Page 29 - RusRPTFeb23

2.14 Politics - misc
Putin orders new commander to seize Donbas by March. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the new commander of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Valeriy Gerasimov, to seize Donbas, comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, reported the Ukrainian defence Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate spokesperson Andriy Yusov.
Russia offers citizenship to foreigners in exchange for enlisting in army. Russian authorities have been offering foreigners in Russia Russian citizenship in exchange for enlisting in the country’s armed forces, the General Staff reported on Jan. 16.
Russian defence ministry confirms plan to expand army to 1.5 million troops. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian army to increase the number of service members to 1.5 million from 2023 to 2026, according to a briefing of Russia's defence ministry.
European Union member states have been told the bloc has the legal authority to temporarily leverage at least €33.8bn ($36.8bn) of Russian central bank assets to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter Bloomberg reported on January 26. The bloc’s Council Legal Service told diplomats that such a plan is legally feasible, as long as the assets aren’t expropriated and certain conditions are met, the people said. Those include a termination date, a focus on liquid assets and clarity that the principal and interest would be returned to Russia at some point, the people said. Group of Seven and EU officials have said that there don’t appear to be clear legal grounds for simply seizing Russian bank assets and redirecting them to Ukraine. Legally the EU can’t seize the assets of another government unless it first declares war on that country. The Russian central bank assets frozen abroad amount to $300bn. EU officials estimate that about €33.8bn of that is sitting in EU-based deposits, although the figure is still under assessment.
No "peace plan" on Ukraine is possible if it does not account for four new regions joining Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday. "To begin with, so far, there is no Ukrainian ‘peace plan’ of any kind," the Kremlin official said replying to a request to comment on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s initiative to come up with a "peace plan" by February when he would like to hold a "peace summit" at the UN. "And again, no Ukrainian ‘peace plan’ is possible if it does not take into account the modern reality - with Russia’s territory, with four new regions
29 RUSSIA Country Report February 2023 www.intellinews.com