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☆ Ukraine drones attack multiple oil refineries in the campaign against Russia's strategic energy industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine attacked another Russian oil refinery on Saturday night. AdvertisementA long week of attacks on oil and gas infrastructureThis past week, Ukraine has made a concerted effort to degrade Russia's oil production capabilities. The governor of Russia's Samara Oblast reported on March 16 that Ukrainian drones had attacked two Rosneft oil refineries. One attack had hit another major oil refinery operated by Lukoil in the southwestern Volgograd region. Similar incidents had occurred across Russia in January, hitting the Slavneft-Yanos oil refinery, an oil refinery in Tuapse, a storage facility in Klintsy, and a Baltic sea Ust-Luga terminal.

Persons: —, Ukrainska, Russia's, Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Zelensky, Краснодарському кра РосВдео Organizations: Bloomberg, Service, Business, Astra, Ukrainska Pravda, Security Services, Security Service, Stringer, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Reuters, Staff, Lukoil, НПЗ Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Krasnodar, Moscow, Russia, Russia's Samara Oblast, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Leningrad, Lukoil's Norsi, Russia's Belgorod, Norsi, Ukrainian, Volgograd, Tuapse, Klintsy, Baltic

☆ Ukraine drone strikes: Russia oil refineries hit as Kyiv steps up drone attacks before Putin’s election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Ukraine launched overnight drone attacks on three oil refineries deep inside Russia, a Ukrainian defense source told CNN on Wednesday, as Kyiv intensifies its cross-border strikes days before President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated re-election. It marked the second consecutive day of Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy sites, and the locations targeted represent a spate of attacks well within Russia’s territory. The border region of Belgorod has taken the brunt of Ukraine's cross-border attacks during the war. Russia’s Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 10 civilians were injured and six were hospitalized in the region on Tuesday. During a lengthy interview on state television channel Rossiya 1 on Wednesday, Putin said Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and Kursk are happening amid Kyiv’s “failures” on the battlefield.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Stringer, Pavel Malkov, Vyacheslav Gladkov, Putin, ” Putin, “ Organizations: CNN — Ukraine, CNN, Getty, Social Locations: Russia, Kyiv, Ukraine, Ryazan, Moscow, Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia’s, Ukrainian, Tyotkino, Russia’s Kursk, Belgorod, AFP, Leningrad, Finland, Oryol, Odnorobovka, Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Nekhoteevka, Spodariushino, Russia’s Belgorod, Kursk

☆ Russia's Putin Derides 'Russophobia' in Europe at World War Two Memorial
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin castigated Europe on Saturday for "Russophobia" and criticized the Baltic States over human rights at the unveiling of a World War Two memorial. Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union and itself suffered devastation at the hands of Hitler's forces, rejects comparisons as spurious pretexts for a war of conquest. In his speech, Putin also lambasted the Baltic States over human rights. "In the Baltic states, tens of thousands of people are declared subhuman, deprived of their most basic rights, and subjected to persecution," Putin said, referring to migration crackdowns. Moscow has repeatedly accused the Baltic nations of xenophobia and treating Russian minorities as "second-class".

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Kyiv exalts, Vladimir Soldatkin, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: European Union, NATO Locations: MOSCOW, Baltic States, Ukraine, Kyiv, Leningrad, Germans, Soviet, Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moscow, Baltic

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Moscow strikes back at Ukraine after drones and missiles target Russian oil terminals, market
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

DONETSK, UKRAINE - JANUARY 21: A view of the damage after the shelling in the market place in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which is currently under Russian control, ongoing Russian and Ukrainian war on January 21, 2024. At least 25 people were killed and 20 others injured on Sunday due to shelling in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which is currently under Russian control. Moscow accused Kyiv of launching a missile strike on a market in Donetsk city, killing at least 25 people and wounding 20 others, Russian officials said. Particularly severe Russian strikes are in the Donetsk region," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. "There have been more than 50 Russian shelling incidents just from multiple rocket launcher systems, and also dozens of airstrikes and missile strikes," he said.

Persons: Leon Klein, Novatek, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Zelenskyy, — Holly Ellyatt Organizations: Anadolu, Getty Images, CNBC Locations: DONETSK, UKRAINE, Ukrainian, Donetsk, Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Baltic, Bryansk, Leningrad, Chernihiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Bakhmut

☆ Fire erupts at Russia's Novatek Baltic Sea terminal after explosions heard
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - 2022/06/15: Novatek Logo seen on the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2022 (SPIEF 2022). (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)A fire broke out at a Baltic Sea terminal belonging to Novatek, Russia's largest liquefied natural gas producer, regional officials said on Sunday, amid reports of explosions and Ukrainian drone sightings in the area. "There were no casualties as a result of the fire at the Novatek terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. St. Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka said at least two drones were spotted in the sky flying towards St. Petersburg before the terminal caught fire. That came a day after an attack on a Russian Baltic Sea oil terminal that Russian officials said was unsuccessful.

