February 12, 2024: Russian Digest

Russia uses Zircon hypersonic missile in Ukraine for first time, researchers say

A preliminary analysis concluded that Russia hit Kyiv last week with the hypersonic Zircon missile, its first use in the nearly two-year-old war, the head of a Kyiv research institute said on Monday, presenting a new challenge to Ukraine's air defences.

Oleksandr Ruvin, director of the Kyiv Scientific-Research Institute for Forensic Examinations, said on his Telegram channel that his institute completed a preliminary analysis of missile fragments from a Russian attack on Feb. 7.

He included a video of alleged missile wreckage showing specific markings. "In this case, we see elements that are characteristic of the 3M22 Zircon missile. Parts and fragments of the engine and steering mechanisms have specific markings," he wrote.

Read More at Reuters

France uncovers a vast Russian disinformation campaign in Europe

“Portal Kombat” also targets Germany and Poland

Russia has been at the forefront of internet disinformation techniques at least since 2014, when it pioneered the use of bot farms to spread fake news about its invasion of Crimea. According to French authorities, the Kremlin is at it again. On February 12th Viginum, the French foreign-disinformation watchdog, announced it had detected preparations for a large disinformation campaign in France, Germany, Poland and other European countries, tied in part to the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the elections to the European Parliament in June.

Viginum said it had uncovered a Russian network of 193 websites which it codenames “Portal Kombat”. Most of these sites, such as topnews.uz.ua, were created years ago and many were left dormant. Over 50 of them, such as news-odessa.ru and pravda-en.com, have been created since 2022. Current traffic to these sites, which exist in various languages including French, German, Polish and English, is low. But French authorities think they are ready to be activated aggressively as part of what one official calls a “massive” wave of Russian disinformation.

Read More at The Economist

Trump’s NATO threat denounced across Europe

European leaders reacted with disbelief to former U.S. President Donald Trump's comments on Saturday that he would "encourage" Russia to attack any NATO member that didn’t pay enough for defense.

"Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines our security," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Norwegian TV channel TV2 on Sunday.
"I expect the U.S. to remain a strong and devoted ally of NATO, whoever wins the presidential election," he said.

Read More at Politico

My latest for CEPA…

Trump’s Dangerous Rhetoric: A Gift to Putin

Amidst Russia’s escalating threats to NATO allies, the recent statements by Donald Trump have yet again raised profound questions about the future of transatlantic security should he win in November.
Trump told the rally: “One of the presidents of a big [European] country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ ‘No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.”

Read More at CEPA

Russia is using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite devices in Ukraine, sources say

Russian forces appear to be using SpaceX’s Starlink communications service inside Ukraine, suggesting that a company celebrated for helping the defenders is now also aiding the invaders.

Ukrainian troops first detected Russia’s frontline use of the satellite-connected devices several months ago, according to one Ukrainian source. A second Ukrainian source confirmed the use of Starlink, and added that its usage appeared to be increasing. Both sources were granted anonymity to discuss topics that they were not authorized to discuss.

Right now, Russian forces appear to be using tens of Starlink terminals across the long front, the first Ukrainian source said.

“When they have hundreds, it’ll be hard for us to live,” the first Ukrainian source said.

Russia’s use of Starlink compounds the problems faced by the Ukrainian military, which is already severely short of munitions. Ukrainian artillery units, for example, are firing around 2,000 shells per day, barely a fifth as many as their Russian counterparts.

Read More at Defense One

EU agrees on new measures to isolate frozen Russian funds

The European Council agreed on Feb. 12 to a set of new measures targeting profits from frozen assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank, possibly paving the way for the revenue to be eventually redirected to Ukraine.

Western countries immobilized around $300 billion of the Russian Central Bank's assets at the start of the full-scale invasion. Since then, Washington, Brussels, and Kyiv have discussed legal ways of channeling these funds to aid Ukraine's reconstruction efforts but have yet to come to a definitive conclusion.

Group of Seven (G7) nations have pledged that Russian assets held in their jurisdictions would remain frozen until Moscow pays war reparations to Ukraine.

The EU proposed a plan on Dec. 12 to seize about 15 billion euros ($16.2 billion) in projected profits generated by frozen assets of Russia's Central Bank and transfer them to Ukraine.

The European Commission estimated the plan would generate about 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) annually, or 15 billion from 2023-2027.

The plan would most directly impact Euroclear, a Belgium-based financial services company that holds about 191 billion euros ($205 billion) in Russian assets.

The European Council said on Feb. 12 that central securities depositaries (CSDs) holding more than 1 million euros ($1.07 million) in assets from the Russian Central Bank must separate any profits generated from the primary accounts.

Revenue must be isolated and monitored, and cannot be disposed of.

The decision is the next step in potentially enabling part of the frozen Russian assets to be ultimately redirected to help pay for Ukraine's reconstruction, the European Council said.

The funds may be channeled through the EU budget in the future.

Via Kyiv Independent

Accused Russian spy worked for U.K. intelligence, met with prime ministers and princes

In a semi-secret courtroom in an overheated basement, a three-judge tribunal this week heard testimony about an alleged Russian spy who may have burrowed deep into Britain’s top intelligence agencies, gaining access to secret documents and meeting with prime ministers and British royalty when they traveled to Afghanistan.

The British security services allege that the man, who may only be identified as “C2” and whose name is redacted in publicly available court documents, probably served as spy for Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as GRU. He arrived in the United Kingdom in 2000 as an Afghan refugee claiming asylum.

C2, who held multiple roles in the British government, is not charged criminally but is in court seeking to restore his British citizenship, which was revoked in 2019. A muscular-looking middle-aged man with a trim beard, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, he did not speak with the handful of reporters who attended the sessions.

Read More at the Washington Post

7 Russian spies experts in sabotage and assassinations traveled to Barcelona in the critical phase of the 'procés'

An investigation by El Confidencial and 'El Periódico' reconstructs a dozen trips to Catalonia, between 2014 and 2019, of members of the fearsome Unit 29155 of the Moscow military intelligence service (GRU)

At least seven agents of the Main Directorate of the High General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU) of Russia, Moscow's military intelligence service, traveled to Barcelona between 2014 and 2019, the most critical years of the independence challenge. The presence in Catalonia of these spies has been confirmed after a joint journalistic investigation by El Confidencial and El Periódico.

Via El Confidencial