VIDEOS
Russia loses influence in countries of the former USSR: Armenia and Kazakhstan
UATV English
384K subscribers Mar 28, 2023 7:15 p.m. DST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHd7ZWMhNQI
1. Baltic States, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan, have already separated from the Russian field of influence long ago. Most of the states named became victims of brutal Russian military aggression in attempts to bring them back under the Kremlin’s yoke. And now, even Russia’s long-standing allies Armenia and Kazakhstan declare their discontent with the Putin regime and Russia as a whole. How Russia loses its influence – our correspondents have found out more.
2. Moldova escaping Russia’s grip | Eastern Express | TVP World
TVP World
309K subscribers
3-28-2023 3:30 p.m. DST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK-1MHEa_H0
ARTICLE
Putin Removes Age Limit for Conscripts as Russian Forces Devastated
By Isabel van Brugen On 3/28/23 at 7:05 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-removes-upper-age-limit-conscripts-national-guard-ukraine-1790807
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree removing an upper age limit for Russian National Guard members serving in parts of Ukraine that are under the control of Russian forces.
The presidential decree, signed on March 27—which Putin designated as National Guard Day in 2017—states that age restrictions for its citizens in the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation serving in the affected regions have been lifted until January 1, 2026.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were illegally annexed by Putin in the fall of 2022 following “sham” referendums. Russia is not fully in control of any of the regions, and foreign governments, including the United States, have said the move was illegitimate.
Russia created its National Guard, or Rosgvardia, in 2016. It is separate from the Russian Armed Forces, and reports directly to Putin. National Guard soldiers have been heavily used in Ukraine throughout the full-scale invasion launched last February, and many have been sacked for refusing to fight in the war-torn country.
The decree notes that Russian citizens serving in the annexed territories will instead be assessed by a military medical examination conducted in absentia, which will determine whether they are fit to serve.
In a speech on Russia’s National Guard Day, Putin described its key tasks as “countering terrorism, extremism and organized crime, guarding significant strategic facilities, maintaining law and order during mass events, and monitoring the arms trade.”
“These are all complicated and highly responsible aspects of your work requiring high professionalism and a systemic approach, strict compliance with the law and a constant commitment to achieving specific and tangible results in the interests of maintaining the security of our society and state and reliably protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens,” he said.
The Russian president also said that during what he still calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Rosgvardia members “are acting boldly and resolutely; they are defending Russia, our citizens, and they are fighting bravely, displaying fortitude and an intrepid spirit in the most difficult situations.”
Just months into the war, in May 2022, court papers showed that 115 members of the Russian Guard were sacked for refusing to fight in Ukraine. Rosgvardia soldiers were also deployed across the country in October over “increased attacks” on military registration and enlistment offices since President Vladimir Putin’s decision to partially mobilize reserve troops to fight in Ukraine, according to State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein.
Putin’s latest decree comes more than a year into his faltering war. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a think tank based in Washington, said in an assessment this month that Russia’s new offensive in Ukraine appears to have stalled already.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, told Newsweek in a February interview that Russia had already begun an offensive, and that a counteroffensive from Kyiv was coming. The ISW said Russia has barely expanded its territory in Ukraine in a month of its new offensive.