March 5, 2024: Russian Digest
Top stories I'm keeping an eye on!
March 5, 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
US State Department to impose new sanctions on Wagner, Russian air force
The U.S. State Department will impose new sanctions on Russian organizations and individuals who engage in arms trade with North Korea and Iran, according to a draft of the announcement released on March 5.
The Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSA) authorizes the U.S. to sanction foreign entities who engage in proliferation activities with those countries.
The document lists sanctions against the Wagner Group, Russian citizen Pavel Shevelin, Russian manufacturer LLC Eltekhnord, the Russian Aerospace Forces, and the North Korean citizen Rim Yong Hyok. The sanctions also extend to any sub-unit, successor, or subsidiary of the above entities.
The restrictions went into effect on Feb. 27, and the official sanctions notice will be published March 6.
Since last fall, North Korea has reportedly provided Russia with extensive weapons supplies, including artillery shells and ballistic missiles. Western and Ukrainian officials have confirmed their use in Ukraine.
Russian troops have so far launched over 20 North Korean missiles at Ukraine, killing at least 24 civilians and injuring over 100, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on Feb. 22.
Read More at Kyiv Independent
Ukraine says it has sunk a Russian patrol ship near Crimea
Ukrainian sea drones hit and sank a Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship off occupied Crimea in an overnight attack, the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday.
Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency said a special unit called Group 13 had fired Magura V5 maritime drones at the Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.
It said on the Telegram messaging app that the vessel had sustained damage to the stern, starboard and port sides, at an estimated cost of $65 million.
Read More at Reuters
ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash and Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov
The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for the commander of Russian long-range aviation, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash and the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov for crimes committed in Ukraine
Read More at ICC
The State Duma proposed checking for espionage and expelling all Western ambassadors
State Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet proposed checking the EU ambassadors in Moscow for espionage after they refused to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, RIA Novosti reports.
“The position of the European ambassadors is unthinkable and offensive. This is real rudeness,” said the deputy representing annexed Crimea in the State Duma. “Apparently, they have something to hide and are ashamed to look our Foreign Minister in the eye.” I believe that we should definitely organize a check of Western ambassadors for espionage, provocative activities, and interference in the internal affairs of Russia.”
Sheremet added that Russia “provided Western ambassadors with all the conditions for work and living, and they respond to her with disrespect and arrogance.” “If Western ambassadors continue to disrespect Russia, then I am sure that the question of declaring them persona non grata and expelling them from our country needs to be raised. Today, I don’t see the point of their stay in Russia if they refuse to meet with government officials,” the deputy added.
The day before, ambassadors of EU states refused to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The head of the department said that he called diplomats a week and a half ago to warn them about the inadmissibility of “provocations” before the presidential elections, which will be held from March 15 to 17. Lavrov accused the ambassadors of “engaging in illegal activities,” which he included “support for the non-systemic opposition.”
The EU Permanent Mission responded by pointing out the “extremely low level of trust” in the Foreign Ministry and Lavrov in the context of their past public assurances that Russia would not send troops into Ukraine. “We were invited to discuss relations between the EU and Russia, but now Minister Lavrov says that it was about lecturing us. This proves that we were right in rejecting the invitation,” the permanent mission added.
After this, Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that EU ambassadors should be “expelled from Russia” and the level of diplomatic relations with their countries should be lowered.
Via Moscow Times
Russia using Serbian agent to infiltrate EU bodies, Western intel says
In October 2023, a Serbian national working with Russia’s security agency met with Members of the European Parliament.
Russian intelligence is using a Serbian agent to infiltrate EU institutions and to spread pro-Kremlin talking points about its invasion of Ukraine, according to a Western intelligence briefing seen by POLITICO.
As recently as October 2023, Serbian national Novica Antić — an active “agent of influence” who knowingly worked closely with Russia’s security agency, according to the documents — held meetings with European officials in Brussels and in particular, Members of the European Parliament.
Those MEPs included German Greens lawmaker Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Italian Socialists & Democrats lawmaker Alessandra Moretti, and Vladimír Bilčík, a Slovakian member of the conservative European People’s Party Group, according to a press release and a photo seen by POLITICO. There is nothing in the intelligence briefing to suggest that Moretti, Bilčík and von Cramon-Taubadel were aware of Antic’s FSB links when they met with him.
Read More at Politico
Ukraine war briefing: Macron says don’t be ‘cowards’ as he digs in over ground troops remark
Emmanuel Macron has urged Ukraine’s allies not to be “cowards” in supporting its fight against the Russian invasion. He “fully stood behind” remarks made last week not ruling out the deployment of western troops. “We are surely approaching a moment for Europe in which it will be necessary not to be cowards,” the French president said on a visit to the Czech Republic.
Read More at The Guardian
Top State Department official Victoria Nuland to retire in coming weeks
Top State Department official Victoria Nuland will retire in the coming weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.
Nuland departs her role as undersecretary of state for political affairs – where she played a key role in the US response to the war in Ukraine – as funding for Kyiv continues to stall in Congress and Russia advances on the battlefield.
The current US Ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, is expected to be nominated to replace Nuland, according to a source familiar. In the meantime, Undersecretary of State for Management John Bass has been asked to serve as acting undersecretary, Blinken said.
Nuland had for months serves as acting deputy secretary of state following Wendy Sherman’s retirement last July. She was not nominated to fill that role. It instead went to senior national security council official Kurt Campbell, who was sworn-in in mid-February.
Read More at CNN
Pro-Kremlin U.S. Filmmaker Pitched Fawning Films to Dictators — Starring Oliver Stone
Igor Lopatonok, who promoted pro-Russian narratives about Ukraine and produced Oliver Stone’s lengthy interview with Kazakh strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev, had many other projects in store.
Key Findings
Lopatonok’s team wrote pitches for hagiographic films about Alexander Lukashenko, Ilham Aliyev, and other authoritarian leaders.
His treatments made clear the films would be laudatory, with little risk their subjects would be challenged by discussion of human rights or democracy.
Oliver Stone was pitched as the star interviewer on two of these films. His level of knowledge or involvement in them is unclear. None of the films has been made.
Leaked emails suggest that Ukrainian oligarch and politician Viktor Medvedchuk, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, may have bankrolled one of Lopatonok’s other, completed films about Ukraine.
Read More at OCCRP
German defense minister: Officer in Singapore using insecure line led to Taurus conversation leak
An "individual error" resulted in a call between high-ranking German military officers being leaked after one officer joined the meeting from abroad via an insecure line, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at a press conference on March 5.
An audio recording of a conversation between German Air Force officers about the delivery of Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian troops was published on March 1 by Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Kremlin-controlled TV channel RT, on March 1.
The call was held via Webex videoconferencing software, hosted on German army servers, but "not all participants adhered to the secure dial-in procedure as required," Pistorius said.
In principle, the systems used by the German military are secure, but one participant dialed in from Singapore using an insecure line, according to Pistorius.
Pistorius said that the person in question was in Singapore for an aviation industry trade fair, which was targeted by Russian secret services. They carried out "comprehensive wiretapping operations."
Read More at Kyiv Independent
No Quiet on the Russian Front: Estonian officials treat Ukraine's struggle as their own
Since February 24, 2022, no country has donated a larger share of its GDP to the Ukrainian war effort than Estonia has. Given the tiny Baltic state’s Soviet-era experience of life under Moscow’s domination, that level of generosity is not difficult to understand. The Insider recently traveled with two high-level Estonian officials on a tour of the front in Ukraine. The experience underscored just how deeply Russia’s other neighbors understand that the failure to properly arm Ukraine is already placing the European Union’s security in jeopardy.
Read More at The Insider