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☆ Ukraine isn't the only country Russia is trying to topple
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Even as Russian bombs pound Ukraine, Moscow's mercenaries and spies are busy trying to set much of the rest of the world afire. To Russia, the conventional warfare waged in Ukraine, and unconventional "gray zone" warfare waged around the world, are two sides of the same coin. Human intelligence operations are used to attempt elite capture through the offer of assistance to politicians who support Russian interests. "As the war in Ukraine protracts, Russia has an interest in creating crises further afield," said RUSI. "As a lot of Russia's unconventional operations are self-defeating, countering Russian unconventional warfare must be premised on careful, selective, and intelligence- driven targeting," the study emphasized.

Persons: —, RUSI, Vladimir Putin, Jack Watling, Oleksandr Danylyuk, Nick Reynolds, Britain —, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov, Kadyrov, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Business, Kremlin, Soviet Union, NATO, Directorate, Staff of, Armed Forces, Getty, Russian, Central African, Wagner, GRU Expeditionary Corps, Convoy, Defense, Foreign Policy, Rutgers Univ, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Europe, Africa, Central Asia, Soviet, Montenegro, Moscow, Moldova, Russian, Britain, Ukraine protracts, Balkans, Russia's, Libya, Mali, Sudan, Central African Republic, Chechnya, Forbes

☆ Opinion: Despite ISIS threat, Putin’s only concern is the politics of terrorism
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Opinion Douglas London | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Russia knows it has a terrorist problem, despite its deflection and spin to preserve Putin’s image, but his priorities are elsewhere. Russian intelligence also suffers from systemic failings in recognizing, penetrating and dismantling terrorist cells, failings that stem from doctrine and a deliberately stovepiped structure that obstructs information sharing and agility. FSB officers will coerce, threaten and intimidate potential sources with diminishing returns that will only fuel ISIS-K recruitment and fundraising, which is no doubt seeing a surge from its Moscow attack. Russian intelligence will be left to depend on the unwilling, ill-informed or duplicitous. At the Islamic State’s height, Tajik Gulmurod Khalimov commanded its Iraqi capital of Mosul.

Persons: Douglas London, ”, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Bortnikov, Douglas, Mike Pompeo, Russia’s, Sergey Naryshkin, Igor Korobov, Donald Trump, Pompeo, Russia Michael McFaul, Barack Obama, Trump, Putin, Gulmurod Khalimov, Khalimov, “ Omar al, “ Omar, ” Batirashvili, Washington, Sergei Skripal, Yulia Organizations: CIA, of American Intelligence, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Global National Security Institutes, CNN, Federal Security Service, CBC, Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Russian Military Intelligence, Trump, White, ISIS, Central, Former, Terrorism, Embassy, K’s, Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry, Islamic Locations: South, Southwest Asia, London, Khorasan, United States, Afghanistan, Islamic State, Great Britain, Russia, Washington, State, Moscow, Syria, Iraq, Russian, US, Ukraine, St . Petersburg, Central Asia, Central Asian, Central, East, Turkey, Turkish, Istanbul, Mosul, Chechen, Georgian, Georgia, Iran, Kerman, Salisbury, England

☆ A shadowy Russian assassination unit may be behind mysterious 'Havana syndrome' cases: investigation
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new investigation has linked a shadowy Russian unit to instances of 'Havana Syndrome.' Carrie's account of "Havana Syndrome" was reported in an investigation jointly published by 60 Minutes, German outlet Der Spiegel, and investigative outlet The Insider. The outlets link Unit 29155, a shadowy Russian assassination unit, to multiple incidences of the syndrome, which is formally known to the US government by the term "anomalous health incidents," or AHIs. The Insider traced the movements of several Unit 29155 operatives around the time of several instances of alleged Havana Syndrome. AdvertisementHowever, in 2021 unnamed US officials told Politico that the GRU was at least suspected in ongoing investigations into the syndrome.

