Russia Wire

The Time on Saturday published a profile of Andriy ­Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, who - according to the publication - is ­accused of “amassing personal power and usurping democratic processes” As Zelenskyy’s first presidential term was coming to an end, anonymous senior government, military, law enforcement, and diplomatic sources expressed concern about his growing dependence on Yermak. The Times writes that the head of the President’s Office is accused of “accumulating personal power and usurping democratic processes.” Since the introduction of martial law, which allows Zelenskyy to remain in office until the war ends, Yermak’s power exceeded all Ukrainian officials except the head of state. In a number of interviews, some sources referred to him as the “de facto head of state” or “vice president of Ukraine,” newspaper noted. https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/court-zelensky-ukraine-rocked-by-aides-thirst-for-power-57z9q8fwf Have checked out previous reports on Yermak, would he be the next person to deal with in Ukraine, like it was anticipated about Zaluzhny as some point of time? @RussiaWire

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the European Parliament elections:

"The elections took place under conditions of strict limitations, absence of fair competition, information space cleansing from alternative sources, and rampant anti-Russian campaigning," said Zakharova.

💬 "Political forces opposing mindless and damaging confrontation with Russia were subjected to discrimination, often facing direct pressure and harassment," she said, adding that "in many EU member states, voting took on a distinctly protest character: both through support for opposition parties and demonstratively low turnout.”

“Significant strengthening of positions of nationally-oriented political forces opposing erosion of national sovereignty and identity, as well as substitution of traditional values with neoliberal attitudes, was observed," the spokeswoman said.

💬 "Over the past years, the EP's confrontational position towards our country has degraded to an unprecedented level of hostility," Zakharova noted.

"As a result of the European Parliament elections, the 'ideological basis' for further support of the EU's current self-destructive political course based on Russophobia has been maintained," she concluded.

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Moscow takes revenge for Western condemnation of Russian presidential election held in March this year 🤡 👇🏻

‘Golub’ is a pigeon in Russian https://t.me/tassagency_en/30613

🇷🇺🇿🇦 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa Naledi Pandor hold a meeting on the sidelines of the #BRICS Ministerial 📍 Nizhny Novgorod, June 10 #RussiaSouthAfrica

⚡️⚡️ Key headlines from Russia & neighbourhood – June 10, 2024 🇷🇺New friends Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Monday, citing a diplomatic source. Russian ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora confirmed to Vedomosti that the president's visit to Pyongyang will happen and is being "actively prepared". The newspaper said Putin could visit Vietnam as early as June and most likely immediately after his visit to North Korea. Putin visited North Korea only once, in July 2000, meeting with Kim Jong-il. Kim Jong-un last visited Russia in September 2023, joining Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Additionally, in July 2023, Russia's then-Defense Minister Shoigu attended celebrations in Pyongyang marking the end of the Korean War, and in October 2023, Foreign Minister Lavrov visited the North Korean capital. 🇺🇦Swiss peace summit Nearly 90 countries and organizations, half from Europe, have confirmed attending the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit that will take place on June 15-16, Switzerland’s president said Monday. Russia has not been invited to the summit. About 160 invitations have been sent out and Amherd said it was not a “disappointment” for the Swiss government that fewer than 100 have so far announced participation in the first phase of the peace process.Brazil and China said they wouldn’t take part unless both sides – including Russia – were at the table, according to Swiss officials. Beijing has been one of the top supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the war started. 🇪🇺EU at crossroads The European People's Party (EPP), whose leader Ursula von der Leyen is now the European Commission President, is winning the European Parliament elections. Leyen promised that the majority in the European Parliament will be "pro-European and pro-Ukrainian." However, according to Euronews analysis, after EPP party romped to victory, increasing its seat share by eight, Ursula von der Leyen is set to have a first shot at securing five more years at the helm of the European Commission, in accordance with the so-called Spitzenkandidaten process. But her re-election chances have been complicated not only by the arithmetic of the new parliament, but also by President Emmanuel Macron's decision to call for snap legislative elections in France. Some say a weakened Macron and an embattled Chancellor Scholz - whose German socialist party finished third, trailing the main opposition CDU/CSU party and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) - could derail her nomination. 🌏🌍🌎BRICS grown big A meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers has opened in Nizhny Novgorod on Monday in expanded format with the participation of a group of Russia-friendly states that are not part of BRICS. association. The delegates will discuss ways to develop the organization, which is facing an influx of countries wishing to join. One hot topic is the possibility of Turkey, a NATO member with close ties to the US and EU, joining. After going through two waves of expansion, BRICS is forced to limit the accelerated admission of new members, for which a new category of "partner countries" is being developed, Kommersant reports. "The combined GDP of the BRICS countries is greater today than the total GDP of the so-called Group of Seven. And these trends are not only continuing, but accelerating and intensifying," Vladimir Putin said during recently-concluded #SPIEF2024. He reminded that this year, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Egypt and Ethiopia have joined the ranks of BRICS. ⛔Z-time sentence A Yekaterinburg resident, Alexander Neustroev, was sentenced to three years in prison for insulting and threatening an 11-year-old boy wearing a pro-war 'Z' cap. The incident occurred in April 2023 and was caught on CCTV.

