednesday, RINs tracking ethanol and biomass-based diesel fell as much as 10% in the day’s trading to the lowest levels in more than a year. With the changes more likely to impact the longer-term outlook, the spot ethanol market shrugged off policy woes and gained 4.5% to the highest level since November.


--With assistance from Chunzi Xu, Sophie Caronello and Barbara Powell.

SEE

 LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BIOFUEL 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BIOFUELS 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CORN 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ETHANOL 

‘Fatalistic’ Europe handing China control of electric car industry, warns Polestar boss

Howard Mustoe
Thu, June 22, 2023 

Mr Ingenlath says he is shocked by the lack of a ‘let’s-do-it-and-develop-it mindset’ on the Continent - Polestar

European negativity is handing China control of the electric vehicle industry, Swedish carmaker Polestar has warned.

Thomas Ingenlath, the chief executive of Polestar, said Europe had adopted a “fatalistic” attitude towards electric vehicle production, adding: “I always feel a bit frustrated how Europe generally is so quick in saying, ‘Oh, there’s a big problem finding the materials that we need for electrification’.”

“I’m always shocked about how little the let’s-do-it-and-develop-it mindset exists.”

China has more than 100 gigafactories, making batteries for electric cars and other uses, while Europe and the US each have a handful, which limits domestic efforts to gear up production. Polestar’s cars are currently manufactured for sale in China.

Mr Ingenlath, speaking at the firm’s research centre near Nuneaton, warned the infrastructure to supply the plants with minerals was also needed in Europe.

However, he said the region could catch up by building factories, supply chains such as refineries and even mines, as China has done.

Mining and refining the likes of lithium – a critical part of a battery – is “a tedious and sometimes not so clean process, but guess what, you can with modern methods make it clean,” Mr Ingenlath said. He added that European competitors should be looking at the growth of battery makers in South Korea for inspiration.

“Chinese and South Korean companies are coming and putting the factories here in Europe. Of course you can produce battery cells here in Europe... European companies, you can go and establish your own mining and sourcing.”

The electric car chief said companies dragging their feet over electrification should consider how they would pitch the combustion engine, which spews pollution into the nearby air, to customers today.

“People will laugh at you, they will think are you crazy? Are you crazy to put such a thing in a car?”

Polestar has grown its presence in the UK to 500 engineers, many of whom are working on its latest Polestar 5 model, a grand tourer which will go on sale in 2025.

He praised the UK’s pedigree in luxury and high performance cars, which has helped the company develop its latest luxury model, adding: “There’s a high competence of what I call low volume engineering and production.”

The company has built and tested its early prototypes in Britain.

Rebel Russian mercenaries barrel towards Moscow

Putin vows to crush 'armed mutiny' from Wagner



Reuters
Fri, June 23, 2023 

ROSTOV-ON-DON/VORONEZH, Russia (Reuters) -Mutinous Russian mercenary fighters barrelled towards Moscow on Saturday after seizing a southern city overnight, with Russia's military firing on them from the air but seemingly incapable of slowing their lightning advance.

Facing the first serious challenge to his grip on power of his 23-year rule, President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny he compared to Russia's Civil War a century ago.

The fighters of the Wagner private army run by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin were already most of the way to the capital, having captured the city of Rostov and set off on an 1,100 km (680 mile) race to Moscow.

Reuters saw troop carriers and a flatbed truck carrying a tank careening past the city of Voronezh more than half way to Moscow, where a helicopter fired on them. But there were no reports of the rebels meeting any substantial resistance on the highway.

Russian media showed pictures of small groups of police manning machine gun positions on Moscow's southern outskirts Authorities in the Lipetsk region south of the capital told residents to stay home.

More than 100 firefighters were in action at a fuel depot ablaze in Voronezh. Video footage obtained by Reuters showed it blowing up in a fireball shortly after a helicopter flew by. Prigozhin accused Russia's military of hitting civilian targets from the air as it tried to slow the column's advance.

Prigozhin says his men are on a "march for justice" to remove corrupt and incompetent commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.

In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin said Russia's very existence was under threat.

"We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history," he said.

"All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people."

A defiant Prigozhin swiftly replied that he and his men had no intention of turning themselves in.

"The president makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our motherland, we fought and are fighting for it," Prigozhin said in an audio message. "We don't want the country to continue to live in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy."

Prigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with the top brass, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in Rostov without firing a shot.

In Rostov, which serves as the main rear logistical hub for Russia's entire invasion force, residents milled about calmly, filming on mobile phones as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions.

One tank was wedged between stucco buildings with posters advertising the circus. Another had "Siberia" daubed in red paint across the front, a clear statement of intent to sweep across the breadth of Russia.

In Moscow, there was an increased security presence on the streets. Red Square was blocked off by metal barriers.

In a series of hectic messages overnight, Prigozhin demanded thata Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov should come to see him in Rostov.

Western capitals said they were closely following the situation in nuclear-armed Russia. The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed.

"This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times," Britain's defence ministry said.

"Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia's security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how this crisis plays out."

