1. Deliver the tanks to Ukraine, NATO chief tells allies in Berlin

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies on Tuesday to speed up deliveries of heavy and more advanced weapons to repel Russian forces in Ukraine and expressed confidence that a decision on sending battle tanks to Kyiv would come soon.

Stoltenberg was speaking in Berlin alongside Germany’s new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, who said his government would act quickly on the tanks if a consensus were to be found.

Pressure has been building on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries to do the same — under military procurement rules, Germany must authorise any re-exports.

But Scholz’s Social Democrat party has been holding back, wary of sudden moves that could cause Moscow to escalate further.

Poland, which has accused Germany of dragging its heels on the tanks, said on Tuesday it had formally requested permission from Berlin to re-export its Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

“At this pivotal moment in the war, we must provide heavier and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster,” NATO’s Stoltenberg told reporters.

“I therefore welcome our discussion today.

Consultations among allies will continue and I’m confident we will have a solution soon,” Stoltenberg added.

Pistorius said Germany was not standing in the way of other countries training Ukrainian troops to use the Leopard tanks while talks continued. He said it was wrong to say that “there’s disunity or that Germany is isolated”.

Scholz was trying to forge consensus on the tanks issue, he said, adding that NATO must not become party to the war in Ukraine.

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock had signalled a possible breakthrough on Sunday when she said her government would not stand in the way if Poland wanted to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

But on Tuesday, a German foreign ministry official appeared to temper those remarks by saying that Scholz would decide on sending the tanks.

A bus drives by a vandalized mural depicting the logo of Russia’s Wagner Group with “No War” added on a wall in Belgrade, 15 January 2023Darko Vojinovic/Copyright 2022 The AP.

Norway questioned fleeing Wagner mercenary over alleged war crimes, authorities say

Norwegian police have begun questioning a former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who recently fled to Norway about his time in Ukraine, police said on Tuesday.

Andrei Medvedev, who escaped from Russia by crossing the Russian-Norwegian border, has said he fears for his life after witnessing what he said was the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front lines in Ukraine to fight for Wagner.

Kripos, Norway’s national criminal police service, which has responsibility for investigating war crimes, has begun questioning him about his experiences in Ukraine.

“Kripos can confirm that Andrei Medvedev has been questioned,” it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

“We do not want to go into what he has explained in these interviews, but specify that he still has the status of a witness.”

Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, was not immediately available for comment.

Kripos is part of the international effort to investigate war crimes in Ukraine conducted by the International Criminal Court.

“He has previously said that he was part of the Wagner group, and it is interesting for Kripos to get more information about this period,” Kripos added, declining to give further details.

On Monday, Medvedev was detained by immigration police due to “disagreement” about measures taken to ensure his safety.

Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov, right, attends the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, 17 December 2022Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik

5.

“So I had to fix everything on the go.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Christmas service at the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin in Moscow, 7 January 2023Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik

6. Kyiv doles out further sanctions against Russian Orthodox Church affiliates

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on 22 Russians associated with the Russian Orthodox Church for what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said was their support of genocide under the cloak of religion.

According to a decree issued by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the list includes Mikhail Gundayev, who represents the Russian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches and other international organizations in Geneva.

Russian state media reported that Gundayev is a nephew of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.