EU Report

Greenland to sign a new safeguard agreement with Denmark, Trump threatens with tariffs if they "don't give up" independence, Putin rejoicing. Denmark and Greenland will soon sign a new protection agreement, announced Aja Čemnica, a Member of the Danish Parliament from Greenland and chair of the island's parliamentary committee. "Negotiations are currently underway between Denmark and Greenland. In the next few days, an agreement will be reached to strengthen Greenland's defences," said Aya Chemnita during the "Arctic Borders" forum in Tromsø. She rejected any allegations of a possible armed clash between the U.S. and Denmark over the Greenland issue, but stressed that the process of gaining Greenland's independence could take at least two years. Trump has repeatedly stated that he plans to take over Greenland from Denmark by any means necessary, he even send his son to Greenland to shot videos of local homeless people paid to claim that they love Trump and want to become Americans. Five European officials told FT about "a tough telephone conversation" about the future of Greenland between Trump and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen that lasted 45 minutes and went very badly: Trump seriously insisted on the purchase of the island, and began to behave aggressively and confront after he was refused, although Frederiksen offered to strengthen cooperation on the issue of military bases and mining. "It was terrible," one of the sources said. Another compared the conversation to a "cold shower," noting that Trump "was adamant," adding that it used to be difficult to treat the American's intention to take possession of Greenland without skepticism, but now it has become clear that it is really "serious and potentially very dangerous." Another FT interlocutor noted that the Danish government was "in complete shock." Prior to this, many European politicians hoped that the statements of the American leader about the desire to gain control over Greenland for reasons of "national security" were a ruse. In particular, they believed that in this way Trump was trying to strengthen NATO's influence in the region and send a signal to Russia and China, which are also fighting for positions in the Arctic. But this phone call shattered those hopes, exacerbating the foreign policy crisis between the alliance allies. Meanwhile, sources of The Moscow Times reported that Putin's entourage is enjoying what is happening, as Trump's statements about his desire to annex Canada and Greenland create "tension" in the West and help propaganda justify the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine. "This allows us to say that everything is possible, the old rules no longer work. Look: even the United States, which sets these rules, is not ready to comply with them itself," the russian diplomat explained. In reaction, the EU's top military official has offered to deploy European soldiers in Greenland, carefully mentioning only the threats by "Russia and possibly China". Greenland is an overseas territory of Denmark, but it is not part of the EU. The Europeans "also have their own interests on the island", Brieger said. "This would be a strong signal and could contribute to stability in the region." 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇺🇸 @freerussia_report

Known for torturing prisoners, pro-Kremlin neo-Nazi Torden said in court that he was engaged in only propaganda and humanitarian aid in the war. A court in Helsinki the day before, on January 23, interrogated Russian Vojislav Torden (also known as Jan Petrovsky), accused of war crimes. According to Yle, the pro-Kremlin neo-Nazi said that he did not take part in hostilities and did not fire a single shot in the war. Answering questions from the court, Torden said that in 2014 he went to Luhansk for "humanitarian reasons" to help local residents. He also explained that he did not have command powers and described the head of the paramilitary far-right group "Rusich", in which he fought on the side of the so-called LPR, Alexei Milchakov ("Serb") as a "dictator". According to the defense, Torden's main task in Luhansk was to shoot propaganda and recruitment videos, as well as work with humanitarian aid. He described the ideology of Rusich, which he joined end of June 2014 as "pan-Slavicism" and insisted that the group was not part of the Russian army and acted independently. He also claimed that he did not undergo any military training, only a first aid course, since "every citizen is obliged to have basic knowledge about this." Torden's trial began on December 5, 2024 at the Helsinki District Court. The prosecutor requested a life sentence for Torden on charges of five war crimes committed in Ukraine, when he served as deputy commander of the sabotage and assault reconnaissance group (DShRG) "Rusich". Among the crimes incriminated to Torden is participation in the shooting of a truck and a car with 26 Ukrainian soldiers by Rusich on September 5, 2014. According to the prosecutor, some of the soldiers died in an ambush (the unit used the Ukrainian flag at the checkpoint and thereby misled the Ukrainian soldiers), and some were subsequently executed by Torden and other members of the unit. The prosecution confirms its position, including video materials from the social networks VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru, as well as on YouTube. @freerussia_report 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇫🇮

Sweden delays vessel over damage to another cable in Baltic Sea. Sweden has detained a vessel that is suspected of damaging an undersea communication cable connecting the country with Latvia through the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Security Service said. The Swedish prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into possible sabotage. On January 26, the Latvian State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC) reported that it had recorded interruptions in data transmission and the provision of services to consumers on the cable section between the Latvian city of Ventspils and the Swedish island of Gotland. The company suggested that the cable, which runs at a depth of more than 50 meters, was "significantly damaged" as a result of external influences. The Latvian Navy (Navy) said that they found a dry cargo ship at the site of the cable damage, which was heading to Russia under the flag of Malta. It's the fourth case reported by the Nordic countries in the past two months. 🇪🇺@EU_report 🇸🇪

President for life Republican Congressman Andy Ogles has prepared a change of the Constitution that would allow Donald Trump to run for a third term as president. Already in In November, he instructed House Republicans just a week after winning against Harris: "I suspect I won't be running again, unless you say, 'He's so good we've got to figure something else out.'" Reportedly "a joke", but it turns out that it wasn't - just as many warned. So yes, there you go, thousands of ordinary Americans are writing letters to Buzz Aldrin asking him to convince Trump to run for a third term! Sure thing, securing his power position up to 2033 just 4 days after the inauguration. I think that's a record among dictators and wannabe dictators. In russia previously you could also only get 2 terms, by now Putin can stay in power until 2036... @freerussia_report

In Tbilisi public transport, payment machines were voicing protest texts, so the regime had to temporarily switch them off Bidzina Ivanishvili's statement of apology for the 2008 war, Mikheil Kavelashvili's foul-mouthed speech, chants of "Sakartvelo" (Georgia) and "Putin is a dickhead", an excerpt from the EU anthem and others were heard. What else do the devices say? “The souls of the martyrs of April 9 look at us and rejoice in the heavenly light, for the will of the Georgian people has been fulfilled, long live independent Georgia” (speech by Zviad Gamsakhurdia after the restoration of independence in 1991). “I am Georgian, therefore I am European” (speech by former PM Zurab Zhvania in the European Parliament). "Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Georgia, Fuck Russia." “Citizens, please disperse, otherwise the measures provided by law will be applied to you” (a recorded warning played before the dispersal of the protest). The Tbilisi Transport Company called it a "technical failure." 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇬🇪

NATO Secretary General estimated the alliance's losses at trillions of euros in the event of Kyiv's loss. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that in the event of Ukraine's defeat, the alliance will be forced to spend additional trillions of euros to strengthen defense. He called on allies to "step up, not reduce, support" for Kyiv, the Associated Press reported. "If Ukraine loses, in order to restore the deterrence capability of the rest of NATO, there will be a much higher price to pay than what we are currently considering in terms of increasing our spending and industrial production," Rutte told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. In such a scenario the alliance will have to spend not billions, but trillions of euros in additional defense spending. Rutte also called on allies to "change the trajectory of the war" by increasing support for Kyiv, rather than reducing it. In December he reminded the member countries that "if Ukraine decides to start negotiations, then it must do it from a position of strength." 🇪🇺@EU_Report

