DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Russian Pranksters Trick the Fed Chair, Based on Internet Videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jeanna Smialek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Pranksters posing as Ukraine’s president tricked Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, into a conversation in January about the U.S. and global economy, based on video clips covered on Russian state television and posted online. The footage shows Mr. Powell answering an interviewer’s questions on a video call, apparently thinking that he is talking to Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s leader. The ruse appears to have been carried out by Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, pranksters who are supporters of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The clips — now circulating on the internet — were earlier reported on by Bloomberg News. They show Mr. Powell answering questions about central banking and inflation.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War News: Pope Francis Discusses Peace Efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

A photo provided by the Vatican shows Pope Francis, center left, with the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, center right, during a private audience in the Vatican on Thursday. Pope Francis discussed peace efforts in Ukraine with the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, during a private audience at the Vatican on Thursday, their first known meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The relationship between Ukraine and Francis, who has long called for peace and decried what he called barbaric acts of war, was troubled in the early months of the conflict. Mr. Shmyhal also asked the pope for help in “returning home Ukrainian children” who have been deported to Russia. Early in the war Ukrainian officials criticized the pope’s decision not to name Russia or its president, Vladimir V. Putin, as the aggressor in the conflict.

☆ South Africa’s Shifting Stance on a Sensitive Question: Quit the I.C.C.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said on Tuesday that his party, the African National Congress, had decided “it is prudent” to withdraw from the International Criminal Court — only for representatives for him and the party to later clarify that neither was actually advocating quitting the court, at least for now. The shifting statements underscore the complexities and sensitivity of the matter at a fraught geopolitical moment, when South Africa and other countries are pushing back against a world order dominated by the United States and the West. has issued an arrest warrant on war crimes charges for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has been invited to a summit in South Africa in August. South African officials have not said whether they would honor their commitment to the I.C.C. and arrest Mr. Putin, and Mr. Ramaphosa said his government was still considering what to do.

☆ Documents Reflect Persistent, if Unfounded, Speculation on Putin’s Health
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Now, a document among the trove of leaked classified materials offers the latest example of the fascination with Mr. Putin’s health. It describes a conversation between two Ukrainian officials about what one claimed was a conspiracy among Mr. Putin’s internal opponents to challenge his rule at a moment when he was said to be undergoing chemotherapy. No evidence has emerged to substantiate the claim, or many earlier ones, and the leaked document gives no indication that the United States finds it credible. dismissed speculation about Mr. Putin’s health, and many Russia experts find no reason to doubt him. Analysts called the public discussion of Mr. Putin’s well-being unsurprising.

Two months after issuing a vague plan for ending the war in Ukraine, China’s leader, a close ally of Vladimir V. Putin, on Wednesday acceded to repeated requests from the Ukrainian president to talk. The one-hour telephone discussion between China’s Xi Jinping and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was the first known contact between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. China’s official account of the discussion was notable for its omission of two words: “Russia” and “war.” It referred instead to the need for a “political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” and warned of the danger of nuclear escalation. For his part, Mr. Zelensky said the two leaders “had a long and meaningful phone call.”In recent months, Mr. Xi has been trying to burnish his image as a global statesman by helping restore diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran and by rolling out the red carpet in Beijing for visiting world leaders like President Emmanuel Macron of France.

☆ The Russian foreign minister hints of a possible prisoner swap for Gershkovich.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, hinted on Tuesday at the possibility of a prisoner swap involving two Americans detained in Russia, Paul Whelan and the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Speaking at a wide-ranging news conference at the United Nations, Mr. Lavrov said the channel to discuss detained American and Russian citizens was created when President Biden and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, met in Geneva in 2021. Back then, Mr. Lavrov said, the channel did not provide “for the involvement of journalists.”“This is work that is not public in nature and publicity here will only complicate the process,” Mr. Lavrov said at the U.N., where Russia is wrapping up a contentious monthlong stint as president of the Security Council, a rotating position. Mr. Lavrov said that several American citizens were serving prison sentences in Russia for various crimes, but that Mr. Whelan and Mr. Gershkovich had been detained “when they were committing a crime, receiving material” that he maintained consisted of state secrets.

