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☆ 'Losing is not an option': Putin is 'desperate' to avoid defeat in Ukraine as anxiety rises in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Leaders meeting in Yerevan on November 23, 2022. That, Russian political analysts say, will be catastrophic for Putin and the Kremlin, who have banked Russia's global capital on winning the war against Ukraine. They told CNBC that anxiety was rising in Moscow over how the war was progressing. Needless to say, that latest withdrawal darkened the mood even among the most ardent Putin supporters. Another Russian analyst said Putin is increasingly desperate not to lose the war.

☆ Russian and Cuban leaders meet in Moscow, hail 'traditional friendship'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met with his Cuban counterpart in Moscow, where the two unveiled a monument to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and hailed the “traditional friendship” between their sanctions-hit nations. We have always supported Cuba on the international stage and we see that Cuba takes the same position towards Russia,” Putin said. Other top Russian officials struck similar tones in their meetings with Díaz-Canel, who arrived in Moscow on Saturday. Cuban state media reported that Díaz-Canel’s agenda will focus on the energy sector, very sensitive for the island as it battles shortages of food, medicines and fuel. Havana’s main regional political ally, Venezuela, has sold the island the oil Cuba needed for the past two decades.

☆ Russia's economy has finally fallen into recession, 8 months after it invaded Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's GDP fell 4% on-year in the third quarter of 2022 — its second straight quarterly decline. This followed a 4.1% year-on-year decline in its second-quarter GDP — meaning the country has fallen into a technical recession after two straight quarterly contractions. Nabiullina's assessment of the economy followed months of intensifying sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. And while firm energy prices had propped up Russia's economy for a while, the tide seems to be turning — in part, due to President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization order that sent many fleeing the draft. Russia's central bank expects the country's economy to contract by 3% to 3.5% in 2022, Nabiullina said on Tuesday, according to an official transcript.

☆ India can buy as much Russian oil as it wants, Yellen says. The caveat: it can't use Western insurance, finance and maritime services.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

India can buy as much Russian oil as it likes, US Treasury Secretary Yellen told Reuters. Indian oil companies can purchase oil at any price they want, as long as they don't use Western services like insurance, finance, and maritime services which are bound by the price cap, Yellen said, per Reuters. Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last week his country will continue buying discounted Russian oil as the relationship has worked to India's benefit. Despite India's proclivities towards Russian oil, Yellen appeared to be confident that Indian wouldn't find many substitutes for Western insurance, finance and maritime services. Russian oil "is going to be selling at bargain prices and we're happy to have India get that bargain or Africa or China.

☆ Russian missiles cross into Poland during strike on Ukraine, U.S. official tells AP
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

A second person confirmed that apparent Russian missiles struck a site in Poland about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border. It was Russia's biggest barrage yet, and some of the missiles crossed into Poland, where two people were killed, according to a U.S. official. A Russian missile barrage on the Ukrainian power grid sent the war spilling over into neighboring countries Tuesday, hitting NATO member Poland and cutting electricity to much of Moldova. It reported massive power outages after the strikes knocked out a key power line that supplies the small nation, an official said. At least a dozen regions reported power outages, affecting cities that together have millions of people.

A Ukrainian soldier, Oleh, was one of the first to enter Kherson and went straight to his grandmother’s house. Ukrainian prosecutors have evidence of more than 400 separate Russian war crimes, he said. Ukrainian officials and international allies say mass graves in Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel are just some examples of Russian war crimes. Ukraine's immediate concern is to supply the city with water, power, food and medicine, all of which are in short supply. The ongoing conflict nearby — Russia still controls about 70% of the broader region — could make this task a real challenge.

☆ Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend G-20 summit in Indonesia
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, an Indonesian government official said Thursday, avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over his war in Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to attend the two-day summit in Bali that starts Nov. 15. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Chief of Support for G-20 events told reporters in Denpasar, Indonesia, that Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation. Biden will attend ASEAN and the G-20 while Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to APEC. Putin’s decision not to attend the G-20 comes as Russia’s forces in Ukraine have suffered significant setbacks.

☆ A failed war helped bring down the Soviet Union. Now Putin's failing war in Ukraine might set Russia up for a bleak future.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Joy Neumeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

The Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan and Russia's current war in Ukraine have obvious similarities in their disastrous planning and execution. In the 1990s, Afghanistan veterans' sense of aggrievement fused with that of veterans returning from Boris Yeltsin's war in Chechnya. Putin's war, Russia's futurePutin meets soldiers at a military training center outside the town of Ryazan in October. While glasnost-era revelations about the Soviet war shocked the country into supporting withdrawal, these days there is little left to expose. Public self-criticism surrounding the Soviet war in Afghanistan, however brief and contested, shows that reassessment of imperial ambitions is possible.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian control of the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson appeared increasingly in doubt Thursday after officials suggested that the Kremlin's troops would withdraw from the west bank of the Dnieper River. Civilians remaining in Kherson city should leave immediately as they are putting their lives in danger, he added. The dam holds back an enormous reservoir and controls the water supply to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Ukrainian forces have targeted the main river crossings for months, making it difficult for Russia to supply its huge force on the river’s west bank. Yurii Sobolevskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine’s Kherson regional council, remained cautious about the Russian forces’ intentions.

