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☆ Nord Stream sabotage probe turns to clues inside Poland, Wall Street Journal reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 10 (Reuters) - German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The investigators have reconstructed the two-week voyage of the "Andromeda", a 50-foot (15-metre) yacht suspected of being involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, the newspaper said. The Journal cited people familiar with the voyage as indicating the sabotage crew had placed deep-sea explosives on Nord Stream 1, before they set the vessel on a course towards Poland. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines hastened the region's switch to other energy suppliers. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany.

Persons: Stanislaw Zaryn, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Shivani Tanna, Karol Badohal, William Mallard, Helen Popper Our Organizations: Wall Street, Germany's Federal Criminal Police, Polish, Special Services, Twitter, Nord, Gazprom, Washington Post, Wednesday, Thomson Locations: Poland, Baltic, Germany, Germany's, Russian, Warsaw, Kiev, Ukraine, Nord, Sweden, Denmark, Ukrainian, Bengaluru

[1/3] A view shows the Nova Kakhovka dam that was breached in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the Kherson Region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 6, 2023. What is the dam, what happened - and what do we not know? THE KAKHOVKA DAMThe dam, part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, is 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long. The dam bridged the Dnipro River, which forms the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the south of Ukraine. Creation of the 2,155 sq km (832 sq mile) Kakhovka reservoir in Soviet times forced around 37,000 people to be moved from their homes.

Persons: Alexey Konovalov, Josef Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Peskov, Vladimir Rogov, Maxar, Rafael Grossi, Grossi, Guy Faulconbridge, Michael Perry, Peter Graff, Jon Boyle Organizations: REUTERS, TASS, Nova, International Atomic Energy Agency, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kherson Region, Russian, Soviet, Dnipro, Ukrainian, Crimea, Salt, U.S ., Utah, Zaporizhzhia, Nova Kakhovka, Kherson, CRIMEA, Crimean

☆ Russia says no threat 'for now' to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after dam breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander ErmochenkoMOSCOW, June 6 (Reuters) - Russia's state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom said on Tuesday that the breach of a dam in southern Ukraine did not pose a threat to the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for now where it said the situation was being monitored. Yury Chernichuk, director of the Russian-controlled power station, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging application that the situation at the nuclear plant was stable. "At the moment there are no threats to the safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Five units are in "cold shutdown" state, 1 in "hot shutdown" state.

Persons: Alexander Ermochenko MOSCOW, Rosatom, Yury Chernichuk, Chernichuk, Andrew Osborn Organizations: REUTERS, Russian, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine's Kherson, floodwater

☆ Here's why the upcoming OPEC meeting will be a 'pivotal' moment as tensions simmer between Russia and Saudi Arabia over global oil supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The meeting comes as Russia continues to pump cheap crude oil into the global market. Tensions have risen as cheap Russian oil drives crude below a key break-even level for Saudi Arabia. "The OPEC+ meeting on June 4 should be pivotal," investor Louis Nevallier wrote in a note on Friday. Nevallier said that he expects a "very assertive" Saudi Arabia to show up to the meeting. The report said the country's budget needs international oil prices to stay above $81 a barrel.

Persons: —, Louis Nevallier, ussia, Nevallier, there's, Brent Organizations: Service, Reuters Locations: Russia, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, Saudi, India, Riyadh, Ukraine

☆ 'Stop yelling': Top Chechen fighter scolds Russia's Wagner chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Chingis KondarovMOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - One of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's close allies on Thursday publicly criticised Russia's most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who yells all the time about problems, drawing a stern rebuke from a top Wagner fighter. "You have become a blogger who screams and shouts off to the whole world about all the problems," Delimkhanov said. "Where did such familiarity come from: who gave you the right to use the address 'ty' and 'Zhenya'?" Utkin said in a message which Prigozhin reposted on Telegram. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Felix Light; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Adam Delimkhanov, Ramzan Kadyrov's, Russia's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Kadyrov, Prigozhin, Delimkhanov, Dmitry Utkin, Utkin, Akhmad Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin, Guy Faulconbridge, Felix Light, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Fighters, Russia's, Duma, Steel Works, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Mariupol, Chingis, MOSCOW, Grozny

