April 18, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to discuss the Black Sea grain deal with United Nations Secretary General António Guterres when he visits New York next week, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday citing Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN.

On Monday, Ukraine accused Moscow of threatening the UN-brokered grain deal — which aims to ease a global food crisis sparked by the war — and said that the inspections of ships in Turkish territorial waters were blocked for the second time. Russian state news agency RIA reported inspections under the grain deal had resumed on Tuesday, citing Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the department for international organizations at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lavrov's trip to New York was made possible after Russian Ambassador to US, Anatoly Antonov, urged Washington last week to issue a permit for the foreign minister's special aircraft and visas for the Russian delegation to chair the UN Security Council meeting in New York.

In response, a State Department spokesperson said last week that as a host country of the UN, the United States takes its obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement seriously, "including with respect to visa issuance.”

The agreement states, “the federal, state or local authorities of the United States shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district of: (1) representatives of Members or officials of the United Nations, or of specialized agencies as defined in Article 57, paragraph 2, of the Charter, or the families of such representatives or officials.”

The Russian foreign ministry has summoned the US, Canadian and UK ambassadors "in connection with gross interference in the affairs of the Russian Federation and activities that do not correspond to diplomatic status,” the ministry said as quoted by state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.

Video shows US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy arriving to the foreign ministry and departing about an hour later.

What the ministry told US diplomat: The ministry issued a "strong protest" to Tracy on Tuesday for statements of support for jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza.

In a statement, the ministry also accused the US envoy of violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and threatened to end her stay in Moscow ahead of schedule if she abused her status.

"It was especially noted that any steps by the American side aimed at inciting discord and enmity in Russian society, as well as using the diplomatic mission to cover up subversive work, will be severely suppressed," the ministry said.

A US State Department spokesperson confirmed Tracy met Russian officials at the foreign ministry on Tuesday, but would not provide details about what was discussed. “As a general rule, we do not discuss diplomatic discussions,” the spokesperson said.

What the ministry told British diplomat: British Ambassador to Moscow Deborah Bronnert was summoned following "provocative statements" over the sentencing of Kara-Murza, the ministry said.

The UK condemned the sentencing Monday, calling it "politically-motivated." The UK also summoned the Russian ambassador.

Russia’s foreign ministry said in the statement that it regards "calls of foreign diplomats to cancel the verdict of the Russian court" as "gross interference" in internal affairs.

Russia’s foreign ministry has not released a statement regarding the summoning of the US and Canadian ambassadors so far.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this post.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that they have not seen Russia deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus yet, despite claims from Moscow that they intended to do so.

NATO has not yet seen "any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that demands any changes in our nuclear posture," Stoltenberg said via video to the NATO Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Weapons of Mass Destruction Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC.

Stoltenberg said that Moscow’s threatened deployment "is part of a pattern we have seen actually [for] many years — but especially since the invasion of Ukraine — of dangerous, irresponsible nuclear rhetoric."

NATO is monitoring the situation closely, Stoltenberg said.

Sherman echoed Stoltenberg’s comments. She said that Russia has yet to move weapons to Belarus but called the threat "a dangerous escalation, no doubt about it."

Some background: In March, Putin told state media that Moscow will complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by the beginning of July. He said an Iskander short-range missile system, a device which can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, had already been transferred to Belarus.

Belarus is one of Putin's closest allies and was used as a launching pad for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine, and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month.

In the letter, which was reviewed by CNN and is dated March 17, 2023, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Nonproliferation Policy, Andrea Ferkile, tells Rosatom’s director general that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the United States Government.” 

Goods, software and technology are subject to US export controls when it is possible for them to be used in a way that undermines US national security interests. 

The Energy Department letter comes as Russian forces continue to control the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe and sits in a part of the Zaporizhzhia region that Russia occupied after its invasion of Ukraine last February. The plant has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling in the area, raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident. 

While the plant is still physically operated by Ukrainian staff, Rosatom manages it. The Energy Department warned Rosatom in the letter that it is “unlawful” for any Russian citizens or entities to handle the US technology.

CNN has reached out to Rosatom for comment.

It is not clear whether Rosatom has responded to the letter. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration told CNN in a statement that the letter is authentic.

The letters were first reported by the news outlet RBC Ukraine.

“The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration can confirm that the letter is legitimate,” said Shayela Hassan, the deputy director of public affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration. 

She added, “The Secretary of Energy has the statutory responsibility for authorizing the transfer of unclassified civilian nuclear technology and assistance to foreign atomic energy activities. DOE does not comment on regulatory activities.” 

Another letter from Ferkile to the Energy Department’s Inspector General, reviewed by CNN and dated October 24, 2022, outlines the technology the US has exported to Ukraine for use in the Zaporizhzhia plant and reiterates that the department has “no record of any current authorization to transfer this technology and technical data to any Russian national or entity.” 

The Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy has been public about the US’ support for the plant, and stated on its website in June 2021 that “the United States helped implement new maintenance procedures and operations at the reactor that should ultimately strengthen energy security” in Ukraine. 

Correction: This post incorrectly described the news outlet which first reported the letters. It was RBC Ukraine.

The UK's top defense official cast doubt on the veracity and impact of the recently leaked US intelligence documents — some of which contain information about the war in Ukraine — going further than US officials have in questioning the contents of the hundreds of pages of classified intelligence that were posted online. 

UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace declined to comment on specific subjects in the documents. Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, he acknowledged that some of the information "might be a bit compromising, might be a bit difficult for a number of nations" but expressed confidence that the leak won't have significant effects.

While members of the US government — from President Joe Biden to his top national security officials — have repeatedly said they are taking the leak seriously, engaging with allies to smooth things over and referring to the Justice Department's ongoing investigation, Wallace was more dismissive and said he wouldn't "be the only one who would look at those reports and see they're not entirely accurate." 

"I know for a fact having read what I've seen in the open source that some of those assertions are untrue," Wallace said on Tuesday.

Aside from a clearly doctored document that changed Russian and Ukrainian casualty numbers, American officials have largely not expressed doubt about the legitimacy of the leaked documents, most of which have "top secret" or "secret" headings.

Wallace is in the US this week for meetings at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.

Remember: Last week, Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials in connection to the leak.

The Russian parliament, the State Duma, voted in favor of a bill that would allow life imprisonment for high treason, according to TASS state media.  

Currently, the maximum sentence for high treason in Russia is 20 years in prison. Only Russian citizens or dual citizens can be charged with high treason.

According to the bill, under the article of high treason, Russian citizens — including those with double citizenship — can be sentenced for sharing state secrets with foreign countries, organizations or its representatives; espionage; and providing financial, logistical, advisory, or other assistance in activities against the security of the Russian Federation.

The bill was proposed on April 7, before Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza — a dual Russian-British citizen — was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a Moscow court found him guilty of treason, discrediting the army and participating in the activities of an undesirable organization. Kara-Murza had publicly condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

Next steps: The bill still needs to be approved by the upper house, the Federation Council, of Russia’s parliament before it can be signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The amendments to the bill also toughen the punishment for terrorism charges; for example, under the article on terrorist attacks, the maximum sentence will be increased from 15 to 20 years.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited frontline troops in the hard-hit eastern town of Avdiivka, according to the president's office.

Zelensky was briefed by the commander of the regional operational-tactical group and spoke with the service members.

The Ukrainian leader also handed out military awards and, in turn, was presented with insignia from the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade.

Zelensky's trip to the beleaguered town comes hours after President Vladimir Putin visited troops at a military base in Russian-occupied Kherson, in southern Ukraine.

Here are some photos from Zelensky's trip to the front lines:

Russia is "going backwards" with the equipment it is using in Ukraine, Western officials said, explaining they’ve seen Moscow deploy tanks originally built after World War II while it struggles to replenish stocks of lost armored vehicles. 

Officials said during a briefing on Tuesday they hadn't seen "a large uptick in increasing equipment."

"If anything, the equipment they [the Russians] are using is older generation," they said, adding Moscow had been increasingly relying on older models of tanks in the war. 

"They started with the T-80 and T-90 [tanks], went down to T-72, and indeed, we saw the first T-55s rolled out of the refurbishment to be put into battle and the same picture across artillery pieces as well," the officials said.

The T-90 was first introduced in 1992, the T-80 in 1976, while the T-72 came into service in 1972 and the T-55 after World War II in 1948.

The officials also said Russia was still struggling with manpower, explaining that despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was still not providing them with adequate training. 

“We've seen two quite relatively small training cycles go through Belarus, but out of a force of 150,000 which they claimed were mobilized, we've probably seen maybe 15,000 which have gone for any kind of company level training,” the officials said. “That's where we see the Russian force at the moment; it’s been degraded from the force that originally went into Ukraine.”

Switzerland "cannot be asked to break our own laws," the country's president Alain Berset said when discussing whether Swiss weapons could be re-exported to Ukraine.

Berset addressed the issue of neutrality at a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Berset said that, while discussions are ongoing regarding whether the country "should, must or could develop" its stance on re-exporting weapons to Ukraine, it is currently out of the question, with Swiss law "clear on that."

Key background: Switzerland has been a neutral country since 1815, with its legal framework ensuring it does not send weapons directly or indirectly to belligerent states. Since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, the country has faced increasing pressure from its European neighbors to approve the re-exportation of weapons to Ukraine.

Switzerland did, however, break its neutrality status quo shortly after the war began by adopting European Union sanctions in March 2022. Berset said Switzerland is taking the implementation of these sanctions seriously and is "doing everything that can be done in order to enforce them."