☆ Russia Pounds Cities Across the Country, Ukraine Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Jeffrey Gettleman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian forces pounded Ukrainian cities with missiles, mortars, artillery fire and airstrikes over the weekend, killing at least one person and taking out homes and critical infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said Sunday. “Fierce battles for the city of Bakhmut continue,” according to a Sunday morning update from the Ukrainian military’s General Staff. But the update emphasized that Bakhmut was hardly the only target and that Russian forces had rained down dozens of airstrikes and many other artillery attacks across the country. The violence comes as Ukraine is preparing for an anticipated counteroffensive that could focus on seizing back territory in the east and south of the country. For Russia’s part, President Vladimir V. Putin has made the seizure of the entire Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, a priority for Moscow’s forces.

☆ DeSantis Faces Republican Scrutiny on Issues While Trump Skates By
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When former President Donald J. Trump called Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, “smart” in the days after Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the remark caused a brief media stir and nothing more — another off-the-cuff, provocative statement from someone who is famous for such comments. But when Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida painted the fight in far less extreme terms, as a “territorial dispute,” the reaction from Republicans in Washington and a range of donors was alarm and anger. Since then, he has refused to say where he stands on federal action curtailing abortion, an issue on which he has changed his position over the years. Yet Mr. DeSantis faced extensive backlash from voters whose support he might need in a general election when he moved to the right of Mr. Trump and signed a law banning abortions in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy.

☆ Russia’s Technocrats Embraced the West, Then Enabled Putin’s War
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Soon after his airplane took off from Moscow last fall, a Russian energy official who had just resigned took his phone and typed up the emotions he had kept bottled inside since the invasion of Ukraine. “I am tired of feeling constant fear for myself, for my loved ones, for the future of my country and of my own,” Arseny Pogosyan wrote on his social media page as he flew into a hurried exile. “I am against this inhumane war.”The outburst in September did not receive much attention, gathering eight likes and one brief comment. After all, Mr. Pogosyan, 30, was among the hundreds of thousands of young Russian men fleeing the mobilization announced days earlier by President Vladimir V. Putin to replenish his battered military. But among his colleagues in the energy ministry, where he worked as a press officer, his decision to leave his job was rare.

☆ Ukraine-Russia War: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

As she told her story with the help of an interpreter, some members of the House committee grew visibly emotional. At one point, the turret of an armored vehicle was pointed at them, Ms. Bobrovska said. Ms. Bobrovska said he and other Ukrainian children were visited by Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who informed them that they would be adopted. Roman eventually managed to return to Ukraine with the help of volunteers, Ms. Bobrovska said, but she did not detail how, citing safety concerns. The prosecutor general of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, addressed the Republican-led House committee after the survivors’ testimony to urge increased international pressure on Russia to return the children.

☆ With Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, NATO Readies for Combat on Its Borders
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Steven Erlanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the costliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has propelled the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a full-throttled effort to make itself again into the capable, war-fighting alliance it had been during the Cold War. The shift is transformative for an alliance characterized for decades by hibernation and self-doubt. After the recent embrace of long-neutral Finland by the alliance, it also amounts to another significant unintended consequence for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of his war. NATO is rapidly moving from what the military calls deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial. They note that in the first days of the Ukrainian invasion, Russian troops took land larger than some Baltic nations.

As a result, farmers in Poland, Hungary and other nations have seen their incomes plummet. measures,” his country would follow Poland in restricting Ukrainian grain imports until the end of June, according to Hungarian news reports. The announcement came after Warsaw reached a deal with Kyiv on Friday to strictly limit and, for a time, halt Ukrainian grain deliveries to Poland. Image Ukrainian grain being loaded onto a cargo ship near Odesa, Ukraine, in August. Image A Ukrainian soldier loading shells inside an American-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer to be fired toward Russian positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Friday.

