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☆ Russia pulls back from brink of crisis after deal reached to end Wagner insurrection
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Putin poses for a picture with his wife, Lyudmila, and daughters, Yekaterina and Maria. Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images Putin rides a horse during a vacation in Southern Siberia in August 2009. Alexey Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images Putin judges an arm wrestling match while visiting the Seliger youth educational forum in Russia's Tver region in August 2011. Dmitry Astakhov/RIA Novosti/AFP via Getty Images Putin plays with his dogs Yume, left, and Buffy at his home in Novo-Ogaryovo, Russia, in March 2013. Chris McGrath/Getty Images Putin and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November 2018.

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☆ Putin’s war on Ukraine is only costing a tiny sliver of Russia’s GDP
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Direct war spending, according to the report, is estimated to be about 3% of Russia's GDP, or about $67 billion a year. The US put about 50% of its GDP toward war near the same time. That makes it hard to justify spending a lofty percentage of GDP on what is not a war, in their view. All this isn't to say Russia's economy hasn't been hamstrung. Are you surprised by the relatively low fiscal cost of Russia's war?

Persons: Phil Rosen, Patrick Harker, Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Metzel, Vladimir Putin's, hasn't, that's, Mark Wilson, Goldman Sachs, it's, Realtor.com, Read, Jonathan Miller, Max Adams, Nathan Rennolds Organizations: Federal Reserve, Philly Fed, Economist, Technology, American Locations: Manhattan, Washington, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Soviet Union, India, Saudi Arabia, New York, London

☆ Ukraine's 'Iron General' is facing off against his 4th Russian war commander. Here's why the others lost their jobs.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The Russian general, however, does not appear to be living up to those expectations. Alexander DvornikovWhen Russia first launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late-February 2022, it relied on district commanders rather than overall commander of the war effort. Sergey SurovikinIn early October, Putin appointed Army Gen. Sergey Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon," to be the overall theater commander. "Putin likely viewed Surovikin as the last untarnished high-ranking commander in Ukraine he could appoint to overall theater command," the think tank said. As 2023 rolled around, and Russian forces continued to suffer heavy losses in eastern Ukraine, Putin seemingly gave in to Gerasimov's campaigning.

☆ March CPI and the Fed's next steps in its inflation battle: Everything to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Phil Rosen here — March's inflation report is due at 8:30 a.m. "Super core inflation in the CPI report has shown no signs of abating yet," he wrote in a note. Below, I'm breaking down how the world's largest asset manager expects the inflation story to pan out in the long-run. But BlackRock isn't convinced that strength can continue. These three under-the-radar signals suggest that a US recession isn't as close as you might think.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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's military command reshuffle reveals a power struggle at the heart of the Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin's latest reshuffle of the top brass in charge of Ukraine operations reveals a deeper power struggle between Moscow's military command and its domestic detractors, analysts say. One of the most prominent and powerful critics of Moscow's strategy in Ukraine is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group — a private military company fighting in Ukraine. His criticism seemed to bear fruit with the October appointment of Gen. Sergei Surovikin as the overall battlefield commander for Russian troops in Ukraine. Nonetheless, Prigozhin's criticism of Russia's military commanders and frequent boasts over the Wagner Group's triumphs have raised heckles in Moscow. Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, seen here in 2021.

☆ Putin says Ukraine fight is taking longer than expected
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected but said it has succeeded in seizing new territory and added that his country’s nuclear weapons are deterring escalation of the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Dec. 7, 2022. In response to an increasing influx of advanced Western weapons, economic, political and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and what he saw as Western leaders’ inflammatory statements, Putin has periodically hinted at his potential use of nuclear weapons. When a member of the Human Rights Council asked him Wednesday to pledge that Russia would not be the first to use such weapons, Putin demurred. He said Russia would not be able to use nuclear weapons at all if it agreed not to use them first and then came under a nuclear strike.

Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" in February, saying Ukraine's deepening ties with the West posed a security threat. MOBILISATIONAround 150,000 of the 300,000 reservists called up in September and October were deployed in Ukraine, 77,000 in combat units, he said. [1/3] Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link in Moscow, Russia December 6, 2022. President Alexander Lukashenko, who relied on Russian troops to put down a popular revolt two years ago, has so far kept his own army from joining the war in Ukraine. Thousands of Russian troops have deployed in Belarus since October, Ukraine says, and Belarus authorities have increasingly spoken of a threat of "terrorism" from partisans operating from across the border.

☆ Russia, mired in war, faces economic pain and attempts to isolate it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The war has so far not gone well for Putin. [1/5] Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia December 2, 2022. And Russia, one of the world's biggest energy and commodity producers, has been hit with the harshest Western sanctions in its modern history. For Russia, 2023 is likely to be a year when it tries to stave off more Western attempts to isolate it. As Putin pays up to keep the war in Ukraine grinding on, managing its fallout at home and abroad is likely to get harder.

☆ Putin endorses evacuation of parts of Ukraine's Kherson region
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, October 28, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed the evacuation of civilians from parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson region on Friday, the latest sign of Russia's retreat in one of the most bitterly contested areas in Ukraine. On Thursday, Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed occupation administration in Kherson, said Russia was likely to pull its troops from the west bank. Late on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the fiercest fighting over the last week had taken place around Bakhmut and Soledar, in the eastern Donetsk region about 500 km northeast of Kherson. During the day Ukrainian forces had downed eight Iranian drones and two Russian missiles, Zelenskiy said.

☆ Putin's time in the KGB taught him 'how to lie' and to think like a terrorist, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | 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. A former KGB agent told Insider the biggest thing Putin learned from the Soviet spy agency was "how to lie." But ex-spies and Russia experts told Insider that Putin's time in the KGB — the Soviet Union's primary and much-feared security agency — played an instrumental role in shaping his mindset. "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.