German intelligence: Russia spends billions of euros to interfere in German elections. The Z-regime spends billions on large-scale disinformation operations in Germany in order to influence the outcome of the Bundestag elections, which will be held in a month. The funds allocated by the Russian authorities are used to form a network of hundreds of thousands of fake accounts on social networks, falsify news sites and publish false information aimed at discrediting German politicians and supporting pro-Kremlin forces. The russian disinformation campaign is seeking to boost the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), undermine mainstream German parties and sow worries, doubts and fears about the economy ahead of the country's Feb. 23 election, says German think-tank CeMAS. It had tracked down hundreds of German-language posts on social media platform X over the past month exhibiting what it said were typical patterns of Russia's Doppelgaenger disinformation campaign against the West that German, U.S. and French authorities have previously denounced. In recent weeks, the German posts on X have blamed the Greens party for Germany's economic woes, lambasted Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his support of Ukraine, cast the conservatives as untrustworthy but spoken in favour of the AfD, CeMAS said. The Federal Service for Security in the Field of Information Technology (BSI) has already recorded attempts to hack sites and servers with voter data, according to the agency's report. "Russia uses the entire arsenal of means - from interference in political debates to cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and acts of sabotage," commented Thomas Haldenwang, former head of the Federal Service for the Protection of the Constitution. Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) said in November it had set up a task force to head off any foreign state attempts to influence the federal election. Back in June 2024, the ministries of internal and foreign affairs, as well as justice, created a special department to combat disinformation. Its tasks were to monitor and analyze social networks, identify and expose disinformation operations. The security situation in Germany "remains tense," said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser at that time, adding that "the threat to our democracy from espionage, sabotage, disinformation and cyber attacks has reached a new level." 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇩🇪

The Czech Senate passed a law tightening the rules for issuing citizenship to Russians The law concerns the protection of Ukrainian refugees, but also provides several restrictions for Russians. 21 out of 73 deputies supported the adoption of the law, but it was not frozen - therefore the document will be sent to the president for signature, writes Novinky.cz. In particular, now in order to apply for Czech citizenship, a Russian needs to renounce Russian citizenship. However, Russians will be able to submit such applications only after the law expires (in the adopted version it is unlimited). All existing applications will also be suspended. The exception will be those who have received asylum in the Czech Republic or are of great value to the country. Read more about the law and how Russians living in the Czech Republic react to it 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇨🇿

Fueling violence around the world: American-centrism leads to problems elsewhere. Meta has stated that it has no immediate intention of abandoning third-party fact-checking in Europe. This is due to EU and UK legislation, which obliges platform companies to intervene in content more strictly than in the United States. In other parts of the world, there are no such restrictions. Meta can easily expand its experiment around the world to countries whose institutions are not as strong as those in Western countries. In 2018, a UN report found that Facebook played a role in ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. While the UN investigated the deaths of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, violence erupted in Sri Lanka following rumours circulating on Facebook. According to the report, Facebook's weak oversight allowed hate speech and incitement to violence to spread on its platforms. In some cases, the company's algorithms even amplified these messages. The Sri Lankan government eventually decided to block access to social media services in order to stop the attacks. In 2022, a UN expert concluded that social media fueled violence in the Tigray crisis in Ethiopia. Human rights group Amnesty International bluntly said in 2023 that Meta contributed to human rights abuses in Tigray. These incidents all happened at a time when Facebook was doing some kind of fact-checking, and the role of FB is recognized in its internal panel discussions. Now imagine what happens without. Just over three years ago, Yle obtained internal Facebook documents that whistleblower Frances Haugen had handed over to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The leak, which contained thousands of pages, painted a picture of a company that is struggling to monitor content published on its services around the world. Despite this, the company aggressively sought to expand its field of activity. The documents revealed that Facebook did not understand other cultures or how people used internet services. The company's engineers assumed that everything would work as it would in California. During Trump's second term, America-centrism is likely to only increase among tech companies. 🇪🇺@EU_Report

