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☆ Wagner Group stops recruiting prisoners as growing numbers refuse to be enlisted on suicide missions, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Wagner Group has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, its founder said Thursday. One prisoner told Meduza they no longer want "even to discuss the possibility" of joining the war. "One of the prisoners who left [with Wagner Group] told me that after he asked [Wagner] representatives how much training there would be, [they told him], 'The battlefield will be your training.' Russian prisoners for Wagner also said they've witnessed public executions of deserters and those who failed to obey orders. The mercenary organization has now "completely" stopped recruiting prisoners, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a Telegram statement on Thursday.

☆ The claim by a discredited journalist that the US secretly blew up the Nord Stream pipeline is proving a gift to Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Once-celebrated journalist Seymour Hersh made unproven claims the US blew up the Nord Stream pipelines. In Russia, Hersh's story was immediately greeted with a sense of vindication. Biden had said he opposed opening the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and saying the US could "bring an end to" it if Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion did take place, and officials in Germany — where the pipeline was due to pump its gas — axed the project before Nord Stream 2 moved any gas. Nord Stream 1 kept pumping until the explosion.

"Judging by the customs statistics, some of the benefit was captured by refiners in India and China, but the main beneficiaries must be oil shippers, intermediaries and the Russian oil companies," he added. As a further complication, some Russian oil grades, including Pacific grade ESPO, are also worth more than Urals. After decades of low profits or losses, sections of the global shipping industry are enjoying a financial boom from moving Russian oil. A year ago, a similar journey would have cost a seller of Russian oil $0.5-$1.0 million depending on shipping rates. Nayara is 49%-owned by Russian state oil major Rosneft, run by Putin's ally Igor Sechin, meaning some of the profits are indirectly captured by Russia.

☆ China weighs in on the war in Ukraine, pushing Europe to stop trying to get Kyiv a 'complete victory' over Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China warned the West against pushing for Ukraine's "complete victory" over Russia. "We are quite concerned about people talking about winning a complete victory on the battlefield," Fu went on to say. China has not condemned the war, but it also hasn't offered clear or full-throated support for Russia. The West has warned China against providing material support to Russia as the fighting in Ukraine rages on. His comments on the war in Ukraine came as Kyiv continues to push for more advanced weapons from Western countries.

☆ Russian threat to Baltic security rising -Estonian intelligence report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILNIUS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Service said it believed Russia still had the strength to exert "credible military pressure" on the Baltic region, where the security risk has risen for the medium and long-term. NATO and the European Union members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - the so-called Baltic states - have sharply boosted defence spending in response to Russia's 2014 capture of Crimea from Ukraine and the invasion of Ukraine last year. "Russia considers the Baltic states to be the most vulnerable part of NATO, which would make them a focus of military pressure in the event of a NATO-Russia conflict." Russia's military presence near the Baltic states' borders could be rebuilt in four years, the intelligence service said. Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, editing by Terje Solsvik and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Putin's government is reportedly pressuring the Russian central bank to stop with gloomy forecasts and give more 'upbeat' updates about its economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It's pushing the bank to give more positive outlooks for the country's economy, per Bloomberg. The central bank has been candid about Russia's economic pressure amid the war in Ukraine. Through it all, the Russian central bank has been candid about its assessment of the country's economy, which at times stood at odds with more bullish statements from the Kremlin. But that may soon change — Russian officials are putting pressure on the country's central bank to give more "upbeat" assessments about the country's economy, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with internal deliberations. Senior government officials have criticized the central bank for mishandling market expectations and for giving forecasts that were too pessimistic and alarmist, Bloomberg reported.

☆ New Western measures aim to turn up the heat on Putin’s oil revenues. Analysts are underwhelmed
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The West's latest attempt to ramp up its oil war against Russia may cause some market dislocation, but some energy analysts remain far from convinced that the restrictions will constitute a "transformative event." An EU ban on Russian oil product imports came into effect on Feb. 5, following similar restrictions on EU crude oil intake, implemented on Dec. 5. The price cap coalition, which is composed of Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., seeks to deplete Russian President Vladimir Putin's war chest amid Moscow's ongoing hostilities in Ukraine. Some analysts warned that the measures could cause "significant market dislocations" and that the EU embargo was more complex and more disruptive than what had come before. "This will bring us basically into the same story that we had with the oil price cap back in December.

☆ 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.

☆ Putin's rumored girlfriend called Russia's media a 'military weapon' and compared its importance to an AK-47
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alina Kabaeva, Putin's rumored girlfriend, compared Russian media to a rifle and called it a "military weapon." A video of Kabaeva's speech at a recent National Media Group anniversary event was posted on Twitter Monday. According to Insider's translation of the video, Alina Kabaeva said Russian media is "like a military weapon and in its significance is in no way inferior to the Kalashnikov assault rifle. According to Newsweek, Kabaeva's speech was from a National Media Group anniversary event. During the event, Kabaeva asked NMG to "wish success to each one of us and all of us together" in their work.

