Há 22 horas
domingo, 19 de abril de 2026
Opening summary
2h ago
07.11 BST
Opening
summary
Welcome
to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
- Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Saturday that the recent talks with the US had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the strait of Hormuz. “We have had progress but there is still a big distance between us,” he told state media, referring to talks last weekend. “We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain.”
- President Donald Trump said the US was having “very good conversations” with Tehran but warned against “blackmail” over the key shipping channel. He later praised war ally Israel in a social media post, adding that other allies had “shown their true colours in a moment of conflict and stress”.
- It comes after Iranian officials reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.
- A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.
- Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday that Tehran had restored the strait to its “previous status” and was now “under strict management and control by the armed forces”.
- Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis according to reporting from Axios. A senior US official said that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days.
In other
developments:
- After the initial talks between the US and Iran last weekend in Pakistan, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said a second date cannot be set until both sides “have agreed on the framework”.
- Iran’s supreme national security council, the country’s highest decision-making body under the supreme leader, said it is reviewing “new proposals” put forward by the US, according to Iranian media.
- Hezbollah has denied it was involved in the deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which killed a French soldier. A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured after a patrol came under attack from “non-state actors”, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said.
- Israeli forces on Saturday began demolishing homes in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil and other border towns where Israeli troops are present, Lebanese state media reported.
- The Israeli military killed two Unicef-contracted truck drivers at a water point in the northern Gaza Strip, forcing the UN agency to suspend its operations in the area, Unicef said.
- Pope Leo XIV said that it is “not in my interest at all” to debate Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.
- Trump left the White House Saturday afternoon to play golf, despite Iran’s re-closure of the strait of Hormuz in response to the US blockade of Iranian port
sábado, 18 de abril de 2026
Russian lifestyle blogger and former reality TV star Viktoria Bonya recently went viral after posting an 18-minute video directly addressed to Vladimir Putin, stating, "Vladimir Vladimirovich, people are afraid of you".
.jpeg)
Russian
blogger’s fierce critique of Kremlin goes viral: ‘People are afraid of you’
Russian
lifestyle blogger and former reality TV star Viktoria Bonya recently went viral
after posting an 18-minute video directly addressed to Vladimir Putin, stating,
"Vladimir Vladimirovich, people are afraid of you".
The
video, which has amassed over 26 million views and 1.4 million likes on
Instagram, represents a rare public challenge to the Kremlin from a prominent
influencer who has previously supported the president.
Key
Arguments in the Video
Bonya’s
critique focuses on the disconnect between the Russian leadership and the
reality of life for ordinary citizens. Her main points include:
Culture
of Fear: She warned Putin that "the public is afraid of you, bloggers,
artists are afraid of you, governors are afraid of you".
The
"Coiled Spring" Metaphor: She cautioned that the Russian people are
being "squeezed into a coiled spring" by officials and that one day
that spring will "shoot out" or "snap".
Information
Isolation: She alleged that Putin is being given "unreliable
information" by regional officials and is unaware of the true extent of
domestic suffering.
Specific
Grievances: Bonya highlighted local crises she says are being ignored, such as
devastating flooding in Dagestan, an oil spill near Anapa, livestock culling in
Siberia, and recent sweeping internet and social media restrictions.
The
Kremlin's Response
In a
highly unusual move, the Kremlin publicly acknowledged the criticism:
Rare
Acknowledgment: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that officials had seen
the popular video and that "work is actually being done" on the
topics she raised.
Denial of
Isolation: While acknowledging the issues, Peskov firmly denied that Putin is
shielded from bad news, asserting that as head of state, he deals with
"the widest range of issues".
Reaction
from Bonya: Following the Kremlin's response, Bonya posted a follow-up video
where she burst into tears of joy, thanking the authorities for paying
attention to her concerns.
Context
and Critical Analysis
Bonya,
who is based in Monaco, has faced mixed reactions. Some Kremlin critics and
opposition figures, such as Ivan Zhdanov, suggest the appeal might be a form of
"controlled opposition"—a coordinated effort to let people feel heard
while reinforcing the "good Tsar" narrative (portraying Putin as a
well-meaning leader misled by incompetent subordinates).
