In meeting with Biden, new Speaker Mike Johnson says GOP won’t abandon Ukraine but will aid Israel first

In meeting with Biden, new Speaker Mike Johnson says GOP won’t abandon Ukraine but will aid Israel first
On his first full day on the job, US House Speaker Mike Johnson makes a statement to reporters about the mass shooting in Maine, at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 26, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 30 October 2023
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In meeting with Biden, new Speaker Mike Johnson says GOP won’t abandon Ukraine but will aid Israel first

In meeting with Biden, new Speaker Mike Johnson says GOP won’t abandon Ukraine but will aid Israel first
  • While Johnson has spoken of the importance of helping fund Israel in the fight against Hamas, he has shown little interest in providing more money for Ukraine as it battles Russia
  • To avoid a government shutdown, Johnson will need to balance far-right demands with the realities of keeping the government functioning.

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden met with new House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries at the White House on Thursday to discuss his request for nearly $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine and other national security needs.
Johnson, a staunch conservative allied with Donald Trump, has shown little interest in providing additional money from Congress to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Later, the new Republican speaker insisted Congress is “not going to abandon” Ukraine.
Instead, Johnson said House Republicans would first bring a separate bill to provide $14.5 billion in aid to Israel, but they need more information about the Biden administration’s Ukraine strategy.
“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine because I don’t believe it would stop there,” Johnson said on Fox News’ “Hannity,” referring to the Russian president. But he said, “We must stand with our important ally in the Middle East and that’s Israel.”
The new Republican leader who swept into office nearly a month after the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker had a busy first full day in office, having inherited many of the same political problems that tormented past GOP leaders and challenged their tenure as speaker.
In the morning, Johnson said “prayer is appropriate” as a response to the mass shootings in Maine.
Johnson, an evangelical Christian from Louisiana, declined to take questions, including about the possibility of any gun violence legislation from Congress.
“Prayer is appropriate at a time like this, that the evil can end and the senseless violence can stop,” he said.
The House convened with a bustle of activity, making up for lost time during the weeks of chaos since McCarthy’s ouster as speaker. But the initial goodwill toward Johnson blurs the political fault lines challenging his ability to lead the GOP majority in the face of daunting issues ahead.
By Nov. 17, the Congress must fund the government again or risk a federal shutdown. Biden wants nearly $106 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine. And Republicans are eager to resume their impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son Hunter’s business dealings.
“Enough of the chaos, enough of the dysfunction,” said Jeffries, D-N.Y., adding it was time for Congress to get back to business.
Jeffries said Democrats were “heartbroken” over the latest shootings and stand with the people of Maine in every way possible, including discussing how Congress can address gun violence.
Johnson said he and Biden met together for more than 15 minutes before the other party arrived.
“It was a productive meeting,” Johnson told reporters back at the Capitol. “I enjoyed my visit with the president.”
Biden met with Johnson and Jeffries before the House leaders joined a classified briefing with other congressional lawmakers on the assistance package, according to a White House official.
The briefing in the Situation Room for Johnson and other House leaders on the emergency funding request was the first time the new speaker, who opposes the aid to Ukraine, was getting a close airing from White House officials about Biden’s case for the money. The White House has conducted similar briefings in recent weeks.
Biden had called Johnson to congratulate him after his election Wednesday and said it was “time for all of us to act responsibly” to fund the government and provide that foreign aid. “We need to move swiftly,” the president said in a statement.
Johnson, 51, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. He was quickly sworn as speaker and is now second in line to the presidency, after the vice president.
While not the Republicans’ top choice, Johnson had few foes and an important backer in Donald Trump.
At the Capitol on Thursday, Johnson sat down with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who told reporters afterward that he had a “very good” meeting with the new speaker.
Johnson met later with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said on social media they had a “great meeting.” He has also heard from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who told the new speaker in a Wednesday call that a bipartisan agreement with Democrats is the only way to avoid a shutdown.
In winning the gavel, Johnson, who has been in the House for less than a decade, drew together fellow Republicans through his faith, conservative roots and Trump’s nod after more seasoned leaders had failed.
“I’m a Bible-believing Christian,” Johnson told Fox’s Sean Hannity.
The speaker said when he’s asked his views on the issues, he advises: “Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it, that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe.”
Democrats said Johnson, a lawyer specializing in constitutional issues, was an extreme conservative, a strict opponent of abortion access and an architect of Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Biden.
After Johnson’s election, lawmakers approved a resolution Wednesday saying the House “stands with Israel” and “condemns Hamas’ brutal war.” They next turned to a stalled government funding bill.
Rather than take a scheduled work period at home, Republicans rearranged the House calendar to return to Washington next week and keep pushing through the various government funding bills before the Nov. 17 deadline.
In a letter to colleagues, Johnson outlined priorities that include providing a short-term funding bill, into next year, to prevent a November shutdown — almost the same move that led to McCarthy’s ouster.
“Speaker Johnson has been very clear that we’ve got to secure America’s border, we want to support Israel,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalize, who conferred with Johnson ahead of the White House meeting. “But all of the other items that the President is talking about run secondary.”
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Johnson is thoughtful and smart, and understands that aid for Ukraine is a national security issue, despite opposition from other Republicans in their majority.
“And what I saw in the Situation Room was I thought he was very open to the idea,” said McCaul.
To avoid a shutdown, Johnson will need to balance far-right demands with the realities of keeping the government functioning. Most Republicans voted against the budget deal McCarthy, R-Calif., struck with Biden earlier this year, demanding steeper spending cuts.
Similar Republican infighting has chased three other GOP speakers to early departures. The difference now is that Republican rules allow any single lawmaker to force a vote to remove the speaker from office.


