*** MILITARY SITUATION ***
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 22nd as of 3:00 pm EST
March 22nd Maps of Russian Operations:
Russian forces did not make any major advances on March 22 and Ukrainian forces conducted local counterattacks northwest of Kyiv and around Mykolayiv. Russian forces around Kyiv and other major cities are increasingly prioritizing long-range bombardment after the failure of Russian ground offensives but are unlikely to force major cities to surrender in this manner. Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations toward the northeastern Ukrainian cities of Chernihiv, Sumy, or Kharkiv in the last 24 hours. Russian forces continued to further reduce the Mariupol pocket.
Russian forces are likely moving to a phase of protracted bombardment of Ukrainian cities due to the failure of Russia’s initial campaign to encircle and seize Kyiv and other major cities. Russian forces continue to conduct air and missile strikes against both civilian and military targets across unoccupied Ukraine in the absence of offensive ground operations. The Ukrainian General Staff reported at 6:00 pm local time on March 22 that Russian aircraft conducted over 80 sorties in the past 24 hours. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby additionally stated on March 21 that Russian forces have increased their long-range bombardment against Ukrainian cities in an attempt to force them to surrender. Russian forces are unlikely to force Ukrainian cities to surrender with bombardment alone.
Russian forces face continuing logistics and reinforcement issues. The Ukrainian General Staff specified for the first time on March 22 that Russian forces—particularly highlighting the 7thAir Assault Division operating around Kherson—are suffering casualties due to a poor medical supply system and lack of medicine. The Ukrainian General Staff additionally stated that Russian forces face growing supply issues, claiming some unspecified units have stockpiles of food and ammunition for no more than three days. Russian forces continue to cobble together ad hoc units of servicemen from several units to replace combat losses. Russia is expanding its methods to generate replacements, including expanding forcible conscription in Donetsk Oblast and forcing Russians with large amounts of debt to sign military contracts in return for exemption from credit obligations. The Ukrainian General Staff reported on March 22 that Russia is increasingly carrying out propaganda aimed at Belarusian servicemen to incentivize Belarusian participation in the war, although ISW cannot independently verify this claim and an unnamed US senior defense official stated on March 21 that the United States has seen no indication that Belarus is preparing to enter the war.
Russian forces are unlikely to successfully resolve their command and control issues in the near term. A senior US defense official stated on March 21 that Russian forces are increasingly using unsecured communications due to lacking sufficient capacity on secured networks. CNN additionally quoted multiple sources on March 21 that the United States has been unable to determine if Russia has appointed an overall commander for the invasion of Ukraine. These sources stated that Russian units from different military districts appear to be competing for resources and are not coordinating their operations.
-Russian forces are likely moving to a phase of protracted bombardment of Ukrainian cities due to the failure of Russia’s initial campaign to encircle and seize Kyiv and other major cities.
-Ukrainian forces conducted successful localized counterattacks northwest of Kyiv.
-Russian forces in northeastern Ukraine did not conduct any offensive operations in the past 24 hours.
-Ukrainian forces repelled several Russian assaults in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the past 24 hours.
-Russian forces continue to make slow but steady progress reducing the Mariupol pocket.
-Russia may have failed to appoint an overall commander for its invasion of Ukraine, leading to Russian axes of advance competing for limited supplies and failing to synchronize their operations.
-A senior defence official said there is bitter fighting in and around Mariupol, which the Russians want to be able to declare as a first strategic victory and also use to prevent Ukrainian forces being diverted to defend Kyiv. The port city is now under naval shelling from ships in the Sea of Azov.
-Around Mykolaiv, meanwhile, the Russians are having to withdraw in the face of pushback from the town’s Ukrainian defenders. There is also a Ukrainian counterattack around Izyum, a town 75 miles south of Kharkiv. The official said there are early indications that the Ukrainians are “now able and willing to take back territory”.
-Russian forces are now inside the besieged southern city of Mariupol, a senior US defence official said. Two “super-powerful bombs” rocked Mariupol on Tuesday
-Video has emerged online reportedly showing air strikes in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, located in eastern Ukraine.