Persons: Der Spiegel, —, Carrie, she's, Greg Edgreen, Joy, Albert Averyanov, Marc Polymeropoulos, Insider's Aylin Woodward, It's, Walter Reed Organizations: Service, FBI, Der, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, The, National Intelligence, US, Politico Locations: Havana, Russian, Florida, Cuba, China, Russia, Tbilisi , Georgia, Moscow

☆ Russia offering African governments 'regime survival package' in exchange for resources, research says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso - Jan. 20, 2023: A banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen during a protest to support the Burkina Faso President Captain Ibrahim Traore and to demand the departure of France's ambassador and military forces. Russia's military intelligence service is offering African governments a "regime survival package" that provides military and diplomatic support in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources, according to a new report. Russia's Defense Ministry was not available to comment on the report's findings when contacted by CNBC. Wagner has for many years been a key component of the Kremlin's efforts to grow its influence in politically unstable countries across central Africa and the Sahel, including the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and Sudan. The report's authors Jack Watling, Oleksandr V Danylyuk and Nick Reynolds explained that the GRU chose to divide Wagner's activities in two.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Captain Ibrahim Traore, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Jack Watling, Oleksandr V Danylyuk, Nick Reynolds Organizations: Royal United Services Institute, Wagner Group, Russia's Defense, CNBC, Central African, Volunteer Corps, Russian Military of Defense Locations: OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Africa, Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan, Ukraine

☆ US and allies disrupt Russian cyber espionage operation against US and Europe, FBI chief says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The FBI and its international allies disrupted a network of over 1,000 hacked internet routers that Russia’s military intelligence agency was using for cyber espionage operations against the United States and its European allies, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday. The US has new intelligence on Russian military capabilities related to its efforts to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite system in space, CNN reported Wednesday. Wray’s announcement is the latest move by the FBI to use court orders to try to stifle complex hacking operations from Russian spy agencies. US intelligence agencies also use hacking operations to try to thwart Russia, China and other rival governments. But unlike the FBI’s court-authorized work, details of those US cyber operations rarely, if ever, are made public.

Persons: Christopher Wray, ” Wray, Wray, “ we’ve, Weeks, Russia’s Organizations: CNN, FBI, Munich Security Conference, Justice Department, Russian Embassy, US, “ Locations: United States, Russian, Washington , DC, Munich, Russia, China, Beijing, Ukraine, “ Russia

But the blog does offer insight into how U.S. geopolitical rivals have been using large-language models to expand their ability to more effectively breach networks and conduct influence operations. But criminals and offensive hackers use it as well, and the introduction of large-language models led by OpenAI's ChatGPT upped that game of cat-and-mouse. — Iran's Revolutionary Guard has used large-language models to assist in social engineering, in troubleshooting software errors, and even in studying how intruders might evade detection in a compromised network. “Of course bad actors are using large-language models — that decision was made when Pandora’s Box was opened," said Amit Yoran, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Tenable. Some cybersecurity professionals complain about Microsoft's creation and hawking of tools to address vulnerabilities in large-language models when it might more responsibly focus on making them more secure.

Persons: —, OpenAI, ”, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Malaysia —, Amit Yoran, Gary McGraw, Edward Amoroso Organizations: BOSTON, — Microsoft, Microsoft, Korean, Guard, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Security Agency, Google, Meta, Berryville Institute of Machine Learning, NYU, T Locations: Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Redmond, Washington, OpenAI, Russian, Ukraine, France, Malaysia

☆ From ‘Barbenheimer’ to Taylor Swift, here are the most important films of 2023 and why they worked
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-27 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Hannah Beier | The Washington Post | Getty ImagesCall 2023 an explosive comeback at the box office. Together, those three films contributed more than $1.5 billion to the domestic box office, according to data from Comscore. But in the meantime, here's a look at some of the most important theatrical releases of 2023 — and why they worked. Meanwhile, Disney has seen its animated content lag at the box office in the wake of the pandemic. "His Only Son," a biblical drama released in early 2023, cost $250,000 to make and generated $12.4 million at the box office.