Continued lack of protection for Palestinian civilians in Gaza ‘unconscionable,’ says UN official

Continued lack of protection for Palestinian civilians in Gaza ‘unconscionable,’ says UN official
Updated 7 sec ago
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Continued lack of protection for Palestinian civilians in Gaza ‘unconscionable,’ says UN official

Continued lack of protection for Palestinian civilians in Gaza ‘unconscionable,’ says UN official
  • Sigrid Kaag, humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, tells Security Council time is ‘slipping away’ to address crisis that has ‘turned Gaza into the abyss’
  • ‘All parties to the conflict must comply with international humanitarian law at all times,’ she adds

NEW YORK CITY: The continued lack of effective protections for civilians in Gaza is “unconscionable,” a senior UN official said on Monday.

It came as Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, briefed the Security Council on the “sober and somber” situation on the ground in the territory.

She said time is “slipping away” to address a human-made humanitarian crisis that has “turned Gaza into the abyss.” An immediate ceasefire is required, she added, along with the unconditional release of all hostages and sustained efforts to deliver aid at scale.

“The infrastructure that civilians rely on must be protected and their essential needs met,” said Kaag. “As the secretary-general has reiterated, all parties must refrain from using schools, shelters or the areas around them for military purposes.

“All parties to the conflict must comply with international humanitarian law at all times. Equally, humanitarian workers need an enabling environment to ensure unimpeded and safe access to people in need. Tragically, in Gaza, nowhere is truly safe.

“Diseases, like the polio virus, that had been consigned to history in the Gaza Strip have now reappeared due to the collapse of essential services.”

She said that her team has negotiated and strengthened supply systems and additional delivery routes from or via Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, the occupied West Bank and Israel to “facilitate, accelerate and expedite a sustained and transparent flow of supplies into Gaza.”

The supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza is managed through a mechanism operated by the UN’s Office for Project Services, and its executive director, Jorge Moreira da Silva, provided council members with details of the numbers involved in aid deliveries.

Since the mechanism was introduced, he said, clearance has been requested for 229 consignments of humanitarian aid, of which 175 were approved, 101 have been delivered, 17 are pending clearance and 37 were rejected. The result is more than 22,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid has been delivered to Gaza so far, he added.

Da Silva thanked the member states that have contributed financially to his office’s operations in Gaza, and singled out the Egyptian route in particular as what he described as a “vital lifeline” for Palestinians in the territory.

“We cannot overemphasize the challenges of delivering the humanitarian response in Gaza right now,” he said.

The effective delivery of aid at the required scale will not be possible without the political will, security guarantees and a more-enabling environment, he added as he praised “the critical and irreplaceable role that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees plays in Gaza, as the key implementer of our collective will.”

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, criticized Western countries for their double standards in relation to continuing civilian deaths caused by Israeli strikes, which he said are being carried out with impunity as a result of backing from Washington and its allies.