Initially, Neustroev was fined 7,000 rubles, but the lenient sentence was criticized as disrespectful to Russian troops in Ukraine. The boy’s father, too, is serving there. Following pressure from a State Duma deputy, the Prosecutor General's Office ordered the case to be appealed, leading to Neustroev's three-year prison sentence for hooliganism motivated by political hatred. 👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

Sky News: A Ukrainian warplane has for the first time fired a weapon that struck a target inside Russia, a Ukrainian military source has told Sky News. The source said a "Russian command node" was hit on Sunday in the area of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine “It was not immediately clear what type of munition was used in the attack, including whether or not it had been a Western weapon. The United States and France recently said the Ukrainian armed forces were permitted to use their arms to strike military targets inside Russia - from where Russian forces are launching attacks against Ukraine.” https://news.sky.com/story/ukrainian-warplane-fires-weapon-at-target-inside-russia-for-first-time-13150251

Besides politics, Russia is a lot about art, both classical and contemporary This is St Petersburg today 3rd edition of St. Petersburg Art Fair "1703" The fair features 41 galleries, art groups, and art platforms from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, Istanbul (Turkey), and Dubai (UAE), carefully selected by the expert council after screening 218 applications @RussiaWire

🇷🇺Russian President Vladimir Putin, who addresses SPIEF2024 on Friday, said Russia’s GDP growth for 2023 stood at 3.6% and reached 5.4% in the first quarter of this year, which exceeds the global averag. According to him this trend has been defined by non-commodity industries, such as manufacturing, production, logistics, communications, agriculture, and power generation, as well as auxiliary industries such as trade, hospitality, finance, and other services. While detailed stats is not available in Russi since 2022, a measure to keep “unfriendly counties” away from important data, reports suggested last week that Russia's oil proceeds increased almost 50% in May from a year ago. According to Bloomberg calculations, the country's oil-related taxes in May clocked in at 632.5 billion rubles ($7.1 billion) with total oil and gas proceeds increasing 39% to 793.7 billion rubles. Russia got $74.98 per barrel for its Urals last month, up from $58.63 a year ago as the blend's discount to the global Brent benchmark narrowed considerably despite a $60 per barrel price cap imposed by the G-7 The U.S. and its Western allies have taken measures aimed at reducing the inflow of petrodollars by limiting access to western shipping and insurance services, while still keeping Russian oil on the global market. Moscow has countered by using a massive shadow fleet of tankers and selling its oil to Asian customers. Russia's oil and gas budget proceeds, however, actually declined by more than 35% in May, with Bloomberg pointing out that the country's profit-based levy is paid four times a year, in March, April, July and October. Russia's oil revenues last month could have been even higher if the government had not paid out almost 202 billion rubles to companies to partially compensate refiners for the difference in car fuel prices in Russia and abroad.  The question is, how far the oil revenues can grow in the country coming 1-2 years and how much the energy giants will be willing to contribute to the war needs. @RussiaWire