Russian Digest
Top stories I'm keeping an eye on!
Leak suspect shared classified secrets with foreigners, prosecutors say
The Justice Department, in a court filing ahead of Jack Teixeira’s next detention hearing, also says it found red flags in his Air Force record
The Air National Guard member accused in a high-profile classified leaks case appears to have shared sensitive secrets with foreign nationals and had raised concern among his co-workers in the months before he was charged with mishandling and disseminating national security information, prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday.
Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested in April after FBI agents traced back to him a collection of classified material posted in an online chat group. Authorities say Teixeira, who worked as an IT professional at a military base in Massachusetts’s Cape Cod, misused his top secret clearance to share U.S. intelligence assessments and other sensitive information with others on Discord, a social media platform popular with video game players.
He is scheduled to appear in court Friday where U.S. magistrate judge David Hennessy plans to rule on whether Teixeira should remain behind bars while awaiting trial. In their Wednesday court filing, prosecutors offered new evidence, “which compounds the national security and public safety risks that the government previously noted to the Court,” and shows, they said, that he should not be released.
One of the groups where he shared information had upward of 150 users, officials said, and among the members “are a number of individuals who represented that they resided in other countries” and whose accounts trace back to foreign internet addresses.
Read More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/17/leak-suspect-jack-teixeira/
Developers of Putin's hypersonic missiles arrested for treason
The wave of high treason cases that swept Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine has reached the largest scientific center of the domestic defense industry.
Three scientists from the Novosibirsk Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), involved in the creation of hypersonic aircraft, were arrested in turn by the security forces under an article, the maximum punishment for which this year became life imprisonment.
On Tuesday, May 16, ITAM employees published an open letter in which they announced the arrest on suspicion of treason Valery Zvegintsev, Doctor of Technical Sciences and chief researcher, who founded the high-velocity aerogasdynamics laboratory at the institute.
Since April 7, Zvegintsev has been under house arrest. Its immediate supervisor, the director of ITAM, Alexander Shiplyuk, was placed in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in August last year, a few days after the arrest of chief researcher Anatoly Maslov. Both were charged under the same article - 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Treason". According to Academ.info, Maslov was suspected of transferring data related to hypersonic technologies to China.
Shiplyuk and Maslov have been working on hypersonic missiles for over 10 years. They presented the experimental design of such weapons back in 2012 at a scientific seminar in France, Reuters notes. Four years later, a work jointly authored by two scientists appeared on aerodynamic research at hypersonic speeds.
Shiplyuk in recent years has also been involved in the protective coating of hypersonic missiles - his work, cited online, is devoted to this topic, wrote The Telegraph.
In total, in the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is known for its strong potential in the field of physics and mathematics, 16 people were prosecuted, including the former head, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Aseev. One of the scientists, 54-year-old Dmitry Kolker, head of the laboratory of quantum optical technologies at Novosibirsk State University, died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center shortly after being arrested by the FSB.
President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of hypersonic weapons in Russia on March 1, 2018, during his address to the Federal Assembly. In an animated presentation demonstrating launches across the United States, Putin showed deputies, senators, and officials the Zirkon anti-ship missile and the Avangard intercontinental ballistic missile with a glide block. The latter, according to Putin, travels at speeds above Mach 20 and melts in flight, "like a popsicle."
In addition, Putin presented the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, which, according to the president, "is guaranteed to overcome" not only existing but also promising air defense and missile defense systems.
On May 4, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that it had shot down the Kinzhal with the help of American Patriot air defense systems developed back in the 1970s, which Kyiv received from Germany and the Netherlands. Later, information about the interception of the missile was officially confirmed by the Pentagon.
The Kremlin has not commented on the detention of hypersonic scientists on suspicion of treason, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on Wednesday.
“Russian special services are working, they are performing their functions, this is a very serious accusation,” he said, adding that only a court can find a person guilty.
Estonian parliament calls for 'concrete steps' on Ukraine's NATO accession at Vilnius summit
The Estonian parliament adopted a statement in support of Ukraine's NATO accession on May 17.
