April 1, 2024: Russian Digest
Top stories I'm keeping an eye on!
April 1, 2024
Call to Action for my U.S. subscribers: Please call your Congress representatives and tell them to pass the weapons and aid package to Ukraine and to stop endangering U.S. national security by using domestic weaknesses for political purposes… This easy new site helps you send a message to your reps in Congress. Be sure to make your voice heard through helpukrainewin.com
Ukraine attacks Shahed drone factory, oil refinery deep inside Russia
A drone-making facility deep inside Russian territory was bombarded on Tuesday morning, according to local officials.
Drones attacked production facilities in Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk in Russia's Tatarstan republic, some 1,500 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, local governor Rustam Minnikhanov said in a statement.
“In Yelabuga, unfortunately, there are victims as a result of the destruction of the premises. They are provided with all necessary medical aid,” Minnikhanov said, revealing no additional details.
Read More at Politico
Putin appoints new commander of Black Sea Fleet
Putin has appointed Vice Admiral Sergey Pinchuk as the new commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Source: RIA Novosti referencing Sergey Shoigu, Minister of Defence of Russia
Details: With two more decrees, Putin appointed Admiral Alexander Moiseev as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy and Vice Admiral Konstantin Kabantsov as Commander of the Northern Fleet.
Background: In mid-February anonymous pro-Russian Telegram channels claimed that Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, had been dismissed following the sinking of the landing ship Tsezar Kunikov on 14 February.
Via Ukrainian Pravda
NATO Proposes $100 Billion, Five-Year Fund to Aid Ukraine
Proposal still needs approval from alliance’s 32 members
NATO also proposing to coordinate weapons aid to Kyiv
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is proposing to establish a fund of allied contributions worth $100 billion over five years for Ukraine as part of a package for alliance leaders to sign off when they gather in Washington in July.
Allies are still discussing Stoltenberg’s proposal and any mechanics of the accounting, including whether to factor in bilateral aid to Ukraine into the overall sum, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Read More at Bloomberg
How to ‘Trump proof’ the transatlantic relationship?
In this medieval city just east of Brussels, American and European officials have one question on their minds: What to do about Donald Trump?
Over a two-day summit this week focused on trade and technology, the likes of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission trade czar Valdis Dombrovskis will flaunt the rekindled transatlantic friendship.
According to a draft communiqué seen by POLITICO, they will announce joint support for next generation telecommunication and semiconductor projects. They will champion so-called sustainable trade practices and stronger links around transatlantic supply chains. And they will coordinate more closely on artificial intelligence standards to push back against China and corral new forms of the technology made famous by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Read More at Politico
A detainee died at the police department after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. He was tortured before his death
Chechen Askhab Uspanov (Kasuev), detained on the night after the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, died in the police station. Before his death, he was tortured, and then they tried to fake suicide. This was reported by the 1ADAT Telegram channel.
According to 1ADAT, Uspanov was returning home from work and was waiting for the bus at the bus stop when he was attacked by masked people. Not understanding what was happening, Uspanov resisted them. It later turned out that they were police officers. Uspanov was detained on suspicion of involvement in the terrorist attack. At the police station, he was tortured and his ribs and spine were broken. As a result, Uspanov died without surviving the torture; traces of suffocation and hematoma remained on his body. 1ADAT published a video of Uspanov’s body after the autopsy. The voice-over says that the security forces staged a suicide by hanging.
After the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, security forces detained 11 people, including four perpetrators of the attack. They were interrogated using torture. In particular, one of them, named Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, had part of his ear cut off during his arrest and was forced to eat it.
Read More at The Insider
Must read investigation…
Ship from Russia with sanctioned goods detained in Germany - Media
In the German port of Rostock, a ship from Russia was detained. It was found to be carrying sanctioned goods intended for delivery to the USA, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The port authorities and sailors of Rostock reported that due to the presence of goods sanctioned by the EU on board, the ship received an order for detention from the customs. Therefore, leaving the port is prohibited.
The cargo ship, 193 meters long, flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, entered the port of Rostock for repairs on March 4 due to technical problems with the propeller. According to the authorities, damage was likely caused by ice movement. The source noted that the ship arrived from Russia.
Journalists found that the ship was headed to the USA and was loaded, among other things, with birch wood and enriched uranium for American nuclear power plants. The total value of the cargo is approximately 40 million euros.