Persons: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Hannah Beier, Mario, Comscore, Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan's, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Chris Pratt, Charlie, Luigi, Disney, Kung, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson's, Buda Mendes, tas23, Swift, Beyoncé, Tim Ballard, Jim Caviezel, Covid, Blumhouse, Cabrini, Saint Francesca Cabrini, Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Organizations: Washington Post, Getty, Warner Bros, Mario Bros, Universal, Disney, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, Swift, AMC, National Football League, Angel Studios, Century Fox, Roman Catholic, Reich Locations: Somerdale , New Jersey, There's, New York, Universal, Hollywood, Colombia

☆ In Rio de Janeiro, Architecture That’s in Sync With the Jungle
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Michael Snyder | Pedro Kok | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Juaçaba’s work, by contrast, was plain yet potent in its attention to detail. “She leaves room for the imagination.”In one of their firm’s first projects, 2015’s Videiras Pavilion — an extension of a pre-existing country home in a valley 62 miles from Rio — a 386-square-foot structure seems to levitate over a gentle slope. Made largely from recycled timber left on-site by the previous owners, the external structure is rich in detail, featuring puzzlelike junctions of banisters and beams. Deep frames around unglazed windows double as outdoor seats. The black paint used in parts was inspired by the natural patina acquired by Indigenous palm-thatch dwellings, a resilient typology throughout Brazil that most architects, until recently, wouldn’t have considered architecture at all.

Persons: ”, Pedro Varella, Caio Calafate, Alziro Carvalho Neto, Felipe Rio, Gávea Organizations: Felipe Rio Branco Locations: Rio, Itanhangá, Gru.a, Rio —, Videiras, Brazil

☆ Disney used to own the Thanksgiving box office. 'Wish' is trying to win it back
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

However, in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the box office has struggled to regain its foothold on the Thanksgiving holiday. "Thanksgiving films in this movie marketplace must rely more heavily on December moviegoing to determine their ultimate box office fate." Box office analysts often disregard 2020's $21.4 million Thanksgiving haul, as few theaters were open and there were few films to watch. Not to mention, box office expectations have not been particularly accurate this year. Trouble in the Magic Kingdom"Wish" has a lot riding on its opening weekend, as Disney looks to rebound from a slew of box office letdowns.

Persons: Ariana DeBose, Asha, Paul Dergarabedian, moviegoing, Ralph, Coco, TriStar's Eli Roth, Napoleon, Taylor, Shawn Robbins, Mario Organizations: Disney, BoxOffice.com, Mario Bros, Sony

☆ Exclusive: This pizza box-sized equipment could be key to Ukraine keeping the lights on this winter
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Officials from multiple US agencies played a quiet role in getting the Cisco equipment into Ukraine, sources say. In this undated photo, an employee at Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, works on the power grid. As the world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment, Cisco had resources to spare. The switch allows an electric substation – which has the crucial task of converting power from high to low voltage – to communicate with other parts of a power grid. Years of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s gridBehind the scenes, US officials are often coordinating the delivery of key technology to Ukraine.

Persons: CNN —, Illia Vitiuk, Biden, Palantir, Ukrenergo, Joe Marshall, intently, Marshall, he’d, ”, ” Marshall, Taras Vasyliv, ” Vasyliv, Andrew Kravchenko, Vasyliv, Ukraine “, ” NERC Organizations: CNN, Engineers, Cisco, US Air Force, Washington, SpaceX, Microsoft, Pentagon, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, Stanford University, GPS, Cisco’s, Ukrenergo, Bloomberg, Getty, GRU, US Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Locations: Austin , Texas, Ukraine, Russian, Stanford, Russia, Ukrainian, Denver, Ukraine’s, Kyiv, Silicon Valley, Alabama, East Coast, Germany, Rzeszów, Poland, California, ”, North America

The statement said the lawmaker “carried out information-subversive activities in favor of the Russian Federation” intended to destabilize and discredit Ukraine. When Giuliani went to Ukraine in 2019 to try to dig up dirt on then-candidate Biden and his son Hunter Biden, Dubinsky was one of the people he met with. Giuliani traveled to Ukraine in December 2019 to meet with several Ukrainian officials in an effort to defend Trump against House Democrats' impeachment inquiry. The US and Ukrainian governments have now both said these three Ukrainian officials participated in the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere with the 2020 US election. They also promoted the untrue conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 US presidential election to undermine Trump, contrasting with the reality that Russia meddled to help Trump win.

