The World Poll: Russians’ support for peace talks with Kyiv grows after unrest

RUSSIANS’ support for peace talks with Ukraine has grown after an abortive mutiny led by Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to a new opinion poll from the independent Levada Center.

The share of respondents backing negotiations increased by eight percentage points to 53 percent from a month earlier. Following the march by Prigozhin and Wagner fighters toward Moscow over the weekend, the share of those favoring a continuation of fighting fell to 39 percent, according to the sur - vey, due to be published Friday. Russians “became scared that the mutiny could lead to bigger setbacks in Ukraine for Russian troops,” Denis Volkov, Levada’s director, said in a phone interview. “And, in general, a lot of people just want this war to be over as soon as possible.”

APORTABLE US weapon that would temporarily jam Chinese and Russian communications satellites early in a conflict is running two years late for its first deliveries.

The first of a potential 30 of the Meadowlands systems produced by L3 Harris Technologies Inc. was originally to be delivered in 2022 but now is expected by October 2024, according to US Space Force officials.

The survey of 1,634 respondents across 50 Russian regions was conducted from June 22 to 28. After the mutiny on June 23 and 24, support for talks grew further, Levada said. The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of being unwilling to negotiate. Kyiv says it won’t con -

P roblems encountered during testing “have been resolved, and the program is moving into its final integration and test phases,” the Space Systems Command said in a statement to Bloomberg News. It said, “The technical issues were due to unexpected challenges that required complex reworks of subassemblies.”

Charles Clarkson, L3 Harris general manager for space superiority, said the company worked with the command to sider talks until Russia’s troops leave its territory.

Public support for a diplomatic solution in Russia has ebbed and flowed over the 17 months of the war, peaking in the fall after Putin’s order mobilizing men for the front fueled public fears.

In May, signs of progress in the long-running battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine boosted Russian public backing of a military solution.

Prigozhin, the mercenary chief, had demanded the removal of the defense minister and chief of the general staff, who he blamed for Russia’s struggles in the war ef - increase testing to ensure the jammer “will have more robust operational execution and reduced risk.”

Disclosure of the Meadowlands delay provides a rare glimpse into the highly classified world of US “counterspace” capabilities against Chinese and Russian satellites. US military officials have been loath to discuss those capabilities even as they detail the array of offensive Chinese and Russian ground and space-based

Senior China envoy dispatched to Italy to keep nation in Belt and Road Initiative

CHINA dispatched a senior diplomat to Italy this week, as Beijing seeks to persuade the European nation not to leave President Xi Jinping’s flagship global investment pact.

“negative consequences” if Rome “recklessly decides” to withdraw.

European struggle fort. But he called off the uprising after accepting a deal with Putin brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that allowed him to go to Russia’s neighbor in return for criminal charges being dropped against him and his fighters.

While Putin’s ratings remained largely unchanged in the aftermath of the upheaval, Prigozhin’s fell, the poll showed. On the eve of the mutiny, 19 percent of respondents were ready to consider voting for him in presidential elections due in 2024, while after June 24 the number fell to 6 percent. Bloomberg News capabilities that they say would target US satellites in celestial combat.

‘Warfighting domain’

PAST debate over whether space “is a warfighting domain” was, “answered by the US Congress when they created the Space Force,” Major General David Miller, the force’s director of operations, said this week during an Air Force Association symposium. “We have to get about the process of providing capability to find, fix and deny any adversary’s capability to find and target US forces or allied forces.”

In its annual threat assessment this year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said China has weapons intended to target US and allied satellites.

The new jamming system won’t create space debris because it emits energy designed to cause temporary, “reversible” interference of communication satellites, officials said.

Meadowlands, estimated to be a $219 million program, is a lighter-weight version of the bulky “Counter Communications System” that was declared operational in early 2020. Meadowlands’ radar-like dishes mounted on wheeled trailers have two racks of equipment instead of the 14 on the earlier system, making it easier to deploy.

“The decreased footprint and increased capacity of Meadowlands will significantly improve its utility” over the Counter Communications System, said Charles Galbreath, senior resident fellow at the Air Force Association who has just completed a counterspace study sponsored by the Air Force Association.

China offers multiple pot ential targets for Meadlowlands, which is intended to be transported and based at locations overseas.

O f China’s more than 700 satellites, “about half of them are used for remote sensing and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” Major General Gregory Gagnon, Space Force’s deputy chief of Space Operations for Intelligence, told an Air Force Association symposium in March.

“Their on-orbit armada of satellites can track us, can sense us, can see us, can connect that data to their fires network and can now hold US forces at risk in a way we have never understood or had to face to date,” Gagnon said. Bloomberg News

Liu Jianchao, director of the Communist Party’s International Department, held meetings with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa and former prime minister Massimo D’Alema, according to the department’s readouts. He also met with group known as “Friends of China” in Italy’s parliament, during his threeday visit that began Sunday.

“It w as the correct decision for China and Italy to sign the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),” Liu said during a session with business people in Milan this week, according to the official statement.

Italy signed on to China’s massive BRI in 2019 when Giuseppe Conte was prime minister, becoming the only Group of Seven nation to join the pact. The country’s current leader, Giorgia Meloni, favors leaving the infrastructure initiative, Bloomberg reported in May. Participation will automatically renew in 2024 unless Rome exits the agreement.

Meloni t old lawmakers on Wednesday that Italy can have excellent relations with China even without being part of the initiative. “There are ongoing evaluations,” she said. “The issue must be handled carefully and respectfully, also involving the parliament.”

Jia Guide , Chinese ambassador to Italy, warned in an interview with Italian news outlet Fanpage last week that there would

LIU’S appeal to the Italians comes after Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier this month traveled to Europe in his first overseas trip as China’s No. 2 official. His meetings with business and political leaders in Germany and France came as the European Union hammers out its position on how to manage economic rivalry with China.

B eijing is trying to persuade Europe to take a less hawkish stance than the US, which has imposed a sweeping raft of export controls on China to curb its access to advanced technology.

Italy has been caugh t in the middle of those escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing, especially in the wake of China’s support for Russian President Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine. The US has pressured Rome to take a public stance and ditch the BRI pact, according to people familiar with the matter.

Wang Yiwei, a Renmin University professor who specializes in Europe studies, said that given 152 countries had signed onto the BRI, China should have an “open mind” on Italy’s decision—noting that it was likely Italian companies who would suffer the most from an exit.

“The business community really wants to stay,” he added. “Otherwise, they’ll lose some of the preferential treatment they’ve been enjoying as a member country to the initiative.” Bloomberg News