Reuters World News - Ukraine wobbles, 40 days after Wagner death and SBF's trial

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

Ukraine gets left behind on two fronts as Congress avoids a shutdown by stripping funding for Kyiv and Ukraine’s neighbour Slovakia elects a pro-Russian candidate, who has vowed to end its support. The trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried begins this week, as does Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial. Plus the fallout from a suicide attack in Turkey’s capital, and how 24 hours in Nagorno Karabkh has altered the balance of power on Russia’s doorstep. *This podcast was updated to correct the pronunciation of Travis Kelce’s name. Apologies from London. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Ukraine gets a political kicking from afar and close to home, as Congress avoids a shutdown by stripping funding for Kiev, and Slovakia elects a pro-Russian candidate who vows not to arm its neighbor. Plus, Sam Bankman-Fried has his day in court, Wagner remembers its fallen leader, and how 24 hours altered the balance of power on Russia's doorstep. It's Monday, October 2nd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes.

Every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in London. A surprise, last-minute twist in Congress means for now, the US will avoid a shutdown, though the fight over Ukraine funding is just beginning. We kept the government open, kept paying our troops. Hours before deadline, House Republican Kevin McCarthy, reversed course, putting a stopgap government funding bill up for a vote. It passed with more support from Democrats than Republicans.

And while the bill left out funding for Kyiv, President Joe Biden vowed the U.S. would not stop aiding Ukraine. And I want to assure our American allies and the American people and the people of Ukraine that you can count on our support, we will not walk away. As for McCarthy, keeping the government open might have cost him his job. Hardline Republican representative Matt Gates is calling to remove McCarthy as speaker for working with Democrats. McCarthy said he welcomed the challenge. If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it.

As Ukraine awaits a resolution of American infighting, it can no longer necessarily count on support from neighboring Slovakia. A pro-Russian candidate there who campaigned on ending military aid to Ukraine, won parliamentary elections. Robert Fico says Slovakia has problems other than Ukraine. Turkey says it's killed many Kurdish militants in air strikes in northern Iraq. The strikes were in response to a suicide attack by Kurdish rebels on government buildings in Ankara. Donald Trump says he'll attend a New York court today for his civil fraud trial. The former president has already been found liable for fraud.

in a surprise pre-trial hearing. He denies the charges. A grizzly bear has killed a couple and their dog in Alberta's Banff National Park. Park authorities were alerted to the attack from a GPS device, but the people were dead by the time they arrived. The bear was euthanized on site.

Millions of people tuned in to the Sunday night game between Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets. For many, the real action was in the video. VIP boxes. That's where pop star Taylor Swift, along with celebrity friends, Hugh Jackman and Blake lively, were watching the action. Swift is reportedly dating Kansas City Chief's tight end, Travis Kelsey. And for the NFL, it's a match made in ratings heaven. It's time out for markets with Carmel Crimmons and Carmel relief out there with that last-minute deal to avert the government shutdown. There is relief. U.S. futures are up and treasuries are down,

but this spending bill is literally a stopgap measure. So the shutdown risks are delayed till next month. They're not eliminated. So we're talking some relief but not euphoria. And without the immediate risk of a government shutdown, interest rates and fed hawkishness are back in focus as the main driver of markets over the next few weeks. Memorials were held in Moscow, St. Petersburg,

and other Russian cities on Sunday to mark 40 days since the death of Wagner mercenary. boss, Yevgeny Progogsian. A key moment for mourning in the Eastern Orthodox Church, people laid flowers and waved black Wagner flags featuring the group's skull insignia. One Wagner member wearing medals and a black scarf to cover his face

said the group and its traditions are still alive. But for how long? Guy Falcumbridge is in Moscow. Wagner is pretty unclear, actually. The real problem for the Kremlin here is the Kremlin doesn't want to destroy Wagner as a fighting force. They see it as a useful instrument. But at the same time, the Kremlin does not want Pregosin Mark II. It doesn't want a powerful mercenary who is also mutinous. So that what they want, what the Kremlin wants, is to preserve the fighting force while ensuring the loyalty of Wagner. And that Wagner does not pose a threat ever again

to the Russian state. Guy, we saw Putin last week discussing the Ukraine war with one of Progosian's former commanders. Will Wagner be sent back to the front lines? So the meeting last week is a pretty big hint, I think, that Wagner will or Wagner fighters will be involved in the Ukraine war in some way. And it's good to remember, you know, at its height, Wagner was one of the most battle-hardened mercenary groups in the world.

with tens of thousands of fighters. So if Wagner does get involved again in the Ukraine war, that's quite a big deal. The fraud trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried kicks off this week. The former crypto billionaire has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors say he stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to plug losses. at Alameda Research, the crypto-focused hedge fund he controlled. If found guilty on all counts, he faces a maximum of 110 years in prison. Luke Cohen will be following the trial.

So Luke, prosecutors plan to use SBF's inner circle as witnesses against him. Tell us who's expected to testify. Caroline Ellison, who was the chief executive of Alameda, on and off romantic partner of San Bankman Freeds is one of three former members of Bankman Freed's inner circle who have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, including by testifying against him at trial. The others are Gary Wang, who was the FTX technology chief and Nishad Singh, FTX's engineering chief. What Sam Bankman Freed's defense expected to be? Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers have signaled in court papers that they plan to argue, one, that FTC's use of customer funds was lawful.

They say that just like a bank can take its deposits and make loans with them, that FTX was allowed to make investments with customer funds as long as customers were ultimately able to withdraw. And so the argument is a little bit, yes, he may have been a poor chief executive and he himself has admitted to inadequate risk management, but really they're expected to try to pin a lot of the blame for the failures of FTX and Alameda on other executives and employees, including likely the three set to testify against him. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's smaller neighbors in the southern caucuses have relied on Moscow to keep the peace. But no longer. With Russia distracted by the war in Ukraine, Azerbaijan last month seized its chance.

In just 24 hours, it quashed a decades-old separatist movement in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Most of the enclave's 120,000 ethnic Armenians fled. Andrew Osborne has been looking at what this means for Russia's influence in the region. So for Russia, this is not really good news. have regarded this part of the world. The South Caucasus, it's called, as their own backyard for decades and decades. They had Russian peacekeepers, Russian soldiers on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, meant to keep the peace. But what happened was that Azerbaijani forces swept in to Karabakh, and the Russians apparently were only given a few minutes notice, and they frankly stood aside,

you know, they did not do anything, they did not intervene. They say this was because they had no such mandate to do so. But many people in the region, particularly the Karabakh Armenians and other Armenians, feel betrayed by the Russians and are accusing them of really turning their back on them. Why didn't Russia come to Armenia's aid? What we've seen is that for many, many years, Armenia was a staunch, a really close ally of Russia, and it was ruled by people who were pro-Russian. That all changed, though, in 2018, when a former journalist called Nicole Pashinyan became the prime minister there. And he has since really tried to test the waters and tried to reorient his country in a more western direction.

The fact that relations have soured, in a sense, means that there was perhaps less goodwill from the Russian side to facilitate some kind of help for Armenia. And indeed, Russia has accused Armenia of really digging its own grave over the Karabakh crisis. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. be back on Tuesday with our daily news show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.