☆ Russia conscription: Putin set to make it harder for men to avoid call-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“We have been expecting the second mobilization wave for a long time now, and this is the beginning,” Irina, a 51-year-old psychologist whose son is of mobilization age, told CNN from Moscow. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images“I don’t believe a word of this,” Alexey, a 41-year-old lawyer from Moscow, told CNN. Currently, conscription documents in Russia must be hand-delivered by the local military enlistment office or through an employer. The prospect of leaving Russia has been a realistic one for many who oppose the war, and who have avoided or fear a call-up. Artem told CNN he is exploring the possibility, but sees few options and fears being unable to find work abroad.

☆ How the Latest Leaked Documents Are Different From Past Breaches
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It is the freshness of the “secret” and “top secret” documents, and the hints they hold for operations to come, that make these disclosures particularly damaging, administration officials say. The 100-plus pages of slides and briefing documents leave no doubt about how deeply enmeshed the United States is in the day-to-day conduct of the war, providing the precise intelligence and logistics that help explain Ukraine’s success thus far. It is coordinating the long, complex logistical train that delivers weapons to the Ukrainians. In fact, the documents released so far are a brief snapshot of how the United States viewed the war in Ukraine. They are a combination of the current order of battle and — perhaps most valuable to Russian military planners — American projections of where the air defenses being rushed into Ukraine could be located next month.

☆ Arrest of Evan Gershkovich Makes Covering Russia Even Tougher
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Western news organizations, confronting a harsh crackdown on free speech by President Vladimir V. Putin, pulled correspondents from Moscow and suspended their news gathering in Russia. The risk to journalists, in a country where describing a war as a “war” was suddenly a crime, was too great. Still, even under challenging circumstances, Western correspondents were hopeful that their work could continue. That hope was shattered last week by the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who is believed to be the first American reporter held on spying charges in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. The Journal rejects the claims against Mr. Gershkovich, 31, a son of Soviet Jewish émigrés, and the Biden administration has lobbied for his release.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ”, Evan Gershkovich, Gershkovich, Biden Organizations: BBC, Bloomberg, Newspapers, Wall Street, Soviet Union, The, Tass Locations: Ukraine, Western, Moscow, Russia, Berlin, Dubai, American, Soviet

☆ Russia Detains Wall Street Journal Reporter, Accusing Him of Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Daniel Victor | Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Russian authorities said on Thursday that they had detained an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal and accused him of espionage, marking a new escalation in Moscow’s tensions with the United States and with foreign media organizations since its invasion of Ukraine. The journalist, Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, is believed to be the first American reporter to be held as an accused spy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. His detention comes as relations between Russia and the United States continue to deteriorate, with Washington leading a coalition of nations supporting Ukraine’s military defense and pushing for Moscow’s further diplomatic and economic isolation. Hours later, the Kremlin endorsed Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest. “We’re not talking about suspicions,” Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, said, adding, “He was caught red-handed.” Mr. Peskov said he could not provide further details.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Gershkovich “, ”, “ We’re, ” Dmitri S, Peskov, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Mr Organizations: Wall Street Journal, Soviet Union, Washington, Russian Federal Security Service, Kremlin Locations: American, United States, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, Soviet, Yekaterinburg

☆ Russian recruits are making videos directly addressed to Putin begging for more support amid 'meat assaults'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian conscripts are increasingly appealing directly to Putin for more support amid the war. Videos in recent weeks have featured troops asking for additional aid or to be recalled altogether. In a video from earlier this month, a Russian soldier admonished "the incompetence of our superiors," saying his unit had been replenished with newly-mobilized soldiers six times already. In a separate video obtained by CNN, a different Russian soldier in eastern Ukraine filmed a smoking Russian tank, explaining that he was offering "firsthand evidence" of the "clusterfuck." Even pro-Russia war bloggers have compared the flurry of soldier deaths to "meat assaults," according to the Post.

