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☆ 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.

☆ Soros says Russian defeat in Ukraine would trigger dissolution of 'Russian empire'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"This means that a Ukrainian victory would result in the dissolution of the Russian empire. 'REGIME CHANGE'The United States has denied Kremlin claims that it wants to destroy Russia, the world's biggest commodities producer. Ukraine, he said, had a narrow window of opportunity in Spring once it got the weapons promised by the West. On China, Soros said that President Xi Jinping's 'zero-COVID' strategy had shaken trust in the Communist Party. "The current situation fulfills all the preconditions for regime change or revolution," Soros said of China.

☆ Sommelier who's tasted 15,000 wines: Never spend less than $30 on a bottle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"That's all that's just living inside your wine." Osborn has tasted more than 15,000 bottles of wine and concedes that you occasionally get very good bottles for cheap and pay exorbitant prices for wine that ends up being disappointing. But that's unlikely to help you find a bottle of wine that actually tastes good. The label you should be focusing on is on the other side of the bottle, Osborn says. Keep an eye out for the same bottlesOne thing that's worth looking out for on the front-facing labels: familiar faces.

☆ Analysis: Kremlin moves to rein in Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

"The position of the (Kremlin) political bloc is not to let him into politics. Prigozhin told a Russian interviewer on Friday that he had "zero" political ambitions. Markov, who described Prigozhin as extremely confrontational, said he believed Putin had told Prigozhin to halt public criticism of the top brass at a St Petersburg meeting around Jan. 14. It advised recipients to stop mentioning Prigozhin or Wagner and suggested generic phrases to describe his forces instead. After years of denials, Prigozhin stepped out of the shadows in September to admit he had founded Wagner in 2014.

☆ Russia says EU price cap exemptions show its oil is still in demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 8 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that European Union moves to add what he called "exemptions" to its price cap on oil products showed that Russian oil was still in demand. The European Union said last week it agreed to set price caps on Russian refined oil products to limit Moscow's ability to finance its war in Ukraine. At the same time, the EU introduced several exemptions to the way its price cap works. The price cap no longer applies to Russian petroleum products when the blending operations in a third country "result in a tariff shift" or changes in the oil product type. The West also imposed a ban on sea-borne Russian oil purchases in December and a price cap of $60 per barrel, which is still above the current price of Russia's flagship Urals crude blend.

☆ Russia accuses U.S. embassy of 'fake news' over Ukraine, threatens expulsions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends a meeting with U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy in Moscow, Russia, January 30, 2023. U.S. diplomats engaged in what Moscow called "subversive activities" would be expelled, TASS quoted the source as saying. A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. embassy had received a diplomatic note from the Russian foreign ministry, but said the department's general policy was not to comment on diplomatic correspondence. Tracy was heckled by a crowd of people chanting anti-U.S. slogans late last month as she entered the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow to present her diplomatic credentials. Reporting by Reuters reporters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia vows to push Ukrainian army back in response to longer-range rockets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We're now seeking to push back Ukrainian army artillery to a distance that will not pose a threat to our territories," he added. In this context, he said it was an "objective reality" that Russia had expanded its territory by incorporating four regions of Ukraine last year. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that longer-range rockets would escalate the conflict but not change its course. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of waging an illegal war designed to expand its territory. Reporting by Reuters, writing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan Editing by Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Putin expected to channel Stalingrad victory at key moment in Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Tatiana Gomozova | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Kirill BragaVOLGOGRAD, Russia, Feb 2 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin is expected to use an event to mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in Stalingrad 80 years ago to rally Russians around his military campaign in Ukraine later on Thursday. Since Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February last year in what he called a "special military operation", Russian officials have drawn parallels with World War Two and the struggle against the Nazis. Ukraine - which itself suffered devastation at the hands of Hitler's forces - rejects those parallels and accuses Russia of waging a war of imperial conquest. Thousands of people lined Volgograd's streets on Thursday to watch a victory parade as planes flew overhead and modern and World War Two-era tanks and armoured vehicles trundled through the city centre. Some of the modern vehicles had the letter 'V' painted on them, a symbol used by Russia's forces fighting in Ukraine.

☆ Putin evokes Stalingrad to predict victory over 'new Nazism' in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Tatiana Gomozova | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Russian officials have been drawing parallels with the struggle against the Nazis ever since Russian forces entered Ukraine almost a year ago. REUTERS/Kirill Braga 1 2 3 4 5VICTORY PARADEAs Putin finished speaking, the audience gave him a standing ovation. Thousands of people lined Volgograd's streets to watch a victory parade as planes flew overhead and modern and World War Two-era tanks and armoured vehicles rolled past. Some of the modern vehicles had the letter 'V' painted on them, a symbol used by Russia's forces in Ukraine. Irina Zolotoreva, a 61-year-old who said her relatives had fought at Stalingrad, saw a parallel with Ukraine.

