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Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost more than 355,000 servicemen killed and wounded, has calculated the Intelligence of the British Defence Ministry. According to its estimates, in February this year the daily figures reached the maximum values since the beginning of the war. Thus, the Russian army was losing an average of 983 people killed and wounded per day. The sharp rise indicates Russia's willingness to wage a war of attrition with the involvement of unlimited forces. "Although costly in terms of human lives, such tactics increase the pressure on Ukraine's positions along the entire front line," the intelligence states. In February, the Russian army captured Avdiivka in Donetsk region. The battle for the town was one of the bloodiest since the war began: for months, Russian commanders did not hesitate to send squad after squad into the meat grinder so that President Vladimir Putin would have something to present to his electorate before the elections. The Russian army has a "different pain threshold" and an "unconventional" idea of what constitutes acceptable combat losses, a senior Western official told The New York Times. Also in February, there were several cases of soldiers dying en masse while having an assembly in a combat zone. In mid-February, the Pentagon estimated the number of Russian military deaths at 60,000 and total losses in killed and wounded at 315,000. That's nearly 90 per cent of the personnel the Russian Defence Ministry had before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "The losses will not stop Russia. It still has superiority in manpower on the front line and can continue to conduct attacks on many fronts," Rob Lee, a military expert and senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, noted.

Albania has opened the first NATO base. The airbase, located 80 km south of the capital Tirana, is designed to protect the Western Balkans region from threats posed by Russia, informs NATO. "This is another element of security from our region of the Western Balkans, which we know well may be endangered from the neo-imperialist threats and ambitions of the Russian Federation," stated the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama. He also announced that initially, the airbase would house two Black Hawk helicopters and three Bayraktar strike drones. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of Albania, Bajram Begaj, Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as military leadership from Albania and NATO. It is reported that around 50 million euros have been allocated for the modernization of the Soviet-era base. The reconstruction of the facility began in 2019, during which time the runways, control tower, hangars, and warehouses were renovated. According to NATO Acting Spokesperson Dylan White, the airbase will serve as a crucial NATO hub, strengthening the alliance's presence in the Western Balkans. In the first half of 2024, NATO is conducting a series of exercises under the overall code name Steadfast Defender-24. Poland is one of the participating countries and will host a significant number of soldiers and equipment from allies on its territory. As part of Steadfast Defender-24, Poland will also conduct national exercises called Dragon-24, involving the armed forces of other countries. Additionally, on March 4th, large-scale military exercises called Nordic Response 24 began in northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway. These exercises, led by Norway, will continue until March 15th. Approximately 20,000 military personnel from 14 countries, along with over 50 ships, including frigates and submarines, and more than 100 aircraft, including destroyers, helicopters, and other aircraft, will participate. Furthermore, in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Sicily, maritime exercises named Dynamic Manta began on the morning of February 26th. These NATO exercises serve as a platform to test and enhance the Alliance's crisis response capabilities.

