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May
Russian troops ill-prepared for Ukraine war, says ex-Kremlin mercenary
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Russian military's failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, according to a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian army.
Marat Gabidullin took part in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin's behalf in Syria and in a previous conflict in Ukraine, before deciding to go public about his experience inside the secretive private military company.
He quit the Wagner group in 2019, but several months before Russia launched the invasion on Feb. 24 Gabidullin, 55, said he received a call from a recruiter who invited him to go back to fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
He refused, in part because, he said, he knew Russian forces were not up to the job, even though they trumpeted their arsenal of new weapons and their successes in Syria where they helped President Bashar al-Assad defeat an armed rebellion.
"They were caught completely by surprise that the Ukrainian army resisted so fiercely and that they faced the actual army," Gabidullin said about Russia's setbacks in Ukraine.
He said people he spoke to on the Russian side had told him they expected to face rag-tag militias when they invaded Ukraine, not well-drilled regular troops.
"I told them: 'Guys, that's a mistake'," said Gabidullin, who is now in France where he is publishing a book about his experiences fighting with the Wagner Group.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know who Gabidullin was and whether he has ever been a member of private military companies.
"We, the state, the government, the Kremlin can not have anything to do with it," he said.
The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
Gabidullin is part of a small but growing cohort of people in Russia with security backgrounds who have supported President Vladimir Putin's foreign incursions but now say the way the war is being conducted is incompetent.
Igor Girkin, who helped lead a pro-Kremlin armed revolt in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has been critical of the way this campaign is being conducted. Alexei Alexandrov, an architect of the 2014 rebellion, told Reuters in March the invasion was a mistake. read more
Gabidullin took part in some of the bloodiest Syrian clashes in Deir al-Zor province, in Ghouta and near the ancient city of Palmyra. He was seriously injured in 2016 when a grenade exploded behind his back during a battle in the mountains near Latakia.
Gabidullin spent a week in a coma and three months in a hospital where he had surgeries to remove one of his kidneys and some intestines. Reuters has independently verified he was in the Wagner Group and was in combat in Syria.
Wagner Group fighters have been accused by rights groups and the Ukrainian government of committing war crimes in Syria and eastern Ukraine from 2014 onwards. Gabidullin said he had never been involved in such abuses.
DIFFERENT PROPOSITION
Moscow's involvement helped turn the tide of the Syrian war in favour of al-Assad, but Gabidullin said Russia's military restricted itself mainly to attacks from the air, while relying on Wagner mercenaries and other proxies to do the lion's share of the fighting on the ground.
The Russian military's task was easier too. Its opponents -- Islamic State and other militias -- had no anti-aircraft systems or artillery.
Fighting Ukraine, he said, was a different proposition.
"I've seen enough of them in Syria... (The Russian military) didn't take part in combat directly," he said in an interview in Paris to promote his book, which will be published by French publishing house Michel Lafon this month.
"The military forces .... when it was needed to learn how to fight, did not learn how to fight for real," he said.
Wagner Group is an informal entity, with -- on paper at least -- no offices or staff. The U.S. Treasury Department and the European Union have said the Wagner Group is linked to Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin has denied any such links.
Concord Management and Consulting, Prigozhin’s main business, did not respond to a request for comment.
President Vladimir Putin has said private military contractors have the right to work and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they do not break Russian law. Putin has said the Wagner Group neither represented the Russian state nor was paid by it.
Gabidullin said although he had known the Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming, he did not expect it to be on such a scale.
"I could not even think that Russia will wage a war on Ukraine. How could that be? It's impossible," he said. (Reuters)
May
World Health Organization members pass resolution against Russia
Written by Nur Yasmin
Members of the World Health Organization's European region passed a resolution on Tuesday that could result in the closure of Russia's regional office and the suspension of meetings in the country in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The special session of the European region passed the resolution, supported by Ukraine and the European Union, with 43 in favour and 3 against (Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan) and 2 abstentions.
Backers consider it an important political step to isolate Moscow and said they were at pains to avoid any major impact on Russia's health system. The resolution referred to a "health emergency" in Ukraine, referring to mass casualties as well as risks of chronic and infectious diseases that have resulted from Russia's military actions.
