Russian Digest
Top stories I'm keeping an eye on!
Pentagon Leaks: Far-right leaker?
Leaker of U.S. secret documents worked on military base, friend says
The man behind a massive leak of U.S. government secrets that has exposed spying on allies, revealed the grim prospects for Ukraine’s war with Russia and ignited diplomatic fires for the White House is a young, charismatic gun enthusiast who shared highly classified documents with a group of far-flung acquaintances searching for companionship amid the isolation of the pandemic.
United by their mutual love of guns, military gear and God, the group of roughly two dozen — mostly men and boys — formed an invitation-only clubhouse in 2020 on Discord, an online platform popular with gamers. But they paid little attention last year when the man some call “OG” posted a message laden with strange acronyms and jargon. The words were unfamiliar, and few people read the long note, one of the members explained. But he revered OG, the elder leader of their tiny tribe, who claimed to know secrets that the government withheld from ordinary people.
The young member read OG’s message closely, and the hundreds more that he said followed on a regular basis for months. They were, he recalled, what appeared to be near-verbatim transcripts of classified intelligence documents that OG indicated he had brought home from his job on a “military base,” which the member declined to identify. OG claimed he spent at least some of his day inside a secure facility that prohibited cellphones and other electronic devices, which could be used to document the secret information housed on government computer networks or spooling out from printers. He annotated some of the hand-typed documents, the member said, translating arcane intel-speak for the uninitiated, such as explaining that “NOFORN” meant the information in the document was so sensitive it must not be shared with foreign nationals.
In a video seen by The Post, the man who the member said is OG stands at a shooting range, wearing safety glasses and ear coverings and holding a large rifle. He yells a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera, then fires several rounds at a target.
Read More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/12/discord-leaked-documents/
“They cut their heads off!” Another video of decapitated Ukrainian soldiers surfaces online
A new video featuring Ukrainian soldiers who have been decapitated has emerged on the internet. Pro-Russian Telegram channels began to circulate the video on April 8th.
It is believed that the video was captured by members of the Wagner PMC near Bakhmut. The video depicts a damaged armored vehicle, likely an M113 armored personnel carrier, as well as two decapitated bodies of Ukrainian soldiers.
The voice of the man filming the video has been altered, apparently to make it difficult to identify him. “Careful, he was f*cked up by a mine,” he warns his companion. “F*ck, no one has even come close yet... Oh, no, they did come close and cut their heads off!” the man with the camera goes on to say and laughs.
He then says that the Ukrainian soldiers had been “stripped of their clothes and shoes.” “Ah, there's another one! There were three of them here,” the Russian finally says.
Previously, there were reports of a video surfacing on the internet where Russian soldiers decapitated a Ukrainian soldier who was still alive and lying on the ground. Then, one of the individuals involved in the war crime suggested putting the soldier's severed head in a bag and “sending it to the commander.”
On April 9th, a photo of a skull impaled on a stick was posted on the MILITARY Z VKontakte page. The caption claimed that the picture was taken in Bakhmut and displayed the remains of an AFU fighter.
According to the Ukrainian volunteer OSINT organization InformNapalm, they have been documenting instances of decapitation of Ukrainians, including civilians, by Russian fighters since 2014. The organization's post suggests that these actions are not intended solely to intimidate the Ukrainian army and society but rather to create “blood ties” among the perpetrators. This is done with the intention that if a mercenary defects or commits treason, these videos can be leaked online.
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Twitter in connection with the publication of these videos that “there will be a retaliation to everything, everyone will be held accountable”.
The SBU has launched an investigation into these heinous war crimes. The head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, has vowed to bring those responsible to justice, stating: “We will find these monsters. If necessary, we will pursue them no matter where they will be, whether it's under the ground or in the afterlife. They will undoubtedly be held accountable for their actions.”
https://theins.ru/en/news/260897
Russian companies began to hide the currency
Tens of billions of dollars of foreign exchange earnings that Russian companies receive from the export of raw materials settle in the "gray zone" of offshore accounts, not reaching the Russian banking system.
According to the results of the first quarter, the largest Russian exporters sold $29.4 billion on the Moscow Exchange, which is 40% less than in October-December, according to the data of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Compared to the second and third quarters of last year, when exporters sold about $20 billion every month, the inflow of foreign currency into the Russian market has collapsed by half.
And although this was partly the result of a drop in exports, this is not the only factor - the question is also what share of the currency exporters are willing to sell, Viktor Tunev, the ex-chief analyst at Ingosstrakh Investments, points out.
In February, according to his calculations, sales of the 29 largest companies accounted for 31% of the economy's export earnings, in February - only 23%, and in January - 31%, and in 2022 - 39%.
At the same time, last year the largest exporters, including almost all oil and gas companies, sold currencies for 133% of the budget's oil and gas revenues, while before the war it was 200%.
In other words, “they have been selling foreign currency in the last six months only to pay taxes and dividends,” Tunev concludes and asks: “Where is the rest?”
Even the Central Bank of the Russian Federation cannot answer this question unambiguously. Part of the revenue of Russian companies really settles in foreign accounts, admitted, speaking at the State Duma on Wednesday, the head of the central bank Elvira Nabiullina
But to break down the outflow of capital into components, according to her, the regulator cannot. “When companies keep money on deposits in foreign banks, they can buy imports, this may include advance payments for imports. Now you know that the partners demanded large advances, a larger prepayment, why this amount has increased, and maybe really withdrawn capital that is not going to be returned, ”Nabiullina said.
