World
Putin’s right-hand man scraps drills with Belarus as Russia ‘having exercises in Ukraine’ | World | News
Vladimir Putin‘s right-hand man announced no military drills would take place with Belarus this year as Russian troops are already “having exercises” in war-torn Ukraine.
During a press conference held on Monday following Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s talks on the Black Sea Grain Deal, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was asked about the Zapad military exercise and whether it would be carried out in 2023.
Mr Shoigu said, as quoted by Russian-state news agency RIA: “No, this year we are having exercises in Ukraine.”
The last Zapad drills were undertaken by Moscow and Minsk’s troops between September 10 and 15, 2021.
The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed some 200,000 troops, 760 pieces of equipment and 15 ships took part in those drills.
The large scale of these exercises was one of the clues that led the US intelligence community to predict Putin was planning an operation – which turned out to be a full-scale invasion – in Ukraine.
Speaking to Politico earlier this year, General Mark Milley, the 20th chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of the last Zapad: “We’re out of Afghanistan by 31 August, and there was a planned Russian exercise called Zapad, and they started marshalling the troops for the exercise in the September time frame.
“Right about then we realised this is odd; it was much bigger in scale and scope than the previous year’s exercise.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 2022 with the help of Belarus, which allowed Putin’s troops to launch an attack on Kyiv from its territory.
While the Kremlin thought the war would last only a few days, Putin and his military leadership encountered resistance from Ukraine, which has since received the support of NATO members in the form of military aid allowing Kyiv to defend its borders.
In June, Ukrainian troops launched their counter-offensive manoeuvres, which is seeing Kyiv slowly but surely retaking several villages from Russian hands.
During the same press conference on September 4, Mr Shoigu also spoke about other possible military drills, this time with allies in the east.
After the emergence of a report claiming the Defence Minister had proposed to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to carry out drills not just with Russia but also with China, Mr Shoigu said the possibility was indeed under consideration.
He added: “Why not? These are our neighbours. There’s an old Russian saying: You don’t choose your neighbours, and it’s better to live with your neighbours in peace and harmony.”
Donald Trump will “do a runner” from brokering peace in Ukraine soon, a former British defence secretary has said.
Former Tory MP Ben Wallace told Times Radio: “I’m not very hopeful, I’m afraid. Throughout this Donald Trump has consistently let Putin off the hook”, despite repeatedly threatening tougher sanctions.
“The reality is Donald Trump has no interest. It’s one of the deals that he will move on from – most of his career in business has been about ‘make a deal and do a runner before it actually unravels’. I think that’s what we’re going to see.”
Laying the blame for the millions of people killed, injured and displaced in the war solely at Mr Putin’s feet, he said: “Donald Trump seems to think spending a lots of time on the telephone to him and being constantly humiliated by him – when he just refuses to do anything that Trump requests – is somehow the way to proceed and let’s move on to a trade deal.”
Mr Wallace, who was defence secretary for the first 18 months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, added: “No doubt there’ll be a golf resort somewhere near St Petersburg, I suspect, soon.”
The first photos of the late tech mogul Mike Lynch’s superyacht being raised from the depths have surfaced. The main boom and anchor from the Bayesian were retrieved from the ocean floor following the devastating sinking of the ship off the coast of Sicily, Italy, in August last year.
Mr Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, were among the seven fatalities when the 56-metre vessel went down. Fifteen individuals, including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued.
Salvage crews used a diamond cutting wire on the boom, sail and furling gear near the mast, hoisting them onto Hebo Lift 2, a versatile floating barge equipped with diving and remotely-operated underwater vehicle systems, as well as a support tug.
A remote-controlled submersible was then deployed to sever one of the ship’s anchor chains, enabling it to be raised. The recovered pieces will be transported to the nearby town of Termini Imerese, where Italian prosecutors investigating the sinking are based.
Additional specialist equipment needed for the eventual lifting of the Bayesian will be loaded onto the 5,695-gross-tonne Hebo Lift 10, reputed to be one of the most potent maritime cranes in Europe.
Salvage experts from Dutch companies Hebo and SMIT Salvage are ramping up the use of remote-controlled tools following the death of a diver during underwater operations on May 9, reports the Mirror.
Additional equipment and crew are being sourced from across the continent, including an extra remote-controlled submersible to aid in the salvage operation. Efforts have been successful in securing the Bayesian’s tank vents and openings, significantly reducing the risk of pollution during the ongoing operations, with no environmental damage reported so far.
Salvage teams have initiated the process of positioning steel lifting slings and other necessary gear beneath the Bayesian. The next phase involves removing the vessel’s complex rigging, towering 72-metre mast, spreaders, and any remaining sails to ensure a safe lifting operation.
Marcus Cave, representing the British salvage company TMC Marine at the helm of the operation, remarked on Tuesday: “Over the past 10 days, the team has developed alternate methods to undertake certain tasks for this project.
“This will minimise diving activity and increase the use of equipment that is controlled directly from the floating work platforms. Whilst this change will increase the time it will take to complete this project; it will continue to prioritise the safety of those working on this complex lifting and recovery operation.”
Around 70 specialist personnel have converged on the quaint fishing village of Porticello from various parts of Europe to partake in the recovery efforts that kicked off earlier this month. Concurrently, inquest proceedings in the UK are delving into the tragic deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, alongside Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, aged 70, and his wife Judy Bloomer, 71 – all of whom were British nationals.
The other victims of the tragic sinking were American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, along with Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was employed as a chef on the boat. Mr Lynch and his daughter reportedly resided near London, while the Bloomers were based in Sevenoaks, Kent.