☆ 'Stop yelling': Top Chechen fighter scolds Russia's Wagner mercenary chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Russian energy giant Gazprom's private security force was deployed to fight in Ukraine, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gazprom's private security companies have forces fighting in the Ukraine war, the Wall Street Journal said. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is actively helping provide manpower to the frontlines of Russia's war on Ukraine. But interest in private security groups is growing in Russia, with other mercenary forces fighting in Ukraine. This includes recruits from former security contractor Redut, and from Patriot, an established private security force. Meanwhile, Gazprom has had a difficult year in energy markets, as the Ukraine war led to Western sanctions and restricted trade.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, That's Organizations: Wall Street Journal, Gazprom, Service, Wall Street, Kremlin, Defense Ministry, WSJ, Gazprom didn't, Wagner Locations: Ukraine, Bakhmut, Russia

☆ Belarus's Lukashenko says there can be 'nuclear weapons for everyone'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 29 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that if any other country wanted to join a Russia-Belarus union there could be "nuclear weapons for everyone." Russia moved ahead last week with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in the Kremlin's first deployment of such warheads outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, spurring concerns in the West. "If someone is worried ... (then) it is very simple: join in the Union State of Belarus and Russia. That's all: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone." Russia and Belarus are formally part of a Union State, a borderless union and alliance between the two former Soviet republics.

☆ Putin congratulates 'dear friend' Erdogan for winning Turkish election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, May 28 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his "dear friend" Tayyip Erdogan who claimed victory in Turkey's presidential election on Sunday, saying the win was evidence the Turkish people appreciated Erdogan's independent foreign policy. "The election victory was a natural result of your selfless work as the head of the Republic of Turkey, clear evidence of the support of the Turkish people for your efforts to strengthen state sovereignty and conduct an independent foreign policy," Putin said in a message to Erdogan, according to the Kremlin. "We highly appreciate your personal contribution to the strengthening of friendly Russian-Turkish relations and mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas," Putin said. Putin said he attached great importance to joint projects such as Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is being built by Russia's state energy group Rosatom, and a gas hub which Putin has proposed in Turkey. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Belarus official: West left us no choice but to deploy nuclear arms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 28 (Reuters) - Western countries left Belarus no choice but to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons and had better take heed not to "cross red lines" on key strategic issues, a senior Belarusian official was quoted as saying on Sunday. Russia moved ahead last week with a decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory aimed at achieving specific gains on the battlefield. "The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus is therefore one of the steps of strategic deterrence. He said any resort to using "even tactical nuclear weapons will lead to irreversible consequences." The United States has denounced the prospective deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus but says its stance on the use of such weapons has not been altered.

☆ Putin is still too reliant on Prigozhin's 'meat army' to punish the mercenary leader for his public defiance: reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The minor victory comes as Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin continues to publicly slam Russia's military. The Wagner-won victory in the strategically-unimportant city complicates Russian President Vladimir Putin's likely response to Prigozhin's exceedingly defiant and chaotic attitude. And yet Prigozhin continues to play an important role in the war, even after taking a veiled barb at the Russian president, himself, earlier this month. In a rare moment of recognition, Putin even directly congratulated the Wagner Group following their alleged seizure of Bakhmut. Prigozhin said Saturday he would pull his Wagner troops from Bakhmut come Thursday, where they would reorganize and undergo additional training.

☆ UN concerned by lack of grain ships going to one Ukrainian port
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Black Sea grain deal - brokered by the U.N. and Turkey last July - allows for the safe export of ammonia and Russia has been pushing for the pipeline to be restarted. Russia agreed last week for the Black Sea pact to be extended for two months. The Black Sea grain deal ground to a halt last week as Russia decided whether to continue it. He noted that no fertilizers, including ammonia, had yet been exported under the Black Sea agreement. The Kremlin said on Monday that the EU's reluctance to reconnect Russia's state agricultural bank to SWIFT showed the bloc's "non-constructive stance" on the Black Sea grain deal.