Persons: CNN —, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden, Oleksandr Dubinsky, “, Russian Federation ”, Andrii Derkach, Kostiantyn Kulyk, Giuliani, Donald Trump, Biden, Trump, Hunter Biden, Dubinsky, Derkach, Kulyk, Hunter, Trump’s, impeaching Biden, SBU, Leah Millis, Igor Kolesnikov, Kolesnikov, ”, Russia meddled, denigrate Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, ” Dubinsky Organizations: CNN, Bureau of Investigation, Security Service of Ukraine, Russian Federation, Trump, Biden, Moscow, House Republicans, GOP, House Democrats, Reuters, GRU, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine’s, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian, Russian, Moscow

☆ The same guys who helped Trump's campaign investigate Hunter Biden were paid off by Russians, Ukrainian prosecutors allege
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Paul Squire | Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Three Ukrainian men have been charged with treason in their home country. The trio helped Rudy Giuliani and the Trump campaign investigate Hunter Biden for the 2020 election. AdvertisementThree Ukrainian men — including a sitting politician — helped the Trump campaign investigate Hunter Biden before the 2020 election. The prosecution effort marks another key consequence of Trump's years-long quest to attack Hunter Biden — and, as a result, discredit his father. Additionally, Trump's call to Zelenskyy asking for help investigating Hunter Biden and other Democrats was a key factor in his first impeachment in 2019.

Persons: Rudy Giuliani, Trump, Hunter Biden, —, Oleksandr Dubinsky, Andriy Derkach, Kostyantyn Kulyk, Prosecutors, Vladimir Alekseyev, Dubinksy, Dubinsky, Volodymyr Zelensky's, Kulyk, Joe Biden, Derkach, Giuliani, Hunter Biden —, baselessly Organizations: Prosecutors, Service, BBC, Russian, European Union, NATO, State, Bureau, Reuters, New York Times, Burisma Holdings Locations: Ukraine, United States, Russian, China

☆ Russian Spies Behind Cyberattack on Ukrainian Power Grid in 2022 - Researchers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By James PearsonLONDON (Reuters) - Russian cyber spies were behind a hack which disrupted part of Ukraine's power grid in late 2022, U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant, part of Google, said in a report on Thursday, in a rare and advanced form of cyberwarfare. Last October, a massive wave of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's power network caused blackouts in many parts of the country, prompting Kyiv to halt electricity exports and leaving four regions temporarily without electricity. Sandworm hackers rose to prominence in 2015 after a separate cyberattack against Ukraine’s power grid which cut off power for around 255,000 people. The disruptive, digital, intrusion was widely considered to be one of the first, known, successful cyberattacks against a power network. “There have only been a handful of incidents similar to this, with the majority carried out by Sandworm,” Mandiant analyst Nathan Brubaker said.

Persons: James Pearson, ”, Sandworm, Nathan Brubaker, Christopher Bing, Sharon Singleton Organizations: James Pearson LONDON, Google Locations: Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, London, Washington

☆ Ukraine says it created a whole battalion from Russians who signed up to fight their own country
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Siberian Battalion largely consists of people from ethnic minorities in Russia. The battalion is expected to be sent to fight against Russia very soon, Bloomberg reported. AdvertisementAdvertisementUkraine said Wednesday that it had created a whole battalion from Russians who wanted to fight their own country. The battalion does not recruit captured Russian soldiers, he added, as per the Kyiv Post. He called his battalion the Siberian Battalion.

Persons: —, Andriy Yusov, HUR, Yusov, Vladislav Ammosov Organizations: Siberian Battalion, Bloomberg, Service, International Legion of, Armed Forces of, Defense, Main Intelligence, Russian Federation, Kyiv Post, New, Radio Free Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kyiv, Russian, Eastern Siberia, Europe, Radio Free Europe

Small toy figures with laptops and smartphones are seen in front of displayed Comcast logo, in this illustration taken December 5, 2021. Revenue for the media giant’s third quarter rose 0.9% to $30.12 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $29.68 billion, according to LSEG data. Comcast lost 18,000 broadband customers in the quarter, as it faces more competition from wireless carriers such as Verizon (VZ.N) and T-Mobile (TMUS.O), which offer broadband. Paid subscribers increased by 4 million in the third quarter, to 28 million, from the 24 million reported in the previous quarter. That growth was driven partly by the addition of Comcast subscribers who had been getting Peacock for free, and converted to paid subscribers.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, FactSet, Peacock, Oppenheimer, Helen Coster, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Comcast, REUTERS, Revenue, Verizon, Dominion, Thomson Locations: New York, Bengaluru

