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☆ Widows of Russian soldiers were filmed being gifted fur coats – but weren't allowed to keep them, an anti-war group says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The widows of Russian soldiers that died in the Donbas region were filmed being gifted fur coats. One of the women in the video told a Russian anti-war group that some later had the coats taken away. The CHTD Telegram news channel shared the clip and said that the "widows were given 21 fur coats as compensation for the breadwinner who died in Ukraine." However, the Russian anti-war group Feminist Anti-War Resistance claimed on Telegram that one of the women in the video told them that she and at least three other women had their fur coats taken away after the video was filmed. The anti-war group said in the Telegram post that it was unclear if all the women in the video were genuine widows.

☆ Australia acknowledges suspension of probe into MH17 downing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Australian government on Thursday said it had acknowledged the decision by international prosecutors to suspend their investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over Ukraine in 2014. "Today's announcement will be distressing for many," Wong said, adding Australia remained committed to pursue its ongoing case with the Netherlands in the International Civil Aviation Organization. Australia and the Netherlands have said they hold Russia responsible for MH17's downing. International prosecutors on Wednesday said they had found "strong indications" Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the use in Ukraine of a Russian missile system which shot down MH17. However, evidence of Putin's and other Russian officials' involvement was not conclusive enough to lead to a criminal conviction, they said, ending their probe for now.

☆ Russia's Medvedev says more U.S. weapons supplies mean 'all of Ukraine will burn'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the supply of more advanced U.S. weaponry to Ukraine will only trigger more retaliatory strikes from Russia, up to the extent of Russia's nuclear doctrine. "All of Ukraine that remains under Kyiv's rule will burn," journalist Nadana Fridrikhson quoted him as saying in a written interview with her. "The result will be just the opposite," Medvedev replied, in comments that Fridrikhson posted on her Telegram channel. Asked what would happen if the weapons that Washington has promised Ukraine were to strike Crimea - which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 - or deep into Russia, Medvedev said Putin had addressed the matter clearly. Russia's nuclear doctrine allows for a nuclear strike after "aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened".

☆ 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.

☆ Britain’s Boris Johnson says Putin threatened him with missile strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

“He threatened me at one point, and he said, 'Boris, I don’t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute’ or something like that. Jolly,” Johnson said, recalling the “very long” and “most extraordinary” call in February 2022 which followed a visit by the then prime minister to Kyiv. Johnson, who stepped down in September in the wake of a series of scandals, sought to position London as Kyiv’s top ally in the West. While in office he visited Kyiv several times and called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy frequently. He also visited again this month.

☆ Britain's Boris Johnson says Putin threatened him with missile strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run up to the invasion of Ukraine. "He threatened me at one point, and he said, 'Boris, I don't want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute' or something like that. Jolly," Johnson said, recalling the "very long" and "most extraordinary" call in February 2022 which followed a visit by the then prime minister to Kyiv. Johnson, who stepped down in September in the wake of a series of scandals, sought to position London as Kyiv's top ally in the West. While in office he visited Kyiv several times and called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy frequently.

☆ Boris Johnson says Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an 'extraordinary' phone call weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Boris Johnson said Putin threatened the UK with a missile strike before it invaded Ukraine. He said Putin told him: "I don't want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute." He added that he told Putin that war would be a "utter catastrophe" and that Russia's apparent fear that Ukraine would join the NATO military alliance would not come true "for the foreseeable future." He also told Putin that invading Ukraine would result in sanctions from the West and more NATO troops stationed along Russia's borders, according to his recollection. Johnson was seen as one of Ukraine's biggest allies following the Russian invasion, and has made multiple trips to the country, both during his time as prime minister and after.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine: The latest news
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/7] A Ukrainian serviceman looks on, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine January 27, 2023. * The EU's next package of sanctions against Russia will hit the trade and technology that support Moscow's war against Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday. ARMS* Portugal will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said, without specifying how many. * Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the supply of more advanced U.S. weaponry to Ukraine will only trigger more retaliatory strikes from Russia, up to the extent of Russia's nuclear doctrine. CONFLICT* Ukraine and Russia traded almost 200 prisoners of war in a swap announced separately by both sides on Saturday, with the bodies of two British volunteers also being sent back to Ukraine.

[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.

