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☆ Putin tells Russia's billionaires to put patriotism before profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a forum of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) in Moscow, Russia, March 16, 2023. MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin urged Russia's billionaires on Thursday to put patriotism before profit, telling them to invest at home to shore up the economy in the face of Western sanctions. Addressing Russia's business elite in person for the first time since the day he sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, Putin told them their role was not just to make money but to support society. Last month he told business leaders that ordinary Russians had no sympathy for the confiscation of their yachts and palaces. ECONOMY RESISTS SANCTIONSThe president said on Thursday that what he called an attempt to destroy Russia's economy with sanctions had failed.

☆ Russia says it will try to retrieve remains of U.S. drone
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev attends a meeting of the collegium of the Prosecutor General's office in Moscow, Russia, March 15, 2023. Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERSMarch 15 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it would try to retrieve the remains of a U.S. military surveillance drone that fell into the Black Sea after an incident involving Russian fighter planes, accusing Washington of "directly participating" in the war in Ukraine. Russia denied being responsible for the crash and said relations with the United States had reached their "lowest point". Kremlin Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told the Rossiya-1 TV channel: "I don't know whether we will be able to retrieve it or not, but that it has to be done. "Secondly, regarding the drone - the Americans keep saying they're not taking part in military operations.

☆ West gains advantage as it vies with Russia for influence in Serbia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Aleksandar Vasovic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

T-shirts with the letter Z, a symbol of Russia's campaign, are sold as souvenirs while far-right groups openly tout support for Russia. Last month, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that while Serbia had made progress in EU accession negotiations, Brussels required more. A separate CRTA poll found 61% felt Belgrade should preserve good relations with Moscow even at the cost of EU ties. U.S. and EU sanctions mean Serbia can no longer send its fighter jets or helicopters, based on ex-Soviet technology, to Russia for overhauls, nor purchase new weapons from Russia. Cedomir Stojkovic, a Belgrade-based lawyer and activist whose October Group publishes lists of prominent Serbs who are outspoken supporters of Russia, said Serbia was under Russia's "hybrid occupation".

"Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance - but if it goes down that road it will come at real costs to China," Sullivan told CNN's "State of the Union" program. The United States and its NATO allies in recent days have been scrambling to dissuade China from such a move, making public comments on their belief that China is considering providing lethal equipment to Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said China has been providing nonlethal assistance to Russia through its companies. The United States has been by far the largest supplier of military assistance to help Ukraine repel better-equipped Russian forces. Russia and China signed a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 shortly before Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

☆ Putin's KGB past is key to grasping what he might do next in his failing Ukraine war, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Putin's time in the KGB helps explain his worldview and brutal approach to warfare, ex-spies say. As Western intelligence agencies vie to stay two steps ahead of the Russian leader and get inside his head, peering into Putin's KGB past may offer clues on what he's thinking. "Putin's KGB background tells us a lot about how he thinks and how he sees the war. He is a creation of the KGB, and the KGB was a terrorist organization," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, told Insider. The Ukraine war has seen Putin and his propagandists make a series of assertions — ranging from plausible to preposterous — to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Chinese military gear may not be enough to bail out Russia's poorly led troops, former top US general in Europe says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The US is again warning China not provide military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Russia's military has structural problems that foreign gear can't fix, a retired US general says. While lower-level Russian units have been able to adapt, "I think the big problem in the Russian military is that the culture is not very conducive to" learning, added Lee, an expert on Russia's military. Russian military leadership failings and inability to perform under fire will limit the utility of whatever hardware Beijing may provide, Breedlove said. While US officials have not specified what military support China may provide, there are signs Russia is using artillery ammunition more sparingly.

[1/3] Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Russia February 21, 2023. Since invading Ukraine a year ago, he has repeatedly boasted about Russia's nuclear arsenal and said he would be willing to use it if the country's "territorial integrity" is threatened. TREATY LIMITSThe 2010 New START treaty limits each country's deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550 - which Russia has also said it will continue to observe - and deployed missiles and heavy bombers to 700. Asked in what circumstances Russia would return to the deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Everything will depend on the position of the West... Russia is now demanding that British and French nuclear weapons targeted against Russia should be included in the arms control framework, seen as a non-starter for Washington after more than half a century of bilateral nuclear treaties with Moscow.