☆ Explainer: Wagner group - Is it back? Who controls it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Is Wagner back, who controls it and are its fighters returning to the Ukraine war? After the fall of Bakhmut, Wagner fighters were withdrawn from the front. While Prigozhin criticised Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Yelizarov said Shoigu was "out of control" and seeking to destroy Wagner. Russian, Ukrainian and Western sources have indicated that Wagner fighters are returning to the front. Russian war blog Rybar, which has over 1.2 million subscribers, said that Wagner fighters would return to Bakhmut.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Andrei Troshev, Yunus, Bek Yevkurov, Mikhail Metzel, WAGNER, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin, Bakhmut, Prigozhin, Putin, Anton Yelizarov, Yelizarov, Utkin, Sergei Shoigu, Shoigu, Wagner's Troshev, Troshev, Rybar, Guy Faulconbridge Organizations: Sputnik, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, deniability, United States, . Police, Reuters, Russian, Russian Ministry of Defence, PMC, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, dabble, Syria, Libya, Mali, Bakhmut, Rostov, Russian, St Petersburg, Central African Republic, redeploy

☆ US Hits Chinese, Russian Firms Over Moscow Military Aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By David Shepardson and Alexandra AlperWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Monday imposed new trade restrictions on 11 Chinese and five Russian companies, accusing some of supplying components to make drones for Russia's war effort in Ukraine. The Commerce Department, which oversees export policy, added a total of 28 firms, including some Finnish and German companies, to a trade blacklist, making it harder for U.S. suppliers to ship them technology. The investigation found that Hong Kong-based exporter Asia Pacific Links Ltd. has been among the most important suppliers to Russia's drone program. The firm, along with import company SMT iLogic, were the target of an earlier round of U.S. sanctions in May. The United States has aggressively used a trade blacklist known as the entity list to target China's tech sector and attempt to stymie Russia's war in Ukraine.

Persons: David Shepardson, Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON, Joe Biden's, Alan Estevez, Barack Obama, Alexandra Alper, Rami Ayyub Organizations: The Commerce Department, China's, Links Ltd, Technology Center, Russia's Main Intelligence, General Staff, Reuters, Royal United Services Institute, Special Technology, Asia Pacific Links, SMT, Commerce, Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Commerce Department, U.S, United Locations: Ukraine, Russian, London, St . Petersburg, Russia, Hong Kong, Iran, United States

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is embraced by U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, September 21, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Monday imposed new trade restrictions on 11 Chinese and five Russian companies, accusing some of supplying components to make drones for Russia's war effort in Ukraine. The firm, along with import company SMT iLogic, were the target of an earlier round of U.S. sanctions in May. Another six Chinese entities were added for allegedly procuring aerospace parts for the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Company that are used to make drones used by Iran to attack oil tankers in the Middle East and by Russia in Ukraine, according to the Commerce Department. The United States has aggressively used a trade blacklist known as the entity list to target China's tech sector and attempt to stymie Russia's war in Ukraine.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Joe Biden, Kevin Lamarque, Joe Biden's, Alan Estevez, Barack Obama, David Shepardson, Alexandra Alper, Rami Ayyub Organizations: U.S, White, REUTERS, Rights, The Commerce Department, China's, Links Ltd, Technology Center, Russia's Main Intelligence, General Staff, Reuters, Royal United Services Institute, Special Technology, Asia Pacific Links, SMT, Commerce, Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Commerce Department, United, Thomson Locations: Washington, Ukraine, Russian, London, St . Petersburg, Russia, Hong Kong, Iran, United States

"This shift, towards the courts, prosecutors and law enforcement units, shows that hackers are gathering evidence about Russian war crimes in Ukraine" with a view to following Ukraine's investigations, he added. Russian hackers have prioritised targeting government bodies and trying to gain access to their e-mail servers, Shchyhol said, without elaborating. An attempt by a Russian intelligence hacking group dubbed "Sandworm" to launch a destructive cyberattack against Ukraine's electricity grid was thwarted in April, 2022. Shchyhol said his department saw evidence that Russian hackers were accessing private security cameras within Ukraine to monitor the outcome of long-range missile and drone strikes. "You need to understand that the cyber war will not end even after Ukraine wins on the battlefield," Shchyhol said.