Russia's envoy Andrey Plutnitsky opposed the resolution and said he was "extremely disappointed".
"We believe this is a huge moment of harm for the system of global healthcare," he told the meeting of members and top WHO officials.
Some have criticised the WHO resolution, saying it does not go far enough. Diplomats told Reuters they had dropped efforts to suspend Russia from the WHO executive board due to legal technicalities, although members could seek to freeze Russia's voting rights at a major meeting later this month.
Moscow calls its actions since Feb. 24 a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and rid it of what it calls anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression. (Reuters)
May
Japan to take time phasing out Russian oil imports, says PM Kishida
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan will take time to phase out Russian oil imports after agreeing on a ban with other Group of Seven (G7) nations to counter Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday.
The G7 nations committed to the move "in a timely and orderly fashion" at an online meeting on Sunday to put further pressure on President Vladimir Putin, although members such as resource-poor Japan depend heavily on Russian fuel. read more
"For a country heavily dependent on energy imports, it's a very difficult decision. But G7 coordination is most important at a time like now," Kishida told reporters, repeating comments he made at the G7 meeting.
"As for the timing of the reduction or stoppage of (Russian) oil imports, we will consider it while gauging the actual situation," he said. "We will take our time to take steps towards a phase-out." He did not elaborate.
There have been no ships loading Russian oil for Japan since mid-April, according to Refinitiv data. About 1.9 million barrels were exported from Russia to Japan in April, 33% down from the same month a year ago.
The country imported a total of 89 million barrels of oil in March.
The Ukraine crisis has highlighted Japan's energy dependence on Russia even as Tokyo has acted swiftly and in tandem with the G7 in instituting sanctions.
The latest ban underlines a turn in Japan's policy. Japan has said it would be difficult to immediately cut off Russian oil imports, which accounted for about 33 million barrels of Japan's overall oil imports, or 4%, for 2021. read more
It has already said it will ban Russian coal imports in stages, leaving just liquefied natural gas (LNG). Japan is in a particularly tough spot since it shut down the bulk of its nuclear reactors following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Russia was Japan's fifth-biggest supplier of crude oil and LNG last year.
The Japanese government and companies own stakes in oil and LNG projects in Russia, including two on Sakhalin Island from which partners Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Shell PLC (SHEL.L) have announced they will exit.
Still, Japan's biggest oil refiner, Eneos Holdings Inc (5020.T), has already stopped buying Russian crude, saying it would get supplies from the Middle East. Second-ranked Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (5019.T) also said it has no plan to purchase Russian crude. read more
"Japan's major refiners have already suspended signing any new term contracts to buy Russian oil and there have been no issues in securing alternatives," Shinya Okuda, senior managing director of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), told Reuters.
"Refiners will continue their efforts to diversify supply sources, but Japan's dependency on the Middle East crude will have to increase in the short term as the region's supply capacity is so high," he said. The Middle East accounted for 93% of Japan's oil imports in 2021.
On Friday, trading firm Marubeni Corp (8002.T) said it wanted to withdraw from the Sakhalin-1 oil project but was keeping its stake in line with government policy. read more
Kishida said on Monday there was no change to the government's policy of keeping business interests in the various Russian energy assets.
PAJ's Okuda said it was better to maintain the concessions considering Japan's energy situation, and it would be unwise to give them up and let China or others take them as Japan has the concessions under good conditions. (Reuters)
May
South Korea's incoming government considers joining U.S. economic pact
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea is "positively considering" joining an Indo-Pacific economic pact planned by the United States, a government official said on Monday, after domestic media said the incoming administration had decided to join as a founding member.
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) could launch as soon this month, to fill a gap in engagement with the region since 2017, when then President Donald Trump quit a multinational deal that became the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). read more
"It is listed in 110 national tasks that the incoming government is positively considering," said a South Korean finance ministry official, who sought anonymity in line with government practice.
The remarks came after the Asia Business Daily, citing government sources, said the government of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is set to be sworn in on Tuesday, had decided to join the pact on its launch.