The business magnate established software behemoth Autonomy in 1996 and was exonerated in June of the previous year of committing a colossal fraud related to the sale of the company to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011. The ill-fated boat trip was intended as a celebration of his acquittal in the US case.
Bella May Culley is being held in a women’s prison in Georgia (Image: Facebook)
British teenager Bella May Culley faces a lengthy prison sentence if found guilty of smuggling drugs into Georgia. Ms Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, was arrested after 12kg of cannabis and 2kg of hashish were found in luggage at Tbilisi Airport on May 13. She is sharing a cell with two other inmates at Women’s Penitentiary Number Five. Her dad, Niel Culley, 49, has reportedly been denied permission to visit her since he arrived in Georgia on May 14, according to MailOnline.
A court in Tbilisi heard last week that Ms Culley is pregnant, with authorities carrying out a medical examination to confirm if the claim is true. Her lawyer is reported by Teesside Live as saying Ms Culley was “terrified and confused” by her first time in court, which led to the decision she would exercise her right to remain silent. The case raises a number of unanswered questions, including who Ms Culley was referring to as “Clyde” in a previous comment on social media.
Who is ‘Clyde’?
In a video posted on her TikTok account, Ms Culley reportedly boasted of leading a “Bonnie and Clyde” lifestyle, in reference to the notorious US couple known for their murders, kidnappings and bank robberies in the 1930s.
During a TikTok video uploaded on April 1, she can be heard saying: “Blonde or brunette? Erm how about we get up to criminal activities side by side like Bonnie n Clyde making heavy figures and f***ing on balconies over the world.
“I don’t care if we on the runnnnn baby long as I’m next to uuu.”
The clip doesn’t make clear who is meant by “Clyde”, if anyone at all.
Bella May Culley was backpacking in Asia before she flew to Georgia (Image: Facebook)
Who is ‘Russ’ or ‘Ross’?
There are also questions surrounding the identity of a mysterious man Ms Culley is said to have met in Asia before her arrest.
Her granddad, William Culley, said she spent time in the Philippines with a man called Ross or Russ before travelling to Thailand.
Mr Culley said she went to the Philippines to see a lad there who she used to go out with a couple of years ago but was now working out there.
He said the man was possibly working for his father’s company in the Philippines, but he has since wondered if that was true.
How did Bella May Culley get into this situation?
Ms Culley’s family has denied she was involved in drug smuggling. Her granddad has said she was “sucked into something, somehow”.
He told reporters: “She’s got sucked into something, somehow. She’s not an international drug trafficker. Can she even tell them who’s given her the drugs to take over?
“I bet she [can’t]. These people keep out of the way. It’s all just very strange and at the moment we just don’t have any answers. We don’t know what to think.”
Mr Culley has suggested his granddaughter was taken advantage of during a holiday with friends.
A family friend told The Sun Ms Culley was “completely exploited” after getting mixed up with British drug dealers while backpacking.
They said: “This is totally out of character for her. I know, because she’s a close friend of my daughter. She’s just a normal 18-year-old. She’s not some hardened criminal.”
General Jemal Janashia, former head of Georgia’s national bureau, said he felt sorry for Ms Culley, whom he suggested had been “clearly used and manipulated”.
Who is the father of her unborn baby?
Ms Culley claimed in court that she is pregnant, but the public has not been informed who the father of the unborn child is.
Georgia-based lawyer Mariam Kublashvili told MailOnline she has met with Ms Culley but is not representing her.
Ms Kublashvili told the same publication that Ms Culley requested warm clothing, fresh fruit and tuna during her prison visit.
The tuna request led the legal eagle to believe Ms Culley was experiencing pregnancy cravings. She reportedly was told by Ms Culley that medical tests haven’t been carried out.
Ms Culley also suggested she had met with a doctor but the language barrier meant they couldn’t understand each other.
Was Georgia her intended final destination?
At this stage, it is also unknown whether Ms Culley was travelling to Georgia or was meant to get on a connecting flight to another destination.
Her lawyer is said to have told MailOnline that her client ended up in Georgia without really knowing what she was doing.
The lawyer said that if convicted, then Ms Culley faces a 15 year minimum term to life in prison.
However, Ms Culley’s age and possible pregnancy would be mitigating factors if she were to plead guilty and assist with an investigation.
Did she know what was in the luggage?
This is arguably one of the most important questions of all and one investigators will no doubt be asking Ms Culley.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the drugs found have a street value of £200,000.
When Ms Culley was told about the severity of the alleged crime, her lawyer said she was “visibly shaken”.
Music4 weeks agoBrian May shares devastated tribute to Queen co-star as tragic death announced | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV
- Music3 weeks ago
Willie Nelson issues update on ‘dying’ as he turns 92 | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV
- Video1 week ago
Big drop in flour price | Geo News 2 AM Headlines | 18th April 25
- Travel3 weeks ago
People gobsmacked by ‘hidden gem’ in UK which ‘looks like Grand Canyon’ | Travel News | Travel
- World4 weeks ago
Pope Francis dead: Latest updates and reaction as pontiff dies aged 88 | World | News
- Music3 weeks ago
Michael Bolton breaks silence on brain cancer diagnosis in heartbreaking interview | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV
- World3 weeks ago
Vancouver LIVE: ‘Bodies everywhere’ as car rams through crowd killing multiple people | World | News
- Business3 weeks ago
Sensex Opens Over 400 Points, Nifty Rises Over 88 Points In Early Trade