Persons: Ivan Lyubysh, Yurii Shchyhol, There's, Shchyhol, Vladimir Putin, Tom Balmforth, James Pearson, Mike Collett, White, Gareth Jones Organizations: State Service of, Reuters, REUTERS, Ukrainian, State Service of Special Communications, Foreign Ministry, Federal Security Service, Court, ICC, Kremlin, Russia, Ukraine, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, LONDON, Russia, Netherlands, Russian, Ukrainian, London

☆ Sudan: Ukraine's special services 'likely' behind strikes on Wagner-backed forces, a Ukrainian military source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Victoria Butenko Nima Elbagir Gianluca Mezzofiore Tamara Qiblawi Allegra Goodwin Andrew Carey Pallabi Munsi Mahamat Tahir Zene Barbara Arvanitidis Alex Platt Lauren Kent | Victoria Butenko | Nima Elbagir | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Covert strikes by Ukraine in Sudan would mark a dramatic and provocative expansion of Kyiv’s theater of war against Moscow. Aside from a string of Ukrainian drone attacks that hit deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive has been focused on the country’s occupied east and south. A high-level Sudanese military source said he had “no knowledge of a Ukrainian operation in Sudan” and did not believe it was true. What appears to be a DJI MAVIC 3 drone can be seen in the videos filming the drone strikes. Six drone strikes targeted pickup trucks driving on Shambat bridge.

Persons: Wagner, Sudan ”, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo –, Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, Wim Zwijnenburg, ” Zwijnenburg, Zwijnenburg, Hemedti, Gen, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Wagner’s, General Khalifa, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin’s, Prigozhin, Yunus, Bek Yevkurov, Andrey Averyanov, Dmytro Kuleba, ” Kuleba Organizations: Chad CNN, CNN, Sudanese, Kyiv, Rapid Support Forces, Ukrainian, Central African, PAX, AK, CAR, PMC Wagner, Reuters Analysts, Kremlin, Agence France, Presse Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, N'Djamena, Chad, Ukrainian, Sudan’s, Russian, Sudan, Moscow, Omdurman, Khartoum, balaclava, British, al, Zurug, Russia, Africa, Mali, Central African Republic, Libya, Ombada, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Latakia, Bangui, “, Syria, Burkina Faso, St . Petersburg, Eritrea

☆ A sneaky move at a Kremlin meeting may show why Putin took his time in eliminating Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Paul Iddon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

If so, the process of removing Prigozhin may have begun at a Kremlin meeting days after his uprising. On June 29, five days after the rebellion was called off, Putin gathered Prigozhin and his commanders in the Kremlin, according to a report in the Russian outlet Kommersant. "Reports of the meeting — and the lack of notable cases of dissension following Prigozhin's death — suggest that the meeting likely achieved its goals," Orr said. Chekalov, a senior deputy to Prigozhin, oversaw logistics, coordinating numerous Wagner activities and operations in Libya and Syria. ALEXEY DANICHEV/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesUnder Prigozhin, Wagner amassed a business empire using lucrative concessions from governments and backers in the countries where it operated.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Wagner, Prigozhin, Alexei Troshev, nodded affirmatively, Matthew Orr, RANE, Orr, Dmitry Utkin, Valery Chekalov, Anton Mardasov, Mardasov, ALEXEY DANICHEV, Prigozhin's, Pavel Organizations: Service, Wagner Group, Kommersant, Reuters, French Army, Associated Press, Russia's Ministry of Defense, PMC Convoy, PMC Redut, Russian, Ministry of Defense, Getty, Belarusian Defence Ministry, Wagner PMC, SVR Locations: Wall, Silicon, Moscow, Russian, Tver, Eurasia, Prigozhin, Libya, Syria, Mali, Africa, East, Russia, Belarus, St . Petersburg, Saharan Africa, Ukraine, Osipovichi

☆ Russian hackers broke into Ukrainian battlefield tech, pillaging data from Android devices: intel agencies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian hackers breached devices Ukraine was using on the battlefield, Western intel agencies said. The hacking campaign targeted Android devices used by the Ukrainian military, they said. They said they discovered malware that can "steal sensitive information" was being used in a campaign targeting Android devices used by the Ukrainian military. The Five Eyes agencies' announcement backs up Ukraine's claim that Russia was hacking its battlefield tech. The Five Eyes agencies did not comment on this claim.

