Russia Wire

🔴More “clarifications” come from the US - traditionally, in the form of source-based media reports - on using US weapons to strike deep inside Russia. Washington Post’s latest: A new U.S. policy allowing Ukraine to fire certain American weapons at Russian territory has led to a reduction in some Russian attacks but still restricts the range enough that it prevents Ukraine from hitting key airfields, two Ukrainian officials said. Those airfields are used by Russian jets that drop the deadly glide bombs now inflicting the greatest damage on military positions and civilians. The Ukrainian officials said the US has restricted Ukraine to firing less than 100 km from the border. But US officials declined to specify the limitation but said the Ukrainians’ assertion of less than 100 kilometers was incorrect. “The U.S. has agreed to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-provided weapons into Russia across where Russian forces are coming to attempt to take Ukrainian territory,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Charlie Dietz. “This is not about geography or a certain radius, but if Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, Ukraine has the ability to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border.” “While officials in Kyiv do not want to be seen as publicly contradicting their American counterparts, it is clear that the Ukrainian military does not believe it has as much latitude as the statements from White House and Pentagon officials seem to suggest” The story also details how “lifting” restrictions on the use of US weapons “is a step in right direction” and has provided “a relief” to Kharkiv city. “Military officials acknowledged that the policy change made a dramatic difference for life in Kharkiv but said it has not protected Ukrainian military positions from regular assault by glide bombs.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/21/ukraine-firing-range-us-weapons-russia/

Here is the link to petrodollar debate mentioned above 👆🏻👆🏻 The end of a watershed trading agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia is a hit to the dollar's oil market supremacy, offering a symbolic win for de-dollarization, the Atlantic Council said. This month, Saudi Arabia did not renew a 1974 accord that mandates the exclusive use of greenbacks when selling its crude oil. For fifty years, the "petrodollar" deal has ensured the dollar's role as the world's chief financing and trading currency, according to the think tank. "Saudi Arabia's decision to scrap the petrodollar and diversify the currencies used in selling its oil aligns with a larger strategy to expand the focus of its international relations beyond the US and Europe," nonresident senior fellow Hung Tran wrote, adding: "But the petrodollar agreement's end also fits into a broader geopolitical context of declining US economic influence." As uncertainty rocked the US economy in the 1970s, the petrodollar provided a way to keep the dollar stable. In exchange for security guarantees and military supplies, part of the agreement with Saudi Arabia saw that traded greenbacks were recycled into US bonds, deepening the dollar's role as a reserve currency. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/econographics/what-the-end-of-petrodollars-means/

🛢 🇺🇸 🇸🇦 Saudis move off the petrodollar last week & suddenly 23 years later regime media finally decides to blame them for 9/11

A video obtained by 60 minutes shows a man the FBI says had ties to Saudi intelligence referencing a "plan" two years before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – raising questions about Saudi assistance to the hijackers and planners. While the 9/11 Commission report two decades ago found that al-Qaeda acted alone, the victims' families are disputing this, citing the video from outside the U.S. Capitol and other evidence in a lawsuit.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bayoumi-video-examined-as-september-11-evidence-60-minutes 📎 Mike Benz

Meanwhile, Americans in Russia 🍿🍿🍿🍻🍻🍻 https://en.arteldoc.tv/films/1144-why-i-moved-to-russia

😂 US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller is scaring Americans about Russia:

No American citizen for any reason should travel to Russia. I know this sometimes comes down to a very painful choice for Americans who have family members in Russia, sometimes family members who have health problems that they want to see, but you run a tremendous risk by traveling to Russia of being detained, being imprisoned, being convicted. We continue to make clear to every American, do not for any reason travel to Russia.

