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☆ Polish news websites hit by DDoS attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, May 18 (Reuters) - Several Polish news websites were hit by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that the government said could be the action of Russian hacking groups, the digitalisation minister was quoted as saying on Thursday. DDoS attacks work by directing high volumes of internet traffic towards targeted servers in a relatively unsophisticated bid to knock them offline. Asked whether Russian groups were behind the attacks, Cieszynski said "we have such information". According to PAP, the websites affected included those of daily newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita and Super Express. Reporting by Alan Charlish and Karol Badohal; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia says European armed forces treaty contrary to its security interests
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - The European armed forces treaty from which Moscow is to withdraw is contrary to Russia's security interests, Russia's envoy in charge of the withdrawal said in remarks published early on Monday. Russia's parliament is to decide on Monday when to formally denounce the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), following President Vladimir Putin's decree on May 10. "The CFE Treaty, due to the changed situation, is contrary to our security interests. Ryabkov was appointed last week to represent Putin during parliamentary proceedings on denouncing the treaty, which aimed to regulate the number of forces deployed by Warsaw Pact and NATO countries. Russia announced in 2015 that it was completely halting its participation in the treaty.

☆ The Russian military is offering up to 10x an average salary to fill its ranks depleted by Ukraine invasion casualties
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An investigation has found that Russia has been using a popular job website to entice war recruits. Some of the roles offer salaries 10x the average Russian monthly salary of 63,060 rubles ($810). Military employers searching on the site included the 43rd Regiment of the Russian Guard and the contractual recruitment office for military service in Tver Oblast and the Kemerovo and Novgorod regions. Last month, the Russian military launched a video campaign to lure more soldiers into fighting in Ukraine. The Russian military has consistently hinted at the possibility of a second mass mobilization, with one expected at the beginning of the year and another in April.

☆ A new law allows Putin to draft Russians via an online portal — even if they don't have an account. It 'brings the digital Gulag much, much closer,' critics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A new law allows Russian conscripts to be notified of their military service via government portal. Critics say the move creates "a digital system of social control" akin to a virtual Gulag labor camp. The new conscription law, she wrote, "brings the Digital Gulag much, much closer." What is the Digital Gulag? With the digital registry and harsh punishments for noncompliance, "the government wants to create a digital system of social control by regulating individual access to rights and benefits," Stanovaya wrote.

CNN —An acclaimed theater director and playwright have been arrested in Russia and accused of “justifying terrorism” for their play about Russian women being recruited online to marry Islamic State fighters in Syria. Yevgenia Berkovich was arrested on Friday alongside the play’s author, Svetlana Petriychuk, after investigators alleged that their award-winning play “Finist, the Brave Falcon” was in violation of the law. Prosecutors argue the work “romanticizes, justifies and glorifies terrorists” as well as promoting the “ideology of radical feminism”, Russian state media TASS reported. It was staged in 2021 by Berkovich’s own company, with the support of the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, according to independent news website Meduza. Russia’s cultural scene has faced increased repression since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Moscow's promise of big payments to its troops is creating a new headache for the Russian military
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But there are already reports of Russian troops not getting paid on time or at all. Anger over pay issues could worsen the already poor morale among Russian troops in Ukraine. Lev Vlasov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesOn the other hand, life in the Russian military is no picnic. Nonetheless, military pay looks generous compared to the civilian sector, where the average monthly wage is 63,000 rubles, or $770. However, cutting military pay – or failing to pay salaries and bonuses – would be a risky move.

☆ Russia's economy is becoming more 'primitive' and war could push it to the same fate as the Soviet Union, says economist targeted by Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Economist Konstantin Sonin said the Russian economy has become more primitive since the war began, Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported. The economist, who Moscow placed on its wanted list, said Russia could follow the Soviet Union's path toward "complete economic implosion." "Everything that is happening makes the Russian economy more primitive, more backwards." "Everything that is happening makes the Russian economy more primitive, more backwards," Konstantin said. And I think we are seriously going to follow the Soviet Union's path from the 1970s to the complete economic implosion of the late 1980s."