☆ Exclusive: Inside the extramarital affair and cash-fueled double life of Charles McGonigal, the FBI spy-hunter indicted for allegedly taking Russian money
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

She had dated federal law enforcement officials before. "Charlie McGonigal knew everybody in the national security and law enforcement world," Guerriero said, in an exclusive interview with Insider. One law enforcement source estimated that McGonigal stood to make roughly $300,000 to $350,000 a year, including annual bonuses. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom she knew from law enforcement circles, let her stay in a guest bedroom. During her relationship with McGonigal, Guerriero says, they never talked about politics.

☆ U.S. Warns Banks to Watch for Russian Oligarchs Investing in Commercial Real Estate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Banks should be on alert for Russian oligarchs attempting to circumvent U.S. sanctions by investing in commercial real estate, a U.S. Treasury Department watchdog said. Sanctioned individuals may try to use pooled investment vehicles or offshore funds to avoid due-diligence processes, FinCEN said in its alert. Sanctioned individuals could keep lowering their stakes to avoid detection, while still maintaining control of the fund, FinCEN said. Sanctioned individuals aren’t just investing in high-end or luxury properties, according to the alert. Federal prosecutors have warned that lawyers, consultants and other service providers who work for sanctioned individuals could run afoul of the law.

☆ 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.

☆ Former FBI Agent Charged With Taking Payments From Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dylan Tokar | C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

A former high-level FBI agent was indicted on charges he violated U.S. sanctions by accepting secret payments from Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska for work he did investigating a rival oligarch. Mr. McGonigal, who also supervised investigations into Mr. Deripaska and other Russian oligarchs before departing the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2018, began conspiring to provide services to Mr. Deripaska in 2021, prosecutors said. Additionally, the former FBI agent in 2019 participated in an unsuccessful effort to have the sanctions on Mr. Deripaska lifted, prosecutors said. PREVIEWAn indictment unsealed on Monday charged Mr. McGonigal and a former Russian diplomat, Sergey Shestakov, with violating and conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on Mr. Deripaska in 2018, as well as with related money-laundering charges. Prosecutors in October also announced the indictment of a British businessman who worked as a property manager for Mr. Deripaska.

☆ Former FBI official accused of hiding a $225,000 cash payment from an ex-foreign officer while overseeing an agency counter-intelligence division
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former top FBI official was charged in two jurisdictions on Monday. The ex-counter-intelligence official was charged with secretly receiving cash payments from a former foreign officer. McGonigal also traveled abroad with the official and met with foreign nationals in Europe, where the official had business interests, according to the DOJ. "Covering up your contacts with foreign nationals and hiding your personal financial relationships is a gateway to corruption," US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said. "There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement.

☆ Russia official warns countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risk their own destruction
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The speaker of Russia's parliament warned Sunday that countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risked their own destruction, a message that followed new pledges of armored vehicles, air defense systems and other equipment but not the battle tanks Kyiv requested. "Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe," State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said. "If it requires our sending some Abrams tanks in order to unlock getting the Leopard tanks from Germany, from Poland, from other allies, I would support that." Since invading Ukraine, Russia also has increased both the scope and the number of its joint military drills with China. Ukraine is asking for more weapons as it anticipates Russia's forces launching a new offensive in the spring.

☆ Russia could resort to nuclear weapons if it loses in Ukraine, says former Russian president
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's former president said his country could use nuclear weapons if it loses in Ukraine. "The loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war. Medvedev has previously suggested that his country could use nuclear weapons. Russia's President Vladimir Putin, as well as some of his officials, have, in the past, threatened the use of nuclear weapons. Putin said in December that Russia would not use nuclear weapons unprovoked, adding that Russia had not "gone mad" and would not be the first country to use them, as the BBC reported.

☆ Lavrov says Russia will "sober up" NATO and EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow would do all it could to "sober up" the European Union and NATO, which he accused of setting out to weaken and defeat Russia. His comments came on the same day that former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO that a defeat for Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war. Nearly 11 months after invading Ukraine, Russia is increasingly presenting the war to its own people as an existential battle with the West. In televised comments, Lavrov said Moscow would set out to disabuse Western politicians of their "presumptuous" and "colonial" attitudes to Russia. "We will do everything so that our colleagues from NATO and the European Union sober up as soon as possible."

"The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war," Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin's powerful security council, said in a post on Telegram. Russia and the United States, by far the largest nuclear powers, hold around 90% of the world's nuclear warheads. While NATO has conventional military superiority over Russia, when it comes to nuclear weapons, Russia has nuclear superiority over the alliance in Europe. Russia's nuclear doctrine allows for a nuclear strike after "aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened". Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly raised the threat of nuclear chaos and used insults to describe the West.