Moscow is so much nicer than any US city - Tucker Carlson. t.me/ukraine_watch

“And of you try, we will seize your passport” 🤡

⚡️⚡️ Key headlines from Russia & neighbourhood – June 21, 2024 🔴Escalation The U.S. has told Ukraine it can use American-supplied weapons to hit any Russian forces attacking from across the border — not just those in the region near Kharkiv, Politico reports, citing US officials. The subtle shift in messaging — which officials insist is not a change in policy — comes just weeks after the US quietly gave Kyiv the green light to strike inside Russia in response to a cross-border assault on the city of Kharkiv. At the time, USofficials stressed that the policy was limited to the Kharkiv region, among other restrictions. Ukrainian forces have since used American weapons to strike into Russia at least once, destroying targets in the city of Belgorod, and managed to hold back the Russian assault. But Ukrainian and other European officials have pressed the U.S. to loosen its restrictions even further, allowing Ukraine to strike anywhere inside Russia. 🧨Killer bombs On june 20, Russian forces used the new FAB-3000 M-54 bomb with a unified planning and correction module (UMPC) to strike Ukrainian positions in Kharkiv region for the first time, representing a new Russian capability with a high potential for destruction if Russian forces continue to be able to use such weapons uninhibited, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. The analysts note that FAB-3000s usage will increase the destructive potential of Russia's ongoing glide bomb attacks against Ukrainian forces and infrastructure. 🇪🇺More sanctions European Union countries agreed on a 14th package of sanctions against Russia. diplomats said on Thursday. The package bans re-exports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in EU waters but stops short of banning imports as the bloc did in 2022 for Russian seaborne oil. Some EU countries still import pipeline gas from Russia via Ukraine. However, gas market experts say the measure will have little impact as trans-shipments of gas via EU ports to Asia represent only around 10% of total Russian LNG exports. The package also sanctions three Russian LNG projects and includes a clause designed to allow Sweden and Finland to cancel Russian LNG contracts, diplomats said. Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency until July 1, said on social media platform X that the package "maximises the impact of existing sanctions by closing loopholes". 🚫Kaspersky out US administration on Thursday banned Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky from providing its popular antivirus products in the United States over national security concerns, the U.S. Commerce Department said. The announcement came after a lengthy investigation found Kaspersky's "continued operations in the United States presented a national security risk due to the Russian Government's offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky's operations," it said. In a statement to AFP, Kaspersky said the U.S. Commerce Department "made its decision based on the present geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns," and vowed to "pursue all legally available options to preserve its current operations and relationships." Headquartered in Moscow, Kaspersky ihas offices in 31 countries around the world, servicing more than 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients in more than 200 countries. 🇷🇺🇺🇦Ukrainian sentenced A Moscow court sentenced Ukrainian citizen Kristina Lyubashenko to 12 years in prison for tying the flag, which resembles the flag of the "Legion 'Freedom of Russia'" (recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia) to balloons. Lyubashenko was a resident of Kyiv – after the outbreak of the conflict she fled to Switzerland with her children and sick mother, without funds. There, she was lured by another Ukrainian who promised to pay her for “peaceful” demonstrations in Moscow. He then blackmailed her, the woman’s lawyer claimed. 👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

🔴Ukraine has unleashed massive attack on Russia’s southern regions of Krasnodar, Volgograd and Crimea. At least 120 drones were released, according to the Russia MOD. Air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 70 drones over Crimea and the Black Sea, another 43 drones were destroyed over the Krasnodar Territory, one over the Volgograd Region. In the northwestern part of the Black Sea, six unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Navy were destroyed. In Krasnodar, one civilian, an employee of a local boiler house, was killed. Explosions and fires were visible in Yeisk (near a military airfield there) and near Krasnodar. A fire broke out at the Ilsky Oil Refinery, and some administrative buildings there were damaged. @RussiaWire

⚡️⚡️ Key headlines from Russia & neighbourhood – June 20, 2024 🇷🇺🇻🇳Putin in Vietnam Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Vietnam on Thursday, after a two-day visit to North Korea. Vietnam welcomed Putin, underlining its decades-old relationship with Moscow in the face of US criticism over Ukraine, noted Bloomberg. During the talks, Putin said that Moscow and Hanoi are coordinating their actions on the international scene. Vietnamese President To Lam, too, noted that building relations with Moscow is one of Hanoi’s foreign policy priorities. “Vietnam pursues an independent and self-contained peaceful foreign policy, as well as a diversified and multi-vector policy, but at the same time we attach great importance to the development of traditional friendship with Russia,” he said. The Vietnamese president stressed that his country remembers “the selfless assistance and support that the Russian people provided to Vietnam in our struggle for independence” from Japan and France. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited his Vietnamese counterpart, To Lam, to attended the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow in 2025, which will mark 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany. 🇪🇪🇷🇺Jailed for spying Court in Estonia, a former USSR country, sentenced former Tartu University professor Vyacheslav Morozov to six years and three months in prison for allegedly working for a foreign intelligence service. Morozov, a Russian citizen, was detained by Estonian police in January on charges of collaborating with Moscow by supposedly collecting and providing information about the Baltic state. was then said to have shared with Russian intelligence services.Estonian authorities said the academic was recruited by Russian intelligence services while still a student in the 1990s. They also said the information he had gathered was “mostly public” and that he did not have access to state secrets. 🇷🇺🇺🇸Being tried for treason A Russian-American woman arrested earlier this year while visiting her family in Russia went on trial for alleged treason on Thursday after authorities accused her of raising money to send to the Ukrainian army. Ksenia Karelina, who was born in Russia but had built a new life as an aesthetician at a Los Angeles spa after immigrating to the United States over a decade ago, faces a sentence of 12 years to life in prison if found guilty.Her trial will be held behind closed doors, as is customary in such cases in Russia 🍷In vino veritas Experts note a trend emerging among Russians to consume more spirits, which has replaced the trend of gradually reducing the amount consumed, Kommersant writes. In 2023, alcohol sales in Russia were the highest in nine years, according to official data, with a particularly strong increase in demand for strong alcohol. Experts attribute this to "psychological tension" intensified by the pandemic and subsequent events, as well as the reduction and weakening of anti-alcohol measures that were previously implemented. 🚫‘White’ solidarity Ukrainian refugees have received better treatment than those displaced by other ongoing wars and emergencies, Europe's top human rights group said on Thursday, calling on member states to support all equally. Significant differences have also been observed between the quality of reception centres and services provided to Ukrainians compared with refugees and asylum seekers from elsewhere, ECRI added. "The new normal should be to welcome all people from everywhere like Ukrainians (were welcomed)," Johan Friestedt, ECRI's executive secretary. Asked if there was more solidarity towards Ukrainians because most were white, ECRI's chairperson Bertil Cottier said: "When people are more or less like you, it's always easier." 👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