For over two decades, President Vladimir Putin has squeezed dissent in Russia. Critics, journalists, and defectors have faced dire consequences after opposing him. From poisonings to shootings, mysterious falls from windows, and even plane crashes, there is a long trail of silenced voices, according to Newsweek. It is noted that Alexei Navalny, whose death in prison is as yet unexplained, had previously fallen ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in 2020 after being poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who defected and was a prominent Putin critic, was murdered with polonium-210 in London in 2016. Newsweek says that other deaths of opposition figures under Putin's rule also appear to follow a pattern. Boris Nemtsov, shot dead near the Kremlin, and Stanislav Markelov, assassinated in Moscow alongside journalist Anastasia Baburova, are just two examples. Natalia Estemirova, abducted and found dead in Chechnya, and Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist murdered in her Moscow apartment building, also paid the ultimate price following their dissent. According to the publication, here are 10 prominent Putin critics who have died in assassinations or mysterious circumstances. 1. Alexei Navalny died in prison. The Russian prison service reported that he felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness. Navalny was known for exposing corruption, investigating Putin's inner circle, and leading anti-Kremlin opposition movements. His death is likely to be seen by fellow opposition members as a political assassination attributable to Putin, but is as yet unexplained. 2. Mikhail Lesin was a former Russian press minister and media executive. He fell out of favor with Putin and faced scrutiny for his wealth. Lesin was found dead in a Washington, D.C. hotel room. The official cause of death was ruled as accidental blunt force injuries, but questions persist about the circumstances. 3. Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin. His murder remains unsolved, but many believe it was politically motivated. Nemtsov was a vocal critic of Putin's government, advocating for democracy, human rights, and transparency. He served as a deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin and later became a prominent opposition figure. 4. Boris Berezovsky was a wealthy businessman, oligarch, and former ally of Putin. However, he became a vocal critic and fled to the U.K. Berezovsky was found dead in his home in Berkshire, England. The official cause of death was ruled as suicide, but suspicions remain due to his high-profile opposition activities. 5. Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer and auditor who exposed a massive tax fraud scheme involving Russian officials. He was arrested, imprisoned, and denied medical treatment. Magnitsky died in custody following severe beatings and medical neglect. His death led to the passing of the Magnitsky Act in the United States, which sanctions Russian officials involved in human rights abuses and corruption. 6. Stanislav Markelov was a human rights lawyer and journalist. He was assassinated in Moscow by a gunman who also killed journalist Anastasia Baburova. Markelov had represented victims of human rights abuses and criticized the Russian government's actions in Chechnya. His death raised concerns about the safety of those opposing the regime.

Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan has said Armenia's spat with Russia over a Moscow-led security bloc could see the South Caucasus country no longer exist within half-a-decade, according to Newsweek. The editor-in-chief of the Kremlin mouthpiece RT is an ally of Vladimir Putin and a regular guest on state television where she pushes the Russian leader's rhetoric about his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During at the World Youth Festival in Sirius, in Russia's Krasnodar region, Simonyan criticized Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. He has suspended Yerevan's participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which is considered Russia's equivalent to NATO. Last month, Pashninyan said that the CSTO had failed Armenia, freezing its participation in the bloc because Russia could no longer be relied upon as a reliable defense partner. However, there are no formal moves from Yerevan to withdraw from the alliance. "Armenia's youth must understand that Pashinyan is a traitor to the Armenian people and is leading Armenia to complete destruction if he remains in power," said Simonyan, to applause from the audience. Simonyan, who is of Armenian descent and has described herself as both Russian and Armenian, said that, if voters continued to support Pashinyan, "there will be no Armenia in five years," Simonyan said. "Armenia will not exist at all, you will see."

The spread of talks among the German military about possible strikes on the Crimean bridgehead has undermined German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's position and highlighted the superiority of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was written by Matthew Karnitschnig, a commentator for the "Politico" publication. "After all these years as the leader of Russia, Putin is still an intelligence officer. There is no great joy in beating Russia's rivals. Putin's masterful operation left Scholz in a stupid position," said Karnitschnig. Fears are rising among intelligence experts that the German military leaks are just the 'tip of the iceberg' as they warn that NATO secrets may have been compromised. 'The leak could have been just the tip of the iceberg,' August Hanning, Berlin's former intelligence chief, told German Tabloid Bild. The intelligence expert added that he assumes the Russians could have listened in on even more than the 38-minute conversation between high-ranking German military officers. German chancellor Olaf Scholz was being used by Russia as a 'useful idiot' after the country had identified Germany as the 'weakest link', according to sources quoted by the Telegraph. The German government vehemently rejected allegations that Russia's leak of a conversation by high-ranking German military officers was an indication that Berlin was preparing for war against Russia. At the same time, the government sought to contain the domestic fallout from the leak and promised a quick investigation into how a conversation by top German military personnel could be intercepted and published. 'It is absolutely clear that such claims that this conversation would prove, that Germany is preparing a war against Russia, that this is absurdly infamous Russian propaganda,' a spokesman for Scholz told reporters in Berlin.

