The Petrogradsky District Court of St. Petersburg in Russia has sentenced 19-year-old activist Daria Kozyreva to two years and eight months in prison for "discrediting the armed forces" by publicly posting a verse of 19th-century Ukrainian poetry in protest of Russia's war in Ukraine, according to local media sources.

In Episode 273 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg happily notes how the entire political spectrum in Greenland has united against Trump's design to annex the country—and breaks down how the MAGA agenda for the Arctic interlocks with Putin's agenda for Europe, and the world. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

The United Nations Human Rights Council on April 4 passed a resolution demanding accountability for violations and abuses by Syria's ousted Bashar Assad regime through "transitional justice," and declaring support for "the commitments of the interim authorities"  to an "orderly and inclusive transition" and establishment of a timeline for free elections. Assad al-Shaibani, foreign minister of the newly re-founded Syrian Arab Republic, welcomed the resolution, viewing it as an acknowledgement of the government's "local and international efforts to protect human rights."

The Israeli military on April 2 carried out air-strikes on several sites in Syria—including Tiyas airbase, also known as T4, and Palmyra airbase, both in Homs province. The interim government in Damascus called the strikes "a blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz responded in a statement addressed to President Ahmed al-Sharaa: "If you allow forces hostile to Israel to enter Syria and endanger Israeli security interests—you will pay a very heavy price." This was a barely veiled reference to Turkey. Local media reports indicate that Turkish forces are preparing to deploy to the T4 and Palmyra bases. Ankara reportedly plans to install Hisar-O and Hisar-U air defense systems and potentially the long-range SIPER system at these locations. The deployment of a Russian-made S-400 system is also under consideration, pending Moscow's approval. 

Speaking at an International Conference on Combating Antisemitism held in Jerusalem last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned against "the fires of anti-Semitism" in Europe and blamed stateside campus protests against Israel's bombardment of Gaza on "a systemic alliance between the ultra-progressive left and radical Islam."

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded March 19 that widespread enforced disappearances and torture committed by Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine constitute "crimes against humanity." The announcement marks a significant development, as crimes against humanity constitute one of the most serious classifications of international crimes.

The New York Times reported March 17 that the United States is withdrawing from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA), created to hold Russia accountable for its invasion and seizure of territory in Ukraine. "The US authorities have informed me that they will conclude their involvement in the ICPA by the end of March," Michael Schmid, president of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EuroJust) told the Times.

The Helsinki District Court in Finland on March 14 sentenced a 38-year-old man to life for committing war crimes in Ukraine. Voislav Torden, 38, a Russian-Norwegian better known as Yan Petrovskiy, was deputy commander of a neo-Nazi paramilitary unit called Rusich, which participated in Russia's first incursions into Ukraine in 2014. According to prosecutors, Petrovskyi was responsible for leading an attack on Ukraine's eastern frontier, which left approximately 20 Ukrainian troops dead. Petrovskyi was accused of ordering his men to carve Rusich's emblem into the chest of a wounded Ukrainian soldier. He was also charged for posing with a dead soldier's body for photos, which were later uploaded to social media.