A far-right faction of House Republicans is pushing against continued US aid to Ukraine. Those concerns ratcheted up amid House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's tumultuous journey to secure the gavel last month. Kyiv, for its part, has kept a close eye on Congress' dynamics since the GOP won a narrow House majority in the November midterms. "This GOP House majority will demand more oversight, transparency, and accountability to ensure assistance to Ukraine is used as intended," McCaul said in a statement. "Most Europeans don't think that suddenly the US is going to cut support to Ukraine," Araud said, adding that nobody anticipates Washington will "dump Ukraine."

☆ Europe is set to ramp up its oil war against Russia — and markets are bracing for more disruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The European Union's ban on Russian oil product exports is slated to kick in on Feb. 5. The Group of Seven implemented a $60 price cap on Russian oil on Dec. 5. "We also expect this to put upward pressure on prices for oil products more generally." Yet this also means that they will continue to take cheap imported crude oil and process it domestically rather than buying refined oil." "This will create logistical challenges and higher transport costs if Russia seeks to redirect product flows to Asia, as it has done with crude oil," analysts at Eurasia Group said.

☆ Ukraine warns that Russia's major new offensive could begin on the 1-year anniversary of the war: 24 February
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine's defense minister said that Russia could send 500,000 troops in a renewed assault. He said Russia's taste for "symbolism" could see it happening on the anniversary of the invasion. Russia has announced it has amassed 300,000 troops, Reznikov said. Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov attends a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 7, 2022. Reznikov made the comments while in France to buy MB-200 air defense radars for Ukraine, according to the BBC.

☆ Even North Korea — one of Putin's last remaining allies — is backing away from helping Russia with its disastrous war with Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

North Korea signaled interest last year in helping Russia rebuild occupied parts of eastern Ukraine. But as the war slogs on and its trajectory remains uncertain, North Korea delayed sending laborers. In September, North Korea's ambassador signaled interest in sending construction workers to Russian-occupied territories, The Associated Press reported. But with Russia's war against Ukraine trudging into its 12th month, North Korea has held off from sending construction aid in "danger zone[s]," a source in North Korea told Daily NK. Support for Putin's war — from his inner circle to some of his most powerful allies — has faltered since the invasion began last February.

☆ Russian army officer defects, describes widespread torture including threats to castrate a Ukrainian and send his wife the video
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Russian former senior lieutenant has defected and admitted the army tortures Ukrainians. Konstantin Yefremov told the BBC of horrific abuses, including threats of rape and castration. He is the most senior officer to publicly denounce his former army's abuses, per the BBC. On Wednesday, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin alleged that his office had uncovered evidence of 65,000 Russian war crimes in newly liberated parts of Ukraine, as CNBC reported. His lawyer told Insider's Joshua Zitser that he feared for his life as he scrambled over the Russian border to Norway.

☆ Kazakh yurts in Ukraine irk Russia as crowdfunded aid pours in
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"They asked us to comment and we said we saw no reason to do that," a Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman said. A year ago - just before Russia invaded Ukraine - Astana demonstrated its reliance on Moscow by briefly inviting in Russian troops to help put down street unrest. A poll carried out late last year showed 22% of Kazakhs supported Ukraine, against 13% for Russia, while 59% remained neutral. Her "Nation's Future" group started collecting aid the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, and has raised about $1.5 million in cash and donated items from about 20,000 people. "We are helping ourselves in the first place by helping Ukraine, we are supporting our independence, our decolonisation, and the image of our country."

☆ Ukraine's Elina Svitolina calls for ban on Russians and Belarusians
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ukraine's sports minister said on Tuesday that his country was seeking to secure widespread international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from 2024 Olympics because of the war. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has opened the door for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals in Paris. They are the largest platform for inclusion and diversity in sports, capturing the attention of the world," Svitolina said in a statement on Twitter. "Their lives cannot continue as normal and the world, nor the Russian and Belarusian people, can be ignorant of the atrocities they are committing in Ukraine." Svitolina, married to fellow tennis player Gael Monfils, reached her career-high ranking of world number three in 2017 and has not played since giving birth to her first child last year.

[1/3] Vladislav Klyushin, an owner of an information technology company with ties to the Russian government, is seen in an undated photograph attached to a U.S. Department of Justice filing. of Justice/Handout via REUTERSBOSTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A wealthy Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin faces trial on Monday on U.S. charges that he participated in a vast scheme that generated tens of millions of dollars in illegal trading profits using corporate information stolen through hacking. The three-week trial comes at a low point in U.S.-Russia relations following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine last year. And while the case against Klyushin, who has pleaded not guilty, predates the war, his connections to the Kremlin have long intrigued U.S. authorities. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia faces new sanctions on its energy exports - but this time China and India may not come to Putin's rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The European Union's upcoming ban on Russian oil products could spell more turmoil for the Kremlin. China and India are unlikely to buy refined Russian fuels that were once sold to the EU, which will ban them on February 5. That's in contrast to Russian crude oil, which were snapped up by China and India after Europe shunned those supplies. Russia could refine less fuel but keep oil production stable, resulting in even more crude exports to India and China, Katona said. "China will likely to have to use its own products, reducing refined products exports from China that would have otherwise been available to EU buyers," he said.