Approximately $90 billion of the resource windfalls generated by the economy last year ended up in the EU's banking system, Bret Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, calculated based on statistics from the Bank of Russia and the ECB. The peak of the accumulation of Russian money in Europe fell in the first months of the war - almost $ 80 billion was the inflow to the banks of the eurozone from the Russian Federation in January-June. In the third quarter, this amount increased by about $10 billion.
https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2023/04/12/rossiiskie-kompanii-nachali-pryatat-valyutu-a39901
Putin Approved Arrest of US Reporter on Spying Charges
Putin personally approved the arrest of a US reporter on espionage charges for the first time since the Cold War, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Russian president’s endorsement of the move reflects the growing influence of Kremlin hardliners who push for deepening a confrontation with Washington they view as irreversible, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that aren’t public.
The detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on March 29 triggered angry denunciations from the US and its allies, marking yet another low in US-Russian ties, which have spiraled since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
“This should be a real wake-up call, not just to the US, but the broader West,” said Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. “It’s signaling that in Putin’s mindset that there’s no going back to a stable and reliable relationship.”
Read More:
La Repubblica: the son of the Krasnoyarsk governor Artem Uss was helped to escape to Russia by a task force of 6-7 people. Some of them are already installed
Italian investigators have identified 4-5 people who helped the son of Krasnoyarsk Governor Artem Uss to escape from house arrest in Milan, reports La Repubblica.
According to the publication, a task force, in which there were at least ten people, participated in the escape of Uss. Investigators believe that there were 6-7 participants in the operation.
According to investigators, these people helped Uss get from Milan to the Italian city of Trieste in a few hours, changing several cars along the way. There, Uss crossed the border of Slovenia on forged documents, after which he went to Serbia, from where he probably flew to Russia.
La Repubblica also notes that the Italian authorities are investigating the possible involvement of Russian intelligence services in the escape of Uss. According to investigators, it was the special services that organized and directed the entire operation.
Artem Uss was detained in October 2022 at the request of Washington at the Milan airport. In the United States, he is accused of violating sanctions and money laundering. In March, an Italian court allowed Uss to be extradited to the United States, and the next day, the son of the Krasnoyarsk governor escaped from house arrest. In early April, it became known that Uss had returned to Russia, where he was arrested in absentia in a money laundering case. Later, Uss's lawyer said that the court changed his client's preventive measure to a written undertaking not to leave.
Dossier Center translation: French connection
What does the fund associated with the daughter of the press secretary of the President of Russia do?
The daughter of the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, Elizaveta, decided to respond to the accusations of French and Russian journalists of nepotism and said that a high-profile surname is not a privilege, but a heavy burden. She also complained about living in Paris for 700 euros a month and spoke about the success of her Foundation for the Development of Russian-French Historical Initiatives. Not as much is known about his work as about Peskova herself. The Dossier Center tells what this organization does and how another business of the daughter of Putin's press secretary gets multimillion-dollar government contracts.
The French TV channel LCI dedicated a 16-minute story to Peskova and other children of the Russian elite. It said that the daughter of Putin's press secretary had lived in Paris for a long time in a luxury apartment in the prestigious 16th arrondissement and that after the outbreak of the war, she continued to visit France.
Read More:
US sanctions Hungary-based bank with Russian ties
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a Hungary-based bank linked to Russia, marking a new low point in Hungary’s relationship with Washington.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced the penalties, which will target the International Investment Bank (IIB), a controversial institution located in Budapest with ties to the Russian state. The bank’s presence in Hungary has drawn the ire of Western officials, who fear it could be used for Russian intelligence operations inside Europe.
Speaking to reporters in Budapest on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman said Washington had repeatedly shared information with Hungarian counterparts about how Russia could use the bank to expand its influence — to no avail.
Read More:
https://www.politico.eu/article/us-treasury-sanction-hungary-based-international-investment-bank/
Fresh U.S. Sanctions Target Network of Oligarch Alisher Usmanov
The U.S. Treasury Department has announced the sanctioning of a further 29 companies and 25 individuals linked to the Russian government over the invasion of Ukraine, including the country's Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
Other entities targeted in the latest round of sanctions include Russian telecoms provider Megafon, steel giant Metalloinvest, and Rusatom Overseas, a subsidiary of Russia's nuclear power agency Rosatom responsible for the construction of nuclear facilities abroad.
However, the main target of the new sanctions package appeared to be the network of Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, whose holdings in metals, mining, technology, and telecommunications have made him one of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs, with an estimated net worth of $19.5 billion.
While Usmanov, who is believed to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has himself been subject to sanctions for over a year, the U.S. Treasury said that he still had at his disposal "a wide network of businesses in financial safe havens and family members through which to conduct financial transactions, enabling him to potentially circumvent sanctions."
Read More:
Analysis shows Russian and Chinese-backed efforts to sow division after Trump indictment
A week after the arraignment of Donald Trump, we’re learning new details about a covert effort by Russian and Chinese-backed actors aimed at sowing division among the American electorate and increasing distrust in institutions. Laura Barrón-López discussed the findings with Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center And Zach Schwitzky of the data science firm Limbik.
Read More:
PBS Joins NPR in Quitting Twitter Over State-Backed Label
The Public Broadcasting Service has followed National Public Radio in quitting Twitter after the social media network labeled both organizations as government-backed media.
“PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change and we have no plans to resume at this time,” PBS spokesman Jason Phelps said in an email. “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
Read More:
I assume you saw the live beheading video.. I had to stop the video playback after 10 seconds, it was extremely disturbing... Russians make ISIS look like nice guys ....