“Such arrogance emanates from the unconditional support for any of its (Israel’s) actions by the United States, which has for nearly a year now been blocking any hint of a substantive reaction,” he added.

Conditions in Gaza are “horrific” and if Israel’s relentless bombardment of the territory is not stopped, more than 2 million Palestinians face the “real prospect” of a cessation of UN operations in the territory, Nebenzya said. The international community cannot allow this to happen, he warned.

The Slovenian representative to the UN, Samuel Zbogar, who holds the presidency of the Security Council this month, reiterated the need to prevent breaches of international law with respect to the protection of civilian lives, and to hold responsible those responsible for such transgressions.

“We have to dispel this sense of impunity for the lack of respect of international humanitarian law, as if civilians can be subjected to killing, maiming, bombing, torturing, displacement, under the eyes of the international community and the Security Council, this is unacceptable,” he said.

While the need to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza is of the utmost importance and will require strong political will, Zbogar said, in the meantime it is incumbent on Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure that food and medical supplies reach the civilian population.

“Obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, must be fulfilled,” he added. “Just as the release of hostages should not be conditional, neither should humanitarian aid to civilians.

“We are approaching Oct. 7, a year of this tragic conflict. This is not an opportunity but a duty for the Security Council to show political will and determination to help end it.”

The council unanimously condemned the targeting of UN staff and humanitarian workers during the conflict, and the US envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, reiterated Washington’s “unequivocal” rejection of any actions that endanger aid workers and their facilities.

“There is no basis, absolutely none, for Israel’s forces to be opening fire on clearly marked UN vehicles, as recently occurred on numerous occasions,” she said.

She called on the leadership of the Israeli army to implement “fundamental changes” in the way its forces operate, including their rules of engagement.


’Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader

’Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader
Updated 33 min 12 sec ago
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’Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader

’Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader
  • The 42-year-old is now serving an 11-year sentence in Gomel, one of over 1,000 political prisoners in the country
  • Minsk announced a new wave of pardons on Monday, with 37 political prisoners freed, but it was not yet known if Kolesnikova was included

WARSAW: Nobody outside of Prison Colony Number Four in the Belarusian city of Gomel has seen or heard from Maria Kolesnikova, imprisoned for leading huge 2020 protests against President Alexander Lukashenko since February last year.
An orchestra flute player, Kolesnikova was the star of a street movement that shook the Minsk regime four years ago — she then famously ripped up her passport while the KGB tried to forcibly deport her.
The 42-year-old is now serving an 11-year sentence in Gomel, one of over 1,000 political prisoners in the country. She has been barred from contact with the outside world for 19 months.
Minsk announced a new wave of pardons on Monday, with 37 political prisoners freed, but it was not yet known if Kolesnikova was included.
Two ex-prisoners released from the same colony told AFP Kolesnikova spends months in the harshest “PKT” type of punishment cell, held in isolation from other inmates, who are banned from talking to her.
“I am worried for her life,” her sister Tatiana Khomich, who lives abroad, told AFP.
She has been told Kolesnikova’s weight has severely dropped.
Kolesnikova had lost weight after abdominal surgery in November 2022, but has now lost “even more,” unable to recover in harsh conditions and denied an appropriate diet, her sister said.
According to Khomich, she has a limited allowance of around 20 euros in the prison shop per month.
“She’s basically starving,” Khomich said.
The world last saw a glimpse of Kolesnikova after the surgery, when she was allowed to see her father, with authorities releasing a fuzzy picture.
Then, the letters stopped: the last one was dated February 15, 2023. Contact was also lost with other key imprisoned opposition figures.
Khomich knows that Kolesnikova spends most of her time in the PKT, which ex-convicts describe as a “prison inside a prison.” PKT is an acronym for “cell-type space.”
Darya Afanasyeva, a feminist activist who served a 2.5-year sentence in Gomel, said information on Kolesnikova trickled down to women in the prison if someone was sent to a punishment cell and heard her through a wall.
Released this spring and now living in Poland, she described the level to which Kolesnikova was kept out of sight.
When a medical van came into the prison, likely headed for Kolesnikova, Afanasyeva said authorities put the colony “on some kind of martial law.”
“Everyone was put in one room and you are not allowed to go to the windows,” the 29-year-old said.
“We saw it was headed to the PKT and we understood it was for Masha.”
Before Kolesnikova was sent to the PKT, Afanasyeva said she appeared “very thin.”
Afanasyeva said Kolesnikova’s isolation in the Gomel prison — which started filling up with political prisoners after the protests — started as soon as the protest leader arrived there in June 2022.
Women with political cases were singled out with a yellow triangle on their uniforms, ex-prisoners said.
Prison officials were quick to cut Kolesnikova off.
She was the only political prisoner placed in a “brigade” with no other women with political cases.
Afanasyeva described the level of surveillance around Kolesnikova when she was still working at the prison sewing factory.
“They put special cameras to watch her, she worked on a machine and these two cameras were right above her table,” the activist, who had a yellow triangle tattooed on her forearm, said.
“Everything to do with Masha was made into a secret,” said Kristina Cherenkova, another former political prisoner, arrested for social media posts against the war in Ukraine in her town near the Ukraine border.
“Practically the whole year and one month that I was in the Gomel prison, she was in the PKT,” Cherenkova, now also in Poland, said.
She relayed what women sent to solitary confinement had told her.
“At first, the girls said her voice was strong and that she sang in there,” Cherenkova said.
“But in the last months of me being there, they would say you could not hear her as much.”
When news broke of a major swap between Russia — on whom Belarus relies — and the West, Khomich had hoped her sister would be among prisoners released.
But while let down by an absence of Belarusian dissidents in the swap, it gave her a boost that “talks are possible, even in times of war.”
A fresh wave of pardons this summer has offered new hope to relatives of political prisoners.
Analyst Artyom Shraibman said Kolesnikova was getting “special treatment” in prison, with the regime driven by “revenge for the trauma of 2020.”
He struggled to imagine a free Kolesnikova, saying “Lukashenko mainly lets people go who would leave prison soon anyway.”
“Or who would die in prison soon,” he added.


Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes

Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes
Updated 16 September 2024
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Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes

Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes
  • The Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election was unharmed
  • Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours on Sunday, according to a criminal complaint

WASHINGTON: A man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump was charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court on Monday, a day after being spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at the former US president’s golf course in Florida.
More charges appear likely, but the initial counts — possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number — will allow authorities to keep him in custody as the investigation continues.
The Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election was unharmed. But the incident raised fresh questions about how an armed suspect was able to get so close to him, just two months after another gunman fired at Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.
Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours on Sunday, according to a criminal complaint.
The US Secret Service opened fire after an agent saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes on Sunday at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, a few hundred yards away from where the former president was playing.
The gunman fled in a sports utility vehicle, according to the complaint. Officers found a loaded assault-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food left behind.
A suspect, identified on Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later driving north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he had been stopped, Routh “responded in the affirmative,” according to the complaint. The license plate on his vehicle had been reported stolen from another car.
Records show a phone associated with Routh was located at the golf course starting at 1:59 a.m. (0559 GMT) on Sunday morning.
Routh has two prior convictions, both in North Carolina, according to the criminal complaint: a 2002 conviction for possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction and a 2010 conviction for possession of stolen goods. Further details about those cases were not immediately available.
Trump blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for the assassination attempt. He cited their “rhetoric” and claimed the suspected gunman was acting on Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language,” though authorities have not yet offered evidence of any motive.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,” he said, according to Fox.
SECRET SERVICE UNDER PRESSURE
The Secret Service, which protects US presidents, presidential candidates and other high-level dignitaries, has been under intense scrutiny since the earlier attempt on Trump’s life.
That led to the resignation of Director Kimberly Cheatle. The service bolstered Trump’s security detail following the July 13 attack, in which the gunman was shot dead by responding agents.
The agency “needs more help,” including possibly more personnel, Biden told reporters on Monday, adding: “Thank God the president’s OK.”
Harris said on X: “Violence has no place in America.”
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who convened a bipartisan task force to investigate after the first assassination attempt, said in a Fox News interview that Congress would also examine the latest incident.
“We need accountability,” said Johnson who also called for more resources to protect Trump. “We must demand that this job is being done.”
Cheatle’s replacement, Acting Director Ronald Rowe, traveled to Florida after Sunday’s assassination attempt, according to several news outlets. Rowe, who took over after Cheatle’s resignation in July, told Congress on July 30 he was “ashamed” of security lapses in the earlier attack.
Rowe has been with the 7,800-member Secret Service for 25 years, according to an official biography, rising to the agency’s No. 2 spot before he was promoted in July.