Ambassadors from European Union member states should be expelled from Russia, former President Dmitry Medvedev has said, citing their refusal to discuss election meddling with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “Ambassadors of the EU states to Russia declined a meeting with the Russian minister of foreign affairs. Allegedly, following some advice from Brussels,” Medvedev wrote on X. “This goes totally against the very idea of [the] existence of diplomatic missions and assignments of ambassadors.” “All these ambassadors should be kicked out of Russia, and the level of diplomatic relations should be demoted,” Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote. He slammed the EU diplomats as “political imbeciles who do not comprehend their real tasks.” Speaking at a youth event in Russia’s Black Sea town of Sirius on Monday, Lavrov said that Moscow had “invited” EU envoys for a meeting in order to warn them against “meddling” in the upcoming presidential election. The authorities have gathered “a lot of materials” about foreign support for “the opposition” in Russia, the minister said, without elaborating. “I simply wanted to tell the ambassadors that we are recommending not to conduct such activities,” Lavrov said. “And you know what? Two days before the planned event, we received a diplomatic letter saying, ‘We have decided not to attend.’” Russian business news agency RBK cited the EU mission in the country as confirming that the envoys had ignored the invitation. “We were invited to discuss the relations between the EU and Russia, but now minister Lavrov is saying that he wanted to lecture us. This proves that we were right to decline the invitation,” the spokesperson said. The EU mission also cited “the low level of trust” as a result of the ongoing Ukraine conflict, as well as the recent death of jailed opposition activist Alexey Navalny. Relations between Russia and many Western countries have hit historic lows in recent years due to the standoff over Ukraine and other grievances, including disagreement over security in Europe and NATO expansion.

Canada will consider sending military instructors to Ukraine if "certain conditions" are met. However, these conditions "do not yet exist," according to Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair. Any Canadian troops will be deployed only for "non-combat" functions. The Defense Minister emphasizes that conditions in Ukraine need to "change" before Canadian troops can return to the country where they trained Ukrainian soldiers on the ground before the Russian invasion. "Right now, circumstances are not appropriate for that training to take place in Ukraine, but we’re going to continue to train," Blair says. Canada has trained over 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers as part of Operation Unifier, which began in 2015 after Russia's occupation of Crimea. However, after the Russian invasion, the Canadian military moved its training operations to the UK, Latvia, and Poland. "We have had a number of discussions with Ukrainians that suggest when the conditions are right, we may be able to return," Blair says. Leaving the possibility of returning to Ukraine open, Blair emphasizes that "the Canadian Armed Forces cannot have any combat role or what could be perceived as a combat role." Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out the possibility that NATO could send troops to help Ukraine. The main problem, he said, is that there is currently no consensus on this issue. Some NATO countries have already opposed this idea, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Spain, and Italy. At the same time, some countries are ready to consider such a possibility, such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Canada, which is also a NATO member, has said it is ready to send troops to Ukraine, but only to train Ukrainian defenders in areas far from the front.

Three cables under the Red Sea that provide global internet and telecommunications have been cut as the waterway remains a target of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said. The Associated Press reported this. Meanwhile, a Houthi missile attack set a ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden, but caused no injuries. While global shipping has already been disrupted through the Red Sea, a crucial route for cargo and energy shipments from Asia and the Middle East to Europe, the sabotage of telecommunication lines could further escalate the monthslong crisis. The cut lines include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf, Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications said. It described the cuts as affecting 25% of the traffic flowing through the Red Sea. It described the Red Sea route as crucial for data moving from Asia to Europe and said it had begun rerouting traffic. HGC Global Communications described the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line as being two separate cables when it is actually one at the area of the cut, according to Tim Stronge, a subsea cable expert with TeleGeography, a Washington-based telecommunications market research company. Responding to questions from The Associated Press, Seacom said that “initial testing indicates the affected segment lies within Yemeni maritime jurisdictions in the Southern Red Sea.” It said it was rerouting the traffic that it was able to change, though some services were down. Tata Communications, part of the Indian conglomerate and behind the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line, told that it “initiated immediate and appropriate remedial actions” after the line was cut. Other firms behind those lines, which provide data to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, didn’t respond to queries.

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