Putin's grip on power may depend on whether he can muster enough loyal troops to combat the mercenaries at a time when most of Russia's military is deployed at the front in southern and eastern Ukraine.

The insurrection also risks leaving Russia's invasion force in Ukraine in disarray, just as Kyiv is launching its strongest counteroffensive since the war began in February last year.

"Russia's weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in a social media message. "And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later."

PRIGOZHIN'S REVOLT

Prigozhin, a former convict and long-time ally of Putin, leads a private army that includes thousands of former prisoners recruited from Russian jails.

His men took on the fiercest fighting of the 16-month Ukraine war, including the protracted battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

He railed for months against the regular army's top brass, accusing generals of incompetence and of withholding ammunition from his fighters. This month, he defied orders to sign a contract placing his troops under Defence Ministry command.

He launched the apparent mutiny on Friday after alleging that the military had killed many of his fighters in an air strike. The Defence Ministry denied it.

"There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country," he said, promising to destroy any checkpoints or air forces that got in Wagner's way. He later said his men had been involved in clashes with regular soldiers and had shot down a helicopter.

Army Lieutenant-General Vladimir Alekseyev issued a video appeal asking Prigozhin to reconsider.

"Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority," he said.

(Reporting by Reuters journalistsWriting by Andrew Osborn, Kevin Liffey, Peter GraffEditing by Frances Kerry and Giles Elgood)

Wagner mercenary chief calls for armed rebellion against Russian military leadership

PATRICK REEVELL
Fri, June 23, 2023 

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group appears to be threatening an armed rebellion against Russia's military leadership, after accusing it of deliberately shelling his forces on Friday.

Wagner's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in an audio message on Friday claimed his forces would now punish Russia's defense minister and chief of general staff, telling other units to stand down and not offer resistance.

"There are 25,000 of us and we are coming to sort things out. ... Those who want to join us, it's time to finish with this mess," Prigozhin said.

Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks with servicemen during withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut and handing over their positions to regular Russian troops, June 1, 2023. 

Prigozhin also accused defense minister Sergey Shoigu of "cowardly fleeing" from Rostov in southern Russia and ordering an attack on Wagner forces.

MORE: Russian defects from Wagner mercenary group, says it's committing war crimes in Ukraine

Prigozhin published a shaky video on Friday that showed a shattered group of trees and a burning trench, claiming it was a Wagner camp shelled by Russian troops and alleging many Wagner troops were killed.

Russia's defense ministry has already denounced the video, calling it an "information provocation."

A Kremlin spokesperson said Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the video.

"President Putin has been informed of all the events around Prigozhin. Necessary measures are being taken," the spokesperson said.

Russia's FSB has issued a statement accusing Prigohzin of calling for "the start of an armed civil conflict" in Russia.

The FSB called on Wagner fighters not to follow Prigozhin's orders and to assist in his arrest.

Prigozhin has denied this is a "military coup" calling it a "march for justice."

"They neglect the lives of soldiers, they forgot the word 'justice,' and we will return it," Prigozhin said in the video. "Therefore, those who destroyed our guys today, and tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers, will be punished."

White House National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge, released a statement that said the counsel is "monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments." Hodge also confirmed later in the evening on Friday that President Joe Biden had been briefed.

Gen. Sergey Surovikin, a senior Russian general who has been linked with Prigozhin, gave a video address calling on Wagner fighters to stop their rebellion and turn back.

Surovikin was appointed the top commander of Russia's 'special military operation' in Ukraine between last September and January. He was removed in January and replaced by Russia's chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov, whom Prigozhin is trying to topple.

This comes hours after Prigozhin launched an extraordinary verbal attack on Russia's military leadership, and saying the invasion of Ukraine was based on lies.
Wagner chief says Russian invasion based on lies

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said the Kremlin's justifications for its invasion of Ukraine are based on lies, in another extraordinary attack on the country's military and political leadership.

Prigozhin, a key ally of Putin, in a video posted Friday, contradicted the public explanations for the war, including the central claim made by Putin that the 2022 invasion was necessary to prevent an attack from Ukraine.

Since launching the war, Putin has painted it as a defensive operation to protect Russia. He's claimed it was needed to stop imminent large-scale attacks from Ukraine on largely Russian-speaking eastern regions in Donbas that Russia has occupied since 2014.

MORE: Russian defects from Wagner mercenary group, says it's committing war crimes in Ukraine

Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves a cemetery before the funeral of a Russian military blogger who was killed in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe, in Moscow, April 8, 2023. (Yulia Morozova/Reuters, File)

But in his video address, Prigozhin, whose fighters have played a leading role in the war, said that was not true and there had been no imminent risk of attack from Ukraine.

"The ministry of defense now is trying to deceive society, the president, and tell a story there was insane aggression from Ukraine and that they intended to attack us with the whole NATO bloc," Prigozhin said.

"The Special Military Operation that began on Feb. 24 was started for completely different reasons," he said.