The viral
post comes as official state polls show Putin's approval ratings at their
lowest level since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, amid rising taxes and internet
shutdowns
Russian blogger’s fierce critique of Kremlin goes viral: ‘People are afraid of you’
Russian
blogger’s fierce critique of Kremlin goes viral: ‘People are afraid of you’
Victoria
Bonya says authorities too scared to raise issues with Vladimir Putin, whose
approval ratings are declining
Pjotr
Sauer
Sat 18
Apr 2026 09.00 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/18/russian-blogger-fierce-kremlin-critique-goes-viral
The
Kremlin is grappling with the fallout from the viral spread of a celebrity
blogger’s criticism of Russian authorities, as Vladimir Putin’s approval
ratings register their sixth consecutive weekly decline.
Victoria
Bonya, a household name in Russia who rose to fame in 2006 on Dom-2, the
country’s answer to the reality TV show Big Brother, posted a video on Monday
warning the Russian president that a string of mounting problems risked
spiralling out of control.
“The
people are afraid of you, artists are afraid, governors are afraid,” she said,
in the 18-minute video on Instagram, which has garnered 26m views and more than
1.3m likes in the past four days.
She
rattled off a list of issues she said no regional governor would dare raise
with Putin directly: flooding in Dagestan, oil pollution along the Black Sea
coast, livestock culls in Siberia, internet blackouts and a squeeze on small
businesses from rising prices and taxes.
“You know
what the risk is?” asked Bonya, who lives outside Russia. “That people will
stop being afraid, and they’re being squeezed into a coiled spring, and that one day that
coiled spring will shoot out.”
Moscow on
Thursday took the unusual step of publicly acknowledging the sharp
criticism, saying work was under way to address problems identified by Bonya.
The
influencer’s comments notably stopped short of directly targeting Putin himself
or the war in Ukraine, prompting speculation that the intervention may have
been coordinated with Moscow to signal that public grievances are being heard
before parliamentary elections later this year.
The
approach fits a familiar Kremlin playbook: casting Putin as the “good tsar”
kept in the dark by errant officials. The narrative has helped the president
deflect blame for the country’s problems on to subordinates, preserving his
personal standing even as discontent grows.
Political
analysts, however, said the outburst was unlikely to have been coordinated, but
rather reflected a spontaneous reaction to simmering discontent across the
country.
“War
fatigue is really starting to set in,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, a Moscow-based
political scientist and author of a recent book on Putin’s ideology. “It is
beginning to click in people’s minds that everything that is happening is a
consequence of the war.”
Kolesnikov
added that it had become increasingly difficult for the authorities to explain
away the war’s impact on everyday life, from the economic slowdown to
tightening internet restrictions.
Abbas
Gallyamov, an exiled former Putin adviser, said public appeals from Russian
celebrities such as Bonya could lead to further discontent among society.
“Bonya is bringing a fundamentally new audience into the opposition camp that
wasn’t there before,” he said.
“Their
dissatisfaction is also growing, there are problems with the internet, prices
in stores are rising, the war is getting on their nerves. The state is
intruding into their private lives,” he said.
Putin’s
approval and trust ratings have slipped to their lowest levels since the
February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to a string of recent opinion
polls from state and independent organisations.
At a
meeting with top officials on Wednesday, the president tacitly acknowledged
strains in the economy, pressing the government and the central bank to explain
why performance has fallen short of expectations this year.
Putin is
also facing simmering anger from the hawkish community of pro-war bloggers,
some of whom embed with frontline units, who have grown increasingly frustrated
with Moscow’s slow progress on the battlefield and mounting losses.
Andrey
Filatov, a reporter for Russia Today, wrote this week: “Actual losses are
either concealed entirely or spread out over time, creating the impression at
the top that the situation is not so critical. As a result, the army is not
adapting.”
Subscrever:
Comentários (Atom)