☆ Election Day is Nov. 8, but the legal challenges have already begun
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The suits, largely by Republicans, target rules over mail-in voting, early voting, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, the counting of mismarked absentee ballots and access for partisan poll watchers. But their legal effort ahead of the election focuses on making voting easier and helping those denied a chance to vote, through legal hotlines and volunteers. But the bulk of this litigation generally occurs after the votes have been cast, not before Election Day. Trump’s own leadership found the election was fair, and state election officials nationwide saw no widespread evidence of fraud. There’s growing concern among election officials and law enforcement about overly aggressive poll watchers or people pretending to be poll watchers intimidating voters.

☆ Weapons in Ukraine aren't flooding Europe's black markets, but that could change
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The volume of weapons sent to and in Ukraine has raised concern that some could end up on the black market. The United Kingdom has sent Ukraine more than 4,200 such weapons since Russia invaded. Similarly, the UK has sent more than 5,000 point-and-shoot NLAW anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, weapons that can readily target and destroy most moving vehicles. However, "At the moment," he said, "there is no evidence of increased arms trafficking from Ukraine to other countries." In September, the Moldovan Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the creation of a new unit dedicated to combating illicit arms trafficking.

☆ Russia says seized Ukrainian lands are under its nuclear protection
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — Russia said on Tuesday that four Ukrainian regions whose annexation it proclaimed last month are under the protection of its nuclear arsenal. The statement from the Kremlin came at a moment of acute tension, with both NATO and Russia expected to hold military exercises shortly to test the readiness of their nuclear weapons forces. NATO is conducting nuclear preparedness exercises this week and has said it expects Russia to hold its own nuclear drills imminently, but Peskov said he had no information on that. Putin last month proclaimed that the territories Moscow was taking from Ukraine would be part of Russia “for ever”. Russia has lost ground in the four regions even since it claimed control over them in a lavish Kremlin ceremony on Sept. 30.

☆ Crisis-hit Sri Lanka — which ran out of fuel earlier this year — snaps up cheap Russian oil for the first time ever
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sri Lanka has been buying large amounts of Russian crude since March 2022. Three months ago, Sri Lanka said it was sending an official delegation to Russia to negotiate oil deals amid a crippling fuel shortage. But it's just one of the emerging markets dealing with economic crises now lining up to buy discounted Russian oil. It's unlikely that Sri Lanka had ever purchased Russian crude before March this year, Kpler's lead crude analyst Viktor Katona said. The US has banned Russian crude and the European Union set to implement an oil embargo on Russian oil by the end of the year.

☆ The war in Ukraine may keep Russia's new Su-75 stealth fighter jet out of the air
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-09 | by ( Maya Carlin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Su-75 "Checkmate" is Russia's attempt at building a fifth-generation fighter for export. Originally revealed at the MAKS Airshow last year, the Su-75 was hailed as a solid move by Russia's United Aerospace Corporation, building off the Su-57 platform — Russia's first fifth-generation fighter. Stats and specsA Su-75 Checkmate prototype at MAKS-2021 in July 2021. They note that "The Checkmate fighter is outfitted with versatile armaments capable of fighting any threat: from unsheltered command posts to especially sensitive targets for a potential enemy." Additionally, if the production estimates of the Su-75 continue to be delayed, foreign clients may look elsewhere to fulfill their fighter needs.

☆ Russia blindfolded and restrained a Japanese diplomat it accused of being a spy, Japan says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia said it detained a Japanese diplomat in the city of Vladivostok. Russia's FSB said the official was detained on suspicion of espionage. Tokyo said it the official was mistreated, in violation of international rules. Matsuno said Japan would demand a formal apology from Moscow, and the official would leave Russia by Wednesday, having been expelled by Russian authorities. Russia and Japan are regional rivals, and relations have worsened since Japan took the side of the US and other western nations in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and imposing economic sanctions.

☆ Putin grants Russian citizenship to former NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden speaks live from Russia during the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal on November 4, 2019. WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin granted citizenship on Monday to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree translated by NBC News. Snowden's name appears as one of approximately 70 foreign nationals approved by Putin for Russian citizenship. The former NSA intelligence officer turned U.S. government whistleblower, fled to Hong Kong and later to Russia in to evade federal prosecution after leaking classified documents to journalists. Snowden was charged with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence.

Putin knew a war would be unpopular and had kept all of his previous military interventions limited before the current invasion of Ukraine. Right now, the Russian military is in no condition to fight NATO, and it is unclear to what extent the partial mobilization will solve Russia’s military problems. Moreover, the finger on the nuclear button is still that of Vladimir Putin rather than Patrushev or other hardliners. At the same time, the Ukrainians, the most likely victims of any tactical Russian nuclear strike, remain committed to fighting despite the risk. The fight is not only about Ukraine alone: For Putin and the hardliners alike, it’s about the West.