☆ Putin ally says Russia has weapons to destroy US if its existence is threatened
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. MOSCOW, March 27 (Reuters) - An ally of President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia has the weapons to destroy any enemy, including the United States, if its own existence is threatened, accusing Washington of underestimating Moscow's nuclear might. "American politicians trapped by their own propaganda remain confident that, in the event of a direct conflict with Russia, the United States is capable of launching a preventive missile strike, after which Russia will no longer be able to respond. But it has modern unique weapons capable of destroying any adversary, including the United States, in the event of a threat to its existence", he said. On Saturday, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would station tactical nuclear missiles in its close ally Belarus, which borders both Ukraine and Russia, sending a warning to NATO over its military support for Kyiv and escalating a standoff with the West.

☆ Putin to welcome Xi to Moscow under shadow of Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a ceremony dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China, in Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia June 5, 2019. Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via ReutersMarch 20 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will expect Chinese President Xi Jinping to show solidarity against western hegemony when he arrives in Moscow on Monday, while Xi will present China as a global peacemaker intent on brokering an end to the Ukraine war. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has previously made clear he will accept nothing short of Russia's full withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. We welcome China's willingness to play a constructive role in resolving the crisis," Putin said. Ukrainian forces have held out in Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the year-long war.

☆ Xi promotes China as peacemaker on first trip to Russia since Ukraine invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jennifer Jett | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

In this grab taken from video, China's President Xi Jinping, left, speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 20, 2023. Russia, China and the U.S. are not members of the court. "I am pleased to once again set foot on the soil of our friendly neighbor Russia," Xi said in a statement after arriving in Moscow on Monday for the three-day state visit. Xi said his Russia trip was intended to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries in a world faced with "damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying." The Chinese Foreign Ministry has not confirmed reports that Xi may hold a virtual meeting with Zelenskyy after his trip to Moscow.

☆ Factbox: Putin, quoting Confucius, heaps praise on Xi
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Both countries pursue an independent and autonomous foreign policy, and consider relations between China and Russia as one of the main priorities in diplomacy." "China and Russia adhere to the concept of eternal friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation." - Xi said he and Putin have met more than 40 times at different venues. - Putin speaks about the 'Power of Siberia' gas pipeline from Russia to China as the "deal of the century". - Putin said oil and coal deliveries had grown and that Russia is helping to build new nuclear power reactors in China.

☆ Xi: China's proposal on Ukraine reflects unity of global views
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 20 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that Beijing's proposal on how to solve the Ukraine crisis reflects global views and seeks to neutralise consequences, but acknowledged that the solutions are not easy. The China proposal, a 12-point paper released last month, represents "as much as possible the unity of the world community's views," Xi wrote in an article in Rossiiskaya Gazeta, a daily published by the Russian government, according to Reuters' translation from Russian. Xi has been seeking to present China as a global peace maker and project it as a responsible great power. A peaceful resolution to the situation in Ukraine, Xi wrote, would also "ensure the stability of global production and supply chains." "There is no universal model of government and there is no world order where the decisive word belongs to a single country," Xi wrote.

☆ Kremlin elites are fighting over how best to control their Ukraine war narrative, says the Russian foreign ministry's top spokesperson
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Kremlin's leaders can't agree on Russia's narrative on the Ukraine war, a top official said. Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry's press director, said there's a "battle" among Kremlin elites. "There is a battle going on, including among the elites," said Maria Zakharova, director of the Russian foreign ministry's press department, per Russian news outlet Business Gazeta. Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry's top spokesperson, made that statement at a panel with Russian tech entrepreneur Igor Ashmanov and other pundits. It said Zakharova's public statements further show that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has given up control of the Russian information space to "a variety of quasi-independent actors."