The statement urges NATO allies to invite Ukraine to join the alliance and formulate "concrete and unequivocal steps" needed to speed up the accession process at the July NATO summit.
"Ukraine's victory over Russia waging a war of aggression and Ukraine's subsequent accession to NATO is the only way to ensure a rules-based world order, lasting peace, and the security of European democratic countries," the parliament wrote.
The Polish Senate previously adopted a similar resolution. The senators backed Ukraine's accelerated NATO accession following the example of Sweden and Finland.
Ukraine applied for a fast-track NATO accession on Sept. 30 after Moscow claimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions. However, until Russia's war against Ukraine ends, the country's prospects of NATO membership seem to remain low.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized in an interview on May 15 that Ukraine's victory against Russia would be the starting point to move forward with NATO membership.
The upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius this July will likely include a multi-year program concerning how the military alliance can help Ukraine "transition from Soviet-era standards, doctrines, and equipment," which will also help in its accession process, according to Stoltenberg.
NATO will not issue a formal invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance at the summit, according to official sources interviewed by the Washington Post.
The Latest Rift Among Ukraine’s Allies Is Whether to Send F-16s
The United States is resisting a European push for the powerful fighters. But will it relent, as it did before with tanks, rocket launchers and air defense missiles?
A fresh push by Britain and the Netherlands to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter planes has exposed the latest fault line among Western allies who have wrangled repeatedly over sending powerful weapons of war, once again pitting a reluctant United States against some of its closest European partners.
Several European allies are prepared to give their F-16s to Ukraine. But the Biden administration, which must approve any transfers of the American-made planes, remains unconvinced that Ukraine needs the expensive jets, which are a staple of many modern military arsenals.
So deep is Washington’s skepticism that Kyiv’s pilots are currently not even allowed to train on the F-16s that are owned by European states, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity to frankly discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue.
American reluctance to allow training would severely limit a proposed new European coalition to help Ukraine obtain and fly F-16s — whether in the current conflict or to protect against any future aggressions by Moscow after the West turns its focus from the 15-month war.
“What’s really important here is to signal to Russia that we as nations have no philosophical or principled objection to supplying Ukraine capabilities that it needs, depending on what is going on in the battlefield,” the British defense minister, Ben Wallace, said on Wednesday in Berlin. He added: “This is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology.”
Read More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/world/europe/ukraine-f-16-biden-netherlands-britain.html
Revealed: Vladimir Putin's secret Black Sea bunker
You would think that the architects who designed Vladimir Putin's palace thought of everything.
After all, the 190,000-square-foot, billion-dollar complex, perched on a rugged bluff overlooking the Black Sea, has every luxury that an autocrat could possibly desire. As revealed by Alexei Navalny's investigation, the palace has its own church, wine cellar, and casino. It has a hookah lounge complete with a stripper pole, an arboretum, and an ice rink for the hockey games Putin likes to play with cronies. But good luck ordering takeout — security is tight. Putin's imperial dacha is sealed off from the country he rules by 17,000 acres of woodland and a special no-fly zone.
The precautions are more than paranoia on Putin's part. Earlier this month, Russian authorities claimed that two drones had attempted to assassinate Putin in a failed strike that ended in an explosion above the Kremlin.
But, despite all these princely luxuries and castle-like defenses, the palace's builders appear to have neglected one crucial detail. They failed to hide plans showing two elaborate tunnels running beneath the palace complex — plans that any competent state-security apparatus would fight tooth-and-nail to keep secret.
In fact, they were posted publicly to the Russian internet. Metro Style, a now-defunct Russian contractor, posted the diagrams to their website to showcase their work in the early 2010s. They were viewable online as late as 2016.
Today, Insider is publishing annotated versions of the diagrams with English-language translations, which can be viewed below.
Read More:
The Russian Federation will provide Iran with a EUR 1.3 billion loan for the construction of the railway
Russia will allocate an intergovernmental loan of 1.3 billion euros for the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section in Iran.