☆ Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 14 in 'deliberate' strike on hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Russia accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately striking a hospital in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine on Saturday in what it said was a war crime that killed 14 people and wounded 24 patients and medical staff. There was no immediate response to the allegations from Ukraine. The alleged strike hit a hospital in the Russian-held settlement of Novoaidar and was carried out using a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket launch system, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. "A deliberate missile strike against a known functioning civilian medical facility is without doubt a serious war crime by the Kyiv regime," the defence ministry said. Civilian and military medics had been working in the hospital for many months treating local people and soldiers, it said.

☆ Putin discusses Russia's claim to giant chunk of Arctic Ocean seabed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin held talks on Friday with top security officials about the status of Russia's efforts to legally expand the outer boundaries of its continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Russia in 2021 filed a submission to the United Nations seeking to redefine its continental shelf, which is believed to contain vast untapped reservoirs of oil and gas. A continental shelf is defined under international law as an area of typically shallow water bordering a country's shoreline that is considered an extension of its territory, allowing the country to exploit its natural resources. "We have several important issues today, colleagues, concerning both the domestic agenda and the issue of the outer limit of Russia's continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. NATO member states have ramped up Arctic military exercises in recent years, as Russia has expanded and renewed its military infrastructure in the region.

☆ In Russia, comedian's satirical song about Ukraine war draws complaints
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A new song by a well-known Russian comic that satirises Moscow's war in Ukraine and its supporters has been referred to prosecutors by a patriotic organisation which believes it discredits the army, now a criminal offence. There was no immediate response to the complaint from state prosecutors or from the justice ministry. And what they say about him is fake," sings Slepakov, who is famous in Russia for his musical satire and used to be a regular on Russian television. The patriotic foundation alleged that the song's lyrics mocked the sincere feelings of Russians who were willing to sacrifice their lives for their country. Some listeners left insulting comments beneath the video, while others thanked Slepakov for what they said was a clever anti-war song.

☆ Belarus leader says he has been asked to seal a non-aggression pact with Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he had been asked to conclude a non-aggression pact with Ukraine, the Belta state news agency reported, citing comments that suggested he saw Kyiv as a potential threat. Lukashenko was quoted by Belta as saying:"...They are asking us not to go to war with Ukraine in any circumstances, not to move our troops there. It was not immediately clear from his comments whether Ukraine itself or the West had made the alleged offer. Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year. In the same speech, Belta cited Lukashenko as accusing Ukraine of hosting militants who could be part of an alleged long-term Western plan to destabilise his country.

Potanin is estimated to be Russia's richest or second richest person thanks to his stake in metals giant Nornickel (GMKN.MM). Maksut Shadaev, the head of Russia's ministry of digital affairs, told parliament in December that around 100,000 IT specialists had left Russia in 2022. Other hawkish politicians have advocated hitting remote workers and emigres with higher taxes and stripping them of their passports and Russian assets. Potanin said Moscow badly needs remote workers including computer programmers to help its battered economy recover. "No-one is convinced these measures will work," said the doctor, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.

☆ Putin: Russian military-industrial might makes victory in Ukraine 'inevitable'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia's powerful military-industrial complex was ramping up production and was one of the main reasons why his country would prevail in Ukraine. "In terms of achieving the end result and the victory that is inevitable, there are several things ... Putin said Russian arms companies manufactured about the same number of anti-aircraft missiles as the rest of the world combined, and three times more than the United States. "These are our historical territories," he said - a reference to the fact that large parts of today's Ukraine were once part of the Russian Empire. Putin was born in Leningrad in 1952 and began his foreign intelligence career in the city with the Soviet KGB.

☆ Jailed Navalny vows to keep resisting the Kremlin as campaign to free him launches
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday used the second anniversary of his incarceration to reinforce his promise to keep opposing the Kremlin, as his family and allies launched a campaign to free him. I'm not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually fade away." And now they're tormenting him and depriving him of any connection with the outside world in order to silence him," said Navalnaya. Russia's federal prison service, FSIN, has defended Navalny's conditions in the past, while the authorities say his incarceration is legally sound. The campaign to secure his release is designed to marshal support in Russia, and to publicise his fate and seek financial support abroad.

☆ Analysis: Russian mercenary boss courts Putin with Ukrainian battlefield success
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Now as the founder of Russia's most powerful mercenary group, he is vying for Vladimir Putin's favour by claiming a rare battlefield win in Ukraine. Russia claimed victory on Friday after Ukraine said its forces were holding on after a 'hot' night of fighting. The defence ministry on Friday attributed victory to its airborne units, missile forces and "artillery of a grouping of Russian forces". Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the state-controlled RT channel and close to the Kremlin, thanked Prigozhin for Soledar. Despite its sometimes publicly strained ties with the Russian defence ministry, some Western military analysts suspect Wagner is closely affiliated with it.

☆ No sign of casualties after Russia claims revenge attack on Ukrainian soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Vladyslav Smilianets | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/7] People look at the site of a missile strike that occurred during the night, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, January 8, 2023. A Reuters team visited two college dormitories that Moscow said had been temporarily housing Ukrainian personnel and which it had targeted as revenge for a New Year's attack that killed scores of Russian soldiers and caused outcry in Russia. There were no obvious signs that soldiers had been living there and no sign of bodies or traces of blood. "This is an information operation of the Russian defense ministry," Cherevatyi told Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne News. If true, it would be the single largest loss of Ukrainian troops since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 last year.

