Author: disinfo1

At the beginning of 2026, Russia approached several European Union countries in terms of food prices, and has already exceeded some categories. The conclusion comes from an analysis made by “Vajnîe istorii”, based on data from Rosstat and the Numbeo service. According to the analysis, in ten European countries — Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Lithuania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, and Spain — half or more basic food products cost the same as in Russia or even less. In other countries, like Germany, a liter of milk in the Lidl network is about one and a half times cheaper than…

The European Union is trying to reduce its dependence on American payment systems Visa and Mastercard, fearing that they could become instruments of geopolitical pressure from the United States. The information is reported by the Financial Times, quoting the general director of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), Martina Weimert. According to her, the dominance of American companies represents a risk in case of deteriorating transatlantic relations, which makes the development of a proprietary payment system a “pan-European priority”. Data from the European Central Bank shows that, in 2022, Visa and Mastercard processed almost two-thirds of all card payments in the…

The President of the Supreme Court of Russia, Igor Krasnov, has ordered the transfer to the General Prosecutor’s Office of materials concerning two judges of the Regional Court in Nizhny Novgorod — the presidents of the administrative and civil cases boards, Viktor Fomin and Vyacheslav Sapega. Assets that do not correspond to their declared incomes have been identified for these individuals and their family members, reports the publication Kommersant. The expenses of Fomin and his wife, from 2015 to 2020, exceeded their official incomes, totaling over 20 million rubles (approximately 220,000 euros). During this period, the family purchased an apartment…

Russia fails to break away from Western technologies, despite repeated calls from Vladimir Putin and his claims that this goal has already been achieved. The country remains heavily dependent on imports in key areas for the war it is waging, including machinery construction, drone production, and the energy sector, according to an assessment by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, consulted by Financial Times. According to the document, efforts to increase exports of non-energy products are not yielding the expected results. The assessment includes a six-year plan to achieve import substitution goals in critical sectors by 2030,…

A delegation of American senators visited Greenland on Monday, aiming to “rebuild trust”, which was shaken by the desire of the US President, Donald Trump, to occupy this Arctic territory, reports AFP, according to Agerpres. “In a few sentences and a few words, the trust that had been established since World War II has eroded and deteriorated, and we need to work to rebuild it,” declared Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski at a press conference. “We, the members of Congress, are here to remind you that our president can make certain statements, but that we, in Congress, also have a role…

The European Union intends to introduce, for the first time, sanctions against seaports in third countries for operations related to Russian oil. According to the agency Reuters, which cites a draft document of the European Commission, the 20th package of sanctions against Russia could target the Kulevi port in Georgia and the Karimun port in Indonesia. The package also provides for the expansion of the “blacklist” of oil tankers involved in the transport of Russian oil by 43 positions. In addition, sanctions are planned against several banks in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Laos, while restrictions could be lifted for two banks…

The American army captured on Monday, in the Indian Ocean, the oil tanker Aquila II, part of the Russian “shadow fleet” used by Putin’s Russia to circumvent international sanctions, reports The Moscow Times. The US War Department announced that the ship was violating restrictions imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump for oil transfers in the Caribbean, restrictions that affect Venezuela and Cuba, according to EFE and AFP, quoted by Agerpres. “The American forces have seized” the ship, indicated the Pentagon, which had previously announced that American troops had boarded “without incident” the oil tanker Aquila II, after they…

Vladimir Putin has proposed that the $1 billion fee for Russia’s accession to the so-called Peace Council initiated by Donald Trump be paid from Russian assets currently frozen in the US. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stated on Monday that Moscow “has not yet received a response to Putin’s proposal,” reports The Moscow Times. In total, over $5 billion from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation’s funds are currently blocked in the US. “The subject of the Peace Council, according to the instructions of the President of Russia, is still being developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together…

During the war with Ukraine, Russian citizens have reportedly experienced an unprecedented increase in living standards, unseen in the statistics of the last approximately 20 years, asserts Rosstat. According to official data, last year the real disposable income of Russians increased by 7.4%. A year earlier, it had risen by 8.2%, and in 2023 — by 5.4%. The cumulative increase over three years, of 22.7%, would be unprecedented for a comparable three-year period since the 2006–2008 interval, when, according to Rosstat, incomes increased by 30.2%. Even taking into account the 1% decrease in 2022, in the four years of war,…

The US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, responded on Monday to the preliminary conclusions of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) report, the proceedings of which will open on Friday. He said he “completely rejects everything he just heard”, after the report’s authors warned that the main challenge for the liberal international order “comes from within”, namely through the fundamental change in the Trump administration’s thinking about US alliances, reports The Guardian. The United States does not want to dismantle NATO or undermine existing alliances, but to “balance the way the defense burden is shared among NATO countries”, Whitaker emphasized regarding…