Is Russian President Vladimir Putin stepping back from the nuclear ledge? Concerns over Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine had lessened recently, the sources said. Putin himself has given mixed signals over the question of Russia’s threshold for nuclear use. Russian President Vladimir Putin. “While Putin is unlikely to use nuclear weapons, that is because he is deterred by the fear of escalation, including nuclear escalation.

☆ Russia's partial mobilisation is complete, Shoigu says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, October 28, 2022. In future, Shoigu said, recruitment for the Ukraine campaign would be based on volunteers and professional soldiers, rather than mobilising more of Russia's several million reservists. Responding to Shoigu, Putin acknowledged problems with mobilisation, saying that they were "inevitable", and said that the Ukrainian campaign had shown the need for "corrections" to Russia's armed forces. Russia's armed forces have struggled in the eight months since Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, in what Moscow calls the "special military operation". Russian armed forces abandoned an attempt to seize Kyiv and other northern Ukrainian cities in April, before losing ground in the south and east to Ukrainian counter-attacks since August.

☆ Russia's Shoigu holds second call with U.S. defense secretary in three days
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERSOct 23 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday for the second time in three days and held a flurry of calls with three other counterparts from NATO countries. Its readouts on the other calls said Shoigu had said the situation in Ukraine was worsening. "They discussed the situation in Ukraine which is rapidly deteriorating," the Russian defence ministry said of Shoigu's call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterShoigu spoke separately to Turkey's defence minister Hulusi Akar and Britain's Ben Wallace. With Russia reeling from successive defeats in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said it would resort to nuclear weapons if necessary to defend its "territorial integrity".

☆ 60 years after the Cuban missile crisis, the nuclear dangers posed by the war in Ukraine are 'far worse,' experts warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

October marks 60 years since the Cuban missile crisis, when the US and USSR were on the brink of nuclear war. "The current crisis is far worse than the Cuban missile crisis," one historian recently told Insider. But today's simmering Ukraine war poses 'far worse' nuclear dangers, experts say. "The current crisis is far worse than the Cuban missile crisis, in part because during the Cuban missile crisis both Kennedy and Khrushchev were willing to discuss a way of walking back the confrontation. "This crisis is more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis," Andy Weber, a former assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological programs, recently told Politico.

☆ Europe is still quietly importing Russian nuclear energy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

On presenting its latest sanctions package, the European Commission did not propose targeting the trade of Russian nuclear fuel. Hungary and Bulgaria were the most vocal in opposing sanctions on Russian uranium and other nuclear tech last week, according to Rodrigo. "Russian nuclear terror requires a stronger response from the international community - sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry and nuclear fuel," Zelenskyy said via Twitter at the time. Mikhail Metzel | Afp | Getty ImagesThere are 18 Russian nuclear reactors in Europe, in countries including Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. How 'green' is nuclear energy?

☆ Russian roulette: Is Putin serious about nuclear war, or bluffing?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Jason Corcoran | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

On Oct. 26, President Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian state television overseeing a practice run of Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence forces. The conflict has revived Cold War-era fears of nuclear war across the region. In August, a Ukrainian official said that 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel had been killed, though another source said the number could be far higher. (President Zelensky previously estimated that 30% of Ukraine's power stations have been damaged or destroyed, although the figure is now likely to be greater.) In a wide-ranging answer, Putin had offered, almost as an aside, that Russian victims of nuclear war "will go to heaven as martyrs" while Western citizens would perish without having "time to repent."

☆ Putin's nuclear threats are stirring fears of a nightmare scenario. Here's what's in his arsenal and what could happen if he orders the unthinkable.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( John Haltiwanger | Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

The use of a nuclear weapon is "directly tied to Russia's fate on the battlefield," one expert recently told Insider. Putin, who claimed to have placed Russia's nuclear deterrent forces on high alert just days later, has continued to remind the world of Russia's nuclear might in the months since. There are tactical nuclear weapons that are more than four times as powerful. At best, a single tactical nuclear weapon could destroy about a dozen tanks, Podvig said. Kristensen said during the ACA webinar on Tuesday that he believes it's unlikely that Russia employs nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

☆ Autoritățile din Moscova limitează evenimentele şi închid zona dedicată fanilor EURO 2020 din cauza noului val epidemic
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-18 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +3 min

Sursa foto: Mikhail Metzel / TASS / ProfimediaAutoritățile din Moscova limitează evenimentele şi închid zona dedicată fanilor EURO 2020 din cauza noului val epidemicOraşul Moscova a anunţat vineri că îşi închide zona dedicată fanilor EURO 2020 în capitala rusă şi interzice toate evenimentele de divertisment reunind peste 1.000 de persoane din cauza creşterii recente a cazurilor de COVID-19, informează France Presse, citată de Agerpres. „Oprim evenimentele de divertisment în masă pentru o vreme şi trebuie să închidem de asemenea locurile de dans şi zona dedicată fanilor" din complexul olimpic Lujniki, a anunţat primarul Serghei Sobianin pe website-ul său. Rusia găzduieşte un total de şapte meciuri de fotbal ale EURO 2020, toate în Sankt Petersburg, al doilea oraş al ţării, unde a epidemia a înregistrat o recrudescenţă. Începând de astăzi, evenimentele de divertisment sunt limitate la maximum 1.000 de persoane", a spus Sobianin. La Moscova, 1,8 milioane de oameni au primit cel puţin o injecţie din cei 12 sau 13 milioane de locuitori înregistraţi oficial în oraş.

Persons: Mikhail Metzel, ruşii, Vladimir Putin Organizations: France, Agerpres Locations: Moscova, rusă, Rusia, Sankt Petersburg, Regatului Unit

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