Persons: Maksim Konstantinov, Alexander Drozdenko, Drozdenko, Fontanka, Novatek Organizations: St ., Economic, Getty, Leningrad region's, Moscow, Kyiv Locations: SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA, St, St . Petersburg, Novatek, Finland, Ust, Leningrad, Petersburg, Russia, Ukraine, Russia's, Bryansk, Baltic, Russian

☆ Ukraine war updates: Drone strikes hit St. Petersburg; Russia rejects U.S. arms control talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Ukraine targeted the Russian city of St. Petersburg with a drone attack overnight, Ukraine's minister of strategic industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to Interfax news agency. Russia claimed on Thursday that Ukraine had attacked several areas of the country with drones, including the northwestern Leningrad region for the first time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday night urged allied countries to ensure that sanctions against Russia are fully enforced. "The terrorist state manufactures weapons, including missiles. There are dozens of critical components in each of them that were manufactured abroad, many of which were produced by companies from the free world," he said in a post on X.

Persons: Oleksandr Kamyshin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: Economic Locations: Ukraine, Russian, St, Petersburg, Davos, Russia, Leningrad

☆ Ukraine says it flew a drone over Putin's woodland palace, evading its heavy defenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine launched a drone attack on a St Petersburg oil terminal on Thursday, per multiple sources. AdvertisementUkraine sent a drone flying over President Vladimir Putin's palace at Lake Valdai during an attack on a St Petersburg oil depot, a military source claimed on Friday. Set next to Lake Valdai, halfway between Moscow and St Petersburg, the vast woodland complex is considered one of Putin's favorite boltholes. The strike, Kamyshin said, showed that St Petersburg was now "within reach of Ukrainian forces," per the Kyiv Independent's translation. "We are able to produce something that flies and costs $350 per item, something that flew to St Petersburg this night," he said.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin's, Oleksandr Kamyshin, couldn't, Alina Kabayeva, Vladimir Putin, Alina Kabaeva, Sasha Mordovets, Navalny.com Kamyshin, Baza, Kamyshin, Ukraine's Organizations: RBC, Service, Kyiv Independent, St, Moscow Times, Russia's Ministry of Defence, Popular, Russian Telegram, Economic, Pentagon Locations: Ukraine, St Petersburg, Valdai, Russia, Lake, Ukrainian, Moscow, Russian, Petersburg, Baltic, Leningrad, Davos, Switzerland

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Russia says Kyiv attacked Moscow, St Petersburg regions, claiming Baltic oil terminal was the target
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Russia claimed that Ukraine attacked several Russian regions with drones overnight, including the northwest Leningrad region for the first time. The defense ministry said Thursday that air defense systems shot down drones over the regions of Moscow and St. Petersburg, with one official claiming Ukraine targeted a Russian oil terminal in Leningrad, the northwestern Russian region where St. Petersburg is located. The port infrastructure was not damaged and no one was injured, the official said. If accurate, however, it would mark the first time that the northern region of Leningrad, where St. Petersburg is, has been targeted by Ukraine. "The geography of UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces continues to expand," one Russian official noted.

Organizations: Ukraine, Ukrainian Armed Forces Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Leningrad, Moscow, St, Petersburg, Russian

☆ Russian Military Says Ukrainian Drones Downed Over Moscow, Leningrad Regions
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

(Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry said early on Thursday that its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed one Ukrainian drone over Moscow region and a second over Leningrad region surrounding the country's second largest city, St Petersburg. A ministry statement on the Telegram messaging app said the incidents occurred at about 1.30 a.m. (2230 GMT on Wednesday). Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin had earlier said on Telegram that air defence units had downed a drone while it was on its way towards the capital. Fragments had hit the ground, but there were no damage or casualties. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Chris Reese)

Persons: Sergei Sobyanin, Chris Reese Organizations: Reuters, Russia's Defence Ministry, Moscow Locations: Moscow, Leningrad, St Petersburg

Russia has been bolstering its armed forces and ramping up weapons production in the expectation of a long war in Ukraine, where front lines have barely shifted for a year. "There are no plans for an additional mobilisation," Shoigu was shown telling top generals on state television. "The armed forces have the necessary number of military personnel to conduct the special military operation." Putin ordered a "partial mobilisation" of 300,000 reservists in September last year, prompting hundreds of thousands of young men to flee Russia to avoid being sent to fight. While Ukraine was able to win back territory last year from Russia in attacks which humiliated the Russian armed forces, this year has been different.