The launch is expected after a visit from May 20 to 24 by President Joe Biden to Japan and South Korea, where Yoon's incoming administration has signalled it seeks closer alignment with the U.S.-led trade and diplomatic order. read more
Participation in the pact was one of the aspects considered in the reviews performed by Yoon's transition team, added the official, who declined to confirm the media report, however.
The daily said the United States seeks the participation of major regional economies, from Australia and Japan to New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.
Yoon's government wants South Korea to "lead trade conditions in the Indo-Pacific region" by joining both key pacts and seeking to revive a third, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a transition panel document showed. (Reuters)
May
Taiwan says 'very difficult' to get WHO invite, but trying hard
Written by Nur Yasmin
It will be "very difficult" for Taiwan to get an invite to a major World Health Organization meeting this month, but efforts are continuing, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Monday.
Taiwan is excluded from most global organisations because of objections from China, which considers it one of its provinces and not a separate country. In particular, Taipei has complained that exclusion from the WHO has hampered efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan attended the World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision-making body, as an observer from 2009-2016 when Taipei-Beijing relations warmed. But China blocked further participation after the election of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who China views as a separatist - a charge she rejects.
Taking lawmaker questions in parliament, Wu said they were continuing to seek an invite.
"The difficulty is very high, but we are still proactively striving for it," he added.
While China has signalled it would not approve an invite for Taiwan this year, the democratically governed island has won strong support from Western allies, including the G7 group of advanced industrialised countries, to be allowed in.
The U.S. House of Representatives last month unanimously passed legislation calling on the State Department to submit a plan to help Taiwan regain its observer status. read more
Taiwan's Deputy Health Minister Lee Li-feng is leading a delegation to Geneva, where she hopes to have meetings with other health ministers on the sidelines and press Taiwan's case for participation, Wu said.
Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung will be staying put to oversee the fight against a surge in COVID-19 cases at home, with some 290,000 infections reported since the start of the year, though most those have had either no or light symptoms. (Reuters)
May
South Korea's new president carves his own route to the top
Written by Nur Yasmin
Yoon Suk-yeol seals his surge to the summit of South Korean politics on Tuesday when the man who once dreamt of becoming a pastor, but was nicknamed the 'fighting cock' for his tenacity as a prosecutor, is sworn in as president.
Elected in March, the 61-year-old former prosecutor-general only formally entered the cut and thrust of Korean politics when he declared his run for the presidency last June. That came after he was courted by the conservative bloc for showcasing his uncompromising nature by filing bribery charges against a key aide to outgoing President Moon Jae-in - the man who hired him.
Described by colleagues as both feisty and gregarious, Yoon ran on a ticket to fight corruption and create a more level economic playing field, while seeking a tougher line on North Korea. His appointment to prosecutor-general in 2019 came after more than two decades in the legal service, jailing many across the national political spectrum for corruption. read more
Born in 1960 in Seoul, Yoon graduated from a mission elementary school, where he has said he harboured ambitions to be a pastor, before deciding to study law on the advice of his father, a renowned economic professor. But Yoon was late to the prosecutors' office, passing the bar exam only on his ninth attempt in 1991.
Yoon likes people and socialising over drinks, and still maintains long-standing links with friends who now occupy key government and corporate posts, aides told Reuters.
He values trust among his staff, and had scrapped a plan to send a group of envoys to Washington after a media leak, reviving it only after North Korea broke a moratorium on long-range missile testing in March, two people who worked with his team said. The people declined to be identified because of diplomatic sensitivity.
Recalling his unique path to the highest office, Yoon said in a recent television show: "I wasn't really anxious, and slept well during the campaign, but since the election, I've been struggling to get a good sleep."
"I guess loneliness is what being the president means ... You know, former U.S. President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that says 'The buck stops here'."
As a prosecutor, his unbending nature and adherence to the rules helped him climb the career ladder at times.
But his record of antagonising powerful people also resulted in several demotions - moments that he has joked gave him time to work on his cooking skills.
His defining ethos? In a 2013 hearing that made waves in Seoul, Yoon told lawmakers, "I am not loyal to any person" - underlining his obedience to law, not those in power. (Reuters)
May
Sri Lanka prime minister resigns, curfew imposed after clashes
Written by Nur Yasmin
Sri Lanka's prime minister resigned on Monday, hours after clashes with pro- and anti-government demonstrators in the commercial capital Colombo amid the country's worst economic crisis that has spurred protests by thousands.