☆ Belarusian and Russian charge in Melbourne throws spotlight on Wimbledon ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

On Friday, Russia's Karen Khachanov faces Stefanos Tsitsipas as he bids to reach his first Grand Slam final. With the conflict in Ukraine showing no sign of ending, a decision about Russian and Belarussian players competing at the All England Club is pressing. Australian Open organisers even banned Russian and Belarusian flags from Melbourne Park last week after a complaint from Ukraine's ambassador to the country. 'SITUATION NO-ONE WANTS'Nine-times Australian Open champion Djokovic has urged Wimbledon to allow Russian and Belarus players to enter the 2023 tournament, a view also backed by American great John McEnroe. "I disagreed with it last year that Wimbledon didn't allow the Russians or Belarusian players to play.

☆ Russia is sticking to its failed strategy of filling gaps in decimated front-line units with 'ill-equipped, ill-trained' troops, US official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian front-line units are taking heavy casualties, a senior US military official said. To fill gaps in the lines, Moscow is rushing tens of thousands of poorly trained and equipped troops to the front. A senior US military official told reporters on Monday that Russia has been sending replacements for units that have suffered substantial casualties in an attempt to strengthen defensive positions and support operations. Notably, they said, these troops are not arriving as organized units but are just filling in gaps wherever needed. He added that Russian casualties amount to "significantly well over 100,000 now," providing his first updated figure on the matter in months.

☆ Ukraine sanctions 22 associated with Russian Orthodox Church
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Oleksandr Kozhukhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine has imposed sanctions on 22 Russians associated with the Russian Orthodox Church for what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said was their support of genocide under the cloak of religion. According to a decree issued by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the list includes Mikhail Gundayev, who represents the Russian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches and other international organizations in Geneva. Russian state media reported that Gundayev is a nephew of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. The sanctions are the latest in a series of steps Ukraine has taken against the Russian Orthodox Church, which has backed President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine that is now entering its 12th month. "Sanctions have been imposed against 22 Russian citizens who, under the guise of spirituality, support terror and genocidal policy," Zelenskiy said in his nightly address late on Monday.

☆ Russia's Medvedev says Moscow has enough weapons
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev hit back on Tuesday at Western reports that Russia is running low on missiles and artillery, saying Moscow's weapons stocks were enough to continue fighting in Ukraine. We have enough of everything," Medvedev said during a visit to a Kalashnikov factory in Izhevsk, around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) east of Moscow. In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Medvedev was seen inspecting Kalashnikov rifles, artillery shells, missiles and drones. Medvedev told officials during the visit that drones were in especially high demand for what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. Medvedev, once seen by the West as its best hope for a rapprochement with Moscow during his time as president between 2008-2012, has become one of Russia's most hawkish pro-war voices.

☆ 'The art of diplomacy': How the world responds to a pariah state
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

DAVOS, Switzerland — As the world's political and business elite gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, there was one notable exception. Russian public figures and business delegates — once a key presence at the Swiss mountain resort — were banned from the forum this January, reflecting the country's broader ousting from the international community following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Yet, elsewhere along the forum's famous promenade, as on the global stage, other countries accused of violating international law were well represented. That begs the question: what does it take to be labeled a pariah state and who gets to decide? Watch the video above to find out.

☆ Putin's nuclear threats move Doomsday Clock closest ever to Armageddon, atomic scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The 2023 Doomsday Clock is displayed before a live-streamed event with members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on January 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. The group has been measuring real and existential threats to humankind, from climate change to the prospects of nuclear war, for more than 70 years. The renewed global threat of nuclear war was compounded by the ongoing Covid pandemic, experts noted. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by the late physicist and Nobel laureate Albert Einstein, as well as scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. The clock's threats "focus on manmade threats: nuclear risk, climate change and new disruptive technologies, including bio technologies," said Bronson.

☆ Putin's favorite mercenary leader may be preparing to justify a failure in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A rivalry between Russia's military and Wagner Group mercenaries has come to the fore in Ukraine. Indeed, with curses and excuses, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group and President Vladimir Putin's favorite mercenary leader, may be preparing to justify a failure in one of the fiercest battles of the war: Bakhmut. Rivalry exposedA mural in Belgrade that praises the Wagner group and its mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. Prigozhin was quick to criticize them — another instance of the mercenary leader's long-running challenge to Russia's military leadership. But with tens of thousands of fighters in Ukraine, Prigozhin doesn't seem phased.

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