☆ UK targets grain theft and energy sector with new Russian sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - Britain announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia on Friday, targeting companies connected to the theft of Ukrainian grain and those involved in the shipment of Russian energy. Britain said in a statement that it was sanctioning 86 individuals and entities as part of a new crackdown on what it called "shady individuals and entities" connected to the theft and resale of Ukrainian grain. The sanctions would also target Russia's major energy and arms shipping companies, including those connected to Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, and the owner of the Russian Copper Company, Igor Altushkin. The designations came after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced new import bans on Russian diamonds and copper, aluminium and nickel. Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Kate HoltonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's scramble to find microchips for its weapons hints at struggles the US and China could face in a future war
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russia's scramble to find microchips for its weapons hints at struggles the US and China could face in a future war. Russian strikes and microchipsA Ukrainian military official with electronics from a destroyed Russian T-90M tank in Kyiv in March. Oleksii Chumachenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesWestern-made microchips and processors power many of Russia's weapon systems, even its most advanced missiles and aircraft. ASML is the only firm that produces extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography machines, which are needed to make advanced microchips. A US-Chinese clash over Taiwan, or some other disruption, like a Chinese blockade, that halts exports of advanced semiconductors would affect numerous other industries.

Under the terms of the agreement, up to $4 billion in Turkish energy payments to Russia may be postponed until next year, both sources told Reuters under condition of anonymity. Turkey, which is preparing for elections on Sunday, depends heavily on energy imports and Russia is its largest supplier. The source said Turkey could push back further such payments in the coming months depending on the course of energy prices. The Russian and Turkish energy ministries, and their respective energy companies Gazprom and Botas, have not responded to requests for comment on the issue. Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said last week that Turkey and Moscow agreed a deal allowing Ankara to defer energy payments up to a certain amount, but did not give details.

☆ Wagner boss Prigozhin took a rare and not-so-subtle swing at Putin, profanely hinting he could be a problem for Russia's war
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin profanely mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin in a new video. profanely mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin in a new video. The military group's leader hinted Putin was a "grandfather" who could turn out to be a "complete asshole." Prigozhin has been stepping up his feud with Russian leadership as Wagner troops are dying in Ukraine. Prigozhin releasing the video during Russia's Victory Day Parade is also significant.

☆ Russia's invasion of Ukraine is bringing Japan closer to NATO, in yet another own goal for Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Its foreign minister said this was sparked by Russia's Ukraine invasion making a "more unstable" world. Hayashi said the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine was the catalyst. Putin partly justified his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by saying he wanted to stop NATO's expansion. Japan moving closer to NATO is not just significant for Japan, but also for the Asia-Pacific region's relationship with NATO. The four countries are known as NATO "Partners," who work with NATO in some areas but are not alliance members.

☆ Ukraine says it has alternatives if grain export deal not extended
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, May 9 (Reuters) - Ukraine has alternative ways of transporting grain if a deal on safe Black Sea exports is not extended on May 18, and would not see that outcome as an "apocalyptic scenario", its agriculture minister said. Ukrainian Black Sea ports were blockaded after Russia's invasion last year, but access to three of them was cleared last July under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv that was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. The United Nations said on Monday that so far nearly 30 million metric tonnes of grain and foodstuffs had been exported from Ukraine under the Black Sea deal, including nearly 600,000 metric tonnes of grain in World Food Programme vessels for aid operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Yemen. Russia's state-owned RIA news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin as saying a high-level four-way meeting on the Black Sea grain deal would take place in Istanbul on May 10-11. Ukraine also exports grain via Danube River ports and has said previously that what is known as the Danube Cluster offers a viable alternative export route.

