The Russian television reporter was in Baghdad on the morning of March 20, 2003. As American bombs began to pound the Iraqi capital, Minakov found himself at the center of the massive shelling.
President Putin s backing for authoritarian regimes in West and Central Africa bolsters his confrontation with France and the EU, The Kremlin is working hard to diversify its influence in Africa and involve more of the Russian state in it, as far as international sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine will permit. It resents the western view that its role in the region is nothing more than the Wagner Group, run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Vladimir Putin confidant.
On March 25, the Pentagon reported that Russia had given SaddamHussein intelligence about U.S. military plans for the invasion ofIraq back in the spring of 2003.