-Russian forces have only three further days of fuel, food and ammunition left to conduct the war after a breakdown in their supply chains, Ukrainian military commanders have alleged. The claims of major shortages were described as “plausible” by western officials although they said they were unable to corroborate the analysis.
*** ECONOMIC & POLITICAL ***
-A senior Pentagon official told reporters on Tuesday that Russia's Wagner Group, which is the most well known private military firm with links to Putin, is "active" inside Ukraine - following allegations out of Kiev officials that they are tasked with assassinating President Zelensky. There's long been speculation that Russian mercenaries were already very active in separatist regions of the Donbas. Starting last year the Wagner Group was among a number of Russian entities hit with US sanctions. The firm is said to be controlled by "Putin’s Chef" Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who was also added to the FBI’s wanted list, and reportedly runs the mercenary firm that's been deployed to various conflicts in Africa, Syria and eastern Ukraine.
-Senators reacted with alarm to a new report that suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin could deploy a small, targeted nuclear bomb as his troops get bogged down in a costly, drawn-out battle against defiant Ukrainian fighters. One key senator said he believed such an attack could force NATO allies, including the United States, to invoke their collective defense under Article 5 of the alliance's charter and retaliate against Russia — especially if nuclear fallout drifts over the Ukrainian border and kills or sickens civilians living in Poland or other NATO countries. “As you detonate a nuclear weapon inside of Ukraine depending on what it is they detonate, even in a demonstration, that would spread radioactive material that would cross borders potentially," said Rubio, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who frequently tweets his analysis of the Russian invasion.
-Experts are providing more context to earlier comments made today by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov about Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine invasion. Peskov said Russia would only use nuclear weapons if its very existence were threatened, reported Reuters.
-A Ukrainian politician’s wife has been caught in Hungary by authorities with $28 million and €1.3 million in cash stashed in suitcases, according to Ukrainian media outlets. The husband of the woman is former Ukrainian Member of Parliament Igor Kotvitsky. The 52-year-old politician was once one of the wealthiest MPs of the country. The woman, Anastasia Kotvitska, had taken the cash through a refugee border crossing into the European Union while fleeing the war-torn country. A photograph of six suitcases, which were full of cash, has also been shared.
-Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist who recently grabbed attention by hijacking a state television broadcast to denounce the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, has been accused of being a British spy. In an on-air protest on Russia's Channel One on March 16 evening, the 43-year-old Ovsyannikova held up an anti-war sign behind a studio presenter.
-Ukrainian forces fought off continuing Russian efforts to occupy Mariupol and claimed to have retaken a strategic suburb of Kyiv on Tuesday, mounting a defense so dogged that it is stoking fears Russia’s Vladimir Putin will escalate the war to new heights.
-Biden will fly to the European Union capital for Thursday’s NATO summit and European Council Summit, both of which are expected to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has killed more than 900 civilians and forced more than 3.5 million people from the country. He will then fly to Poland, where he’s expected to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Saturday. At NATO, Biden is expected to announce more sanctions and stricter enforcement of those that were already imposed on Russia, as well as additional American contributions toward humanitarian aid, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday. He will also coordinate with allies to send more military assistance to Ukraine, and potential changes to the alliance’s troop presence in eastern Europe.
-A fresh report in Nikkei on Tuesday says summit leaders are already working on a draft statement aimed at China, which is likely only to escalate China-West tensions further, potentially ensuring Beijing retreats to a firmer pro-Russia position, as opposed to the "fence-sitting" it's already accused of. "NATO members are debating how best to express concern over possible Chinese cooperation with Russia in a joint statement after an extraordinary summit Thursday, amid fears that military and financial support from Beijing could reinvigorate Moscow's offensive in Ukraine," Nikkei writes. It's expected that a finalized communique will send a "clear message" aimed at deterring China from any level of cooperation with Russian actions in Ukraine.
-Just as economists were breathing a sigh of relief as the policymakers in Beijing ordered Shenzhen to swiftly reopen following a punishing omicron-inspired lockdown, the CCP on Tuesday announced plans to temporarily lock down in Tangshan, in China's northeastern Hebei Province. The city of roughly 7.7 million is known as China's "steel city" and is responsible for roughly 10% of the country's steel production.