MORE: What to know about the Wagner group, a 'brutal' Russian military group fighting in Ukraine

Prigozhin has been in a public feud with Russia's defense ministry and its head Sergey Shoigu for months, blaming them for Russia's disastrous prosecution of the war. As Russia has faced deepening setbacks in Ukraine, he has become an unexpected, prominent critic of Russia's leadership, using social media to post almost daily video updates excoriating it as incompetent, but stopping short of directly criticizing Putin.

Prigozhin also said in Friday's video that the two goals Putin announced at the start of the war— the "demilitarization" and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine—were "pretty stories."

Instead, he blamed Shoigu, the defense ministry and a "clan of oligarchs" for starting the war. He accused Shoigu of seeking glory and wanting "to rob" Ukraine and divide up its assets.

Prigozhin's attacks are extraordinary in Russia, where public criticism of the authorities risks harsh punishment. Since the war began last year, criticism of the military leadership has become a criminal offense.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, addresses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video released by Prigozhin Press Service, March 3, 2023, from an unspecified location in Ukraine. 

(Prigozhin Press Service via AP, File)

That has led to speculation among experts about why Prigozhin is enjoying such license. Some observers have suggested Prigozhin might be speaking with the tacit approval of the Kremlin, which may be looking to shift blame for the war from Putin by scapegoating other figures such as Shoigu.

Prigozhin did not directly attack Putin in the video, instead claiming the president was being deceived by his generals and other figures around him. In reality though, Putin—not Shoigu—has taken the lead in making the claims around Donbas and de-Nazification the central justifications of the war, reciting them in his speech declaring his "Special Military Operation."

The implicit picture Prigozhin gave of Putin as weak and out of touch was also remarkable, implying he was manipulated by a clan of wealthy businessmen around him and lied to by his military. The war, as described by Prigozhin, was not about protecting Russia or resisting NATO expansion, but instead greed.

"The war was needed by oligarchs," Prigozhin said. "It was needed by that clan that today practically rule Russia." He added Russia's "sacred war" had "turned into a racket."

MORE: 2,000 trauma operations in a year: Inside Ukraine's leading battlefield hospital

Prigozhin lambasted Russia's military leadership for the huge casualties its troops have suffered. He accused Shoigu of hollowing out the armed forces under Putin through corruption and cronyism, crippling its ability to fight effectively and then catastrophically botching the invasion after believing it would be an easy victory.

"There is a total absence of management," Prigozhin said, calling Shoigu a "weak grandfather."

"Someone should answer for the lives of those soldiers," Prigozhin said in Friday's video.

Prigozhin this week has accused the defense ministry of once again presenting a falsely upbeat picture of how Russia is fending off Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive in southern Ukraine. Russia's military has claimed to have largely stymied the counteroffensive and inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine.

Putin himself has trumpeted those alleged successes, repeating claims Ukraine has suffered heavy losses of Western equipment.

MORE: Russian army officer says he saw Ukrainian POWs tortured

But Prigozhin has said in Russia's position is far more difficult, as Ukraine presses attacks at two points on the Zaporizhzhia front in the south, and Moscow is at risk of another significant defeat.

"On the ground now, today, the Russian army is retreating on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions," Prigozhin said in Friday's video. He added that Ukrainian forces were advancing "deeper and deeper and deeper into our defenses" around Bakhmut, which his Wagner forces helped capture weeks ago.

"The leadership of the ministry of defense is thoroughly deceiving the president, and the president is receiving reports that don't correspond with reality in any way," Prigozhin said.

"Two agendas are forming—one on the ground, the other on the president's table," he said.

ABC News' Ben Gittleson contributed to this report

Wagner mercenary chief calls for armed rebellion against Russian military leadership originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Wagner chief in coup against Russian generals warns he has 25,000 fighters ready to 'end this mess'

James Kilner

TELEGRAPH
Sat, June 24, 2023 

A video grab shows Yevgeny Prigozhin speaking inside the headquarters of the Russian southern military district in the city of Rostov-on-Don - AFP

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary Wagner group, has called for a coup against Russia’s military leaders, saying he has 25,000 fighters ready to “end this mess”.

Russian soldiers across the country were put on high alert on Friday night after Prigozhin urged citizens to stay inside and threatened to march on the Kremlin.

He accused Russian generals of carrying out on airstrike on his fighters in Ukraine. He said a “huge number” had been killed but provided no evidence.

In an audio message late on Friday night, Prigozhin said his troops were entering Rostov, a large city in the south of Russia that the Russian top military command have been using as their base.

“We crossed the state border in all places,” Prigozhin said. “The border guards came out to meet and hugged our fighters.

“We are entering Rostov. We don’t fight children. [Russian Defence Minister Sergei] Shoigu kills children. He put 18-year-old boys against us. These guys will live and go back to their mothers. But we will destroy everything that gets in the way.”

He later claimed his troops had shot down a Russian military helicopter after it opened fire on civilians in Rostov, though again he did not offer evidence of this claim.

On Saturday morning, Prigozhin claimed to have taken control of Rostov, including all military establishments and the airport, and he said dozens of Russian solders had joined his coup.

