Expelled Russian diplomats were working for Russian intelligence agencies, Norwegian Security Police say
From CNN’s James Frater and Xiaofei Xu
Over a dozen Russian diplomats expelled by Norway on Thursday were working for Russian intelligence agencies — the Chief Intelligence Office (GRU), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) or Federal Security Service (FSB) — the Norwegian Police Security Service said Friday.
"We are certain these individuals are what we call intelligence officers under diplomatic cover," Inger Haugland, counterintelligence chief of the Norwegian Police Security Service, said at a news conference in Oslo.
Risk posed by Russian intelligence in Norway has been reduced following this decision, yet it’s unlikely that Russia will cease its espionage operations in the country, Haugland said.
"It is important to say that Russian intelligence services will continue to operate in Norway. Norway is important to Russia, and the intelligence services will continue to have assignments in Norway," she said.
The move comes in response to an increasing intelligence threat from Moscow and a "deteriorating security situation" in Europe, according to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It said it had been monitoring the 15 embassy workers and have found them to be "engaging in activities that are not compatible with their diplomatic status." They've been declared to be personae non gratae, stripped of diplomatic immunity, and must leave the country "shortly," the ministry said in a statement.
9:04 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
Ukraine will "test and use" any non-banned weapons to retake Crimea, security council chief says
From CNN’s Sarah Dean
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said in a tweet on Friday that Kyiv will "test and use" any non-banned weapons to retake Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said since Russia's full-scale invasion that Ukraine plans to retake Crimea.
Crimea was declared annexed by Russia in 2014. After the revolt that forced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from office, Russian troops poured into the Crimean peninsula.
9:08 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
Washington Post: Russian special forces gutted by war in Ukraine, according to leaked classified documents
From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London
Ukrainian soldiers of the 80th brigade firing artillery in the direction of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on April 13. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Russia's Spetsnaz special forces have been gutted by President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, the The Washington Post reported Friday, citing more classified US intelligence documents leaked online.
CNN has not reviewed the documents and cannot verify the content.
The Washington Post reports that the documents – obtained through the Discord social media platform — reference intelligence intercepts, which assess that the 346th Spetsnaz Brigade has lost almost its entire unit with "only 125 personnel active out of 900 deployed."
US officials believe that the large numbers of casualties that Russia has sustained will have a dramatic effect in Ukraine and anywhere else its forces are operating. And US officials believe the highly trained forces will need up to a decade to be replenished, the Post reports.
It also published satellite imagery from the leaked documents that — although not conclusive — suggest a depletion of vehicles among the 22nd Separate Spetsnaz Brigade’s motor pool in southwestern Russia. The images show a contrast in the size of its motor pool between November 2021 and November 2022; the later date, the Post reports, shows the force following its return from Ukraine last summer.
CNN has contacted the Pentagon for comment. CNN has also contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.
According to Ukrainian officials, Russian special forces are currently deployed in the eastern city of Bakhmut, where the fiercest and heaviest fighting is currently being waged.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Thursday that "despite the fact that the enemy has concentrated its most professional units in Bakhmut, including Wagner fighters, airborne assault units, and special forces, the Russians cannot achieve their goals there."
Some key background: Russian special forces were poorly deployed early in the invasion, especially around Kyiv, and took heavy losses. In the early days of the war, CNN's Matthew Chance reported live as Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) engaged in a firefight with Ukrainian forces at Antonov Airport in Hostomel, a suburb of Kyiv, before they were heavily defeated and retreated by the beginning of April.
CNN has previously reported how the Russian invasion has also been marked by an inordinate number of casualties among high-ranking Russian officers.
In the first months of this year, CNN also reported how Russian forces were badly hit in the hotly contested town of Vuhledar in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, where the 155th Marine Brigade were prominently involved. At least two dozen Russian tanks and infantry vehicles were disabled or destroyed in a matter of days, according to videos, which were released by the Ukrainian military and analyzed by CNN and military experts.
9:10 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
Perpetrators of Ukrainian soldier beheading must face consequences, says UK prime minister
From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London
The perpetrators of the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier seen in a video released on social media earlier this week must be held accountable, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday.
“Discussing the abhorrent beheading of a Ukrainian soldier shown on social media in recent days, the Prime Minister said the video was appalling and those responsible had to be held to account,” Downing Street said in a statement.
Sunak also stressed the importance of continued Western support for Ukraine, including information exchange between NATO and Kyiv. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch.
Zelensky tweeted following the phone call, saying that the leaders spoke about the execution as well as the situation at the front line and defense support.
9:05 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
It's 3 p.m. in Kyiv. Here's the latest on Russia's invasion of Ukraine
From CNN staff
The family of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has spoken out for the first time since his detention in Moscow on spying charges, saying the journalist was passionate about showing people other sides of Russia and felt it was his duty to report there.
Here are other headlines you may have missed:
Leaked Pentagon documents: Russia is analyzing leaked US classified documents and say the veracity of the information is questionable, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. The detention of a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, in connection with the leaked documents, is the “prerogative of the US special services,” he said.
Media restrictions and fines: The Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, has signaled a possible reduction in the number of American journalists working in Russia, amid tensions with Washington over the arrest of Gershkovich, classified by the US as wrongly detained. Meanwhile, a Moscow court has fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Russian-language Wikipedia, 2 million rubles ($24,500) for failure to remove an article about the "Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia region," according Russian state media.