-The US and NATO believe that Belarus could "soon" join Russia in its war against Ukraine, US and NATO officials tell CNN, and that the country is already taking steps to do so. It is increasingly "likely" that Belarus will enter the conflict, a NATO military official said on Monday. "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin needs support. Anything would help," the official explained. A Belarusian opposition source said that Belarusian combat units are ready to go into Ukraine as soon as in the next few days, with thousands of forces prepared to deploy. In this source's view, this would have less of an impact militarily than it will geopolitically, given the implications of another country joining the war.
-In a blistering social media post, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now a top Kremlin security adviser, lashed out at Poland for its support of Ukraine, reviving and escalating decades-long tensions between Moscow and Warsaw. Poland’s surprisingly spirited defense of Ukraine would prove “expensive and pointless,” Medvedev predicted, ominously adding that he was confident that Warsaw would “make the right choice” and embrace Russia again.
-Oil and commodity markets have been taking out fresh highs after the shuttering of Ukrainian ports, sanctions against Russia, and disruption in Libyan oil production sent energy, crop, and metal buyers scrambling for replacement supplies. Russia is one of the world's biggest exporters of key raw materials, from crude oil and gas to wheat and aluminum, and the possible exclusion of supplies from the country due to sanctions has sent traders and importers into a frenzy. After more than quadrupling in value last year, lithium carbonate continues to soar in 2022, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. The mid-March assessment by the battery supply chain research outfit shows that battery-grade lithium carbonate (EXW China, ≥99.5% Li2CO3) is averaging $76,700 a tonne, up 10% over just two weeks and 95% since the beginning of the year. A year ago, the commodity was trading at $13,400 a tonne. The rally in lithium hydroxide, used in high-nickel content cathode manufacture, is accelerating, up 120% so far this year, narrowing the discount to lithium carbonate, which historically is priced below hydroxide. Benchmark says that Chinese inventory levels for hydroxide, carbonate, and spodumene feedstock remain very low, sustaining the high price environment:
-European media report that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the house arrest of two senior Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. Colonel-General Sergei Beseda, Chief of the FSB’s “Fifth Service,” reportedly was detained along with his deputy, Anatoly Bolyuk, charged with providing flawed intelligence about Ukraine and their improper use of operational funds. Separately, Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s national security council chief, claimed that several Russian generals have been fired. The implications portend more suffering yet to come, but likewise opportunities to increase pressure on the Russian leader from within.
-I sort of sympathize with puppet masters using Joe Biden as their front man in the Oval Office. He doesn’t know his limitations, he’s headstrong, and he’s garrulous. So, he is prone to spilling the beans when he’s been briefed about the plans for the schemes they are implementing. That happened Monday when he made a brief speech to the Business Roundtable – a group of powerful executives, just the sort of people Biden loves to schmooze and (he thinks) impress. Toward the end, as his voice and demeanor were weakening, he blurted out the real agenda. Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire spotted the classic Kinsley gaffe (accidentally telling the truth).
“I think this presents us with some significant opportunities to make some real changes. You know, we are at an inflection point, I believe, in the world economy, not just the world economy, in the world, occurs every three or four generations. As one of my, as the one of the top military people said to me in a secure meeting the other day, 60 million people died between 1900 and 1946 and since then we established a liberal world order and that hadn’t happened in a long while. A lot of people died, but nowhere near the chaos. And now’s the time when things are shifting. We’re going, there’s gonna be a new world order out there and we’ve got to lead it and we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world and doing it.”
All those claims of the War in Ukraine being about a 'New World Order' conspiracy are clearly unfounded.
-Russia defaulting on its foreign debts would likely have “limited” consequences for the global financial system, said a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today, reported AFP. “If there were a default, I think the direct effect on the rest of the world would be quite limited, because the numbers that we’re looking at are relatively small from a global perspective,” said Gita Gopinath, the first deputy managing director of the IMF. “It is not a systemic risk to the global economy,” although some banks have “greater exposure,” said Gopinath in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine.