During weeks of unprecedented demonstrations, protesters across the island nation of 22 million people have demanded that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, quit for mishandling the economy.
In a statement, the prime minister's office said the 76-year-old veteran politician had resigned.
"A few moments ago, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa sent his letter of resignation to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa," the statement said.
In the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, the prime minister said he was quitting to help form an interim, unity government.
"Multiple stakeholders have indicated the best solution to the present crisis is the formation of an interim all-party government," the letter said.
"Therefore, I have tendered my resignation so the next steps can be taken in accordance with the Constitution."
His departure came during a day of chaos and violence which culminated in police imposing a curfew across the country.
The confrontation began with hundreds of ruling party supporters rallying outside the prime minister's official residence before marching to an anti-government protest site outside the presidential office.
Police had formed a line ahead of time on the main road leading towards the site but did little to stop pro-government protesters from advancing, according to a Reuters witness.
Pro-government supporters, some armed with iron bars, attacked anti-government demonstrators at the "Gota Go Gama" tent village that sprang up last month and became the focal point of nationwide protests.
Police used tear gas rounds and water cannon to break up the confrontation, the first major clash between pro-and anti-government supporters since the protests began in late March.
At least nine people were taken to Colombo's National Hospital for treatment relating to injuries or tear-gas inhalation, a hospital official said, declining to be named.
"This is a peaceful protest," Pasindu Senanayaka, an anti-government protestor told Reuters. "They attacked Gota Go Gama and set fire to our tents."
"We are helpless now, we are begging for help," Senanayaka said, as black smoke spiralled out of a burning tent nearby and parts of the protest camp lay in disarray.
Dozens of paramilitary troops with riot shields and helmets were deployed to keep both groups apart after the initial clashes. The army said it had also deployed soldiers in the area.
"Strongly condemn the violent acts taking place by those inciting & participating, irrespective of political allegiances," President Rajapaksa said in a tweet. "Violence won't solve the current problems."
Hit hard by the pandemic, rising oil prices and tax cuts, Sri Lanka has as little as $50 million of useable foreign reserves, Finance Minister Ali Sabry said last week.
The government has approached the International Monetary Fund for a bailout, and will begin a virtual summit on Monday with IMF officials aimed at securing emergency assistance.
Facing escalating anti-government protests, Rajapaksa's government last week declared a state of emergency for the second time in five weeks, but public discontent has steadily simmered.
Long queues for cooking gas in recent days have frequently turned into impromptu protests as frustrated consumers blocked roads. Domestic energy companies said they were running low on stocks of liquid petroleum gas mainly used for cooking.
Sri Lanka needs at least 40,000 tonnes of gas each month, and the monthly import bill would be $40 million at current prices.
"We are a bankrupt nation," said W.H.K Wegapitiya, chairman of Laugfs Gas, one of the country's two main gas suppliers.
"Banks don't have sufficient dollars for us to open lines of credit and we cannot go to the black market. We are struggling to keep our businesses afloat." (Reuters)
May
Russian ambassador doused in red by anti-war protesters in Poland
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Russian ambassador to Poland was doused in a red substance on Monday by people protesting against the war in Ukraine as he went to lay flowers at the Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw to mark the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
The war in Ukraine has cast a shadow over this year's Victory Day, when Moscow honours the 27 million Soviet citizens who lost their lives in World War Two. Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its resistance to Russia's invasion, opposed any large-scale commemoration taking place.
Video footage posted on Twitter showed the protesters, some with Ukrainian flags, surrounding the Russian delegation and chanting "fascists" before the ambassador was doused in the red substance.
Ambassador Sergey Andreev told reporters he and his team were not seriously hurt in the incident, TASS news agency reported.
"We will make a formal protest," he said. "When they recommended that we not hold a larger event, we met them halfway, we didn't aggravate the situation."
Earlier in the day the words "Kill Putin" were found written in blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian flag, on a monument at the cemetry, private broadcaster TVN24 reported. The writing was later removed.
