Russian Digest
Top stories I'm keeping an eye on!
The Belgorod governor said that seven self-defense battalions have been formed in the region, but they do not have weapons - due to Russian legislation
Seven battalions of territorial defense with a total strength of 3,000 people were deployed on the border with Ukraine in the Belgorod region after the penetration of a group of saboteurs on tanks, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
According to him, the formations had some training, but were not armed - they were provided only with "uniforms and equipment." At the same time, Gladkov called the defense units “combat-ready units,” since they have been training since November.
Now the authorities of the region are looking for ways to provide them with weapons. “In accordance with the current legislation, the issue has not been resolved yet. <...> But we are now looking for a legal basis to repulse the enemy professionally, and not amateurishly,” the governor said.
The State Duma urged "immediately" to distribute weapons to the residents of the border regions. According to the first deputy chairman of the security committee, Andrey Lugovoy, this will prevent incursions of saboteurs from Ukraine. “Everyone asks the question: where is our defence? Is she unarmed or not? Why not distribute weapons to people in the border areas? It is necessary to immediately issue small arms, grenades, hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, ” the deputy said.
(Note: Andrey Lugovoy an intelligence agent was the prime suspect in the 2006 polonium poisoning and murder of Aleksander Litvinenko.)
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner PMC, met with representatives of the territorial defense of the border regions. He also noted the need to arm such formations.
“There should be a normal structure: trenches, dugouts, strongholds. Inside them should be guys with machine guns - you. In addition to machine guns, there should be normal effective weapons: grenade launchers, if enemy equipment is driving. They should be manual for every first or every second. There should be SPG-9, AGS, heavy machine guns, 82 mm, and 120 mm mortars,” Prigozhin listed.
He also pointed out the need for general mobilization. “My opinion is that general mobilization is simply inevitable. Because it is impossible at the moment when people are needed, to snap a finger and get 100, 200, 300 thousand people. It is better to take them now, so that they study, study, study. <...> While the big bosses think that the war is about to end, we understand perfectly well that it will not end,” said Prigozhin.
On May 22, an armed group of saboteurs in armored vehicles entered the Belgorod region from the territory of Ukraine. One of the participants in the raid told Novaya Gazeta. Europe “that the attack was organized under the cover of a tank.” In order to break through the border, the saboteurs fired at the Grayvoron crossing point with 120 mm mortars. As a result, all the defenders fled, one of the Russian border guards died, and another was captured.
According to the VChK-OGPU telegram channel, there were conscripts at the checkpoint. Conscripts were also involved in cleaning up saboteurs - they were sent there by General Alexander Lapin, z-blogger Vladimir Romanov claimed.
Prigozhin says war in Ukraine has backfired, warns of Russian revolution
Fresh off his claim of victory in capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russian mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin warned that Moscow’s brutal war could plunge Russia into turmoil similar to the 1917 revolution unless its detached, wealthy elite become more directly committed to the conflict.
In a lengthy interview with Konstantin Dolgov, a political operative and pro-war blogger, Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the Wagner mercenary group, also asserted that the war had backfired spectacularly by failing to “demilitarize” Ukraine, one of President Vladimir Putin’s stated aims of the invasion. He also called for totalitarian policies.
“We are in a situation where we can simply lose Russia,” Prigozhin said, using an expletive to hammer his point. “We must introduce martial law. We unfortunately … must announce new waves of mobilization; we must put everyone who is capable to work on increasing the production of ammunition,” he said. “Russia needs to live like North Korea for a few years, so to say, close the borders … and work hard.”
Citing public anger at the lavish lifestyles of Russia’s rich and powerful, Prigozhin warned their homes could be stormed by people with “pitchforks.” He singled out Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was spotted vacationing in Dubai with her fiancé, Alexei Stolyarov, a fitness blogger.
Read More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/24/yevgeniy-prigozhin-war-backfired-revolution/
Head of Russian private army Wagner says more than 20,000 of his troops died in Bakhmut battle
The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he’s lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow’s widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.
Ukraine hasn’t said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhin’s comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.
Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.
Prigozhin — himself a former convict — has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven’t sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.
He’s highlighted his forces’ sacrifices, and on Saturday touted what he claimed was the capture of the city of Bakhmut.
In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, Prigozhin went even further in his criticism — questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rationale for the war. Prigozhin said Russia’s goal of “demilitarizing” Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv’s military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.
Read More:
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-border-raid-4f63ade7fb3899b6fa903b562ada0e2c
The authorities refused to hold the MAKS air show in 2023
The International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS, which was supposed to be held on July 25-30 in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, has been canceled, a source in the organizing committee told TASS.
“MAKS will not take place this year. Its holding is scheduled for 2024,” the source said. According to him, the decision on the transfer will be approved on May 25.