-A video of the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, speaking by phone to an impostor posing as the Ukrainian prime minister was published on Monday – hours after Downing Street said it believed that Russian state actors were responsible for the hoax. In the clip, Wallace appears to be asked if he will support Ukraine’s nuclear aims.
-Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will virtually participate in the NATO summit happening later this week, reports Reuters citing Interfax news.
-Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be speaking with the Japan parliament.
-JPMorgan's trading desk writes Tuesday morning that futures are getting a bid as commodity prices move lower after (i) Bloomberg TV reports that Germany and Hungary may prevent the EU from banning Russian oil, deepening differences in the bloc over how to further punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine and (ii) citing an AP update that Zelensky’s move back from his demand that all Ukrainian territory be given back to the country; specifically, Zelensky seems ready to cede claims on Crimea and Donbas to Russia, territories that Russia has controlled for several years.
- Los Angeles on Tuesday became the first major city in the U.S. to reach an average gas price of $6 or more. That's according to fuel savings platform GasBuddy, which reported the national average gas price in the U.S. beginning to decline since its peak of $4.35 per gallon on March 10.
-For the third time in as many days, Hungary's air force scrambled fighter jets in response to an unidentified aircraft which crossed the country's airspace from Ukraine, reportedly headed in the direction of Slovakia. The ministry of defense confirmed of the fresh Monday incident that Hungarian Gripen fighter jets were sent to intercept and thwart the foreign aircraft's advance into sovereign airspace.
-A recent bill that was introduced in congress (HR 6869) would “authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque and reprisal for the purpose of seizing the assets of certain Russian citizens.”
-President Joe Biden and other White House officials met with CEOs of leading companies on Monday to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what can be done to mitigate the burden of increasing prices on Americans brought about by the war.
-Russia’s defense ministry said in a Monday update that, to date, Russian forces have destroyed 216 Ukrainian drones, 1,506 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 152 multiple launch rocket systems, 592 field artillery and mortars, and 1,284 special military vehicles. The Ukrainian military on Monday reported more attacks against Russian forces, claiming that at least 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in combat. The Ukrainian General Staff said that at least 1,535 Russian armored personnel carriers, 969 vehicles, 498 tanks, 121 helicopters, 97 aircraft, and 24 drones have been destroyed.
-Russia said it has used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine for the second time since the outbreak of hostilities, this time claiming to have struck a storage facility for fuel and lubricants used by the Ukrainian armed forces near the southern village of Kostiantynivka. Russia’s defense ministry said in a March 20 operational update that on Sunday morning it had launched an aircraft-based hypersonic Kinzhal (“Dagger”) missile from airspace over Crimea, hitting and destroying the storage facility near Kostyantynivka, which is in the northern part of the Mikolaiv Oblast. If accurate, this would be the second use of a hypersonic missile in the Russia–Ukraine war and, at the same time, the second use of such a weapon in combat. The first reportedly took place on Friday, with Russia’s defense ministry saying its forces used a hypersonic missile to destroy a large underground storage facility for missiles and aviation ammunition in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankovsk region.
-Ukraine may be able to withstand the Russian invasion for “as long as we can supply them” with weaponry and “for as long as their morale holds up,” the former head of the UK’s Defence Intelligence has said. Air Marshal Philip Osborn said on March 20 that the Ukrainians have been “amazing” in their resistance so far. He told Sky News: “We need to bear in mind that they have been preparing for this. This, for most of the West started three weeks ago. For Ukraine, this started nearly a decade ago. They have had time to prepare and think. They have also got a strength of will and the application of good weaponry. “Frankly, I think they will hold out as long as we can supply them and for as long as their morale holds up, and those are two very easy things to say but really challenging to do.” He added, “Focusing on supporting a brave people to do what is right for them has to be one of those things that the West does to show strength and resolution.” In contrast to Ukraine’s resistance, Osborn said, Russia’s military campaign is “pretty demoralised, pretty stuck, and pretty stalled.” Russian forces are “demoralised because they were poorly prepared and proven to be inadequate,” and are now stalled because they have “lost momentum.” He added: “We are seeing them pull resources and manpower from across Russia, even from Syria, and that is not a good indication for a supposed superpower. They are stalled because they are running out of options. “Really what is left to them now is to double down on brute force to put pressure on the Ukrainian government.”