Persons: Sandworm, John Hultquist, SBU, Elon Musk's Organizations: Western intel, Service, Infrastructure Security Agency, NSA, FBI, GRU, South, Armed Forces, Defense Forces, CNN Locations: Ukraine, Western, Ukrainian, Wall, Silicon, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Russia

☆ Prigozhin's right-hand man in Wagner buried quietly near Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Stringer Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The co-founder and military commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner was buried near Moscow on Thursday, after dying in an unexplained plane crash that also killed his boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Before helping to found Wagner as Prigozhin's shadowy right-hand man, Utkin was a special forces lieutenant colonel in the GRU military intelligence service. He fought for Wagner to support Moscow's military campaigns in Syria and Ukraine, and was photographed in 2016 at the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin. Utkin, Prigozhin and Wagner's head of logistics, Valery Chekalov, were among 10 people who died when Prigozhin's Embraer Legacy 600 private jet plunged from the sky north of Moscow on Aug. 23. After a deal ended the mutiny, Utkin said in a speech to Wagner fighters: "This is not the end.

Persons: Wagner, Dmitry Utkin, Stringer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Utkin, Vladimir Putin, Valery Chekalov, Putin, Kevin Liffey, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Russian, St, Kremlin, Reuters, Embraer, Thomson Locations: Mytishchi, Moscow, Russia, Russian, St Petersburg, Syria, Ukraine

☆ Wagner Group may be absorbed by the Russian Defense Ministry, which Prigozhin rallied against before his death. The mercenary group's current arrangement could 'disappear rather soon,' former GRU capt
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The fate of the Wagner Group is in the hands of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. The New York Times reported the Russian Defense Ministry was considering absorbing the group. AdvertisementAdvertisement"The Wagner Group will disappear rather soon," Boris Volodarsky, a former captain in Russia's Spetsnaz GRU special forces and a fellow with the Royal Historical Society in London, told Insider. As tensions mounted between Wagner and Putin this summer, the Kremlin mandated that Wagner recruits sign contracts with the Russian army — which Prigozhin resisted. In his tirade, Prigozhin said the ministry "must be stopped" and the people responsible for the death of Wagner fighters must be punished.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Boris Volodarsky, Russia's, Putin, Dmitry Utkin, Valery Chekalov, Volodarsky, —, Alexander Lukashenko Organizations: Wagner, Kremlin, The New York Times, Russian Defense Ministry, Service, Wagner Group, New York Times, Institute for, Royal Historical Society, Defense Ministry, Times, Central African, Associated Press, Russia's Defense Ministry, Belarusian Locations: Wall, Silicon, East, Africa, Russian, London, Tver, Moscow, Belarus, Bakhmut, Ukraine, Mali, Russia, Rostov

☆ With Prigozhin dead, Putin has traded low-budget global reach for safety at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

On Friday, the Kremlin's spokesperson said the idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind the Wednesday plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin was "a complete lie." It was unavoidable payback for Prigozhin's insubordination, which culminated in a march towards Moscow with a column of his Wagner Group mercenaries. AdvertisementAdvertisementThose files were obtained from anonymous hackers who had pried them loose from the Wagner Group. Russia uses the Wagner Group to boost its military strength, but it is nothing like a conventional fighting force or diplomatic corps. Other reports suggest that the job replacing Wagner in Africa will fall to the GRU, Russia's military intelligence unit.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Prigozhin, Prigozhin's, he'd, —, Putin, grandiosity, they'd, Alexander Lukashenko, James, Mattathias Schwartz Organizations: Wednesday, Wagner Group, Saint, Kremlin, Group, Central African, YouTube, Google, Wagner, Saint Petersburg, ISIS, Russia, Wall Street Journal, Russia's Ministry of Defence Locations: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Central African Republic, Russian, Ukraine, East, Africa, Saint, China, Belarus, Russia's

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