Persons: Anton Vaganov, Shoigu, Sergei Shoigu, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Putin, Mark Milley, Milley, Dmitry Peskov, Guy Faulconbridge, Mark Trevelyan, Kevin Liffey, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Defence, West, Belfer, Harvard Kennedy School, CNN, Kremlin, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Leningrad Region, MOSCOW, Russian, That's, United States

☆ Russia signs 280,000 for contract military service this year -Medvedev
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A view shows a billboard promoting military service under the contract in Russian Armed Forces and containing information about payments, on a road in the Leningrad Region, Russia July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/file photo Acquire Licensing RightsSept 3 (Reuters) - Some 280,000 people have signed up so far this year for professional service with Russia's military, the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev, said on Sunday. Visiting Russia's Far East, Medvedev said he was meeting local officials to work on efforts to beef up the armed forces. "According to the Ministry of Defence, since Jan. 1, about 280,000 people have been accepted into the ranks of the Armed Forces on a contract basis," including reservists, state news agency TASS quoted Medvedev as saying. Some Russian lawmakers suggested Russia needs a professional army 7-million strong to ensure the country's security - a move that would require a huge budget allowance.

Persons: Anton Vaganov, Dmitry Medvedev, Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Lidia Kelly, William Mallard Organizations: Russian Armed Forces, REUTERS, Russian Security Council, Ministry of Defence, Armed Forces, Ukraine, Thomson Locations: Leningrad Region, Russia, Melbourne

☆ Gazprom subsidiary files $472-million lawsuit against UniCredit in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Unicredit Bank logo is seen in this illustration taken March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoMOSCOW, Aug 7 (Reuters) - RusKhimAlyans, 50%-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), has filed a lawsuit seeking 45.7 billion roubles ($472 million) from Italy's UniCredit [RIC:RIC:UCCDB.UL], a guarantor of a project held up by EU sanctions, Russian court documents show. The court documents were filed at the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. In January, the same court ordered nearly $500 million of assets belonging to Linde , to be frozen at RusKhimAlyans's request. ($1 = 96.8150 roubles)Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Linde, Elena Fabrichnaya, Alexander Marrow, Kevin Liffey Organizations: REUTERS, Gazprom, Deutsche Bank, Linde, Industries, Ust, Thomson Locations: Petersburg, Leningrad Region, Baltic, Ust, Russia, Ukraine

IMPORTED ASSEMBLY KITSAfter a chaotic decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia encouraged Western carmakers to build factories. "Undoubtedly, the expansion of Chinese carmakers on the Russian market will continue," said Andrey Olkhovsky, the head of dealership chain Avtodom. It is a radical change of fortunes for Chinese carmakers in Russia. Production of Chinese vehicles only began in Russia in 2019 with the arrival of Chinese automotive company Great Wall Motor (601633.SS). LESS LOCAL INPUTUnder the partnership with Chinese firms, less of the production at former Western factories is currently conducted in Russia, the sources said.

Persons: Jetour, Maxim Shemetov, Moscow's, Sergei Sobyanin, French carmaker, JAC, Sehol, Moskvich, capitalising, Vladimir Bespalov, Vladimir Putin, Andrey Olkhovsky, Olkhovsky, Wall, Sollers, Avtovaz, Denis Manturov, Gleb Stolyarov, Alexander Marrow, Zhang Yan, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, French, French carmaker Renault, Moscow Automobile Factory, JAC Motors, Reuters, Renault, Nissan, Russia's Industry, Trade Ministry, Wall, Chery, Geely, HK, Argo, Ford Transit, Nissan's St, Lada, China's FAW Group's, FAW, Western, Trade, Thomson Locations: Lyubertsy, Moscow Region, Russia, Soviet, Moscow, Anhui, Ukraine, Soviet Union, Western, Tula, Autostat, Tatarstan, Nissan's, Nissan's St Petersburg, St Petersburg, Leningrad, Japan, Europe, China, Shanghai

☆ Gazprom subsidiary files lawsuits against Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, July 4 (Reuters) - RusKhimAlyans, a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), has filed lawsuits seeking a total of 31 billion roubles ($348 million) from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Commerzbank (CBKG.DE), Russian court documents show. RusKhimAlyans, in which Gazprom has a 50% stake, is seeking more than 22 billion roubles from Deutsche Bank and over 8 billion roubles from Commerzbank, according to the documents filed at the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. In 2021, Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Gazprom and its partners for the Ust-Luga gas complex. Linde notified the customer in May and June 2022 that it had suspended work under the contract due to European Union sanctions imposed after Russia sent thousands of its troops into neighbouring Ukraine. ($1 = 89.0585 roubles)Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Linde, Vladimir Soldatkin, David Goodman, Emelia Organizations: Gazprom, Deutsche Bank, Linde, Renaissance Heavy Industries, Ust, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Commerzbank, Petersburg, Leningrad Region, Baltic, Ust, Luga, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Explosion derails freight train in Russian border region - governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 1 (Reuters) - An explosion in a Russian region bordering Ukraine derailed a freight train on Monday, the local governor said in a social media post, adding there were no casualties. "An unidentified explosive device went off at the 136-kilometre mark on the Bryansk-Unecha railway line, derailing a freight train," Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on his Telegram channel. Russian authorities say the region - which borders both Ukraine and Belarus - has seen multiple attacks by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 14 months since Russia invaded. The site of the incident, as indicated by the governor, is around 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Russia's border with Ukraine. Separately, the governor of Russia's Leningrad region near St. Petersburg said a power line had been blown up overnight and an explosive device found near a second line.