Search results referring to Democratic politicians disappeared from Instagram. – Meta says it's aware of the problem On Tuesday, Instagram did not offer search results for words such as Obama or Democrat. The social media platform Instagram restricts access to search results if you search for images on the service with the tag #democrat. Instagram notified the user this morning that the results were hidden because they "may have contained sensitive material," reported several users on Bluesky. Usually, Meta uses a similar restriction if a user searches for sexually explicit content, for example. Photos of former longtime Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, among others, were hidden if you search for them with the tags #pelosi and #sanders. Photos of the Republican Party and many Republican politicians were mostly found without problems on Tuesday morning. Similarly, it was possible to search for Nazi-themed images with the tag #nazi. Social media expert Matt Navarra told the BBC on Tuesday afternoon that it was likely a technical problem. Still, he finds the incident embarrassing for Meta. This afternoon Meta issued a statement to BBC, stating that Meta "is aware of the issue of political hashtags and is working to rectify the situation quickly." 🇪🇺@EU_Report

The new Syrian authorities have terminated the agreement with Russia on the port of Tartus. It was the only Russian naval base outside the former Soviet territory and served to control NATO actions in the Mediterranean Sea A investment contract with the Russian company Stroytransgaz was concluded in 2019 for a period of 49 years. According to former Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hamud, the document envisaged management of the port and investments in its modernization of more than $500 million from the Russian side, reported by state-controlled Kommersant. Tartus is the second largest seaport in Syria. The russian Navy's logistics center was located there. OSINT analysts reported that Russian ships left Tartus in December 2024. @freerussia_report

"Half-truth" and "complete nonsense". Criticism of the reports about Russia's alleged non-involvement in the cable cuts The Finnish media are publishing responses to an article by the American newspaper "The Washington Post", which on Sunday, January 19, wrote, citing high-ranking representatives of the US and EU countries, that the damage to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea in the past few months "was most likely the result of accidents, and not the result of deliberate Russian sabotage." "We see here false news, half-truths, which have a significant impact on our European information environment, undermining joint projects of NATO and the European Union, as well as trust in them," said Jukka Savolainen, a former commander of the Western Finnish Coast Guard. The true half of the Washington Post article is the fact that so far no one really claims definitively that it was Russia that ordered the crew of the Eagle S vessel, which was recently detained by the Finnish Coast Guard, to try to anchor the Estlink 2 cable used to transmit electricity between Finland and Estonia. But the claims of the American newspaper that representatives of the intelligence services of the EU countries and the United States have already concluded that Moscow is not involved in this and other similar incidents - is not true. Russia's guilt in sabotage is difficult to prove using the mechanisms of criminal investigation under the rule of law, reminds Savolainen. "Then the captain of the ship would have to say that he received instructions from the Russians and did it. There will be no evidence without a confession of guilt or some intelligence." According to him, it is "always easy to use when you want to deliberately distort information." But Savolainen also called it "pointless" to find out whether the Washington Post article was the result of journalists falling victim to Russian disinformation. Doubts about Russia's alleged non-involvement were also expressed in an interview with the Finnish edition of Yle and the director of investigations of the Central Criminal Police of Finland (PKK), Commissioner for Criminal Affairs Sami Liimatainen, who stressed that he "did not hear anything" from his colleagues about the alleged conclusions finding Moscow innocent of such sabotage, and the investigation into the cable breaks "continues as usual." According to a member of the European Parliament, retired Major General and former head of the General Directorate of Military Intelligence of Finland Pekka Toveri, the claim that Russia was not involved in the break in cables at the bottom of the Baltic Sea is "complete nonsense." "The Russian special services may have managed to make it so that there are no traces that could be used as evidence in court. In all hybrid operations, the most important thing is to have a plausible excuse," says Toveri. 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇺🇸

Russian hackers paralyzed the websites of Swiss banks and municipalities. The Russian hacker group NoName057 carried out cyberattacks on the websites of a number of Swiss banks and municipalities, which led to a temporary shutdown of their work, reports NZZ. Among the attacked resources were the websites of large cantonal banks and government agencies. As NZZ notes, NoName057 actively uses the media to create a panic effect and exaggerate his own successes. For example, an hour after the start of the attacks, the hackers posted an article translated into Russian and English by the Swiss edition of 20 Minuten on their Telegram channel, where the incident was called a "mega-attack". Such a media strategy is aimed at increasing public anxiety. However, the real effectiveness of the attacks turned out to be much lower. On Monday, January 20, NoName057 announced attacks on 17 Swiss web resources, of which only seven were successful. On Tuesday, out of 19 planned targets, hackers were able to temporarily disable only 10 sites. For example, attempts to hack the online resources of the Basel and Geneva cantonal banks ended in failure. Even in cases where the attacks were successful, the failures lasted no more than one or two hours. @freerussia_report 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇨🇭

Transnistria Ready to Buy Gas From Moldova, Kremlin-Backed Leader Says. The separatist Moldovan region of Transnistria has agreed to purchase natural gas from Moldovagaz to address its ongoing energy crisis, the region’s Moscow-backed leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said Monday. Gas supplies to Transnistria were halted on Jan. 1 by Russia’s Gazprom over a $709-million debt dispute with Moldova, leaving 400,000 residents without heating or hot water. The announcement came just after Krasnoselsky's visit to Moscow seeking “humanitarian” gas supplies. Read more 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇲🇩

Czech Republic Finishes Pipeline Extension, Ending Reliance on Russian Oil. The Czech Republic no longer needs to import Russian oil following the completion of an expansion to the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) from Italy, announced Prime Minister Petr Fiala. "The construction of this expansion has now been completed," Fiala told reporters. "Russia can no longer blackmail us, and we have a guarantee that we can completely supply ourselves with oil from the West." The TAL pipeline transports oil from the Italian port of Trieste to southern Germany, where it connects to the IKL pipeline supplying the Czech Republic. The expansion doubles the country's oil import capacity via TAL to eight million tons per year. Since the 1960s, the country has relied on the russian Druzhba pipeline for oil. When the EU allowed some exemptions on the EU ban of oil imports in 2022, Fiala pledged to remove the exemption as soon as alternative oil supplies became available. Read more 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇨🇿

Slovak leader Fico preparing for EU exit, opposition says. "This cannot be read in any other way than... what we had warned of: that the government of Smer is preparing the ground for leading Slovakia out of the European Union," Simecka, leader of the Progressive Slovakia party, told parliament. "I see this as such an existential threat to our national interests that we do not need anything else to declare no-confidence." Fico told parliament that foreign policy was determined by NATO and EU membership but Slovakia could not be "static" in a fast-developing world. "What if a group of 3-4 large countries comes and says, ladies and gentlemen, either there will be a superstate where you lose all your national sovereignty ... or go your own way?" Fico said. "We are speaking of a development that can happen very fast." Fico's cabinet is expected to be backed by Smer as well as deputies from the nationalist SNS and centre-left Hlas party, giving him enough votes to survive. However, Hlas has rejected any discussion over EU membership, and several of its deputies have protested against Fico's foreign policy. Read more 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇸🇰

Meta and X promise tougher action against hate speech The Facebook parent company Meta and Elon Musk's network X have pledged closer cooperation with the EU Commission, even though just a few days ago Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the EU's digital service rules "institutionalized censorship." Read more Perhaps shareholders don't like it when they lose whole continents of customers 🇪🇺@EU_Report

Background information to previous report Journalists in Batumi demand the release of Mzia Amaglobeli. A protest of journalists in support of media manager Mzia Amaglobeli took place at the Adjara police department. Participants called for her immediate release and the resignation of the head of the Batumi police Irakli Dgebuadze. Earlier, on January 11-12, the director of the publications “Batumelebi” and “Netgazeti” Mzia Amaglobeli, as well as cameraman Guram Murvanidze, were arrested. Journalists stress that the regimes' actions are aimed at suppressing freedom of speech. 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇬🇪

The last few weeks were definitely not Orbán's His right hand was sanctioned by the US, he was either forced to say no to Trump's invitation or never got invited, and his Indian journey became the subject of mockery. And to top it off, Hungary's most popular singer (and kind of a Fidesz supporter) Majka just made a banger song mocking Orbán and Fidesz. It got 3 million views in 2 days on Youtube! And not to mention, Péter Magyar soon announces his "technocratic government" and all the hundreds of people that will work in the future Tisza government. But this didn't prevent him to gave a speech at Monday's conference evaluating the results of the Hungarian EU presidency, which was organized by the MCC and the XXI. Century Institute organized, and is allegedly why he couldn't be invited to the Trump inauguration. Orbán began his speech "May the devil take those who hindered the Hungarian Presidency" by thanking those who worked for the success of the Hungarian Presidency, especially Minister for European Union Affairs János Bóka. "Those who worked against the Hungarian presidency should be taken away by the devil," Orban said. "Bury them in the deepest pit of hell," he addressed Hungarian politicians who he said worked against the success of the Hungarian presidency. And facts notwithstanding, "the battle between America and Brussels will begin as early as tomorrow", Orban predicted. Hungary is working to "be the winner of the new world order" that is taking shape (you know the big guys are working hard on it) while "Europe is in a drinking phase instead of sobering up". According to his worldview, Europe has "lost the war and sanctions have destroyed the European economy.. They are proud to hand over the baton of peace to the new US administration, Orban said in perfect Z-newspeak. The EU has isolated itself from China, America, Russia and Africa, the "continent of the future", which Orban said was a mistake. In comparison, during the Hungarian Presidency, relations with Russia were maintained to allow for communication and reasonable energy security. One of the best distortions was his claim, that he&his corrupt ilk are being attacked "because they are patriots and sovereigntists", and "demand the rule of law in the EU institutions." However, if all this continues, so he said, the EU will be an absolute loser. Interestingly he also said, "we thank you, but we don't want loser", we want friendships and benefits in international politics. So can we expect Orban finally to go away? No, unfortunately not. He claims to have proven that change is needed in Europe. (but not as you think) "The Western world got a patriotic, peaceful, anti-migration, pro-family president in Washington. Just a few hours and even the sun will shine differently over Brussels." With the new US President and the patriotic group in the European Parliament, "the big attack can begin. I hereby launch the second phase of the operation to occupy Brussels," the lapdog of "the big guys" concluded. 🇪🇺@EU_Report 🇭🇺

The United States has upgraded modified nuclear bombs in Europe. The United States has updated its nuclear arsenals in Europe. "The B61-12 gravity bombs are fully deployed," said Jill Hruby, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), without specifying how many or where. At the same time, the US has raised awareness among NATO partners about American nuclear capabilities through visits and various events, she added. The B61 family of of gravity bombs are tactical nuclear weapons, the oldest and most versatile weapon in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and the only tactical nuke. The modified B61-12 has less power than previous variants, but the navigation is more accurate. They can be used by F-35A, F-15E, F-16 and Tornado fighters. After being dropped from an aircraft, the bomb can autonomously move towards the target and, if necessary, "taxi" to it. Production of the B61-12 was launched in 2021. Last week, NNSA announced the completion of a $9 billion modernization program for these bombs. Hruby clarified that the Pentagon received the last batch in December. Hruby assured that NATO is demonstrating strength in the face of a "fundamentally new" nuclear landscape that has emerged since the start of the war in Ukraine. Over the past few years, Russia has "repeatedly violated the rules of conduct," undermining strategic stability, as it seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, deployed tactical warheads in Belarus, canceled the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, lowered the threshold for the use of such weapons by revising the relevant doctrine, and began working on the deployment of nuclear weapons in space. Against this background, as well as in connection with the challenges posed by China, Hruby stressed the importance and strength of the strategic partnership between Washington and London in this area. As of 2023, about 100 old variants of the B61 were already in Europe (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, and Turkey). According to Politico, these bombs began to be deployed in December 2022. 🇪🇺@EU_Report