Putin leaving North Korea after taking ties to a new level and vowing to help each other in case of an attack Next stop: Vietnam 🍿🍿🍿 @RussiaWire

Uh..Something happened? Bloomberg: Ukraine may invite Russia to the next meeting slated with international partners aimed at working out a formula for future peace talks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said. Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s top adviser, raised the possibility as working groups prepare the details for a follow-up gathering after last week’s summit in Switzerland. No timeline or country acting as a host of next summit is clear yet. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-19/ukraine-open-to-see-russia-at-next-summit-zelenskiy-key-aide-yermak-says @RussiaWire

⚡️⚡️ Key headlines from Russia & neighbourhood – June 19, 2024 🇷🇺🇰🇵 Strategic partners Russia and North Korea on Wednesday signed a Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called Russia “the most honest friend and comrade” of his country and Russian President Vladimir Putin – “the dearest friend of the Korean people.” Putin announced that the signed agreement between Russia and North Korea provides for mutual assistance in case of aggression against one of the participants. Russia also does not rule out the development of military-technical cooperation with North Korea. Earlier, the Russian president referred to this document as fundamental and clarified that it will serve as the basis for relations between the two countries. The text of the document has not yet been published. 🇺🇸🇺🇦F16s Fighter jets F-16, supplied by the United States to Kiev, will be stationed on Ukrainian territory, stated US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. “The plan is to put the F-16s in Ukraine. And the bilateral security agreement that the president and President Zelenskyy signed reinforced this point, that we want to help Ukraine have this capability. It should be a capability based in Ukraine,” he said. Earlier, Ukraine had considered deploying them on foreign airbases Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker claimed that the US is making “excuses” for its failure to prepare sufficient numbers of Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots to aid the war effort. 🛫MH17 crash Moscow has exited Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) panel on the 2014 downing of a Malaysian passenger jet in Donbass, calling it biased and “not the right place to look for the truth.” The Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down as it flew over the east of Ukraine in July 2014. All 298 people on board were killed. The incident took place at a time when Ukrainian government forces were engaged in fierce battles against the rebels who opposed the outcome of an armed coup in Kiev.  According to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the Malaysian Boeing was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile. In their report, the team claims there are “strong indications” that the air defense system was provided to anti-Kyiv rebels in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on the personal orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In February 2023, Investigators suspended the probe saying no new evidence was available. 🔴Ukraine’s press freedom A Ukrainian reporter who revealed that a state news agency tried to bar interviews with opposition politicians said he received a draft notification the next day, NYT says in a report that questions press freedom in Ukraine. Journalists and groups monitoring press freedoms are raising alarms over what they say are increasing restrictions and pressures on the media in Ukraine under the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky that go well beyond the country’s wartime needs, NYT noted. 👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

🇷🇺🇰🇵The footage coming from North Korea somewhat looks like footage from the USSR’s 60s.. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Kim Jong-un have been holding talks since morning on economic and security cooperation, have signed several bilateral agreements - watch this space for details. @RussiaWire

🇰🇵 The official welcome ceremony of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin by the Chairman of State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un took place in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, during which the two Heads of State introduced members of their delegations. #RussiaDPRK 🇷🇺🇰🇵

Kim Jong Un warmly welcomed the Russian President.