“Yes, MAKS-2023 will not take place, preparations for the flight program have already been canceled,” said another source close to the organizers.
Since the 1990s, the air show has been held every two years at the airfield of the Gromov Flight Research Institute. It was visited more than once by President Vladimir Putin who bought ice cream there.
MAKS was canceled for the first time in 30 years. From 1993 to 2021, 15 salons took place. The exhibition is organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Rostec State Corporation. The main goal is the "demonstration of Russian high technologies and the openness of the domestic market for joint projects with foreign partners." The event also hosted large-scale air shows for the general public with the participation of more than 120 aircraft and Russian and foreign aerobatic teams.
At MAKS 2023, they were going to present the first unmanned aerial vehicle of the BAS-200 helicopter type. The world premiere of an off-airfield unmanned transport aircraft was also announced.
Before the war in Ukraine, MAKS was the largest aviation exhibition in Eastern Europe and was one of the ten largest world aviation forums, including Le Bourget and Farnborough, ILA Berlin Air Show, Dubai Airshow, Singapore Airshow, Airshow China, and others.
After Putin's decision to invade Ukraine, the Russian aviation industry fell under Western sanctions, and the world's largest aircraft manufacturers - Boeing and Airbus - stopped cooperating with domestic airlines and demanded the return of leased aircraft. The authorities refused to do so. Most of the aircraft remained inside the country and only travel on local routes due to the threat of arrest.
Russia was not re-elected to the board of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As a result of the vote, she did not fall into any of the three groups of this governing body.
Because of the sanctions, Russia began to have problems with the production and maintenance of aircraft. The Association of Air Transport Operators warned that Russian airlines could lose their SSJ 100 aircraft if the authorities do not appoint a new "engine developer" of the aircraft, who will take responsibility for its "French" part.
In turn, air carriers began to cover up defects in equipment by prohibiting personnel from entering such information in the flight logs (TLB), as a result of which aircraft often fly out of order.
Exclusive: Russian hypersonic scientist accused of betraying secrets to China
The director of a top Russian science institute, arrested on suspicion of treason along with two other hypersonic missile technology experts, stands accused of betraying secrets to China, two people familiar with the case told Reuters.
Alexander Shiplyuk, head of Siberia's Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), is suspected of handing over classified material at a scientific conference in China in 2017, the sources said.
The 56-year-old maintains his innocence and insists the information in question wasn't classified and was freely available online, according to the people, whom Reuters has chosen not to identify to safeguard their security.
"He is convinced of the fact that the information was not secret, and of his own innocence," one of the people said.
The nature of the allegations against the ITAM director, who was arrested last August, has not been previously reported. The Chinese connection would make Shiplyuk the latest in a string of Russian scientists who have been arrested in recent years for allegedly betraying secrets to Beijing.
Read More:
The State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill prohibiting lawyers with access to state secrets from traveling abroad
The State Duma in the first reading adopted a bill on state secrets and the procedure for leaving Russia and entering the country. The documents are published on the website of the parliament database.
The bill, introduced by a group of deputies from the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, clarifies the powers of the president and government to determine the procedure for admitting officials to state secrets.
If the bill is passed, lawyers working on cases involving state secrets will be banned from traveling abroad.
Also, as follows from the document, Russians and their close relatives who have property and accounts in foreign banks abroad will be denied access to state secrets. In addition, the State Duma proposed to take away passports for safekeeping from those who have access to information marked “top secret” and “of special importance”.
At the same time, they want to allow citizens who are restricted in their right to leave due to access to state secrets to temporarily leave the country for humanitarian reasons (for example, in connection with the death of close relatives or the need for emergency treatment).
Changes are proposed to be made to the federal laws “On State Secrets” and “On the Procedure for Departure from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation”.
Japan To Provide 100 Military Vehicles To Ukraine
Japan held a ceremony on Wednesday marking its planned donation of about 100 military vehicles to Ukraine, as Tokyo seeks to provide equipment that can be of broader military use than its earlier shipments of helmets and hazmat suits.
In a ceremony at the Defense Ministry at which two half-ton trucks were on display, Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation.
“We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return,” Ino said. “We will provide as much support as we can.”
The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japan’s government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, in a major break from its post-World War II self-defense-only principle.
Read More:
https://apnews.com/article/japan-ukraine-military-vehicles-f9c38c363defa96b9e72fd64021fc2f3#
Norway Says It Will Help Train Ukrainian Pilots On F-16 Jets
Norway will support training programs for Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, Norwegian Defense Minister Bjoern Arild Gram said on May 24. U.S. President Joe Biden last week endorsed training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy assured Biden that the aircraft would not be used to go into Russian territory. "The government backs this initiative and is considering how Norway can contribute together with allies and partners," Gram said.
https://www.rferl.org/a/norway-train-ukrainian-pilots-f-16-jets/32426318.html
Chinese Malware Hits Systems on Guam. Is Taiwan the Real Target?
