August 17, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A Moscow court has charged an imprisoned Russian-born US citizen with espionage, Russian state news agency TASS reported Thursday, citing the court’s press service.

The individual, named Gene Spector, is currently serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to bribery charges, according to TASS.

Spector was born and raised in St. Petersburg but later moved to the United States and received US citizenship, according to TASS. He was the chairman of the board of directors of Medpolymerprom Group, specializing in cancer drugs, according to TASS.

In 2020, Spector was charged with mediating bribes for Anastasia Alekseyeva, a former aide to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, according to TASS.

A US State Department spokesperson said the US is “aware of reports of charges against a US citizen in Russia" and that it is monitoring the situation.

There is no indication the US has deemed Spector to be wrongfully detained.

Read more about Spector

Detainees in Russia: Several Americans have been held in Russian custody during Moscow's war in Ukraine.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested by Russian authorities in March, marking the first detention of an American reporter in Russia on allegations of spying since the Cold War.

Gerskovich's arrest rattled White House officials and further strained wartime relations between Moscow and Washington.

Other high-profile detentions — including that of US basketball star Brittney Griner, who was released in December, and former US Marine Paul Whelan — have raised concerns that Americans could be used as pawns in the broader geopolitics surrounding the war.

Clarification: This post has been updated to note Spector was already serving a prison sentence, and that this is a new charge.

CNN's Anna Chernova, Sophie Tanno and Jo Shelley contributed to this report.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and his US counterpart Gen. Mark Milley discussed the situation along the frontlines during a phone call Thursday, Zaluzhnyi said in a Facebook post. 

The two spoke about "plans for the near-term, midterm and more remote prospect," Zaluzhnyi said. He also mentioned that he discussed "actions" by Russian forces in Ukraine, without going into any detail in his post.

Belarus would immediately respond to aggression if provoked, including by using nuclear weapons, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview on Thursday, according to state news outlet BelTa. 

Lukashenko reiterated that “the nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus will definitely not be used unless we face aggression."

"If only an act of aggression is committed against us, an attack against Belarus, we will not tarry, wait and the rest. We will use the entire arsenal of our weapons for deterrence. Why? Belarus is not Russia. Belarus cannot observe and wait for something. There is a great distance between Brest (a city in southwestern Belarus) and Vladivostok (a city in far eastern Russia), but our territory can be captured within a month and there will be nothing left," he said. 

Lukashenko said that he has publicly approved plans in case of aggression, but he would not specify the contents. "We didn't bring nuclear weapons here in order to scare someone. Yes, nuclear weapons represent a strong deterring factor. But these are tactical nuclear weapons, not strategic ones. This is why we will use them immediately once aggression is launched against us," he added. 

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and said that Moscow would also construct a special storage facility for the weapons.

The Belarusian president also said Thursday his country would not get directly involved in Russia's war in Ukraine, unless Ukrainians cross the border.

“If you, Ukrainians, do not cross our border, we will never get involved in this war, in this hot war," Lukashenko said in the interview. "Yet, we will keep helping Russia — they are our ally," he added, saying that over 50 countries are helping Ukraine "with coordination, training, ammunition, weapons, and so on" but "only Belarus is openly helping Russia.” 

He called claims that Putin is pushing him to get involved in the war "complete nonsense."

For context: Belarus helped Russia launch its initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter Ukraine from the north.

The war in Ukraine was avoidable, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview on Thursday, according to Belarus state news outlet BelTa.  

Lukashenko said he was "familiar with all the issues" regarding Ukraine and Russia because at one point he liaised between former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Lukashenko is a longtime ally of Putin. Belarus, which is west of Russia on Ukraine’s long northern border, helped Russia launch its initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter Ukraine from the north.

Lukashenko said in the interview that Belarus should be involved in peace talks about Ukraine.

"We border on Ukraine. We are 'co-aggressors'" in the eyes of the West, Lukashenko said. "Of course, we have our interests there, and our position should be heard. I believe that Belarus should be involved in the negotiation process."

Lukashenko said he thinks Belarus' participation in peace talks would be positive.

As for the current state of affairs in Moscow, the Belarusian president said claims that the Wagner Group's short-lived rebellion weakened Putin are "total nonsense."

Lukashenko said he allowed the private military group into his country to "quell this mutiny," and that Russia's leader had emerged from the ordeal stronger.

Germany’s army trained Ukrainian troops on Leopard 1 battle tanks Thursday in the eastern German town of Klietz, just outside Berlin. 

