WORLD BRIEFING: March 17, 2024

President Vladimir Putin is poised to tighten his grip on power on Sunday in a Russian election that is certain to deliver him a landslide victory, though some opponents staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations against his rule. Putin, who rose to power in 1999, is poised to win a new six-year term that, if he completes it, would enable him to overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving leader for more than 200 years. The election comes just over two years since Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War Two by ordering the invasion of Ukraine. He casts it as a "special military operation". War has hung over the three day election: Ukraine has repeatedly attacked oil refineries in Russia, shelled Russian regions and sought to pierce Russian borders with proxy forces - a move Putin said would not be left unpunished. While Putin's re-election is not in doubt given his control over Russia and the absence of any real challengers, the former KGB spy wants to show that he has the overwhelming support of Russians. Voting ends at 1800 GMT on Sunday. The Kremlin has sought a high turnout, and as polls opened for a third day in western Russia, officials said the turnout in the first two days had already reached 63% nationwide. An exit poll will be published shortly after voting ends at 1800 GMT - Reuters

The main U.N. aid agency operating in Gaza said on Saturday that acute malnutrition was accelerating in the north of the Palestinian enclave as Israel prepared to send a delegation to Qatar for new ceasefire talks on a hostage deal with Hamas. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said one in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished, putting more pressure on Israel over the looming famine.On Friday, Israel said it would send a delegation to Qatar for more talks with mediators after its enemy Hamas presented a new proposal for a ceasefire with an exchange of hostages and prisoners. The delegation will be led by the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, a source familiar with the talks said, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking to convene his security cabinet to discuss the proposal before the talks start. Netanyahu's office has said the latest Hamas offer was still based on "unrealistic demands." - Reuters

The family of Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova, a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist who died while reporting on the war in Ukraine on March 14, 2022, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Fox News. The lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court by Kuvshynova's parents and Shane Thomson, a security advisor for SEPAR, a UK-based security agency that was contracted at the time by Fox News. The suit accuses the news organization of neglect, saying it took a crew of journalists employed and contracted by Fox News into an active war zone despite multiple warnings from local officials and a security consultant who advised them against doing so. Andriy Kuvshynov, Sasha's father, had concerns about whether his daughter had been needlessly endangered soon after her death. In 2022, he told Business Insider: "I don't understand how a decision was taken for Fox News to go where it was dangerous, where there was a live threat." - Business Insider

Antwerp's diamond dealers face long and costly delays following an EU ban on Russian-origin diamonds that took effect on March 1 and has slowed imports, they say in a letter seen by Reuters. The letter, dated March 13, said the disruptions would erode the competitive advantage of the centuries-old Antwerp diamond trade. It was addressed to Belgium's main diamond industry group, Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), and requested a review of the new procedures.Any impact is likely to be reduced by sluggish market conditions. Diamond inventories are high and prices have fallen. Paul Zimnisky, a global diamond analyst, said last month that prices were down 25% from their early 2022 peak. Al Cook, CEO of mining company Anglo American's De Beers' diamond business, has said the miner would reduce production this year in response to surplus supply."While we fully support the decisions taken by Belgium, the European Union, and the G7 nations, in regards to the sanctions of January 1st 2024, the implementation of the measures to enforce the sanction has adversely affected all of our operations," said the letter, signed by over 100 local firms. - Reuters

Teachers in Russia are increasingly being used as a tool to push pro-Kremlin propaganda on their students as the war in Ukraine enters its third year. Amongst biology and math lessons, these teachers are forced to introduce discussions of “important things” that all Russians should know, which just so happen to include pushing pro-war sentiment onto their students and educating young minds on Russian nationalism. Any public opposition could result in the teachers being fired or imprisoned for not supporting the invasion of Ukraine. Teachers from Russia who spoke to The Daily Beast said they are left with two choices: suffer in silence as their profession is used as a political pawn by Russian President Vladimir Putin, or speak up and risk losing their freedom. For those keeping quiet, however, there are small opportunities for subtle acts of defiance. The education system in Russia has changed vastly since the war in Ukraine began. Russian textbooks for the 11th grade, the final year of grade school, reframe Soviet history from the 1970s onwards to align with the modern political agenda, according to a report by the Wilson Center, the non-partisan global affairs think tank - Daily Beast

Civilian suffering is mounting in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s disregard for basic principles of humanitarian law and its human rights obligations, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said in its report. The Commission found new evidence that Russian authorities have committed violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, and corresponding war crimes, in areas that came under their control in Ukraine. The Commission is concerned by the continued use of explosive weapons in civilian areas. The multiplicity of such attacks confirms a pattern of disregard by Russian armed forces for possible harm to civilians. The report assessed the grave impact on civilians of the fighting in and the siege of Mariupol at the outset of the full-scale invasion. Satellite imagery provides indication of widespread destruction of whole urban areas of the city. Residents described unbearable suffering endured during relentless shelling and aerial bombardments which caused large-scale death, injury, and destruction.After emerging from shelters, civilians reported seeing dead bodies strewn on the streets and in the rubble of their homes. Data obtained by the Commission indicates that at least 58 medical infrastructure buildings and 11 power stations were damaged or destroyed in Mariupol. More generally, recent indiscriminate attacks violating international humanitarian law committed by Russian armed forces have led to civilian casualties and the destruction and damage of civilian objects, including of protected objects such as hospitals and cultural property. Often, Russian armed forces failed to take feasible precautions to verify that the affected objects are not civilian. “We are concerned at the scale, continuation, and gravity of violations and crimes that the Commission has investigated and the impact on victims and the affected communities,“ said the Chair of the Commission, Erik Møse. New evidence strengthens the Commission’s previous findings that torture against civilians by Russian authorities in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation has been widespread and systematic.

This review is reprinted with the author’s permission from his World Briefing blog.