☆ ‘Retracing the Iron Curtain’ Review: The Border of Borders
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Andrew Stuttaford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In 2019, writer and historian Timothy Phillips embarked on a 3,000-mile trek along the route of Europe’s postwar dividing line—almost a third was on foot. The trip began in Norway’s far north and ended where Turkey and Azerbaijan meet, and in his engrossing “Retracing the Iron Curtain,” Mr. Phillips uses that journey to tell the story of this brutal “border of borders,” which in the early days after World War II reached much further than is typically recalled. And so Mr. Phillips shows up in Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic, which was still being “liberated” by the Soviets when Churchill spoke of an Iron Curtain. The Soviets eventually left, with conditions—just as there were conditions when they handed back Porkkala, a Finnish peninsula a few miles west of Helsinki that for a decade or so had been an exclave of the Leningrad region. The Soviets departed abruptly, but when the Finns returned home, “it wasn’t so much a case of the coffee still steaming on the stove as of the smoke still rising from the wreckage.”

[1/5] The logo of Nord Stream AG is seen at an office building in the town of Vyborg, Leningrad Region, Russia August 22, 2022. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Three of the pipes were ruptured by unexplained blasts in September, and one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes remains intact. Engie (ENGIE.PA), Gasunie (GSUNI.UL) and Wintershall DEA (WINT.UL) (BASFn.DE) - stakeholders in Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream 1 - declined to comment. The similar-sized Nord Stream 2 had been completed in September 2021 as tensions with Russia were growing and ran in trouble as Germany's regulators refused to certify it.

☆ Russia freezes Linde assets worth $488 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RusKhimAlyans, the joint venture which is 50% owned by Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), asked the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region to freeze Linde assets worth 35 billion roubles ($488 million) as a preventative measure. In 2021, Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Gazprom and its partners for the Ust-Luga gas complex. Linde notified the customer in May and June 2022 that it had suspended work under the contract due to European Union sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. RusKhimAlyans intends to apply to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre to recover advance payment and losses worth around 972 million euros ($1 billion) and 7.6 billion roubles, according to the court filings. ($1 = 71.7830 roubles)($1 = 0.9360 euros)Reporting by Reuters Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Dramatic video shows a Russian soldier grabbing and tossing away Ukrainian grenades moments before they explode
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A video appears to show a lone Russian soldier hiding in a trench, having grenades dropped on him from a drone. The video was widely shared by Russian outlets and bloggers as an example of courage. In the video, a Russian soldier appears to be lying alone in a trench when a Ukrainian drone targets him with a grenade. With only moments to spare, the soldier grabs the grenade with his bare hands and flings it away. We wish great military luck to all the fighters of the brigade," a statement from the government of the Leningrad Region said.

☆ Kremlin says it will not issue a decree ending Russian mobilisation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Igor RussakLONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Russia does not need a presidential decree to formalise the completion of a partial mobilisation of reservists to fight in Ukraine, and none will be issued, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Russia had already said it had recruited the 300,000 reservists it needed in just over a month, and that no more were required. But the Kremlin's refusal to issue a formal decree ending recruitment may increase concern among Russians that the mobilisations could still be restarted. "The Presidential Administration's legal department has reached its conclusion ... partial mobilisation has been completed. The part of Putin's mobilisation decree outlining how many would be called up was classified and never made public, adding to fears that the enlistment campaign could resume.

☆ Factbox: Nord Stream's role in Russia's gas supply to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The logo of Nord Stream AG is seen at an office building in the town of Vyborg, Leningrad Region, Russia August 22, 2022. Below are further details of the importance of the pipeline in carrying Russian gas to Europe. In Germany, the gas is received by the connecting pipelines OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline Link) and NEL (North European Gas Pipeline), which link into the European grid. OWNERSThe pipeline is majority-owned by Gazprom (GAZP.MM) and forms the main route through which Russian gas flows to Germany. OPERATORSThe Switzerland-based Nord Stream AG consortium is the operating company for transit, technical, legal and environmental matters, but does not own the asset or the gas in it.

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