☆ Former Russian mercenary commander flees to Norway and seeks asylum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Mithil Aggarwal | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Caroline-Radnofsky-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A former member of an infamous Russian mercenary group who fought in Ukraine says he staged a dramatic escape to Norway, where he is seeking asylum and offering to cooperate with international war crimes probes. Medvedev said he had crossed into Norway and surrendered to local police before claiming asylum in the country, which shares an Arctic border with Russia. The former mercenary recounted his defection from his former employer, which he joined last year on a four-month contract after serving time in prison. Medvedev said he climbed through barbed-wire fences, evaded border patrol dogs, ran away from guards' bullets and ran through a forest and over an icy lake to make it into Norway. Norwegian soldiers patrol the border with Russia near Korpfjells, Norway.

☆ Former Russian mercenary commander fled to Norway and is willing to give evidence of its worst crimes in Ukraine, lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A former commander for the notorious Wagner Group fled Russia and is now seeking asylum in Norway. Andrey Medvedev left Russia fearful for his life after leaving the group, his lawyer told Insider. Risnes told Insider that Medvedev enlisted with the Wagner Group last summer. The Wagner Group, which is increasingly recruiting from Russian prisons, is alleged by a variety of organizations to have committed actions in Ukraine that would constitute war crimes. The Wagner Group has previously been deployed in Libya, Syria, and in other destinations across the world.

☆ Russian ex-President Medvedev says Japanese PM should disembowel himself
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Leah MillisJan 14 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself. Medvedev is a prominent ally of President Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and of a body overseeing the defence industry. Rather than demanding U.S. repentance for this, Kishida had shown he was "just a service attendant for the Americans". Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Medvedev has warned repeatedly that Western meddling in the crisis could lead to nuclear war, and has referred to Ukrainians as "cockroaches" in language Kyiv says is openly genocidal. Putin has said that the risk of a nuclear war is rising but insisted Russia has not "gone mad" and that it sees its own nuclear arsenal as a purely defensive deterrent.

☆ Russian hammer thrower Litvinov admits to doping in 2012
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Former Russian hammer thrower Sergei Litvinov has admitted using banned substances and benefiting from his country's cover-up system as athletics authorities handed him a two-year suspension and voided his past results. Russia's athletics federation was suspended in 2015 over a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that found evidence of mass doping in the sport. Litvinov, the son of Soviet hammer thrower Sergei Litvinov, the 1988 Olympic champion, said his throws improved by nearly two metres after taking the substances. Litvinov said he handed over the details of his case to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which oversees integrity issues in international athletics, including doping. The Russian athletics federation issued a statement on the suspension but did not address Litvinov's allegation that it had pressured him to use banned substances.

☆ UK review of 'golden' visas for millionaires finds links to corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The government first commissioned the visa's review in 2018 after the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. Russian oligarchs and newly-minted Chinese entrepreneurs have flocked to London over the past two decades, snapping up everything from opulent homes to soccer clubs. Under the programme, foreigners who invested 2 million pounds in assets in Britain could apply for permanent residency after five years in the country. Investing 10 million pounds allowed an application after two years. In total, more than 12,000 golden visas have been granted, including more than 2,500 to Russians, according to government data.

☆ The latest news on Russia's war on Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Emergency personnel work at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. Russia's defence ministry said its forces had launched a wave of missile strikes against Ukrainian military and infrastructure sites on Saturday. * Russian President Vladimir Putin said the special military operation - Russia's term for the war - was showing a positive trend and that he hoped Russian soldiers would deliver further gains after Soledar. MOLDOVA* Moldovan President Maia Sandu, denouncing "Russia's brutal war", said on Saturday that missile debris was found in her country near Ukraine's western border after the latest wave of Russian attacks. * Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Kishida of shameful subservience to the United States, suggesting on Saturday that he should ritually disembowel himself.

☆ Russian warship holds drills in Norwegian Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERSMOSCOW, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A Russian warship armed with hypersonic cruise weapons has held exercises in the Norwegian Sea, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. "The crew of the frigate 'Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov' conducted an air defense exercise in the Norwegian Sea," the ministry said. "The crew... conducted an exercise to repel the means of an air attack of a simulated enemy in the Norwegian Sea." Russia sees the weapons as a way to pierce increasingly sophisticated U.S. missile defences which Putin has warned could one day shoot down Russian nuclear missiles. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week warned the United States that the hypersonic missiles would soon be close to NATO's shores.

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