Russian Defense Minister Appears for First Time Since Wagner Mutiny 

In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
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Russian Defense Minister Appears for First Time Since Wagner Mutiny 

In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared for the first time since a deal was struck on Saturday to end what the authorities had called an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group aimed at ousting him. 

In a video released on Monday morning by the Russian Defense Ministry, Shoigu was shown flying in a plane with a colleague and hearing reports at a command post run by Russia's Zapad (West) military grouping. 

There was no sound on the video and it was not immediately clear where or when the visit had taken place. 

Russia's Zvezda Defense Ministry TV Channel said Shoigu, who looked physically unharmed and calm, had listened to a report by Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, the group's commander, about the current situation on the frontlines in Ukraine. 

In his mutiny during which he seized control of Russia's military headquarters in southern Russia, renegade Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had demanded that Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff, be handed over to him so that he could "restore justice." 

Prigozhin accused both men of gross incompetence and corruption and had long been agitating for their removal. 

Gerasimov has not been seen since in public, and there was no word from the Kremlin about any new personnel changes when it described the deal which had ended the mutiny. 

The Kremlin said the question of personnel changes was the sole prerogative of President Vladimir Putin and could hardly have been part of any deal. 

Zvezda said Shoigu on his visit had heard about the formation of new reserve forces for the "Zapad" military grouping and had noted what it called the Russian army's "high efficiency" at "detecting and destroying enemy military equipment and accumulations of personnel in tactical areas." 

He had tasked them with continuing active reconnaissance in order to reveal the enemy's plans to thwart Ukrainian forces' movements far behind the frontlines, it said. 

Zvezda said Shoigu had also paid particular attention to what it called "the organization of all-round support for the troops involved in the Special Military Operation and the creation of conditions for the safe housing of personnel." 

Mutineers led by Prigozhin on Saturday advanced towards Moscow to remove what they called Russia's corrupt and incompetent military leadership, before suddenly heading back to a Russia-held area of eastern Ukraine after a deal with the Kremlin brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. 

The deal, as publicly described by the Kremlin, saw criminal charges against the mutineers dropped in exchange for their return to camps. Prigozhin will relocate to Belarus under the agreement. 



France Expels Iranian Suspected of Having Links to IRGC

FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz  (IRAN)/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz (IRAN)/File Photo
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France Expels Iranian Suspected of Having Links to IRGC

FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz  (IRAN)/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz (IRAN)/File Photo

France on Wednesday expelled an Iranian suspected of influence peddling on behalf of Tehran and having links to the Revolutionary Guard’s ideological army, his lawyer and Iranian officials said.
Biazar had been held in administrative detention since the beginning of June and was subject to a deportation order from the French interior ministry, said AFP..
His lawyer, Rachid Lemoudaa, said that the expulsion order was based on assumptions and that his client “have never been made aware of any threat whatsoever".
Mohammad Mahdi Rahimi, the head of public relations for the office of the Iranian president, wrote on X that Biazar "has been released and is on his way back to his homeland."
The case has emerged at a time of heightened tensions between Paris and Tehran, with three French citizens, described by France as "state hostages," still imprisoned in Iran.
A fourth French detainee, Louis Arnaud, held in Iran since September 2022, was suddenly released last month.
Activist group Iran Justice and victims of human rights violations filed the torture complaint against Biazar last month in Paris.
A representative of the French interior ministry, speaking at a hearing earlier Wednesday, said Biazar was an "agent of influence, an agitator who promotes the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran and, more worryingly, harasses opponents of the regime."
The representative accused Biazar of filming journalists from Iranian opposition media in September in front of the Iranian consulate in Paris after an arson attack on the building.
French authorities also accused him of posting messages on social networks in connection with the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in which he denounced "Zionist dogs."
The complaint referred to the regular broadcasts by Iranian state television of statements by, and even interviews with, Iranian or foreign prisoners, which activists regard as forced confessions.
"It is incomprehensible ... that no legal proceedings have been initiated" against Biazar, Chirinne Ardakani, the Paris-based lawyer behind the complaint, told AFP.
She said there were "serious indications" implicating Biazar "in the production, recording and broadcasting of forced confessions obtained clearly under torture."
"Nothing is clear in this case," she added.
The French citizens still held in Iran are Cecile Kohler, a teacher, and her partner Jacques Paris, detained since May 2022, and another man identified only as Olivier.
Kohler appeared on Iranian television in October 2022 giving comments activists said amounted to a forced confession.
Amnesty International describes Kohler as "arbitrarily detained ... amidst mounting evidence Iran's authorities are holding her hostage to compel specific action[s] by French authorities."