The code, which Microsoft said was installed by a Chinese government hacking group, set off alarms because Guam would be a centerpiece of any U.S. military response to a move against Taiwan.
Around the time that the F.B.I. was examining the equipment recovered from the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast in February, American intelligence agencies and Microsoft detected what they feared was a more worrisome intruder: mysterious computer code appearing in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the United States.
The code, which Microsoft said was installed by a Chinese government hacking group, raised alarms because Guam, with its Pacific ports and vast American air base, would be a centerpiece of any American military response to an invasion or blockade of Taiwan. The operation was conducted with great stealth, sometimes flowing through home routers and other common internet-connected consumer devices, to make the intrusion harder to track.
The code is called a “web shell,” in this case a malicious script that enables remote access to a server. Home routers are particularly vulnerable, especially older models that have not had updated software and protections.
Unlike the balloon that fascinated Americans as it performed pirouettes over sensitive nuclear sites, the computer code could not be shot down on live television. So instead, Microsoft on Wednesday published details of the code that would make it possible for corporate users, manufacturers and others to detect and remove it. In a coordinated release, the National Security Agency — along with other domestic agencies and counterparts in Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Canada — published a 24-page advisory that referred to Microsoft’s finding and offered broader warnings about a “recently discovered cluster of activity” from China.
Read More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/us/politics/china-guam-malware-cyber-microsoft.html
German police launch probe into possible poisoning of two Russian exiles
Berlin police are investigating the possible poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in the German capital, a spokesperson told CNN.
“A file has been opened based on the information available,” a Berlin police spokesperson told CNN. “We are aware that poisoning is a possibility, there are other potential causes too,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson declined to provide further information citing the ongoing investigation.
German newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” first reported on the police investigation, writing that the two Russians took part in a conference held by Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Berlin on April 29 and 30.
Berlin police did not name the Russian exiles.
The police probe comes after Russian exile Natalia Arno, president of activist group the Free Russia Foundation, spoke publicly this week about falling ill after a trip to Europe.
“I have a suspicion that during my recent trip to Europe, I was poisoned, probably by some nerve agent,” she wrote on Facebook.
Read More:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/21/europe/germany-suspected-russian-exile-poisoning-intl/index.html
The World’s Oil Map Is Being Redrawn by Rising Russian Flows to Asia
India and China take more cargoes from Moscow amid sanctions
‘Clearly Asian buyers are the winners here for cheap oil’
The global oil map is being redrawn as the long-run impact of Western sanctions channels more barrels from Russia to Asia’s largest economies, with China also taking crude from Iran and Venezuela.
China and India took more than 30% of their combined imports from the three states in April, according to data tracked by intelligence firm Kpler. That’s up from just 12% in February 2022, the month Russia invaded Ukraine.
OCCRP Investigation: Kazakhstan Has Become a Pathway for the Supply of Russia’s War Machine. Here’s How It Works
Western sanctions are meant to prevent Russia from supplying its military from abroad, but sensitive electronics are still getting through. Reporters traced several of these supply chains through Kazakhstan — and found that they run through companies newly established by Russians.
Key Findings
Trade statistics show large increases of drone and microelectronics imports to Kazakhstan since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Kazakhstan’s exports of drones and microelectronics to Russia have also grown enormously.
Kazakh companies registered by Russians after the war are being used as intermediaries for these imports.
One company called Aspan Arba, meaning “Sky Chariot,” imported drones and sent them to a Russian company called “Sky Mechanics,” which sold them to pro-war organizations. The two companies have the same owner.
A German company owned by a Russian couple sent microchips to a Kazakh company, established shortly after the invasion, owned by their son. It then sent the chips to Russia.
Norway: Russian spying prompts rethink of port access (Video)
With sanctions shutting Russian ships out of all EU and many other European harbors, the sea access to mainland Europe provided by three Norwegian ports is crucial for Russia. But those privileges are now in question after a documentary cast doubt on what the Russian vessels are fishing for.
https://www.dw.com/en/norway-russian-spying-prompts-rethink-of-port-access/video-65718655
Another death of a Russian official. This time on a flight from Cuba to Russia
Pyotr Kurchenko is the latest prominent figure to have died under mysterious circumstances while returning from a business trip from Havana. The senior Russian lawmaker, reportedly critical of the invasion of Ukraine, died over the weekend, on a flight from Cuba to Russia, on board a plane with the Ru…
Happy to see Japan start to step up.