☆ Polish mayor targeted by Pegasus spyware-media
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Caitlin Tremblay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, March 3 (Reuters) - An opposition-linked Polish mayor had his phone hacked using Pegasus spyware, Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported on Friday, amid allegations that the country's special services have used the technology against government opponents. It said that his number appeared on a list that it had access to as part of the investigative journalism initiative the Pegasus Project. Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told private broadcaster RMF FM that he did not know about actions taken by special services concerning specific individuals, but that no laws had been broken. A spokesman for the Polish security services could not immediately be reached for comment. NSO has said it cannot confirm or deny any existing or potential customers for Pegasus.

☆ Russia has just one tank factory churning out 20 tanks a month, with demand outstripping production by a factor of ten, says report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has just one tank factory, which can produce around 20 new tanks every month. Demand for tanks is now outstripping production by a factor of ten, according to The Economist. The British publication reported that Russia now has just one tank factory, UralVagonZavod, a massive 1930s-built industrial complex in eastern Russia. Russia is losing around 150 tanks a month in Ukraine, according to an analysis by open source intelligence platform Oryx. Ukraine has also struggled to produce new tanks, with its only tank factory destroyed at the start of the war.

☆ A fat cat has become the top-rated tourist attraction in a Polish city with a perfect 5-star average on Google Maps
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A black-and-white cat named Gacek is the top-rated tourist attraction in Szczecin, Poland. The fat feline has a perfect five-star rating on Google Maps. Gacek has a perfect five-star rating on Google Maps. The rotund feline has beaten out Szczecin's other tourist hotspots, including a Pomeranian Dukes' Castle built in 1346. A local animal shelter has urged visitors not to feed Gacek, per Gazeta.pl.

☆ Russian censors scour the internet for claims Putin is a 'bald dwarf' or seriously ill, leaked documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian government unit scours the internet for insults about Putin, reports say. Staff at the agency will reportedly hunt down insults about Putin classed as "negative discrediting information", including labelling the Russian president a "thief," or a "bald dwarf". They are allegedly charged with tracking comparisons of Putin to negative figures, such as serial killers or in pornographic films. The Kremlin has closely monitored the internet for signs of dissent, clamping down on Russian search engine Yandex, Reuters reported. According to a Wall Street Journal report last year, Putin never uses the internet because he's concerned about being spied on.

☆ Military tech is racing towards a dangerous AI future, and Russia's war in Ukraine is paving the way, drone experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Currently, the drones are guided at launch by a human operator, according to independent Russian outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe. But more advanced drone technology is enabling what Rogers calls "on" the loop of control. "In the case of the systems that we have seen used, there's still a human operator authorizing the use of force," she said. Under pressure and potentially under fire, a drone operator may take the machine's prompt less as a suggestion and more as an infallible instruction. In a fully autonomous future of drone warfare, he asked, will drone AI be programmed "to avoid those who are waving a white flag?"

☆ Actor who starred in one of Putin's favorite movies says he's now prepared to fight for Ukraine and kill Russian soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov told Novaya Gazeta he is willing to fight for Ukraine. Smolyaninov, who is living in exile, starred in one of President Vladimir Putin's favorite movies. Smolyaninov was once a beloved actor in Russia, known as Russia's "Rambo," a reference to the action movies starring Sylvester Stallone. Last summer, he told a journalist that Russia's war was a catastrophe. US-born actor Steven Seagal has regularly advanced Russian talking points, notably when visiting the site of a destroyed Ukrainian prison in Donetsk last August.

Dec 25 (Reuters) - Russia's nuclear arsenal and the rules Moscow has laid out for its use are the only factors preventing the West from starting a war against Russia, a top ally of President Vladimir Putin said in an article published on Sunday. "Is the West ready to unleash a fully-fledged war against us, including a nuclear war, at the hands of Kyiv?" Putin and other senior officials have repeatedly said Russia's policy on nuclear weapons dictates they can be used if there is a threat to territorial integrity. Earlier this month, Putin said the risk of a nuclear war was rising, but insisted Russia had not "gone mad" and that it saw its own nuclear arsenal as a purely defensive deterrent. If Russia did not get the security guarantees it is demanding, he said, "The world will continue to teeter on the brink of World War Three and nuclear catastrophe.