Declared a ‘foreign agent’ by Moscow

The FSB, Russia’s main intelligence service, said that it had opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, once considered one of Vladimir Putin’s most trusted fixers, and declared him to be a “foreign agent”.

The case accuses Prigozhin of launching an “armed rebellion inside Russia”. The FSB added: “This is punishable with between 12 and 20 years in prison.”

It also called on Wagner group members to ignore Prighozin and arrest him if they could.

Prigozhin said he had 25,000 fighters ready to “end this mess” - AP

In his Telegram audio message calling for an overthrow of Russian military leaders, Prighozin said: “The commanders’ council of the Wagner Private Military Company has reached a decision.

“The evil that the country’s military leadership perpetuates must be stopped.

“I ask you not to resist. Anyone who does will be considered a threat and destroyed. That goes for any checkpoints and aviation on our way.

“Presidential power, the government, the police and Russian guard will work as usual.

“This is not a military coup, but a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way.”

In a later update, he added: “There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out what this chaos is happening in the country. Anyone who wants to join can. We need to end this mess.”

In the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said that the Russian leader was aware of “the situation around Prigozhin”.

Later reports said that Putin’s motorcade was seen speeding through Moscow to the Kremlin from his residence in the suburbs of the capital.

General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy head of the armed forces in Ukraine, called on Prigohzin to ‘stop the convoys and return them to their bases”.

“Together we have been on a difficult path,” Gen Surovikin said. “We fought together, took risks, suffered losses and won together. We are the same blood. We are warriors. I urge you to stop.

“The enemy is just waiting for the internal political situation in our country to deteriorate. You can’t play into the hands of the enemy in these difficult times for our country.”

News reports also said that an emergency plan called “krepost”, or fortress, had deployed Russian soldiers around the capital and to strategic locations.
Putin at risk of being deposed

While Prighozin was careful to say he was not launching a coup against president Putin, without control of the armed forces the Russian leader would be profoundly weakened and at risk of being deposed.

Prigozhin is a fierce critic of Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Defence Minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the military.

He said that he wanted to avenge the ordinary Russian soldiers who have been killed by incompetent leadership since the start of the invasion of Ukraine last February. Russia has lost an estimated 220,000 men in the war.

Prigozhin has been highly visible in Russia’s regions over the past few weeks since withdrawing from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine where his forces captured the town of Bakhmut.

He has given a series of talks about the war, focusing on his criticism of Mr Shoigu.

And on Friday evening, he accused Mr Shoigu of ordering the Russian military to shell a Wagner camp and published a video of what he said was the remains of the destroyed camp.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defence denied this.

“All the messages and video frames distributed on social networks on behalf of Prigozhin about the alleged strike by the Russian Ministry of Defence on the rear camps of Wagner do not correspond to reality,” it said.

War in Ukraine ‘based on lies’

Earlier on Friday Prigozhin claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was based on lies that the country was a threat to Moscow and its citizens.

In an explosive video, he dismantled the case Putin has offered for the war that has killed or wounded more than 220,000 Russian soldiers.

While the outspoken Wagner commander has often criticised the conduct of Russia’s defence ministry, he has not previously attacked the central planks of Moscow’s propaganda.

“The Ministry of Defence deceived the president and the public, telling them that there was insane aggression from Ukraine and that they were going to attack us with the entire Nato bloc,” Prigohzin said.

The Wagner founder claimed instead that the war was motivated by the personal ambition of his longtime foe Sergei Shoigu and the avarice of Russian oligarchs.

“The war was needed by Shoigu to become a Marshal not in order to return Russian citizens to our bosoms and not in order to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine,” he said.

“The oligarchs needed the war. This is the clan that manages Russia today. And the second part of the operation was to install Medvedchuk as Ukraine’s president,” he said in a reference to Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russia oligarch who is also a close friend of Putin.

Prigohzin, despite his repeated broadsides at the defence ministry, has refrained from criticising the Russian president, often instead portraying him as misled by his underlings.

Yet his latest assertion directly contradicts the rationale for the war proclaimed by Putin, who said when sending his tanks into Ukraine that it was to demilitarise and “denazify” a country that posed a threat to Russia.

It is a narrative that Russian authorities defend with fines or prison terms for those deemed to have spread “falsehoods” about the war.

There was no response to those claims from the Defence Ministry, which has ignored previous complaints from Prigozhin, in public at least. Nor was there any immediate reaction from the Kremlin, which has also declined in the past to comment on Prigozhin’s outbursts.

Putin has, however, backed a Defence Ministry order, which Prigozhin opposes, that mercenary groups like Wagner must sign contracts putting themselves under ministry control by July 1.

On Thursday, Prigozhin had accused the top brass of lying to Putin and the Russian people about the scale of Russian losses and setbacks in Ukraine.

In Friday’s video, he said Moscow could have struck a deal with Volodymr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, before the war, that the conflict had been a disaster for Russia, and that tens of thousands of young lives had been sacrificed needlessly, including members of Russia’s most capable forces.