Read More at RBC-Ukraine
Deep Dive Investigation…
Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on U.S. officials and their families
A yearlong investigation by The Insider, in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, has uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of Russian GRU Unit 29155. Members of the Kremlin’s infamous military intelligence sabotage squad have been placed at the scene of suspected attacks on overseas U.S. government personnel and their family members, leading victims to question what Washington knows about the origins of Havana Syndrome, and what an appropriate Western response might entail.
Read the full investigation: The Insider
Also an investigation on one of the Russian spies…
Undercover chef: how the FBI interrogator of a Russian spy arrested in Florida later came down with Havana Syndrome
Vitalii Kovalev worked for years as the executive chef of some of the American East Coast’s most prestigious Russian-themed haute cuisine restaurants. After his arrest following a car chase in Florida in June 2020, evidence emerged that Kovalev, throughout his culinary career, had also been serving as an undercover technical officer for the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service. One of the FBI agents who interviewed the Russian spy after his arrest later suffered symptoms of Havana Syndrome, a phenomenon that, according to a new report by The Insider, 60 Minutes, and Der Spiegel, may have been caused by a directed energy weapon wielded by the GRU itself.
Read the full investigation: The Insider
U.S. told Russia that Crocus City Hall was possible target of attack
More than two weeks before terrorists staged a bloody attack in the suburbs of Moscow, the U.S. government told Russian officials that Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue, was a potential target, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
The high degree of specificity conveyed in the warning underscores Washington’s confidence that the Islamic State was preparing an attack that threatened large numbers of civilians, and it directly contradicts Moscow’s claims that the U.S. warnings were too general to help preempt the assault.
The U.S. identification of the Crocus concert hall as a potential target — a fact that has not been previously reported — raises new questions about why Russian authorities failed to take stronger measures to protect the venue, where gunmen killed more than 140 people and set fire to the building. A branch of the Islamic State has taken credit for the attack, the deadliest in Russia in 20 years. U.S. officials have publicly said the group, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, “bears sole responsibility,” but Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to pin the blame on Ukraine.
Read More at the Washington Post
Victims at Crocus demanded that a criminal case be opened against billionaire Agalarov
Victims of the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, owned by JSC Crocus International, the parent structure of the Crocus Group of billionaire Araz Agalarov, appealed to the Investigative Committee with a request to initiate a criminal case against the owners of the complex. The applicants believe that the building was not properly equipped with fire safety systems.
“I ask you to resolve the issue of initiating a criminal case regarding the commission of a crime under Part 3 of Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (provision of services that do not meet safety requirements), as a result of which on March 22, 2024, in the building located at the address: Moscow region, Krasnogorsk, st. Mezhdunarodnaya, 20 (Crocus City Hall concert hall), in which 144 people died, more than 550 people were injured, 15 of them children,” TASS quotes the text of the statement from the victim’s lawyer Igor Trunov.
The lawyer also asked the Investigative Committee to check whether the fire extinguishing systems and smoke removal systems in the entertainment complex were in working order, to assess the organization of evacuation of people from the burning building, and to find out why a number of emergency exits were blocked.
Read more at The Moscow Times
The Kremlin on Maduro’s visit to Russia: The visit is being prepared, the last thing is to agree on dates
A visit by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to Russia is being prepared, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
“He is getting ready, there is a high degree of preparation for the visit, (the) last thing left is to agree on dates that will fit both Mr. Maduro’s schedule and Putin’s schedule,” Peskov said. (Reuters Moscow bureau)
In absurd propaganda news and posting so people see how insane Russia’s domestic propaganda is…
Patrushev accused NATO of preparing sabotage in Russia
NATO instructors on the territory of several states are engaged in training mercenaries and saboteurs to conduct operations directed against Russia, said Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev in an interview with Arguments and Facts.
According to him, the North Atlantic Alliance allegedly also uses terrorist organizations in its interests, “de facto is a party to the Ukrainian conflict” and is “actively involved in organizing attacks” by the Ukrainian military on the territory of the Russian Federation.
“Within its (NATO - ed.) framework, collective decisions are made on new supplies of weapons with an increase in their technical and long-range capabilities, and NATO instructors in several countries are training mercenaries and saboteurs for their participation in anti-Russian operations,” Patrushev said.
Via propaganda site Arguments and Facts (was reported on all Russian state media)
