Page 51 - RusRPTJul24

Derbent Attacks. Sergei Melikov, head of the Dagestan Republic, announced the dismissal of the Sergokalinsky district's head, Magomed Omarov, after his sons were suspected of participating in yesterday’s terrorist attack in Makhachkala and Derbent.
Putin's niece Anna Tsivileva has been appointed as Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, as stated in the official decree published on Russia's legal acts portal. Pavel Fradkov, the youngest son of Mikhail Fradkov, Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies and former Prime Minister and chief of foreign intelligence, has also been appointed as Deputy Minister of Defence. Anna Tsivileva is married to Sergey Tsivilyev, Russia's Minister of Energy, who assumed office in May after leading the Kemerovo Region. Tsivileva, formerly Anna Putina, has been previously reported by Agentstvo to be President Putin's second cousin, the Insider reported.
Trial for jailed US journalist Gershkovich begins in Russia. Russia formally accused Evan Gershkovich of spying for the CIA and finalized his indictment on June 13, announcing that he would finally go to trial. Russian authorities have not publicly released any evidence to support the charges.
● War
On June 23 Ukrainian forces fired five U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles — carrying U.S.-supplied cluster bombs — at the Crimean city of Sevastopol. The exact target is unclear. But as Russian air defenses shot them down, one of the missiles with its multiple cluster bomblets accidentally rained down upon Russian families enjoying a day at the beach, killing at least four people (including two children) and injuring more than 150.
“The involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are killed, cannot be without consequences,” the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that “time will tell what these will be.” That same message was echoed by other top defense and foreign ministry leadership and is clearly a hardening, new Russian position.
The Russians summoned the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow to tell her formally that Russia will now retaliate against the United States over this. The Russians told our ambassador that America is “waging a hybrid war against Russia and has actually become a party to the conflict,” and therefore, “retaliatory measures will definitely follow.”
And yet all of this has barely been reported in America. The New York Times buried news of this — of U.S.-supplied-and-guided missiles raining U.S. cluster bombs onto a Russian beach and killing children — in paragraph 21 of a report focused more on something else (on a similarly horrific — and possibly
51 RUSSIA Country Report July 2024 www.intellinews.com