Portraying the top brass as vodka- and cognac-swilling fools who lunch on caviar, he alleged the Russian war effort was being hobbled by corruption.

“We are bathing in our own blood,” he said. “Time is running out fast.”

Igor Girkin, a staunchly pro-war nationalist blogger who is accused of committing war crimes in Donbas in 2014, called Prigozhin an enemy of Russia after watching the interview.

“Prigozhin should have been brought to a military tribunal for a lot of things. Now also for betrayal,” he said.

Russian warlord threatens Kremlin military officials for alleged attack on his troops: report

Peter Aitken

FOX NEWS
Fri, June 23, 2023 


Russian military officials have denied attacking the mercenary Wagner Group, as the force’s founder and leader promises revenge and threatens to "resolve" the conflict.

In a series of audio clips on Russian social media site VKontakte (VK), Wagner’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin first accused Russia’s defense ministry of authorizing an attack against his forces and made several promises of retaliation.

Prigozhin claimed his camp came under fire from a "massive" missile attack, Kyiv Post reported. He also posted a video that he claimed showed the aftermath of the attack, which he said killed a "huge amount" of his troops at multiple camps.

He promised that he would punish "everyone" involved in the alleged strikes against his forces.

Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The Defense Ministry responded to the claims in a Telegram post, saying, "All the messages and video footage distributed on social networks on behalf of E. Prigozhin about the alleged ‘strike by the RF Ministry of Defense on the rear camps of PMC Wagner’ are untrue and are an informational provocation."

The ministry added that its forces "continue to carry out combat missions on the line of contact with the armed forces of Ukraine" in the zone of the special operation.

Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reportedly said Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware of the ongoing situation involving Wagner Group and "necessary measures are being taken."

Rebekah Koffler, a Russian-born former DIA intelligence officer told Fox News Digital that, "It appears that Prigozhin has crossed the line in his fight with the Russian security bureaucracy. The FSB, Russian domestic security service has opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin, following his calling for a military rebellion, according to the National Counter-terrorism committee."

"This has to be a major headache for Putin now," Koffler concluded.

Russia's Tass news agency reported that the FSB public relations office called on Wagner troops to disregard Prigozhin's orders and to detain him.

Prigozhin, seen as a top Putin ally, this week took issue with the Kremlin chief’s comments about progress in Ukraine and said he and the Ministry of Defense "are misleading the Russian people."

"Huge chunks [of land] have been handed over to the enemy," he added in an audio message posted to his Telegram according to a translation by the Moscow Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner Mercenary Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a split screen image. (Getty.)

Prigozhin did not go into detail as to where his troops had given up territory to Ukrainian forces, though Ukraine earlier this week said it had made progress in the vital Zaporizhzhia region – a claim that was substantiated by a Russian official in the area.

Fox News Digital's Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

Russian mercenary chief says his forces are rebelling, some left Ukraine and entered city in Russia


Associated Press
Fri, June 23, 2023

The owner of the Wagner private military contractor made his most direct challenge to the Kremlin yet, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by calling for the arrest of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin was taking the threat, security was heightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don, which is home to the Russian military headquarters for the southern region and also oversees the fighting in Ukraine.

While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow's war effort as Kyiv's forces were probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. The dispute, especially if Prigozhin were to succeed, also could have repercussions for President Vladimir Putin and his ability to maintain a united front.

Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, saying they faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”

“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said in one of a series of angry video and audio recordings posted on social media beginning late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

He claimed that the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, scrambled warplanes to strike Wagner’s convoys, which were driving alongside ordinary vehicles. Prigozhin also said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation.

And despite Prigozhin’s statements that Wagner convoys had entered Rostov-on-Don, there was no confirmation of that yet on Russian social networks. Video posted online showed armored vehicles, including tanks, stationed on the streets and troops moving into position, but it was unclear whether they were under Wagner or military command. Earlier, heavy trucks were seen blocking highways leading into the city and long convoys of National Guard trucks were seen on a road.

The governor of the Voronezh region, just to the north, told residents that a column of military vehicles was moving along the main highway and advised them to stay off the road.

Prigozhin said Wagner field camps in Ukraine were struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from Gerasimov following a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which they decided to destroy Wagner.

The Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition.

Prigozhin, who said he had 25,000 troops under his command, said his troops would punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services, or FSB, charged him with calling for an armed rebellion, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The FSB urged Wagner's contract soldiers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting armed conflict.

Putin was informed about the situation and “all the necessary measures were being taken," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Heavy military trucks and armored vehicles were seen in several parts of central Moscow early Saturday, and soldiers toting assault rifles were deployed outside the main building of the Defense Ministry. The area around the presidential administration near Red Square was blocked, snarling traffic.

But even with the heightened military presence, downtown bars and restaurants were filled with customers. At one club near the headquarters of the FSB, people were dancing in the street near the entrance.

Moscow’s mayor announced Saturday morning that counterterrorism measures were underway, including increased control of roads and possible restrictions on mass gatherings.

Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that military contractors sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. In a statement late Friday, he said he was ready to find a compromise but “they have treacherously cheated us.”

“Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,” he said. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.

Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike and then “cowardly” fled.

“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he shouted.

Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, urged the Wagner forces to stop any move against the army, saying it would play into the hands of Russia's enemies, who are "waiting to see the exacerbation of our domestic political situation.”

Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst, predicted this would be the end of Prigozhin.

“Now that the state has actively engaged, there’s no turning back,” she tweeted. “The termination of Prigozhin and Wagner is imminent. The only possibility now is absolute obliteration, with the degree of resistance from the Wagner group being the only variable. Surovikin was dispatched to convince them to surrender. Confrontation seems totally futile.”

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a top military officer, denounced Prigozhin’s move as “madness” that threatens civil war.

“It’s a stab in the back to the country and the president. ... Such a provocation could only be staged by enemies of Russia,” he said.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine was concentrating troops for an attack around Bakhmut to take advantage of “Prigozhin’s provocation.” It said Russian artillery and warplanes were firing on Ukrainian forces as they prepared an offensive.

In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War, said it appeared that “Prigozhin fully intends for Wagner to move against MoD leadership and forcibly remove them from power, more likely against the Southern Military District command in Rostov-on-Don but possibly also against Moscow.”

It added that despite Putin's support for Prigozhin, he would be highly unlikely to accept any armed rebellion: “The violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would cause irreparable damage to the stability of Putin’s perceived hold on power.”

At the White House, National Security Council Adam Hodge said: "We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”

Michael Kofman, director of Russia Studies at the CAN research group in Arlington, Virginia, tweeted that Prigozhin's actions struck him as “a desperate act, though much depends on whether Prigozhin is alone, or if others that matter join him. I’m skeptical this ends well for him or Wagner.”

In Kyiv a Russian missile attack killed at least two people and injured eight Saturday when falling debris caused a fire on several floors of a 24-story apartment building in a central district, Serhii Popko, the head of the city's military administration, posted on Telegram.

He said more than 20 missiles were detected and destroyed. Video from the scene showed a blaze in the upper floors of the building and the parking lot strewn with ash and debris.

In other developments in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on other countries to heed warnings that Russia may be planning to attack an occupied nuclear power plant to cause a radiation disaster.

Members of his government briefed international representatives on the possible threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, whose six reactors have been shut down for months. Zelenskyy said he expected other nations to “give appropriate signals and exert pressure” on Moscow.

The Kremlin’s spokesman has denied the threat to the plant is coming from Russian forces.

The potential for a life-threatening release of radiation has been a concern since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year and seized the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station. The head of the U.N.’s atomic energy agency spent months trying to negotiate the establishment of a safety perimeter to protect the facility as nearby areas came under repeated shelling, but he has been unsuccessful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency noted Thursday that “the military situation has become increasingly tense” amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began this month in Zaporizhzhia province, where the namesake plant is located, and in an adjacent part of Donetsk province.

Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group leader accused of 'betrayal' and 'treason' by Putin?

Lloyd Lee,Lauren Frias,Mia Jankowicz,Sophia Ankel,Nathan Rennolds

 Business Insider
Sat, June 24, 2023 

Yevgeny Prigozhin with Vladimir Putin.REUTERS/Misha Japaridze/Pool/File Photo

Yevgeny Prigozhin is a Russian tycoon with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.


He founded the Wagner Group, whose mercenaries have played a crucial role in the Ukraine conflict.


Prigozhin's fighters have entered the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in an apparent armed rebellion.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of a Russian mercenary group known as Wagner, has played an active role in the war in Ukraine.

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Wagner was formed in 2014, but Prigozhin only claimed to be the founder of the group in September last year.

The group is not a legally-registered entity and mercenaries are illegal under Russian law, according to The Times. But it is still seen as a de-facto private military service for the Kremlin.


According to the BBC, Wagner troops were first deployed during Russia's annexation of Crimea. Wagner also sent soldiers throughout Africa and the Middle East, according to The Times. UN investigators accused the group of committing war crimes in 2021.

While Prigozhin has played an active role in the war, he has increasingly criticized Putin for not supplying his troops with enough ammo. He vowed earlier this month to pull his troops from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the site of one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Russian invasion.

Prigozhin has previously been described as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies.

Sergei Ilnitsky/AP

Prigozhin does not hold any official government position but became a confidant to the Russian leader for many years, even in matters of state affairs.

Before becoming Putin's friend and amassing his wealth, Prigozhin served several years in a Russian penal colony.

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Born on June 1, 1961, in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Russia, Prigozhin was convicted of assault, robbery, and fraud in 1981, according to court documents obtained by Meduza, an independent Russian publication.

He was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony but was released in nine years around the fall of the Soviet Union.

According to The New York Times, Prigozhin started his foray into the food business soon after his release by opening up a hot dog stand.

He then opened a convenience store before he started a chain of restaurants with a few partners in St. Petersburg.

