Information operation against Ukraine, Prigozhin's plans for Bakhmut: last night's highlights
The sudden truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin may turn out to be an information operation against Ukraine, and why PMC Wagner's founder set his sights on the town of Bakhmut. Here is what you may have missed from the previous night.
"Truce" is an information operation
According to the American Institute for the Study of War, the sudden announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin of a "ceasefire" for Eastern Orthodox Christmas is probably an information operation to damage Ukraine's reputation.
According to analysts, Putin hardly expects Ukraine to accept unfavorable conditions of the sudden "ceasefire", but wants to present it as a party that rejects negotiations.
In addition, according to ISW, the religious justification of the "ceasefire" reinforces another Russian information operation that presents Ukraine as an oppressor of the Orthodox and Putin as a defender of the Christian faith.
At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the proposal of a "Christmas truce" from Vladimir Putin is an attempt to take a breather to continue the war with renewed vigor.
Why "Putin's chef" wants Bakhmut
Reuters journalists, citing a White House official, write that the founder and sponsor of the private military company Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is trying to seize Bakhmut in order to control the salt and gypsum deposits in the city.
Deprivation of citizenship for "extremism"
Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a law that allows stripping people convicted of "extremist activities" of their citizenship.
The definition may include opposition leaders who are in exile after the 2020 presidential election.
Earlier, in Minsk, security forces detained a priest because he prayed for Ukrainian soldiers.
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