One protester interviewed by TVN24 said it was good that the ambassador had been covered in red.
"With all our heart we are with Mariupol," she said, referring to the southeastern Ukrainian city that has been devastated by the war.
More than three million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the war started on Feb. 24.
Poland, home of the Solidarity trade union that played a key role in bringing down communism in central and eastern Europe, has long had a tense relationship with Russia and is an advocate of tough sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on what he calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
A Polish foreign ministry spokesman said he had no immediate comment on the incident. A police spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reuters)
May
'Like a prison': Shanghai, Beijing ratchet up COVID curbs
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's two largest cities tightened COVID-19 curbs on Monday, fuelling public angst and even questions about the legality of its uncompromising battle with the virus that has battered the world's second-largest economy.
In Shanghai, enduring its sixth week of lockdown, authorities have launched a new push to end infections outside quarantine zones by late May, according to people familiar with the matter. read more
While there has been no official announcement, residents in at least four of Shanghai's 16 districts received notices at the weekend saying they would not be allowed to leave their homes or receive deliveries, prompting a scramble to stock up on food.
Some of these people had previously been allowed to move around their residential compounds.
"Go home, go home!" a woman shouted through a megaphone at residents mingling below an apartment block impacted by the new restrictions on Sunday, a scene that might baffle the rest of the world that has opted to open up and live with the virus.
"It was like a prison," said Coco Wang, a Shanghai resident living under the new restrictions. "We are not afraid of the virus. We are afraid of this policy."
Meanwhile, in the most severe restrictions imposed in Beijing so far, an area in the southwest of the capital on Monday forbade residents from leaving their neighbourhoods and ordered all activities not related to virus prevention to halt.
In other badly-hit districts of Beijing, residents have been told to work from home, some restaurants and public transport have closed, and additional roads, compounds and parks were sealed off on Monday.
The restrictions have taken a heavy toll on China's economy.
China's export growth slowed to its weakest in almost two years, data on Monday showed, as the central bank pledged to step up support for the slowing economy.
In a stark sign of the stresses for business, China's auto association estimated that sales last month dropped a staggering 48% year-on-year as COVID restrictions shut factories and crimped domestic demand.
The curbs have also fuelled rare expressions of public anger, further inflamed by recent online accounts of authorities in Shanghai forcing neighbours of COVID-positive cases into centralised quarantine and demanding that they hand over the keys to their homes to be disinfected.
One video showed police picking a lock after a resident refused to open a door.
In another, a voice recording of a call circulated on the internet of a woman arguing with officials demanding to spray disinfectant in her home even though she had tested negative. Reuters was not able to independently verify the videos.
Professor Tong Zhiwei, who teaches law at the East China University of Political Science and Law, wrote in an essay widely circulated on social media on Sunday that such acts were illegal and should stop.
"Shanghai should set a good example for the whole country on how to carry out COVID prevention work in a scientific and legitimate way," Tong wrote.
Liu Dali, a lawyer from one of China's largest law firms, wrote a similar letter to authorities.
Copies of both letters have been censored from the Chinese internet though users have reposted screenshots. Posts from Tong's social media account on the Weibo site were blocked late on Sunday.
Liu and Tong did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China is adamant that it will stick to its zero-COVID policy to fight a disease that first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Authorities have warned against criticism of a policy they say is saving lives.
They point to much higher death tolls in other countries that have eased restrictions, or scrapped them altogether, in a bid to "live with COVID" even though infections are spreading.
"We must insist on regulating the flow and control of the movement of people," the Shanghai municipal government said in response to Reuters questions on the latest restrictions.
A "one-size-fits-all" approach should be avoided and each district was allowed to tighten measures according to its own situation, it said.
On Monday, Shanghai reported a drop in new cases for the 10th straight day.
Beijing has been hoping to avoid the weeks of lockdowns that Shanghai has endured but the growing number of residential buildings under lockdown orders is unnerving residents.
"I just rented an apartment in this compound, and I didn't receive any notice," said a 28-year-old resident of Changping district in north Beijing surnamed Wang after being barred from leaving her compound on Monday.
"I've already been working from home but I'm worried I might run out of daily supplies."