☆ Russian nationalist writer describes surviving attack Moscow blamed on U.S., Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A view shows a damaged white Audi Q7 car lying overturned on a track next to a wood, after Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin was allegedly wounded in a bomb attack in a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia, May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Anastasia MakarychevaMay 7 (Reuters) - The prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, on Sunday described breaking both legs in a car bomb that killed his driver and which Moscow blamed on the United States and Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Ministry blamed Ukraine and the Western states backing it, particularly the United States, for the attack on the writer, an ardent proponent of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he believed Russian authorities had staged the attack. He said the regional Nizhny Novgorod governor, Gleb Nikitin, had sent a helicopter to fly him to the city in 16 minutes, sparing him a three-hour drive.

☆ Putin has given up on his ambition to conquer Ukraine after military losses that may take a decade to repair, US intel claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin has scaled back his ambitions in Ukraine, US intel says. Russia has suffered serious setbacks in its bid to seize control of Ukraine. But Ukrainian forces repelled the Russian military in the Kyiv region, then pushed them back along a broad front of territory they had seized in southern and eastern Ukraine. Despite the setbacks, last June Haines said Putin still believed that seizing control of most of Ukraine was possible. Putin may believe that a ceasefire would be to his advantage as a way of prolonging the conflict, and eroding Western support for Ukraine, said Haines.

[1/4] A logo is on display in the office of Sberbank, Russia's state-owned dominant lender and one of the country's leading technology players, in Moscow, Russia, March 28, 2023. But it also highlights challenges as Russia's tech development becomes increasingly reliant on one state-owned player. Since 2020 it has cast itself as a technology company as well, and is now seeking a bigger slice of Russia's shrinking technology pie. "There are restrictions on some of them, it is a very complex technology," Belevtsev said. "There is already a lot of cooperation on engineers and technology," Belevtsev said.

☆ Gamers are using a secret level to dodge Russian censorship and share news about the war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Gamers are using a secret room in "CS:GO" to share news about the Ukraine war with Russian players. A Finish newspaper designed the room to bypass Russian censorship and get the news to citizens. Players can find the secret room and read information about Russia's shocking war crimes and high casualties in the ongoing conflict. A map shows Russia's civilian targets in the war, mass graves in Bucha and Irpin, 70,000 Russian deaths in the war so far, and more. They wrote that while "Countless Russians are unaware of what is happening in Ukraine," the secret room is where "they are forced to see the truth with their own eyes."

☆ Details in the drone incident the Kremlin says aimed to assassinate Putin 'don't quite add up.' Experts have 3 theories on what happened.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | Sophia Ankel | Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Russia claimed Wednesday that Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin with a drone attack at the Kremlin. James Patton Rogers, a military historian and adviser to NATO on drones and warfare, said that "there's a few things that don't quite add up in this situation." Its ability to fly comparatively low, and slowly, would potentially help it evade some radar, Patton Rogers said. Claiming that Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin would potentially "open up a new norm in the war," Patton Rogers said. Patton Rogers said he hasn't "seen any indication" that such groups have the capacity to use drones in their attacks.

May 1 (Reuters) - International Boxing Association (IBA) president Umar Kremlev blasted the national federations who broke away from the body to form a new world boxing federation, describing the officials as 'black sheep' and 'hyenas' who do not belong in sport. But Russian Kremlev, who is in Tashkent for the IBA men's world championships, said the IBA is the only international association that governs the sport. Someone tried to register an international association from their garage, why should we even consider them," Kremlev told a news conference. "We did not terminate the (Gazprom) contract as there were obligations to complete... Most federations were against Gazprom being sponsor, but at the (IBA) Congress there were no objections."

☆ Russia's domestic stock investors, shut off from the international financial system, have helped send the Moscow Exchange to a 12-month high
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's benchmark MOEX index is trading at levels not seen in over 12 months. The MOEX Russia Index has gained 24% so far this year after tanking 42% in 2022. The benchmark MOEX Russia Index on the Moscow Exchange hit a high of 2,646.18 on Thursday — its highest level since early April 2022. Despite the surge in the MOEX index, trading volumes in its equities market fell 41% from a year ago amid sanctions. The MOEX Index ended at 2,634.96 on Friday.

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