The Ukrainian army needs to train more soldiers after many have either been wounded or killed during the fight against Russia's invasion, German Lt. Gen. Andreas Marlow told reporters at the training site.

The Ukrainian soldiers are "highly motivated," said Marco Maulbecker, a German armed forces commander and trainer.

"They have to be. After all, if you want to learn the basic skills of the main battle tank, the instruction manual is a good 700 pages long. And you can see the motivation above all in the fact that they also deal with the system after duty and are really willing to learn the system in a really short time." 

Ukrainian soldiers also spoke to journalists at the training site. 

"The training is very important for us because we receive (new) tanks with technical (systems), and the soldiers have to learn to use this equipment," one service member said. “Therefore, it is very important for us, so that our soldiers can use it efficiently during battles."

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stressed Thursday that it is up to Ukraine to decide when to come to the negotiating table, following controversial remarks made by the director of his office earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Stian Jenssen, the director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, said during an event in Norway that ceding territory to Russia could be a way for Ukraine to achieve peace and join the alliance, according to Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang. 

The remarks sparked outrage among Ukrainian officials, including the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, who called the remarks "ridiculous," saying such a move would only encourage Moscow's "appalling indulgences." 

Speaking during a conference in Arendal, Norway, on Thursday, Stoltenberg maintained that if NATO allies want peace, "military support for Ukraine is the solution," according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. 

Tension in the Baltic states: In his remarks Thursday, Stoltenberg also issued a warning that "great powers" such as Russia are not entitled to hold "spheres of interest," according to NRK.

"Small countries like Latvia and Lithuania cannot accept that (just) because they are small neighboring countries, then Russia shall rule over them," the NATO chief said.

Lithuania announced Wednesday that it would temporarily suspend operations at two checkpoints along its border with Belarus due to concerns about the presence of Wagner private military forces.

Wagner fighters are stationed in Belarus — a close ally of Russia — in the wake of their short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin. Their presence has raised tensions on NATO's eastern flank.

A magistrate’s court in Moscow fined US tech giant Google 3 million ruble (about $31,800) Thursday for its failure to delete questionable information about what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, as well as information that is banned in Russia, according to state news agency TASS. 

Google had been served with an official notification requiring it to delete videos from YouTube that included instructions for viewers on how to access false information about the "special military operation" and how to illegally enter guarded facilities, which would jeopardize a person’s life and health, according to TASS. 

Previously, the same court had repeatedly imposed fines on Google for administrative violations, including a 3 million ruble fine (about $31,800) in May for hosting videos on YouTube that promoted non-traditional sexual relations, defamed Russia’s armed forces, and contained instructions on the so-called illegal practice of "roofing" or climbing up tall structures to enter their roof premises, according to TASS. 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal held a meeting with World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Kyiv on Thursday, in which​ he called for increased international pressure to restore the Black Sea grain deal.

Shmyhal said in a social media post that he stressed that Ukraine is counting on WTO support in restoring agricultural exports. 

The prime minister also thanked the WTO for its political support and help with overcoming challenges posed by Russia, having described Russia​ as “provoking a global food crisis.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also emphasized the importance of reopening​ the grain corridor, according to the Ukrainian government readout of the meeting.

Russia withdrew from the grain deal exactly one month ago. The agreement was brokered​ in July 2022 by the United Nations and Turkey in order to ensure safe passage for the ships exporting Ukrainian grain.

Shmyhal also used Thursday's meeting to express hope for WTO assistance in removing mines from Ukrainian land, according to the readout.

Kostan Nechyporenko contributed to this report.

The National Guard of Ukraine said on Thursday that its forces are entrenched near the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region and repelling Russian attacks after retaking the area. 

"National Guard units have cleared and demined the liberated settlement. At the moment, they have consolidated their positions and are repelling counterattacks by enemy assault groups trying to regain their lost ground," one of the National Guard's deputy directors said in a televised statement on Thursday. 

Kyiv said Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had retaken the village, after days of punishing battles as part of its counteroffensive against Russia.

Russian forces inside Urozhaine had been in a precarious situation for some time, especially since Ukraine took the neighboring village of Staromaiorske roughly two weeks ago. Russian soldiers and well-connected military bloggers had hinted it was a matter of time until Urozhaine would fall too, given that Ukrainian forces had since been able to attack it from several sides.

CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko and Alex Stambaugh contributed reporting to this post.