April 4, 2024: Russian Digest
Top stories I'm keeping an eye on!
April 4, 2024
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Russian double-tap attack on Kharkiv kills 4, including first responders
Two Russian strikes on the city of Kharkiv killed four people, including three first responders, and injured 12, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in the early hours of April 4.
Russian drones first hit the city at around 1 a.m. local time, damaging several homes and a 14-story high-rise building. As a result of this strike, a 33-year-old man and a 71-year-old woman were wounded.
Then, at 1:55 a.m., two more drones struck the city, killing the three Emergency Response workers who were called to the scene following the first attack: 52-year-old Vladyslav Lohinov, 32-year-old Serhii Baidalinov, and 41-year-old Volodymyr Matiushenko.
According to local police, a 69-year-old civilian woman was also killed.
In total, 12 individuals were reported injured as a result of the drone strikes, including an Emergency Service worker, a policeman, and a nurse.
Three high-rise buildings, three firetrucks, a hospital building, and two ambulances were damaged in the attacks.
Read More at Kyiv Independent
Russian officials report massive drone attack on military airfield in Rostov Oblast
A "massive attack" on a military airfield in Rostov Oblast, Russia, damaged a power substation in the Morozovsky district, Governor Vasily Golubev claimed in the early hours of April 5.
According to Golubev, Russian air defense units intercepted over 40 drones targeting a military airfield in Rostov Oblast's Morozovsky district.
Golubev also said that workers were attempting to restore the power supply at the damaged substation.
No casualties were reported. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify Golubev's claims at the time of publication.
Ukrainian troops have intensified strikes against military and industrial targets in Russia in recent weeks. Ukraine has used domestically produced long-range drones to successfully attack oil refineries and weapons facilities, prompting Russia to announce increased air defense efforts in these areas.
Golubev on March 25 claimed that a transformer substation at the Novocherkassk State District Power Plant in Rostov Oblast caught fire overnight, following reports from local residents about explosions in the area amid an alleged drone attack.
Via Kyiv Independent
Zaporizhia NPP again on verge of blackout as one power line disconnected after Russian shelling
The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant again found itself on the verge of a blackout due to the shutdown of the Zaporizhia Thermal Power Plant-Ferrosplavna power transmission line, which supplies power from the Ukrainian energy grid to meet its own needs, at 10:06 on Thursday after Russian shelling, the NNEGC Energoatom press service reported.
Currently, Europe's largest nuclear power plant is connected to the country's energy grid only by the Dniprovska power line, recently repaired by Ukrainian power engineers.
"Once again, a threat of a nuclear and radiation accident will emerge at the temporarily seized Zaporizhia NPP if this last remaining line linking the facility to the Ukrainian power grid is disconnected, and the plant will get into another blackout, which is a serious violation of the conditions for the safe operation of the plant," Energoatom said.
"ZNPP must immediately come under the full control of Ukraine, its legal operator, Energoatom, and Russia must withdraw its troops and military equipment from the plant," the company said.
Read More at Interfax Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: Allies to check their stocks to urgently provide Ukraine with air defense systems
Allies understand the urgency and therefore I welcome also the announcements I just listed from several Allies to provide more ammunition and more types of systems to Ukraine. They also understand the urgency of stepping up when it comes to air defence in particular. And therefore Allies will now go back and look into their inventories, look into if there are any ways they can provide more systems, in particular Patriots. But also, of course, ensure that the systems which are already there have the ammunition but also the spare parts so they can all function as they should. So this is partly a question of systems, batteries, but also very much a question of delivering the interceptors to the systems which are already there. And several Allies promised that they should make a new effort to find what they can… to look into what more they can deliver. I will not be specific before they are able to conclude, but I just listed several Allies that have just over the last days made new announcements of additional support.
Via NATO
Wagner PMC resumed recruiting mercenaries to be sent to Africa
Since February of this year, Wagner PMC is again recruiting mercenaries to be sent “to long-distance destinations,” that is, to African countries. Recruitment messages are published in Telegram channels associated with PMCs. Journalists from the publication “Vorstka” and the Nordsint project drew attention to this.
The recruitment of mercenaries to be sent to Africa has not been carried out since March 2023 due to problems with supplies and large losses in Ukraine; those wishing to participate in African operations were then asked to “stand in reserve and wait to be called.” In mid-February 2024, accounts associated with the PMC reported that Colonel Assimi Goita, who is in power in Mali, extended the contract with the Wagner PMC for deployment in the country. After this, the recruitment of mercenaries to work in Mali and West African countries resumed. According to information from chats for potential group members, PMCs now require attack aircraft and drone operators. As one of the recruiters told the Vorstka journalist, the next group is planned to be sent in mid-April. In addition, judging by information from the chats of relatives of the Wagnerites, some of the mercenaries are being transferred to Africa from Ukraine.
Earlier, The Insider found out that after the death of the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, planes associated with him continued to regularly fly to Africa, while after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, the delivery of goods from Libya and the Central African Republic to Syria intensified. In addition, according to experts, Wagner PMC participated in military coups in several African countries, supporting pro-Russian leaders.
