What is important to know today? Evening digest "Important stories"

How the Chinese ended up in the Russian army, as the Ukrainian Ostarbaiters and the SS division are connected with the court over the ex-governor of the annexed Sevastopol in London and how the Russian tanker detained the Estonian fleet

The Ukrainian authorities say that more than 150 soldiers from China are fighting in the Russian army. We documented the identities of dozens of such fighters

At the beginning of the week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were captured by two citizens of China who served in the Russian army. It is claimed that one of them was recruited directly in the PRC. Vladimir Zelensky said that in 2023-2024 at least 155 fighters from China entered the Russian army, but the president of Ukraine did not reinforce his words.

Subscribe to our mailing -mainly, briefly, important and timely

“Important stories” identified 51 Chinese soldiers who went through the Moscow selection point for service. 31 Fighter from the PRC contacted the institution in 2023, another 20-in 2024. The Chinese were enrolled in the army of Russia every month. Most of them flew to Moscow shortly before contacting the selection point.

At least one of them, 38-year-old Zhui Zhao, already died in the war in Ukraine. Another-38-year-old alleged former military police officer of China Lin Pan-was injured, got into the hospital and returned to the front.

In social networks, soldiers from China, who are fighting for Russia, complain that the life of the fighters on the front line on average is 8-10 hours, the bodies do not evacuate, there is no advance, their equipment is bad, and the language barrier prevents the linguistic. “That's why you can’t trust anyone on the battlefield, including colleagues. In China, we have no such problems. Our Chinese military as brothers - they can even sacrifice their lives to save you. But outside of China, you can only rely on yourself, ”says Russian contractor Jianvei Lee.

Why is it important

China authorities deny any involvement in the sending of soldiers to Russia. “The Chinese government always demanded that their citizens stay away from the zone of armed conflict [in Ukraine], to avoid involvement in any form, in particular to refrain from participating in military operations of any of the parties,” said the Representative of the PRC Lin Jiang.

Political scientist Temur Umarov, who specializes in the relationship of China with Russia, believes that China citizens could really leave without the permission of the authorities and the Communist Party. At the same time, in China, for participating in foreign armed conflicts, punishment may threaten up to life imprisonment.

Read the whole study of “important stories” here →

The former head of the annexed Sevastopol was given three years of prison in the UK (!) For bypassing sanctions. The most interesting thing is how he ended up in Britain

The court in London sentenced the ex-governor of the annexed Sevastopol Dmitry Ovsyannikov to 3 years and 4 months of imprisonment for bypassing sanctions. His brother Alexei was given a year and 3 months of a conditional term for aiding.

The essence of the accusations is that Ovsyannikov received more than 75 thousand pounds from his wife to buy a car, while under the sanctions of Great Britain (and being, in fact, in Britain). The bank froze Dmitry’s account, so his brother opened access to his account.

Ovsyannikov is a former official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and from 2016 to 2019. Also, the governor of the annexed Sevastopol. He was removed from his post due to the dismantling of billboards of United Russia and returned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In 2020, he arranged a brawl at Izhevsk Airport and lost all posts, as well as the Oser Partyle.

How and why Ovsyannikov went to Britain, being under sanctions

The Court of Britain first pronounces anyone on charges of bypassing the sanctions regime against Russia. It’s all the more strange that Ovsyannikov himself received the citizenship of Great Britain and came to the country in 2023, and fell under British sanctions in 2020.

The Ovsyannikov’s passport was submitted in Turkey with a win-win argument-his father, Vladimir Dmitrievich, was born in the English Bradford in 1950. The British state checked this, recognized and issued a document.

In the official version of his biography, told by TASS, then the Ovsyannikov official said that his whole family came from the Ukrainian new Kakhovka, not far from Crimea, and therefore he is so glad to head Sevastopol. The ex-governor said that his grandparents lived in New Kakhovka, and his father grew up there and graduated from school (but not born), and then lived almost his whole life in Izhevsk.

Judging by the leaks from the databases about dual citizenship, Ovsyannikov Sr. really has a British passport, he was really born in the English city of Bradford in 1950 and really lived in Izhevsk. How did it happen?

The Bradford library website says that after the end of World War II in Europe, about 3.4 thousand Ukrainians from the “displaced persons” in liberated Germany arrived in Bradford. They replenished the lack of working hands in the industry of the city. Among them were the so -called Ostarbaiters and prisoners of war from among the fighters of the Ukrainian division of the SS "Galicia".

The Estonian Fleet did not allow the Russian oil fleet tanker to go through the Baltic. It changes a lot

The naval forces of Estonia first detained the oil tanker of the Russian shadow fleet Kiwala. The reason was the lack of a flag on the ship, this is a common practice for shadow vessels, which nevertheless violates international marine law.

The 115-ton tanker went to the Russian port of the Ust-Luga, but it was stopped by warships and helicopters near the uninhabited island of AEGLIN, which is formally part of Tallinn.

Why is it important

Kiwala was connected with the Gatik SHIP operator, who, as Financial Times found out , works closely with Rosneft. This fact and the lack of a flag make it easy and very important prey in the beginning hunt for shadow tankers in the Baltic.

After the tankers of the shadow fleet were repeatedly seen near the places of sabotage at a key European marine infrastructure, the Baltic countries decided to act hard.

The Estonian parliament approved the law on the application of the Navy against commercial vessels if they create a sabotage threat, and Germany increased the patrol of its part of the Baltic and has already confiscated the Eventin shadow tanker to send it to scrap metal.

The Baltic Sea is critical of financing the war against Ukraine. 60% of the total marine exports of Russian oil bypassing sanctions is going through it, and it will not be easy to supply the army at the front without oil revenues in the budget.

And the United States and Russia are again trying to agree on Ukraine (no progress has happened yet)

For the third time in two months, Donald Trump, Steve Willian, flew to Russia in two months. So far, after his visits, there were no progress in the achievement of peace in Ukraine. But after the conversation with Whitkoff, Putin releases prisoners for exchange.

Today, Whitkoff spent several hours with the special representative of Vladimir Putin Kirill Dmitriev, and then spoke another four hours with Putin in St. Petersburg. The meeting was held closed whether there will be any meaningful statements after it is unclear.

Help "important stories" to support

Axios notes that Whitkoff flew to St. Petersburg Axios after Trump was disappointed in the negotiation process due to the lack of progress from Putin. According to Axios, if Putin does not agree to a truce to my end, the United States will resume sanctions pressure.

So far, apparently, sharp changes can not be expected. Reuters writes that after a conversation with Dmitriev, Whitkoff reported to Trump that the Kremlin simply wants to recognize four occupied regions of Ukraine by Russian (although the army of the Russian Federation does not control them entirely). Trump's special beams in Ukraine Keith Kellog did not support this idea.