☆ Polish PM and ruling party boss send mixed signals on court reform
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

However, on Saturday ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, widely seen as Poland's de facto ruler, was quoted as saying the bill containing the amendments could be "extremely destructive". "The dispute with the European Commission must be ended, because the real conflict is taking place east of Poland today," Morawiecki wrote in a Facebook post. The comments by PiS leader Kaczynski added to uncertainty over the bill's passage. Judges would also not face disciplinary action for questioning the independence of colleagues appointed by organs that critics say are politicised. ($1 = 0.9450 euros)Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Helen Popper and David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Polish ruling party boss says judicial reform may be 'destructive'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A draft law aimed at unlocking billions of euros in frozen EU funding could be "extremely destructive", Poland's ruling party leader was quoted as saying on Saturday, casting further doubt on the legislation's future. But after President Andrzej Duda struck a cautious tone about the bill, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party said it would be taken off the agenda of a parliamentary sitting on Thursday, leaving the reform proposals in limbo. The bill has split the ruling camp, with United Poland, a junior partner in government, saying it will vote against it on the grounds that it damages Poland's sovereignty. Under the new bill, judges would not face disciplinary action for questioning the independence of colleagues appointed by state bodies that critics say are politicised. United Poland says that could cause chaos by allowing a large number of verdicts to be called into question.

A logo of the Polish Central Bank (NBP) is seen on its building in Warsaw, Poland, September 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File PhotoWARSAW, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Poland's central bank Governor Adam Glapinski and four other rate setters threatened legal action on Tuesday against some members of the Monetary Policy Council over public statements they have made about policy. The other members of the MPC are Tyrowicz, Litwiniuk and Ludwik Kotecki, a former deputy finance minister who has been critical of monetary policy. At a press conference last Thursday, Glapinski criticised MPC members who "take 37,300 zlotys ($7,437.69) a month for participating in one meeting during the month and criticise the actions of the whole body". The central bank kept its main interest rate at 6.75% at its Oct. 5 meeting following a run of 11 consecutive hikes.

☆ Russian ballet dancer censured for pro-war performance in Uzbekistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Russian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin rehearses at the Royal Opera House for the Project Polunin show in London, Britain, March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall/File PhotoALMATY, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A prominent Russian ballet dancer complained on Wednesday that he was censured for performing a song dedicated to fallen Russian soldiers while on tour in Uzbekistan, while Uzbek authorities said he had deviated from an agreed programme. The incident highlighted the concern among Moscow's Central Asian partners about its military campaign in Ukraine, a fellow former Soviet republic. After the performance, Polunin said, officials of Uzbekistan's Culture and Arts Development Foundation - an Uzbek state agency overseeing arts - rudely reprimanded him for it. "We must not cave in to this, we must not allow them to do this to Russian artists and Russian culture," he said.

☆ Desperation on Russia's borders as draft-eligible men flee
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Felix Light | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Travellers from Russia cross the border to Georgia at the Zemo Larsi/Verkhny Lars station, Georgia September 26, 2022. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterHis escape was part of a vast exodus from Russia that has seen thousands of military-age men make for the borders with Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. On Monday, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that 261,000 men had left Russia since mobilisation was declared, citing a Kremlin source. On the Kazakhstan border, Nikita described would-be emigres pitching tents along the highway leading up to the Vishnyovka border post, while others less well-equipped slept on the tarmac, building makeshift beds out of their own clothes. Some of the most dramatic scenes were at Russia’s only operational border crossing with Georgia, which allows Russians to stay for a year without a visa.

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