Policy Backgrounders

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Geopolitics Hub

Policy Backgrounders

CED’s Policy Backgrounders provide timely insights on prominent business and economic policy issues facing the nation.

The Weekly News Round-Up: Geopolitical Developments 35

January 20, 2023

Military developments: General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with his Ukrainian counterpart, General Valery Zaluzhny, at an undisclosed location in Poland. A US military source told the press that “[i]t makes a difference” when “two very important military officials look at each other in the eye when they talk about very important topics.” NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes arrived in Romania to assist in monitoring Russian military activity. The flights will occur solely over NATO territory, not Ukraine. Russia will reorganize its military command structure, including establishing new commands in northern Russia near the border with Finland, by 2026 and expand its forces from 1.15 million to 1.5 million, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu also said that “self-sufficient” Russian units would be placed in Ukrainian territories that Russia has annexed. A Russian missile struck an apartment building in Dnipro, killing 45 people; some Russians set up a small memorial to the victims of the attack at a statue of a Ukrainian writer in Moscow. A reported commander of the Wagner Group of mercenaries fighting alongside Russia sought asylum in Norway.

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