Author: disinfo1

About 300 enterprises have been relocated to the Transcarpathia region. How has this changed the economic structure of the area? The Transcarpathia region includes the Maramureș area to the right of the Tisza River. According to the 2001 Ukrainian population census, over 32,000 Romanians (2.6%) from the region’s population lived in Transcarpathia. The Romanians in Transcarpathia reside in the former Teacev (Teceu) and Rahiv (Rahău) districts. Most of the localities with a Romanian population have been included in the Slatina commune. The Romanian community in Transcarpathia is predominantly rural, and the number of villagers has increased since the proclamation of…

Refineries in Turkey have begun to stop using Russian oil and to purchase crude oil from other countries, according to The Moscow Times, which cites Reuters. One of the largest refineries in Turkey, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR), owned by SOCAR from Azerbaijan, recently purchased four shipments of crude oil from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other non-Russian sources for deliveries in December. These shipments contain between 77,000 and 129,000 barrels per day, significantly reducing the proportion of Russian oil in its refining. In September and October, almost all of STAR’s refining volume – about 210,000 barrels per day – was Russian…

German companies have paid nearly 1.72 billion euros in taxes to the Kremlin since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, enough to finance 10,000 attack drones targeting Ukrainian cities. More than half of the German companies that operated in Russia before the war remain there today, according to a new report, cited by Euronews. Approximately 250 German companies are still active in Russia. Many of these firms, such as cheese manufacturer Hochland and gypsum producer Knauf, which produce fast-moving consumer goods, do not, in principle, violate EU regulations. According to a report by the Kiev School of Economics (KSE), B4Ukraine and the…

The Bulgarian Government is considering requesting exemptions from the new American sanctions against Lukoil, the largest private oil company in Russia, according to sources cited by Politico. The Sofia Executive fears that the American sanctions will cause severe fuel shortages and protests throughout the country. Bulgaria hosts the Burgas refinery, owned by Lukoil, which supplies up to 80% of the country’s fuel. President Donald Trump announced last week sanctions against the two largest oil producers in Russia, Rosneft and Lukoil, prompting several EU countries where the Russian companies operate to take steps to obtain exemptions. The Bulgarian government reportedly asked…

CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, made a working visit to Brussels this week, where he secretly met with high-ranking EU officials in the field of foreign affairs and intelligence services, according to sources cited by Politico. The mission of the CIA chief would have been to convey to European states the message: “You can still rely on us.” Ratcliffe met with the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, as well as high-ranking officials from the EU’s Intelligence and Situation Centre (INTCEN) and the Intelligence Directorate of the EU’s Military Staff (EUMS). The aim, two officials said, was to alleviate fears and reaffirm…

The head of Roskomnadzor (RKN), Andrei Lipov, has stated that the current practice by which Russian citizens give their consent for the processing of personal data is “outdated” and should be eliminated. “The institution of consent, in its current form, is extremely outdated. Perhaps it was efficient at the beginning of Law 152 on personal data, when the content of the consent was left to the discretion of the citizen and the company requesting it,” Lipov stated. He explained that the large number of consents that a citizen must give makes it impossible to track and control the use of…

Hungary opposes Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, threatening with a veto, but supports the expansion of the community block towards the Republic of Moldova and the Western Balkan countries. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is playing a complex card between Brussels and Moscow, arguing that expansion should follow the “real interests of Europe”, writes Euronews. Hungary is known within the European Union for its opposition to Ukraine’s candidacy for accession, the veto threat blocking the opening of negotiation chapters for Kiev. However, Budapest’s position on expansion represents a nuanced balancing act, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán strongly supports the efforts…

In the secret community of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in Baciurino, near Moscow, Russian spy leaders come to pray in a chapel that includes a so-called miracle-making icon. The icon is also promoted in the occupied territories of Ukraine to “fill the minds of Russian soldiers with illusions before they are sent to death,” while the parish priest of the church in Putin’s spies’ exclusive suburb was caught with images of child pornography on his phone during a visit near the front line, according to an investigation by The Insider. The miracle-making icon of the Mother of God “Taming…

From the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine lives and resists not only through the soldiers in the trenches, but also through the women who, behind the front lines, keep the country alive. They are around 30 years old – the generation born in a free Ukraine, raised in the chaos of the ’90s and matured by revolutions and war. Today, they are the ones who raise funds for the army, run NGOs, advocate for their country in world capitals, or wear military uniforms. Unlike their men, who cannot leave the country and can be mobilized into the army, Ukrainian…

On the Ozon e-commerce platform, one of the largest in Russia, offers appear for a manually launched “toy airplane” that replicates the design of the Iranian long-range drone — the same type of device that, last week, hit a nursery with 48 children in the city of Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine. The replica of the suicide drones is recommended for children starting at three years old and is described as “an ideal gift for young patriots and future conquerors of the sky”, being presented as having benefits for the development of “coordination, precision, and imagination”. On the site — sometimes…