SUSPECT IS UKRAINE SYMPATHIZER
Routh was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and had traveled there after Russia’s 2022 invasion, seeking to recruit foreign fighters.
Profiles on X, Facebook and LinkedIn with Routh’s name contained messages of support for Ukraine as well as statements describing Trump as a threat to US democracy.
“@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ...make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” read a post on X, tagging Biden.
Reuters was not able to confirm that the accounts belonged to the suspect, and law enforcement agencies declined to comment. Public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after Sunday’s incident.
Harris and other Democrats have cast Trump as a danger to US democracy, citing his effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol. Harris has promised unwavering support for Ukraine if elected.
Trump has expressed skepticism about the amount of aid the US has provided Ukraine and has vowed to end the war immediately if elected. He told Reuters last year that Ukraine might have to cede some territory to gain peace.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posted and then deleted a message on the social media site on Sunday wondering why no one had tried to assassinate Biden or Harris. In a follow-up post on Monday, Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said he had been joking.


Germany wants trade with Kazakhstan, won’t circumvent Russia sanctions, Scholz says

Germany wants trade with Kazakhstan, won’t circumvent Russia sanctions, Scholz says
Updated 16 September 2024
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Germany wants trade with Kazakhstan, won’t circumvent Russia sanctions, Scholz says

Germany wants trade with Kazakhstan, won’t circumvent Russia sanctions, Scholz says
  • “I am grateful for the trusting dialogue between us, through which we want to prevent trade between us from being misused to circumvent sanctions,” Scholz said
  • Both Scholz and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said their countries were interested in increasing trade in oil, rare earths, lithium and other raw materials

ASTANA: Germany is interested in expanding trade with Kazakhstan while also ensuring such trade is not used to circumvent EU sanctions on Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on a visit to the Central Asian nation.
“I am grateful for the trusting dialogue between us, through which we want to prevent trade between us from being misused to circumvent sanctions,” Scholz said.
After Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, prompting Moscow to seek circuitous routes for importing technology and goods.
Sources have told Reuters that Russian businesses seeking goods banned by the West sometimes procured them from companies based in neighboring Kazakhstan or other former Soviet nations. The Astana government has said it would abide by the sanctions.
Both Scholz and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said their countries were interested in increasing trade in oil, rare earths, lithium and other raw materials.
“Both sides benefit from this exchange because it allows us to diversify our economies and make them more resilient,” Scholz said. “A very concrete example of this is the oil supplies from Kazakhstan, which helped us a lot after Russia failed as a supplier.”
The two met ahead of a broader meeting between Scholz and all five Central Asian leaders, an example of more active Western diplomacy in what has traditionally been Russia’s backyard.
Kazakhstan has already stepped in to replace Russia as the supplier of crude for Berlin’s Schwedt refinery. Scholz’s visit comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to curb sales of metals such as titanium to “unfriendly” nations.


Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region

Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region
Updated 16 September 2024
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Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region

Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region
  • Moscow appears to be mounting a counter-offensive in the region
  • More than 150,000 people in the region have had to flee their homes since Kyiv’s offensive began on August 6

MOSCOW: Russia is evacuating a number of villages in the Kursk region close to the Ukrainian border, the local governor said on Monday, almost six weeks after Ukraine launched its surprise incursion.
Moscow appears to be mounting a counter-offensive in the region, claiming to have retaken at least a dozen villages from Ukraine’s control since last week.
Authorities have decided to order the “obligatory evacuation of settlements in the Rylsky and Khomutovsky districts that are within a 15-kilometer (nine-mile) zone adjacent to the border with Ukraine,” Governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram.
He did not say which villages would be evacuated or the number of evacuees. There are dozens of villages and towns within this 15-kilometer radius.
More than 150,000 people in the region have had to flee their homes since Kyiv’s offensive began on August 6, state media reported Smirnov as saying last week.
Ukraine says its forces have advanced across tens of kilometers of Russian territory and seized dozens of settlements, including the border town of Sudzha.
Ukraine’s incursion — which began more than two years after Russia launched a full-scale military assault on its neighbor — caught Moscow off-guard.
It is the biggest incursion by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II.