-Washington was angered by UAE authorizing and welcoming the visit, slamming it as an "apparent attempt to legitimize" Assad. “We are profoundly disappointed and troubled by this apparent attempt to legitimize Bashar al-Assad, who remains responsible and accountable for the death and suffering of countless Syrians” said State Department spokesman Ned Price said of the visit.
-Worries about demand destruction for gasoline appear overblown. Consumers are tolerating record-high prices at the pump as demand continues to rise. US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data show gasoline prices are up a staggering 51% from a year ago, averaging around $4.32 a gallon on a national level. Record-high prices at the pump trigger fear that demand destruction is imminent, but that's not what the data shows in the first half of March. EIA noted gasoline consumption is up 6% over the year, to 8.9 million barrels per day for the week ending March 11. Demand was 2.3% higher than the two weeks prior. Over the last month, average weekly US gasoline consumption is up 8.6% versus the prior year, to 8.8 million barrels a day. Skyrocketing fuel prices and significant inflationary pressure have yet to crimp demand as consumers appear to tolerate high prices as they must drive to work, drop off their kids at school, and run errands.
-The Ukrainian military has claimed Russian forces have stockpiles of ammunition and food that will last for “no more than three days” in its operational report this morning. Officials said the situation is similar with fuel, adding: “Mobilisation is carried out chaotically ... most of them have no military specialty, because they have never served in the military.” Ukraine also claimed its forces have retaken the town of Makariv, just 50km west of Kyiv.
-Biden said only India among the Quad group of countries was “somewhat shaky” in acting against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, as India tries to balance its ties with Russia and the west.
-In a move Japan’s prime minister called “totally unacceptable,” Russia has halted talks over a post-World War II peace treaty with Japan and ended visa-free entry for former residents of four Russian-controlled islands. Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced the measures Monday while indicating it would also not proceed with joint economic activity on the disputed islands – an apparent response to sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Japan and Russia never signed a peace treaty after WWII, and the status of four islands captured by the Soviets at the end of the war has been a sticking point for more than seven decades. Russia calls the islands north of Hokkaido the Southern Kurils and Japan refers to them as its Northern Territories. "Russia's actions are extremely unreasonable and totally unacceptable," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a Diet committee session Tuesday, according to Kyodo News. "We strongly protest."
-Japan has reported spotting numerous Russia warships on the move in international waters near its northern borders this month. Most recently, four Russian amphibious ships, traveling in pairs, were spotted east-northeast of Japan’s main island of Honshu on March 15 and 16, Japan’s Joint Staff said in a news release last week. The vessels included an Alligator IV-class tank landing ship, two Ropucha I-class tank landing ships and a Ropucha II-class tank landing ship, according to the release.
-Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, heralded new plans to develop an “EU Rapid Deployment Capacity” that could allow the bloc to “swiftly deploy up to 5,000 troops” for different types of crises. He insisted a “European army” will not be created.
-A total of 2,421 civilian casualties have been recorded in Ukraine since Russia invaded, including 925 killed and 1,496 injured, according to an update from the UN Human Rights office (OHCHR).
-Protesters opposed to war and NATO gathered at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily over the weekend, but the peaceful demonstration did not disrupt operations or prevent people from reaching the base, a Navy official said
-Photos of people in Ukraine being tied to lamp posts and sprayed with green antiseptic dye appeared on social media on Monday. According to reports, they were taken in the western city of Lviv. The victims are reportedly Roma (also known as Gypsies). Several people, including teenagers and families with women and children, were reportedly tied to lamp posts with duct tape, their faces sprayed with antiseptic dye known as ‘zelyonka’ in former Soviet countries. The green-colored substance is very difficult to wash away and can cause chemical burns to the eyes.
-China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top U.S. military commander said Sunday. U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino said the hostile actions were in stark contrast to Chinese President Xi Jinping's past assurances that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested waters into military bases. The efforts were part of China's flexing its military muscle, he said.