Putin's trip to North Korea, Vietnam hits West's raw nerve Russian President Vladimir Putin's visits to North Korea and Vietnam have grabbed the Western media's attention. Downplaying Russia's economic and geopolitical incentives to bolster Eurasian market and security, the mainstream media claimed that Putin is making the trips to spite the West — overlooking Moscow's historic bonds with North Korea and Vietnam. The press also lamented that while the West has tried to isolate Moscow and Pyongyang, the two openly defy sanctions and denounce them as illegitimate. 🌏 The New York Times: "[Russia and North Korea] have grown closer again as a result of shared hostility toward the US". 🌏 The Washington Post: "…[Moscow and Pyongyang] deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington." "The US, which has spent years strengthening ties and accelerating trade with Vietnam, criticized Putin’s planned visit." 🌏 Bloomberg: "Russia’s bond with North Korea is a danger to the world". 🌏 Der Spiegel: "The US is 'concerned' about the deepening of relations between North Korea and Russia." 🌏 Reuters: "Russia's Putin to visit Vietnam is sparking the US rebuke of Hanoi." 🌏 The Telegraph: "Putin is set to visit Hanoi… in a move that has angered the United States – Vietnam’s largest trading partner." "In the [Vietnamese] capital, a city dotted with prominent Soviet-style buildings and statues – many were eagerly anticipating the Russian president’s visit." President Putin has made it clear that Russia is enhancing ties with Southeast Asia to facilitate the region's growth through trade, exchanges in technology and establishing new logistic routes. At the same time it is ensuring "indivisible security in Eurasia" — where Russia traditionally plays an important role. 👍 Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

🌎 The so-called High-Level Peace Summit on Ukraine has concluded in Switzerland. The goal of Kiev and its Western partners was to attract as much of the non-Western world majority to the summit as possible. Such a step would show that a wide range of participants are involved in discussing peace plans without Russia’s participation. The summit in Switzerland ended with a quite unclear document, which actually contains no algorithm for resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia, on the contrary, has come up with specific and clear proposals.

Their implementation is hardly possible here and now. But the very fact of forming guidelines and an agenda for the future can be recorded as a Russian asset, writes Ivan Timofeev. https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/swiss-summit-on-ukraine-moscow-hijacked-the-agenda/ #Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #Ukraine 🗣🗣🗣

«Добро пожаловать, Путин» Обстановка в Пхеньяне, куда скоро прилетит президент России

North Korea getting ready for Putin’s visit 👇

⚡️⚡️ Key headlines from Russia & neighbourhood – June 18, 2024 MOD’s new faces The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, appointed Anna Tsivilyova, the head of the "Defenders of the Fatherland" fund, as a Deputy Minister of defense. Another Deputy Minister role in the ministry was awarded to Pavel Fradkov, the son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who previously held the position of First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. Leonid Gorin was appointed as the first Deputy Minister of Defense, having previously held the position of First Deputy Minister of Finance. At the same times, Putin relieved of their duties the deputies of Sergei Shoigu including Ruslan Tsaliyev, Tatyana Shvetsova, and Pavel Popov Notably, Anna Tsivilyova is Putin's second cousin and the wife of ex-Kemerovo governor (key mining region in Russia), who was appointed as Minister of Energy in May. Before that, according to some media reports, the Tsivilyov family acquired one of Russia's largest coal companies for a symbolic sum. UAV attack Fuel storage tanks caught fire near Azov city in Rostov region after UAV attack, according to the governor Vasily Golubev. No casualties were reported. According to media reports, residents heard around five explosions in the area of the Azov port. Few days back, on June 14th, air defense forces intercepted 70 drones over the Rostov region, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. After the mass attack in the Morozovsky district, several settlements were left without electricity. Since the beginning of this year, there have been 130 attempts to attack the Rostov region using unmanned aerial vehicles. Inadequate workforce According to the estimates of the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMAF), by 2025 there will be a surplus of around 2.7 million graduates in Russia that won’t be absorbed by the economy. The maximum surplus of university graduates is expected in specialties related to political science, media, and library science. At the same time, there will be a shortage of 3.6 million graduates from colleges and vocational schools (in the Russian context – there are people who get blue collar jobs). Bell outlet notes that the negative trends in the labor market will persist at least in the medium term. Abnormally low unemployment with inflated wages means not only an acceleration of inflation, but also record stuff turnover. In 2023, up to a third of all employees of large and medium-sized Russian enterprises changed jobs in pursuit of higher salaries. Eyes on North Korea The Kremlin on Tuesday published an article by President Vladimir Putin written for the North Korean newspaper "Rodong Sinmun" - "Russia and the DPRK: Traditions of Friendship and Cooperation Through the Years" ahead of his visit to the country later today. The article states that Russia "highly appreciates the firm support" of the DPRK in conducting military operations in Ukraine and will support the Korean people in their "confrontation with the insidious, dangerous and aggressive enemy, in their struggle for independence." "Pyongyang has been and remains our convinced like-minded person and supporter, ready to resolutely confront the desire of the collective West to prevent the formation of a multipolar world order based on justice, mutual respect for sovereignty, and consideration of each other's interests," writes Vladimir Putin. The article states that Russia is ready for close cooperation with the DPRK for the further establishment of democratic and stable relations. It is noted that for this purpose, it is planned to develop "mechanisms of trade and mutual settlements not controlled by the West", and in the future - to build "an architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia." 👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.