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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its worldwide impact helped push global defense spending to a record high last year, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Global defense expenditures rose by 3.7 percent to reach an all-time high of $2.24 trillion, the group reported, while taking into account soaring inflation.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it “respects the sovereign status of the former Soviet countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.” A ministry spokeswoman was responding to growing backlash in Europe to remarks by Beijing’s ambassador to France that questioned the legitimacy of former Soviet states.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Discussions between Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin and associates are detailed in documents as part of an “evolving plan to topple” the Chadian government, which faces the twin security challenges of growing Russian influence and Islamist insurgencies in the Sahel region, Rachel Chason reports. Chad has adopted more repressive tactics against dissidents, but critics say regional security challenges have blunted the Western response.
Robyn Dixon. Shane Harris, John Hudson, Isabelle Khurshudyan and David Stern contributed to this report.
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