-The Biden administration has sent a significant number of Patriot missile systems to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks to help the kingdom intercept Houthi attacks, a US official told The Associated Press. In 2021, the US removed some Patriot and THAAD missile systems from Saudi Arabia as part of its effort to focus its military posture on countering Russia and China. Over the past few months, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have increased as the US-backed Saudi-led coalition has escalated its air war in Yemen. Amid the spike in violence, Saudi Arabia asked the US to provide more Patriot missiles, and the deployment of US Patriot systems comes as the Biden administration is looking to Riyadh to help ease oil prices. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been pushing for the US to support them more in the war in Yemen. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the de facto leaders of the two Gulf states declined calls with President Biden amid the Ukraine crisis as he was looking to contain oil prices. Sources told the Journal that Saudi Arabia and the UAE shared concerns about the US’s "restrained" response to Houthi attacks. After the Houthis hit targets in Abu Dhabi back in January, the US started helping the UAE intercept missiles and sent a squadron of F-22s to the Gulf nation.
-At least one person has died after drones attacked a scientific institute in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, AFP reports. Rescuers were seen removing a body from the scene, as smoke rose from the seven-storey building at the Institute for Superhard Materials in north-west Kyiv, part of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine.
-Russia plans to unleash a “great terror” on the southern occupied city of Kherson by kidnapping residents and taking them across the Russian border, an FSB whistleblower has claimed. The Kremlin was no longer willing to “play nicely” with protesters in the Ukrainian city, a letter said.
-In keeping with a longstanding pattern of US COVID cases trailing the numbers out of Europe with a delay of a few weeks, infections stemming from the BA.2 omicron subvariant have continued to rise in recent days, Bloomberg reports. While data released by the CDC and Johns Hopkins don't go into much detail about the variant type, a San Diego-based genomics firm called Helix has been watching the BA.2 variant since it first popped up in the US in early January. Although it was initially slow to take hold, Helix now estimates that 50% to 70% of all newly confirmed COVID cases across the US have been caused by BA.2. The CDC has yet to update its variant surveillance data for this past week, but the agency has reported BA.2 nearly doubling in prevalence each week since early February. Still, cases in the US remain well below the numbers in Hong Kong, which has seen its death rate from the virus soar since the start of the year as the city struggles with its worst outbreak since the virus first emerged.
COVID CASES USA 7-DAY AVG
29,098 MAR 21 2022
DEATHS 7-DAY AVG
1,149 MAR 21 2022
People who had covid-19 were at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes within a year than those who managed to avoid the coronavirus, according to a large review of patient records released Monday.
-President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, was forced on Tuesday to explain several legal filings in which she allegedly referred to George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld as “war criminals” while she was defending terrorism suspects. Although Jackson had legal grounds to make the accusation, she denied directly implicating Bush and Rumsfeld.
-US citizen Evan Neumann has been granted asylum in Belarus after fleeing “political persecution” by the FBI in the form of six charges stemming from his alleged participation in the January 6 riot in Washington, DC, local media outlets have reported. The Belarusian news outlet BelTA confirmed Neumann had received a document in the Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Brest Regional Executive Committee affirming his refugee status. “I’m glad that Belarus has taken care of me,” Neumann told the outlet on Tuesday, praising the “calm” country for giving him shelter while admitting he was experiencing “mixed feelings” because “my country is in trouble.” The newly-minted refugee is one of over 700 people to be charged with a crime after attending the “Stop the Steal” rally-turned-riot on January 6.
Neumann was charged with six counts in an indictment filed last March, including assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer; obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder; knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building; and violently entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Initially traveling to Italy after allegedly finding himself on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, 48-year-old Neumann then traveled through Switzerland, Germany, and Poland to Ukraine, where he stayed for several months. However, he told Belarusian TV he soon came under surveillance there and opted to move on. The former handbag manufacturer was detained by border guards upon trying to cross into Belarus in August, and subsequently requested asylum. Belarus does not have an extradition treaty with the US.
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