Russian naval drills: Russia has placed its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of spot drills aimed at assessing and improving its state of readiness, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday. This comes after Russia’s Pacific Fleet press service said on Thursday morning warships from the fleet conducted anti-submarine exercises in waters off the country’s far eastern coast.
Finnish embassy receives letters containing white powder: Finland’s embassy in Moscow has alerted Russia’s Foreign Ministry after it received a delivery of three letters on Thursday, one discovered upon opening to contain white powder, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported Friday. The letters have been handed over to Russian representatives.
8:08 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
Russia questions veracity of leaked Pentagon documents
From CNN’s Anna Chernova
The Pentagon building is seen in Arlington, Virginia, on April 6. (Tom Brenner/File/Reuters)
Russia is analyzing leaked US classified documents and say the veracity of the information is questionable, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday during a media conference call.
The detention of a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, in connection with the leaked documents, is the “prerogative of the US special services,” he said.
“Our focus is to thoroughly examine this data, while also critically assessing its authenticity, but to study it meticulously.”
Peskov said the responsibility of examining the data falls within the purview of the Russian special service when asked if any of the information could threaten Russia’s security.
Some background: Teixeira, 21, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday in connection with the leaking of classified documents that have been posted online, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday.
His arrest came following a fast-moving search by the US government for the identity of the leaker who posted classified documents to a social media platform popular with video gamers.
Teixeira was arrested in Massachusetts without incident, Garland said, and will be arraigned in federal court there. “This investigation is ongoing. We will share more information at the appropriate time,” the attorney general said, declining to answer questions.
Teixeira will first appear in court on Friday in Boston, according to the US attorney’s office there.
8:20 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
Detained Wall Street Journal reporter's family speaks out for the first time
From CNN’s Sarah Dean
Reporter for The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich appears in an undated handout image. (The Wall Street Journal/Handout/Reuters)
The family of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who the US State Department classifies as wrongly detained by Russia, have spoken out for the first time in an exclusive video interview with the newspaper.
WSJ reporter Shelby Holliday asked the journalist's father, Mikhail, if the pair ever talked about what could happen to him as a journalist in Russia. Mikhail said "no" but said he trusted his son and his judgement.
"Of course, it makes things more difficult for me now. [Because] I feel I've failed in some way as a father," he added.
Following Gershkovich's detention on March 29, his mother Ella Milman, who left the Soviet Union for the United States in 1979, said she had a sixth sense that something had happened to him.
His sister Danielle spoke of how her parents, who emigrated from the Soviet Union separately but in the same year, raised her and Evan to have pride in where they came from.
She said she was "in awe of him" when reading about Russia through his reporting
Danielle noted that her and her brother are "so different. I'm a home body. He's a thrill seeker, an adventure. I can't even relate to him sometimes in the life he leads, as a reporter.
"I think... America reports on Russia sometimes in a way that makes it seem like a pretty terrifying cold place, he was really passionate about showing other sides… the nuance and the beauty of it," Danielle said.
His parents told the WSJ he "loved having fun' from an early age and was always very curious. His mother said he had "so many friends" and they saw Russia through his eyes, and it was "beautiful".
The reporter began his role at the WSJ a month before the Russian invasion in Ukraine began in February last year. "He said that I'm one of the few left there, I know that he felt like it was his duty to report there," his mother recalled.
"When we came to visit him in 2018, I said to him that this is the country that I left and this is the country that you love and he said, 'what an interesting thought'," she added.
His dad said he "couldn't have stopped him" from going to Russia.
His sister said she hopes he's writing in prison and she's hoping he "can make friends" in there. She said seeing the publicity his case is getting is "strangely helpful for me" and as a family "they will do whatever it takes" to free him.
"It's one of the American qualities that we absorbed, be optimistic, believe in… happy ending. That's where we stand right now. But I am not stupid. I understand what's involved, but that's what I choose to believe," his mother Ella concluded.
Some background: Gershkovich was detained last month by Russian authorities who accused him of spying, ratcheting up tensions between Russia and the US.
Gershkovich’s arrest marks the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War.
8:23 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
State media: Finnish embassy in Moscow alerts Russian foreign ministry after getting letter with white powder
From CNN's Anna Chernova and Amy Cassidy
Finland’s embassy in Moscow has alerted Russia’s Foreign Ministry after it received a delivery of three letters on Thursday, one discovered upon opening to contain white powder, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported on Friday.
An embassy statement obtained by RIA says “three letters were delivered to the Embassy of Finland in the Russian Federation, when opening the first of which a powder was found”.
The letters were handed over to Russian representatives, and the Finnish embassy alerted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the statement added.
Relations between Helsinki and Moscow are tense with Finland’s recent ascension to NATO.
CNN has reached out to the Finnish embassy in Moscow for more details.
5:49 a.m. ET, April 14, 2023
Russia places Pacific Fleet on high alert for spot drill
From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London
Russia has placed its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of spot drills aimed at assessing and improving its state of readiness, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday.
"At 09:00 (Vladivostok time) today, Pacific Fleet was assembled by alarm in its full complement and began to be put on the highest degree of combat alert," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a Ministry of Defense leadership conference, according to a statement.
"As part of the event, the Pacific Fleet is to repel massive missile and aviation strikes, practice submarine search and destruction, complete torpedo and artillery fire drills and missile launches to defeat the warship strike groups and ground activities of a mock adversary," Shoigu continued.
This comes after Russia’s Pacific Fleet press service said on Thursday morning warships from the Pacific Fleet conducted anti-submarine exercises in waters off the country’s far eastern coast.