☆ Factbox: Details of ICC arrest warrant against Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMSTERDAM, March 17 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's right. GROUNDSThe ICC said it sees reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the crimes, either for committing them directly, jointly with others and/or through others. JURISDICTIONRussia and Ukraine are not member states of the ICC, and Moscow has repeatedly said it does not recognise its jurisdiction. MEANINGThe arrest warrant obliges member states to arrest Putin or Lvova-Belova if he were to travel to their country. The ICC, however, has no own police force or other ways to enforce arrests.

☆ DoJ moves to seize 6 luxury properties in New York, the Hamptons, and Florida worth $75 million from sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Department of Justice has moved to seize six luxury properties owned by a sanctioned oligarch. Viktor Vekselberg's homes in New York, the Hamptons, and Florida, are worth $75 million. Vekselberg bought the homes via shell companies in Panama and The Bahamas, prosecutors alleged. Court documents show Vekselberg purchased the properties using two shell companies based in Panama, and The Bahamas. Prosecutors say Vekselberg attempted to sell two properties without informing the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

☆ Fear, Anger, Love: See Ukrainians’ Texts From the First Hours of War
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Maria Varenikova | Gray Beltran | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

The messages are a snapshot of a fateful day for Ukraine and Europe — capturing the fear, love and support shared in the first hours of war. Ira YeroshkoOh Girls:((( I can’t believe it started friend one yeah. Oleksandr StarunThe war started. Lilia TurchynSvitlanka, the war started Be careful, and tell our mom to be careful with Myroslav Where did you read that? On Feb. 24, she was in Lviv with her husband and 4-year-old son, Ustym.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw. South Korea Indonesia Israel Thailand Japan Saudi Arabia Philippines Afghanistan CambodiaBy contrast, Russia seemed isolated. Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus Syria Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus SyriaBut the West never won over as much of the world as it initially seemed. But like many other African countries, South Africa appears careful to balance its growing ties with Russia against maintaining a relationship with the West. Others that provided Ukraine with military support have declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

For much of the winter, the war in Ukraine settled into a slow-moving but exceedingly violent fight along a jagged 600-mile-long frontline in the southeast. Now, both Ukraine and Russia are poised to go on the offensive. They are looking for vulnerabilities, hoping to exploit gaps, and setting the stage for what Ukraine warns could be Moscow’s most ambitious campaign since the start of the war. Ukraine must now defend against the Russian assault without exhausting the resources it needs to mount an offensive of its own. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has given an order to take all of the Donbas region by March, Ukrainian intelligence says.

☆ Prosecutors Charge Russian Who Managed Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg’s U.S. Properties
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

A U.S. permanent resident who managed Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg ‘s properties in Florida and New York has been charged with money laundering and sanctions evasion after fleeing the U.S., federal prosecutors said. Mr. Voronchenko, who was also charged with participating in an effort to sell two of Mr. Vekselberg’s properties, fled the U.S. in May after receiving a grand jury subpoena, prosecutors said. Mr. Vekselberg was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018. After Mr. Vekselberg was sanctioned, the source of the funds used to maintain the properties changed, prosecutors said. Mr. Voronchenko was served with a subpoena to testify before a grand jury in May while on Fisher Island, prosecutors said.

☆ Soldiers' widows group calls on Putin to order major mobilisation for Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We ask our President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, to allow the Russian Army to carry out a large-scale mobilisation," the Soldiers' Widows of Russia group said in a post on Telegram. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the appeal from the widows' group. A representative of the widows' group told Reuters that all fit Russian men should be mobilised to defend the Motherland. Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation. The widows group began work about two months ago to assist the wives of soldiers killed in Ukraine and has contacts with the Kremlin administration, its representative said.

A Culture in theCross Hairs Russia’s invasion has systematically destroyed Ukrainian cultural sites. It has also dealt a grievous blow to Ukrainian culture: to its museums and monuments, its grand universities and rural libraries, its historic churches and contemporary mosaics. This is how empires always work.” The war in Ukraine is a culture war, and the extent of the destruction is becoming clearer. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion.

Search resuls for: "Vladimir V"

25 mentions found