Residents received a notice later on Monday morning that positive cases had been detected in the area.
A nanny living in the same compound said the lockdown meant she was not able to get to a new job.
"Today is the first day of the job and now I can't go out," said the 40-year-old, who gave her name as Meizi. (Reuters)
May
'Like a prison': Shanghai, Beijing ratchet up COVID curbs
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's two largest cities tightened COVID-19 curbs on Monday, fuelling public angst and even questions about the legality of its uncompromising battle with the virus that has battered the world's second-largest economy.
In Shanghai, enduring its sixth week of lockdown, authorities have launched a new push to end infections outside quarantine zones by late May, according to people familiar with the matter. read more
While there has been no official announcement, residents in at least four of Shanghai's 16 districts received notices at the weekend saying they would not be allowed to leave their homes or receive deliveries, prompting a scramble to stock up on food.
Some of these people had previously been allowed to move around their residential compounds.
"Go home, go home!" a woman shouted through a megaphone at residents mingling below an apartment block impacted by the new restrictions on Sunday, a scene that might baffle the rest of the world that has opted to open up and live with the virus.
"It was like a prison," said Coco Wang, a Shanghai resident living under the new restrictions. "We are not afraid of the virus. We are afraid of this policy."
Meanwhile, in the most severe restrictions imposed in Beijing so far, an area in the southwest of the capital on Monday forbade residents from leaving their neighbourhoods and ordered all activities not related to virus prevention to halt.
In other badly-hit districts of Beijing, residents have been told to work from home, some restaurants and public transport have closed, and additional roads, compounds and parks were sealed off on Monday.
The restrictions have taken a heavy toll on China's economy.
China's export growth slowed to its weakest in almost two years, data on Monday showed, as the central bank pledged to step up support for the slowing economy.
In a stark sign of the stresses for business, China's auto association estimated that sales last month dropped a staggering 48% year-on-year as COVID restrictions shut factories and crimped domestic demand.
The curbs have also fuelled rare expressions of public anger, further inflamed by recent online accounts of authorities in Shanghai forcing neighbours of COVID-positive cases into centralised quarantine and demanding that they hand over the keys to their homes to be disinfected.
One video showed police picking a lock after a resident refused to open a door.
In another, a voice recording of a call circulated on the internet of a woman arguing with officials demanding to spray disinfectant in her home even though she had tested negative. Reuters was not able to independently verify the videos.
Professor Tong Zhiwei, who teaches law at the East China University of Political Science and Law, wrote in an essay widely circulated on social media on Sunday that such acts were illegal and should stop.
"Shanghai should set a good example for the whole country on how to carry out COVID prevention work in a scientific and legitimate way," Tong wrote.
Liu Dali, a lawyer from one of China's largest law firms, wrote a similar letter to authorities.
Copies of both letters have been censored from the Chinese internet though users have reposted screenshots. Posts from Tong's social media account on the Weibo site were blocked late on Sunday.
Liu and Tong did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China is adamant that it will stick to its zero-COVID policy to fight a disease that first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Authorities have warned against criticism of a policy they say is saving lives.
They point to much higher death tolls in other countries that have eased restrictions, or scrapped them altogether, in a bid to "live with COVID" even though infections are spreading.
"We must insist on regulating the flow and control of the movement of people," the Shanghai municipal government said in response to Reuters questions on the latest restrictions.
A "one-size-fits-all" approach should be avoided and each district was allowed to tighten measures according to its own situation, it said.
On Monday, Shanghai reported a drop in new cases for the 10th straight day.
Beijing has been hoping to avoid the weeks of lockdowns that Shanghai has endured but the growing number of residential buildings under lockdown orders is unnerving residents.
"I just rented an apartment in this compound, and I didn't receive any notice," said a 28-year-old resident of Changping district in north Beijing surnamed Wang after being barred from leaving her compound on Monday.
"I've already been working from home but I'm worried I might run out of daily supplies."
Residents received a notice later on Monday morning that positive cases had been detected in the area.
A nanny living in the same compound said the lockdown meant she was not able to get to a new job.
"Today is the first day of the job and now I can't go out," said the 40-year-old, who gave her name as Meizi. (Reuters)