☆ Putin says Russia to deploy Sarmat nuclear missiles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Russia February 21, 2023. Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Kremlin via REUTERSSummary Russia to deploy Sarmat missilesRussia to roll out hypersonic missilesRussia to add more nuclear submarinesPutin continues nuclear signalling to WestMOSCOW, Feb 23 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would pay increased attention to boosting its nuclear forces by deploying a much delayed new intercontinental ballistic missile, rolling out hypersonic missiles and adding new nuclear submarines. A year since ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has signalled he is ready to rip up the architecture of nuclear arms control - including the big powers' moratorium on nuclear testing - unless the West backs off in Ukraine. "As before, we will pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad," Putin said, referring to nuclear missiles based on land, sea and in the air, in an address broadcast on state television. In addition, Putin said, Russia would continue mass production of air-based hypersonic Kinzhal systems and would start mass supplies of sea-based Zircon hypersonic missiles.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Putin gives nuclear warning after Biden's Kyiv visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] Russia's President Vladimir Putin takes part in an event marking Gazprom's 30th anniversary, via video link at a residence outside Moscow, Russia February 17, 2023. Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing new strategic systems were on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests. U.S. President Joe Biden, fresh from pledging support for Ukraine on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, was due to rally NATO allies in Warsaw, making his case for a sustained Western effort to ensure Kyiv wins the war. * The United States and Ukraine's President Zelenskiy warned China against supporting Russia. * Financial leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) will meet on Thursday to discuss measures against Russia that will put pressure on it to end the Ukraine war, Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.

☆ Putin put the last major nuclear arms treaty with the US on 'life support,' risking pulling the world back to a 'dangerous' time of uncontrolled arsenals, nuke experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Putin said Russia will suspend its participation in major nuclear arms control pact with US. Without the New START pact and nuclear arms control, the US and Russia could expand their nuclear arsenals. "More nuclear weapons and less arms control makes the world more dangerous," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. What is the New START treaty? "Suspension of the treaty is not equal to leaving the treaty, I assume there will be no Russian build-up above the treaty limits.

☆ Russia's Putin issues new nuclear warnings to West over Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Signed by then-U.S. president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, the treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the countries can deploy. "... if the United States conducts tests, then we will. Putin said Ukraine had sought to strike a facility deep inside Russia where it keeps nuclear bombers, a reference to the Engels air base. NUCLEAR ARSENAL[1/3] Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Russia February 21, 2023. 1 2 3Russia and the United States together hold 90% of the world's nuclear warheads.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Putin gives nuclear warning, Biden rallies allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/7] Russia's President Vladimir Putin takes part in an event marking Gazprom's 30th anniversary, via video link at a residence outside Moscow, Russia February 17, 2023. Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing new strategic systems were on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests. DIPLOMACY* "One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv," Biden said at Warsaw's Royal Castle. "I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free." * A year on from Russia's invasion, Ukraine and its government have not just survived.

[1/3] Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Russia February 21, 2023. In a major speech almost a year after his invasion of Ukraine, Putin said Russia was not abandoning the New START treaty - the agreement signed in 2010 that limits the number of Russian and U.S. deployed strategic nuclear warheads. But nuclear experts noted the treaty contains no provision for either side to "suspend" its participation, as he said Moscow was doing - they only have the option to withdraw. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has an estimated 5,977 nuclear warheads in total, while the United States has 5,428. "HUGE INSTABILITY"Putin justified the Russian move by saying it was "absurd" for the United States to demand the right to inspect Russian nuclear sites, as the treaty allows, while NATO was helping Ukraine to attack them.

☆ Russian banks and invasion leaders in focus as EU debates new sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Russia's President Vladimir Putin and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet on sideline of the Libya summit in Berlin, Germany January 19, 2020. "We will impose sanctions on a number of politicians and military leaders," the head of EU executive European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said last week after a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "We will target (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad." This will further starve Russia's military machine and continue to shake the foundation of its economy," she said. The Commission also put forward further restrictions on European joint ventures with Russia and Russian nationals sitting on boards in Europe, they added.

☆ Putin, secure in power, sets stage for long and draining war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

One senior Russian source with knowledge of decision-making said Putin's hopes of burnishing his reputation had been dashed. "Ahead, it will be even more difficult and more costly for both Ukraine and Russia," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. For all the geopolitical shock waves Putin has caused, he still has no serious rival for power, according to five senior Russian sources close to decision-making. The source said Russia was at a disadvantage in both military technology and motivation, but that the war would still continue "for a very long time". "The president believes he can win in Ukraine," said one senior Russian source.

☆ The ChatGPT AI hype cycle is peaking, but even tech skeptics don't expect a bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

Even the skeptics of the latest hype cycle recounted during the Town Hall numerous examples of how AI is already embedded in more efficient business processes. The arrival of ChatGPT and generative AI only a few years after the hype cycle over the metaverse has attracted both the AI bulls and bears as tech pursues its next big thing. Another executive who works with lawyers and accountants said the sentiment right now is that AI is not to replace lawyers, but "lawyers using AI are gonna replace lawyers." And what generative AI does, is really help you crunch, take your machine learning to, you know, the 'nth' level of the finite level. That may also place AI in the crosshairs of ESG investors, making sure that the ethics part is part of the mission of companies using it.

☆ Ex-Google exec says Microsoft has 'thrown down the gauntlet' on web search with AI-boosted Bing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An ex-Google exec said Microsoft had "thrown down the gauntlet" with its new Bing search engine. On Tuesday, Microsoft launched an upgraded version of Bing powered by new artificial intelligence. Microsoft launched its AI-boosted version of Bing on Tuesday, the day after Google announced plans to incorporate AI technology into its own search engine. Ramaswamy told Insider that both Google and Microsoft were "ahead of the pack with respect to foundational technology and investment in AI." He added: "All of this can take away from the narrative of Google being the premier search engine."