His relationship with Putin began after Prigozhin set up a catering business, which frequently served the Russian leader, earning him the nickname "Putin's chef."

Misha Japaridze/Reuters

Prigozhin founded one of his major companies, Concord Catering, in 1996 as he started his restaurant business, Wired reported.

According to The Times, he soon earned the nickname of "Putin's chef."

It's unclear when he received the moniker, but over the next decade, Prigozhin's catering business received lucrative government contracts to feed Russia's schools and military, as well as an opportunity to host state banquets.

Concord Catering served at the inaugurations of Dmitri A. Medvedev and Putin, the New York Times reported. Putin would also celebrate his birthdays at Prigozhin's restaurants.

The state contracts in a span of five years were reported to be worth $3.1 billion, according to an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation that was cited by The Times.

Prigozhin also heads up other companies and financed one that has been accused of meddling with the US election.

Prigozhin at a foreign investors meeting in St. Petersburg in 2016.Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

As well as his catering business, Prigozhin is publicly known to have founded Concord Management and Consulting Company and started his own online news service, according to The Times.

A 2018 indictment from the Justice Department also alleged that Prigozhin financed a so-called troll factory known as the Internet Research Agency.

The indictment, which included 12 other Russians and Prigozhin's Concord catering and consulting businesses, alleged that the Internet Research Agency "engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes."

The company did so in part by creating "false US personas" and operating social media pages discussing politics and social issues.

Prigozhin previously denied his involvement, but on November 7, 2022, he admitted to interfering in Western elections in a post on the Russian social media site VKontakte.

"We have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere," Prigozhin said. "Carefully, accurately, surgically, and in our own way, as we know how to do."

"During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once," Prigozhin added, alluding to the surgical-like nature of the operation.

Over the decades, the oligarch has earned the ear of Putin. When Putin's invasion of Ukraine faltered, Prigozhin told him where he was going wrong.

Prigozhin shows Putin his school lunch factory outside Saint Petersburg on September 20, 2010.ALEXEY DRUZHININ/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

With his control of the Wagner mercenary group, he's also been an influential player during Russia's war in Ukraine.

But as reports of Russia's losses in Ukraine circulated in September last year, Prigozhin expressed misgivings about the Kremlin's management of the war to Putin, the Washington Post reported at the time.

Prigozhin denied the report to The Post and said that he "did not criticize the management of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the conflict in Ukraine."

But Prigozhin has previously expressed criticism against the country's military leadership.

When the Chechen Republic's head, Ramzan Kadyrov, called out a Russian commander and senior officers after Russia was forced out of Lyman in Ukraine, Prigozhin echoed those critiques, according to BBC.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine wore on, Prigozhin began recruiting convicts to serve in the Wagner Group, and by extension help the Kremlin in its fight.

Prigozhin addresses former convicts as he releases them from serving in his mercenary army, according to state-controlled mediaRIA Novosti

In September 2022, footage emerged of a man strongly resembling Prigozhin addressing convicts in a Russian prison yard.

In it, the man offered a deal: fight for the Wagner Group in Ukraine for six months, and you get a pardon. Those who sign up and then run away will be executed, he said.

The video echoed reporting by The Wall Street Journal that Wagner was recruiting fighters from Russian prisons, something that was later confirmed by Russian state media.

In January this year, Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti shared footage of what it described as Prigozhin releasing his first batch of convicts from service.

He told the newly-pardoned men that society should respect them — and casually warned them against committing new crimes, like rape.

"Don't drink, don't use drugs, don't rape broads, behave yourselves," he said.

Prigozhin's threat that he would punish any recruited prisoner who deserted was chillingly backed up in November 2022.

A helmet of a soldier is seen after Russian Forces withdrew from Balakliia, Ukraine, on September 15, 2022.Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Video emerged of the brutal killing of a man who identified himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin, and who said he had signed up to serve with Wagner as a prisoner but then surrendered to Ukraine. He said he was told he would face retribution.

It is unclear who committed the execution.

Prigozhin acknowledged the video by calling Nuzhin a "traitor" in a statement that celebrated the man's death.

But in February 2023, Prigozhin announced that he was stopping the recruitment of prisoners. Several reports emerged that many convicts refused to join because they were worried they would simply for used as "cannon fodder" in Ukraine.

Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin attends the funeral of his fighters at the Beloostrovskoye cemetery outside St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 24, 2022.AP Photo

Prigozhin said in a Telegram statement that the mercenary organization had "completely" stopped recruiting prisoners. He offered no explanation for this.

A prisoner in Russia's Tula region told the independent Russian media outlet Meduza in a report that inmates no longer want "even to discuss the possibility" of joining the war in Ukraine.

In February, Prigozhin said the number of Wagner units "will decrease," saying that the group "will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to."

Source: Insider, The Guardian

The announcement also sparked rumors about a growing rift between Prigozhin and Putin after the Wagner Group grabbed headlines.

A mural depicting mercenaries of Russia's Wagner Group reads: "Wagner Group - Russian knights."AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

Russian state media have been told by the Kremlin to stop promoting Prigozhin and his group, according to Reuters.