☆ Airline tickets could become even more expensive, aviation execs warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Walsh added that while consumers are paying higher ticket prices, airlines are not necessarily making a profit. watch nowAirline ticket prices have spiked by 25% in the past year — the biggest annual jump since 1989. Russia-Ukraine warBut another factor could contribute to even higher ticket prices — Russia's announcement of a military mobilization, said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. Oil prices jumped by more than 2% after Putin's announcement, following concerns of an escalation of the war in Ukraine and squeezing oil and gas supplies. Hopes for affordable sustainable fuelAl Baker called for more investments in alternative fuel, and that Qatar Airlines is "ready to invest in sustainable aviation fuel" on the condition that it is "reasonably priced."

☆ Putin has been called a 'master procrastinator' but experts say he wanted to avoid mobilizing troops 'at all costs' due to how unpopular it would be in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Experts said Putin wanted to avoid the move, but also wanted to bolster his military. The move could weaken support for Putin's regime as Russians are exposed to the reality of the war. The Russian president has found his forces short on manpower while Ukraine, on the other hand, ordered a full military mobilization within days of the invasion in February. "He's a master procrastinator," Michael Kofman, a military analyst of Russia studies at the Center for Naval Analyses told Puck's Julie Ioffe this week. Experts told Insider it could take weeks or months for Russia's partial mobilization to bear fruit, as the reservists need to be trained, equipped, and deployed.

☆ A former top Russian finance official says Western sanctions have been at most 40% effective — but says economic growth will be interrupted for years
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sanctions against Russia have been 30% to 40% effective, a former finance official told Reuters. His comments come as Russia's economy continues to appear resilient almost seven months into trade restrictions. While sanctions have not been entirely effectively, Vyugin told Reuters that "the main result of sanctions is that the economic growth process in Russia has been interrupted for several years." Russia's economy ministry expects GDP to contract by 2.9% in 2022, a government official said earlier in September, per Reuters. This will apply to the tech sector, where Russia is reliant on imports, Vyugin told the news agency.

☆ Market got you feeling upside down? Get your portfolio ready for when stocks explode higher
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Stock investing in the current environment has been kind of like that 1990s "Seinfeld" episode of a similar name, where seemingly familiar dynamics are off kilter. But if you're feeling like it's been exceptionally weird lately — and perhaps just plain upside-down — you're not alone. In reality, we've seen high oil, we've seen high inflation, we've seen wars in Europe and tension with China. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

The scale of the Russian military’s and political leadership’s setbacks in Ukraine have become too vast for even state media and pro-war activists to ignore. With Russian forces on the retreat, more and more they are accusing the leadership of betraying the troops. As Ukraine retakes territory, videos are appearing online appearing to show massive amounts of equipment abandoned by retreating Russian soldiers. Radical right-wing bloggers calling for Putin to take the gloves off in Ukraine are not a direct threat to the regime, Stanovaya said. The Russian elite is used to seeing Putin as a strong man, someone who deals with challenges and always knows where he’s taking the country.

☆ The army Putin spent 2 decades building has been largely destroyed in Ukraine, and Russia's 'strategic defeat' could threaten his grip on power
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Russia's military will have to be rebuilt because of the war in Ukraine, experts say. But the war in Ukraine has decimated the Russian military that Putin spent years building, while raising questions about his grip on power, Russia experts and military analysts told Insider. Russia's military is going to have to be rebuilt," George Barros, a military analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Insider. These losses have forced the Russian military to resort to pulling obsolete Soviet-era equipment, such as T-62 tanks, out of storage. The Russian military is "not nearly as powerful as we thought it was," he said.

☆ Even as the West tries to wean itself off Russian oil, Moscow has found itself yet another buyer: Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-19 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Myanmar is buying Russian oil, which it says is "high-quality" and cheap. This time, Myanmar is joining the line to buy Russian gas and fuel oil, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. He said military chief Min Aung Hlaing sealed a fuel oil deal with Russia during a trip to Moscow in July. Russian fuel oil exports are expected to start arriving in Myanmar in September, Reuters reported, citing local media. Myanmar is the latest in a list of crisis-hit countries — including Sri Lanka and Laos — to actively seek out Russian oil.

☆ Everything you need to know about silovarchs — Russia's security elites — and the power they wield
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-10 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russia's security elites are silovarchs, a term combining "oligarch" and "siloviki" ("people of force.") Analyst Hugo Crosthwaite said silovarchs are closer to President Vladimir Putin than oligarchs. According to Treisman, oligarchs do not hold a great deal of political influence, while silovarchs are more powerful. Table of Silovarchs Viktor Ivanov – former chair of the board for Almaz-Antei and Aeroflot – had a career in Soviet KGB and Russian FSB. Rashid Nurgaliev– former interior minister and deputy secretary of the Security Council – is Army General and worked for the FSB.

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