In recent years, Wagner PMC activities have been reported in Sudan, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, and Burkina Faso. The activities of Prigozhin’s structures in these countries included participation in civil wars and the fight against jihadist groups, as well as mining. The Wagnerites were accused of killing civilians in at least the Central African Republic and Mali.
Via The Insider
Top manager of Lukoil was arrested in the case of bribes at customs
The Basmanny Court of Moscow placed under arrest until June 2 the head of one of the structural divisions of PJSC Lukoil, Alexey Stepanov, accused of giving a bribe.
“The court granted the request of the preliminary investigation authorities to select a preventive measure against Alexey Aleksandrovich Stepanov, the head of one of the structural divisions of PJSC Lukoil,” the court’s press service reported.
They noted that he was charged under Part 5 of Art. 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Giving a bribe) and Part 3 of Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting commercial, tax or banking secrets). Stepanov headed the Department for Work with Customs Authorities of PJSC Lukoil.
Until the same date, the court placed under house arrest two senior employees of the Central Energy Customs of the Federal Customs Service and another person involved in the case of receiving a bribe.
“The city court chose a preventive measure in the form of house arrest against Alexey Mikhailovich Akimov, Sergei Vladimirovich Petrovich, and Andrey Vladimirovich Brekhov,” the press service added. All three are accused under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Receiving a bribe on an especially large scale) and Part 3 of Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting commercial, tax, or banking secrets).
Since the start of the war with Ukraine, four top managers of Lukoil have already died under mysterious circumstances.
Via The Moscow Times
Shor-ing up support: Russia fights with West for influence over Moldova
Against the backdrop of its war in Ukraine, Russia is attempting to compete with the West for influence in neighboring Moldova. Moscow’s main aim is to change the pro-Western government in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, via upcoming presidential elections in the fall. The Moscow-based Moldovan oligarch and politician Ilan Shor, who was convicted in absentia in Moldova for fraud and graft after nearly $1 billion disappeared from the country’s banking system, is expected to play the key role. His party was banned, but the Moldovan Constitutional Court ruled that its members could still participate in the elections. Shor and his team thus became Russia's privileged partners in Moldova. A politician close to Ilan Shor, the head of Gagauzia, Evghenia Guțul, even attended a one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin during a visit to Russia in March. Shor's task is to lower the rating of incumbent President Maia Sandu — not least by relying on Gagauzia's traditionally pro-Russian electorate.
Read Full Investigation at The Insider
Russia's Novatek may scale back Arctic LNG 2, focus on Murmansk
Russia's Novatek (NVTK.MM), opens new tab is being forced to scale back its huge Arctic LNG 2 project after Western sanctions curbed its access to ice-class tankers, and will focus instead on developing its project at the ice-free port of Murmansk, industry sources said.
Russia has been focusing on developing global sales of seaborne LNG to make up for a drop in pipeline gas exports to Europe, which have plummeted to post-Soviet lows amid a severe rift with the West over Ukraine.
Read More at Reuters
Trump Media saved in 2022 by Russian-American under criminal investigation
Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation.
The former US president stands to gain billions of dollars – his stake is currently valued at about $4bn – from the merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which took the parent company of Truth Social public.
But Trump Media almost did not make it to the merger after regulators opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and caused the company to burn through cash at an extraordinary rate as it waited to get the green light for its stock market debut.
Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.
The existence of the trust has previously been reported by the Guardian and the Washington Post. However, who controlled the account, how the trust was connected to Paxum Bank, and how the money had been funneled through the trust to Trump Media was unknown.
The new details about the trust are drawn from documents including: Paxum Bank records showing Postolnikov having access to the trust’s account, the papers that created the trust showing as its settlor a lawyer in St Petersburg, Russia, and three years of the trust’s financial transactions.
Postolnikov, the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, an ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has not been charged with a crime. In response to an email to Postolnikov seeking comment, a lawyer in Dominica representing Paxum Bank warned of legal action for reporting the contents of the leaked documents.
Read More at The Guardian
South Korea Detains Stateless Cargo Ship to Investigate Sanctions Breaches
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry confirmed media reports that it took the unusual step of detaining a cargo ship that was underway near the port of Yeosu, transiting the waters between Korea and Japan. The move comes as the Seoul government has taken increased unilateral steps against North Korea including sanctioning ships involved in the weapons trade with Russia and reportedly increasing monitoring of North Korea for sanctions violations.
The official statement said that the government was conducting an investigation based on cooperation with the United States into allegations of sanctions violations by the somewhat mysterious general cargo ship named De Yi.
According to a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, the vessel initially refused to stop when ordered to by the South Korean Coast Guard. They were later able to redirect the ship into the anchorage at Busan on March 30, but reports are that the crew continues to refuse to cooperate. So far, they have refused to open the ship’s cargo hatches for inspection.
Read More at Maritime Executive
