Author: disinfo1

The European Union is ramping up pressure on reluctant member states to agree to new loans for war-torn Ukraine, telling them that if they do not want to accept the use of frozen Russian assets, they will have to foot the bill themselves, reports Politico. The idea of new loans is rejected by the majority of EU governments. For this reason, the Commission wants to pressure them to approve the use of Russia’s frozen assets. The European Commission is fully aware that its Plan B – financing Ukraine’s defense through eurobond loans – is even worse for the governments of…

On the Ukrainian front, the expression “обнуление” – “reset” – has become synonymous with execution. In the jargon of Russian troops, “to be reset” means to be shot by your own, because you refused to go on a “suicidal attack”, because you drank a bottle of vodka, or simply because a superior decided that you don’t deserve to breathe anymore. A new report by the independent Russian publication Verstka reveals who the executioners within the Russian army are and how the repressive system that executes its own soldiers, often without any trial and without any consequence, operates. Beaten, shot, thrown…

Ukraine is alleged to have struck a petroleum refinery and a chemical plant in the western regions of Russia during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to several Russian channels on Telegram. The attacks caused severe fires, but the information has not yet been officially confirmed by Kiev, according to Mediafax. Ukrainian forces are said to have launched attacks on two major industrial targets in western Russia, a refinery and a chemical plant, as part of a new series of strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, local channels on Telegram report, quoted by international press. In the Ulyanovsk region, the…

Russian hypersonic missiles “Kinjal” and “Zircon” could outpace the United States and NATO’s early warning systems in the Arctic region, experts warned, as quoted by Defense News. Specialists from the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska claim that radars placed on Greenland’s territory – an essential part of the North American anti-missile defense system (NORAD) – cannot effectively detect modern hypersonic weapons. Gaps in Greenland’s air defense During the Cold War, radars in Greenland were key elements in the warning system for intercontinental ballistic missile launches. However, the emergence of hypersonic weapons, capable of flying…

Thirty-four years ago, Ukraine made one of the most significant decisions in its modern history: it voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons, even though it held the third largest arsenal in the world, after the United States and Russia. In the early ’90s, this move was seen as a sign of trust in the international order and a step towards peace. Today, after years of Russian aggression, many wonder if the price paid was too high. How Ukraine became a non-nuclear state On October 24, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a resolution on the status…

Moscow is escalating its threats against Ukraine’s Western allies. Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov, nicknamed “Professor Apocalypse”, launches a terrifying threat of a third world war, in which “the UK will be destroyed with nuclear weapons”, according to Express.co.uk. Sergei Karaganov believes that Russia should use a nuclear explosion to intimidate the British political leadership, to make it submit to Vladimir Putin’s demands. Putin’s adviser has warned that a new world war is approaching, which can only be stopped if the West clearly understands that Russia will use nuclear weapons. “Russia should make a firm commitment, in the event of…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is consolidating his control over power by promoting loyalists from the younger generation, amid increasing instability within the Kremlin, as he ages, reports Fox News. Recently, the British publication The Telegraph reported that Putin, 73, who has led Russia for more than two decades, is “running out of cards to play,” as pressure on his regime increases both domestically and internationally. In this context, it is revealing that the Federal Security Service (FSB) recently opened a criminal case against exiled opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky and 22 members of the Anti-War Committee, accusing them of conspiring to…

The widespread nationalization launched by the Kremlin following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has led to a redistribution of confiscated wealth to friends from Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Former members of the Ozero cooperative received assets totaling $3 billion according to Novaya Gazeta Evropa, quoted by Moscow Times. The “Ozero” Cooperative is an association of dacha – Russian vacation homes – that Vladimir Putin and his friends established in 1996, on the shore of Lake Ozero, in the Leningrad region. Apart from Putin, the group included Vladimir Smirnov, Vladimir Iakunin, Andrei Fursenko, Serghei Fursenko, Iuri Kovalciuc, Viktor Meacin,…

The most recent wave of tax increases in Russia, designed to strengthen the state’s finances in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, will heavily impact a tenth of small businesses. Many Russian business owners say they will have no choice but to close or move into the grey area of the economy, reports Reuters. Russia has gradually increased local taxes since 2023, the second year of the war, including personal income and corporate profit taxes, to keep up with military expenditures, which are now at their highest level since the Cold War. The new tax regime, including a…

The Russian law on “foreign agents” has been tightened again, allowing criminal prosecution after a single administrative fine. Previously, a criminal case could be preceded by two administrative violations. This is by no means the first and probably not the last amendment to this controversial law, reports The Moscow Times. The increasingly strict requirements have led to the closure of many independent media organizations and important NGOs, including Nasiliu.net, the main support center for victims of domestic violence in Russia. “The law on ‘foreign agents’ has gradually deprived us of more than just simple resources,” declared its founder, Anna Rivina.…