☆ Wagner boss wants Bakhmut for its 'underground cities'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group which is fighting in the battle of Bakhmut, set out in detail on Saturday why he thought its capture would be significant. "The cherry on the cake is the system of Soledar and Bakhmut mines, which is actually a network of underground cities. His comments were a reference to vast salt and other mines in the area which contain more than 100 miles of tunnels and a vast underground room which has hosted football matches and classical music concerts in more peaceful times. Prigozhin, who is sanctioned in the West, cited other advantages of taking Bakhmut, calling it "a serious logistics centre" with unique defensive fortifications. Bakhmut, which Russia calls Artyomovsk, is the focus of the most intense fighting in Ukraine, and Prigozhin made his comments as another Telegram channel associated with Wagner claimed Russia had captured a strategically-important settlement on Bakhmut's outskirts.

☆ Russia-installed official says drone shot down over Crimea's Sevastopol
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 7 (Reuters) - The Russian-installed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol said on Saturday that air defences had shot down a drone in what he suggested was the latest attempted Ukrainian attack on a port where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based. "Even the sacred holiday of Christmas was not a reason for these inhuman people to halt their attempts to attack our Hero City," Razvozhaev wrote. Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a truce to coincide with Orthodox Christmas. Kyiv rejected his offer as a cynical ruse to buy time for Russia's forces to rest and bring in new equipment. Reporting by Reuters Editing by Andrew OsbornOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Putin praises Russian Orthodox Church for backing troops in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Christmas service at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia January 7, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERSSummary Putin issues congratulatory Orthodox Christmas messageHails Russian Orthodox Church as important unifying forcePraises its support for 'military operation' in UkraineJan 7 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Saturday praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia. Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, but the Russian Orthodox Church's backing for Moscow's war in Ukraine has angered many Ukrainian Orthodox believers and splintered the worldwide Orthodox Church. Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox believers, divided between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and two other Orthodox Churches, one of which is the autocephalous, or independent, Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In a service on Friday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow criticised Ukraine for cracking down on the branch of the Orthodox church with longstanding ties to Moscow.

Summary Russia says air base targeted by Ukrainian droneSays it shot the drone down, no aircraft damagedSays three servicemen were killed by falling debrisNo immediate comment from UkraineDec 26 (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to one of its air bases for long-range bombers deep inside its own territory and that three Russian air force personnel had been killed in the incident. The drone was allegedly flying near Russia's Engels air base where long-range strategic bombers that may have been used to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure are based. Unverified Russian and Ukrainian social media accounts reported that a number of planes had been destroyed however. The same base was attacked earlier this month by Ukrainian drones, Russia said at the time. The earlier Dec. 5 strike on the same base, along with another attack the same day on another base, raised questions about the effectiveness of Russian air defences and shocked Russian commentators.

☆ Putin tells Russian defence industry to up its game for Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sputnik/Russian Presidential Press Office/Kremlin via REUTERSDec 23 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday told Russia's defence industry chiefs to up their game to ensure that the Russian army quickly got all the weapons, equipment and military hardware it needed to fight in Ukraine. "It's also important to perfect and significantly improve the technical characteristics of weapons and equipment for our fighters based on the combat experience we have gained." Since tens of thousands of Russian troops swept into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what Putin called "a special military operation", Moscow has ceded around half of the territory it initially seized. On Friday, he told defence industry chiefs he wanted to hear their proposals on how to iron out unspecified problems and wanted defence industry specialists to work directly with frontline forces to refine weapons and hardware on a regular basis. The defence industry is under pressure to deliver.

☆ Kremlin says Russia has made significant progress towards 'demilitarising' Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia had made significant progress towards "demilitarising" Ukraine, one of the goals President Vladimir Putin declared when he launched his war against Kyiv 10 months ago. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered the assessment of Russia's military progress when asked during a briefing about comments by Putin, who on Thursday said that Ukraine's defence potential was close to zero. "It can be stated that there is significant progress towards demilitarisation," Peskov replied. Putin dismissed the Patriot system as "quite old" and said Russia would adapt to it. Peskov said Russia had no knowledge of a Ukrainian peace plan that the Wall Street Journal reported Kyiv was preparing to put forward in February.

Putin acknowledged, not for the first time, that the call-up of 300,000 reservists that he ordered in September had not gone smoothly. "The partial mobilisation that was carried out revealed certain problems, as everyone well knows, which should be promptly addressed," he said. Putin also referred to other unspecified problems in the military and said that constructive criticism should be heeded. It was the latest in a series of recent comments in which Putin has acknowledged, albeit obliquely, the challenges his army is facing. Shoigu proposed raising the age for mandatory Russian military service to a new range of 21-30, compared to 18-27 at the moment.

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