WORLD

Russia has arrested General Sergei Surovikin, the former top commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine in connection with the coup attempt by the Wagner Group, The Moscow Times newspaper reported citing sources.

Nicknamed ‘General Armageddon,’ Surovikin is one of Russia’s most well-known and respected military leaders.

François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced the first STEM round for category-based selection will open the week of July 5th.

The draw will prioritize sending invitations to candidates with Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) expertise, which includes data scientists, software developers and programmers, mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries, and electrical and electronic engineers.

Through this initiative, Canada hopes to meet the growing demand for STEM talent and fill key positions that contribute to the nation’s economic growth and technological advancement.

Economic aid from India to the tune of $4 billion helped debt-ridden Sri Lanka secure its $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year, the country’s high commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda, has said. 

“India supported us during the crisis last year by extending $4 billion. If India had not provided that support, we would have been in a much more difficult situation,” he said at a special interaction with ThePrint team on 22 June. “There’s no question about it. I think the IMF only became possible because of India.”

Two days after the powerful Wagner Group attempted an armed mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the midst of Ukraine war, the country's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin admitted that Russia has faced "a challenge to its stability" and must remain united behind the President.

While Wagner fighters halted a rapid advance on Moscow and withdrew from the seized southern Russian city of Rostov under a deal that guaranteed their safety, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stolenberg said the aborted mutiny demonstrated the weakness of the Russian leadership and the scale of the Kremlin's strategic mistake in waging war on Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has survived the most serious threat to his authority in two decades as Russia’s paramount leader. Yet the aborted rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner paramilitaries has laid bare the utter folly of the war Putin unleashed against his neighbour. The Kremlin is bogged down in a conflict it cannot win, which has taken a grave toll on its economic future, turned it into a pariah for western countries, and brought armed insurgents to within a couple of hours’ drive of Moscow. The origins of Saturday’s mutiny and the “deal” that seemingly defused it are cloaked in fog. But it is hard not to conclude that Putin is left weakened.