☆ Here's what we know about Hamilton 68, the Russian online influence tracker called into question by the 'Twitter Files'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Michelle Mark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

A recent "Twitter Files" drop revealed deep concerns among Twitter executives about a database that claimed to track Russian propaganda in "near real time." The now defunct database, Hamilton 68, was widely cited by media outlets, including Insider, before it was shut down in 2018. He wrote that based on his analysis, Hamilton 68 "falsely accuses a bunch of legitimate, right-leaning accounts of being Russian bots." Berger and ASD did not respond to a request to provide Insider with the list of accounts Hamilton 68 tracked. Roth also claimed, after reverse-engineering the list of accounts that Hamilton 68 tracked, that they were "neither strongly Russian nor strongly bots."

☆ Former Israeli prime minister rebuts claim, boosted by Russia, that the US blocked a Ukraine peace agreement: 'It's unsure there was any deal to be made'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Charles R. Davis | Talia Lakritz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed his efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia. But Bennett has clarified that no such deal existed — and said talks broke down because of apparent Russian war crimes. "Bombshell: Former Israeli prime minister says that Western leaders blocked #Ukraine & #Russia peace deal," Ivan Katchanovski, a Canadian political science professor, wrote on Twitter. At the time, Zelenskyy himself noted that the Israeli prime minister was "trying to find a way of holding talks," a fact for which "we are grateful." In the interview, Bennett himself notes that it was not the US, France, or Germany that put an end to any peace talks.

☆ Fact Check-Suspected Chinese surveillance balloon is not proof that satellites do not exist in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

China’s suspected surveillance balloon that was shot down by the U.S. military on Feb. 4 is spurring online claims that it is proof there are no satellites in space. Examples of Facebook users sharing an image that says “Chinese Spy Satellite proves that there are no satellites in ‘space’” can be seen (here), (here) and (here). Images and videos of satellites and spacecrafts launched into space can also be found on NASA’s Image and Video Library (here), (here). According to the U.S. government, the “Space Force has been flying 31 operational GPS satellites for well over a decade” (www.gps.gov/systems/gps/space/). There is ample evidence to prove the existence of satellites, and the recent incident over a Chinese surveillance balloon in no way disproves their existence.

☆ Europe is set to ramp up its oil war against Russia — and markets are bracing for more disruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The European Union's ban on Russian oil product exports is slated to kick in on Feb. 5. The Group of Seven implemented a $60 price cap on Russian oil on Dec. 5. "We also expect this to put upward pressure on prices for oil products more generally." Yet this also means that they will continue to take cheap imported crude oil and process it domestically rather than buying refined oil." "This will create logistical challenges and higher transport costs if Russia seeks to redirect product flows to Asia, as it has done with crude oil," analysts at Eurasia Group said.

☆ Putin says military must stop Ukrainian shelling of Russian regions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the restoration of destroyed housing and infrastructure in regions of southwest Russia that border Ukraine, via a video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia February 1, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERSFeb 1 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia's military must stop the shelling of Russian regions from Ukrainian territory, which he said had left many people homeless or without power. Putin was addressing a government meeting about restoring destroyed housing and infrastructure in regions of southwest Russia that border Ukraine. But this is the business of the military department," Putin said in remarks published on the Kremlin website. Putin cited the Russian regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, as well as Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine and annexed in 2014, as areas where housing had been damaged or destroyed.

☆ For the 2nd year in a row, Iran is sailing its biggest warship around the world to show off its growing navy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Iranian warships left Iran in September on what one official said was a journey around the world. Visiting far off landsIranian navy Makran near the Strait of Hormuz in May 2021. They have repeatedly seized Iranian arms shipments bound for Yemen and have often had tense encounters with Iranian warships. Iran has also started an indigenous shipbuilding program to grow its navy, which is designed to defend the Persian Gulf. "Yet the focus of Iran will continue to be the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Indian ocean.

☆ How Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's former president, went from perceived pro-West reformer to virulent warmonger since the invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Russia's former president has become one of its most vitriolic figures amid the Ukraine invasion. When Dmitry Medvedev was elected, some saw him representing a more liberal future for Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in December 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during the United Russia party congress in Moscow, Russia, in December 2017. Putin became president again once Medvedev's first term was up, and Medvedev duly became his prime minister, serving until 2020.

☆ Kremlin says European infighting over sending advanced tanks to Ukraine is a sign of weakness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Pressure is mounting on Germany to send its powerful Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The Kremlin said Monday the infighting showed "anxiety" growing in the West over helping Ukraine. Germany produces the tanks, and as well as declining to send any directly, it has also blocked other European countries from sending theirs, Politico reported. Some countries, including Poland and Finland, have already promised they would send Ukraine the tanks. Poland, which neighbors Ukraine, last week threatened to ignore Germany and send its Leopards without approval, The Guardian reported.

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