"The position of the (Kremlin) political bloc is not to let him into politics. They are a little afraid of him and find him an inconvenient person," Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin advisor, told Reuters.

But Prigozhin assured a Russian interviewer that he had "zero" political ambitions.

Source: Reuters

Prigozhin has also been taking credit for Wagner's efforts to secure some territorial gains, particularly in the battles in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in what Russian state media described as the salt mines of Soledar, eastern Ukraine, on January 10 2022.RIA Novosti

In January, Wagner claimed victory in the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, only for the Ministry of Defense to later say it was Russian soldiers who took the town.

"They are constantly trying to steal victory from the Wagner PMC [Private Military Company] and talk about the presence of the unknown, only to belittle their merits," Prigozhin said in a statement published by the press service of Concord on its Telegram channel.

Source: Politico

This has irked some military officials, including Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who feels like he's being compared to Prigozhin, an intelligence report said.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at a military meeting at an undisclosed location, on January 17, 2023.Russian Defence Ministry/Vadim Savitsky/Handout via Reuters

In March, Russia released a video of Shoigu meeting soldiers on a rare visit to Ukraine.

An intelligence report by the British Ministry of Defence said the video was published possibly "in response to recent footage of [Prigozhin] visiting his fighters on the front line."

"Wagner is in a high-profile dispute with the Russian Ministry of Defence and Shoigu is likely sensitive to being compared to Prigozhin," the briefing said.

Last month, Prighozin also attacked Shoigu's son-in-law for apparently liking a series of anti-war posts on social media, calling him a "Z-lowlife," The Daily Beast reported.

Source: British Ministry of Defence

Prigozhin published photos of the corpses of dozens of Wagner troops in Bakhmut and directly blamed Shoigu and the Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov for their deaths.

Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) attend a ceremony to award Gold Star medals to Heroes of Russia, in Moscow.Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters

Prigozhin said that all of the mercenaries were killed on February 21, 2023, and that their deaths could have been avoided if Russia's Defense Ministry would have provided them with ammunition.

Russia denied his claims.

"All statements allegedly made by assault units on shell shortages are absolutely untrue," it said in a statement published by the BBC. They did not name either Prigozhin or the Wagner group.

Source: BBC, Meduza

But the public feud has led Putin to slowly distance himself from his former friend.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Eurasian Economic Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on November 9, 2022.Contributor/Getty Images

In a message on his Telegram channel, Prigozhin said that all of his direct lines to the Kremlin have stopped responding.

"To get me to stop asking for ammunition, all the hotlines to office, to departments, etc., have been cut off from me," Prigozhin said, per a translation from CNN.

"But the real humdinger is that they've also blocked agencies from making decisions," Prigozhin added, per CNN.

Source: Insider

In May, the feud came to a tipping point when Prigozhin went ballistic on the Kremlin in an expletive-laden video.

A furious Yevgeny Prigozhin screams at Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov.Screenshot/Press Service of Prigozhin/Telegram

In the video, released on Telegram, Wagner complained that the mercenary group was running short of ammunition.

"We have a 70% ammo shortage! Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where the [beep] is the ammo?" he said in the video.

He also said that Russian military leaders, like Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, would "have their insides eaten in hell."

"You animals are hanging out in expensive clubs," Prigozhin continued. "Your children are enjoying their lives, making videos for YouTube. Do you think that you are the masters of this life and that you have the right to control their lives?"

Source: Insider

Leaked documents also suggested that Prigozhin offered Ukrainians the locations of invading troops in exchange for sparing his mercenaries in January.

A Ukrainian medic runs through a partially dug trench on the frontline outside Bakhmut on March 5, 2023.John Moore/Getty Images

The documents, first reported on by The Washington Post, said that the Wagner leader proposed sharing Russian intelligence with Kyiv in exchange for territory around Bakhmut on multiple occasions.

One Ukrainian official told the Post that Kyiv leaders, skeptical of his objectives, declined.

Prigozhin has since denied the reports, saying in an audio statement: "Who is behind this? I think that either some journalists decided to hype, or comrades from Rublyovka have now decided to make up a beautiful, planted story," CNN reported.

In the latest development, Prigozhin has claimed that his Wagner fighters have seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, including "all military facilities," in an apparent armed rebellion.

Fighters of Wagner private mercenary group are deployed in a street near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023.Reuters

Fighters from the Wagner Group entered the southern Russian city after crossing the border from Ukraine, with Prigozhin saying that they would "destroy" anyone who stood in their way.

Addressing the news on June 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the group's actions were a "betrayal" and constituted "treason."

"Those who mutiny have betrayed Russia and I urge anybody involved in it to cease any kind of participation in armed conflict," he said, per a translation by The Telegraph.

Putin has since ramped up security in Moscow, with both the National Guard and riot police called in to defend key government buildings and transport infrastructure, according to Sky News.

Prigozhin has denied that his troops are carrying out a coup, saying that it was a "march for justice."

Editor's note: This list was first published in October 2022 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.