This was stated by the Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Alexander Novak, Kommersant writes.
The total cost of the project is estimated at 1.6 billion euros.
The agreement on the construction of the railway was signed on May 17 with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi.
According to Novak, the Russian share in interstate credit is 85%. The loan is repayable during the payback period of this project, he added.
Novak said that the volume of freight traffic by railway should be at least 15 million tons per year.
The Resht-Astar railway section is part of the international transport corridor "North-South" - a route that allows the Russian Federation to gain access to Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf for trade with the countries of the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, the publication writes.
The section of the railway that was being completed was planned to be put into operation by 2025.
https://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2023/05/17/700236/
The State Duma legalized the forced deportation of Ukrainians from the lands occupied by Russia
State Duma deputies allowed the forcible movement of people from territories where martial law has been introduced, as well as detaining citizens for up to 30 days for violating the bans established by decrees of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The relevant amendments to the law "On martial law" were adopted by parliamentarians in the second and main reading, RBC reports. The amendments themselves became known on the eve of the vote, on May 16.
“Forced and controlled movement” of people will be carried out where martial law has not been introduced, said one of the authors of the amendments, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrei Klishas.
“These amendments are aimed at ensuring the safety, protection of the life and health of citizens,” as well as at “the exercise of their voting rights,” the authors of the amendments argued.
At the moment, martial law has been introduced in four annexed regions of Ukraine: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions.
The "martial law" in its current form prohibits being on the street and in public places at certain times. If necessary, it allows the authorities to check documents, inspect citizens and personal belongings, homes, and vehicles, and in case of violation of prohibitions and restrictions, detain people for up to 30 days, but only on the grounds listed in the law.
Also, during martial law in the region, referendums and elections to state authorities and local self-government cannot be held. However, in the proposed amendments, this restriction can be removed if such a decision is made by the CEC after consultations with the Ministry of Defense and the FSB. This was done for local “elections,” which the Russian authorities are going to hold in September this year.
Earlier, Putin signed a decree providing for the deportation of Ukrainian citizens from the annexed territories of Ukraine if they are considered a “security threat.” According to the document, residents of these regions must obtain a Russian passport before July 1, 2024. If they refuse, they can be deported.
US officials say damage to Patriot missile defense system was minimal following Russian attack near Kyiv
The damage to a Patriot air defense system following a Russian missile attack near Kyiv on Tuesday morning is minimal, three US officials tell CNN, with one official describing it as “minor” damage.
The US sent inspectors to examine the system on Tuesday after being told by Ukrainian forces that the system appeared to have been damaged, one official said.
The system itself is still operational, the officials said, and the radar component of the Patriot, one of its most important elements, was not damaged. US officials do not believe the Patriot will need to be removed from the battlefield for repairs.
A complete Patriot battery has six major components: generators, a radar set, a control station, antennas, a launcher station and interceptor missiles. The components operate together to fire a Patriot missile and successfully guide it to its target.
Two components of the system were damaged, according to a US official familiar with the matter, but the system “was never offline” and remained functional throughout the attack, they said.
It’s not clear if it was damaged by an actual missile strike or falling debris. The Ukrainians said they successfully intercepted all six Russian Kinzhal missiles on Tuesday morning.
Read More:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/16/politics/patriot-missile-damage-ukraine/index.html
Founder and President of European Defense Conglomerate Charged with Helping the Russian Military Evade U.S. Sanctions and Export Controls
Defendant Allegedly Conspired to Obtain Sensitive Technologies Used in Quantum Computing and Nuclear Testing to Further Russia’s Defense Research and Development Efforts
A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Dr. Nikolaos “Nikos” Bogonikolos with wire fraud conspiracy and smuggling. Bogonikolos, a Greek national, was arrested in Paris, France on May 9, 2023 and remains in custody pending the resolution of extradition proceedings.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), Jonathan Carson, Special Agent-in-Charge, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office announced the charges.
“As alleged, while ostensibly operating as a defense contractor for NATO and other ally countries, the defendant and his Aratos Group were double dealing, helping to fuel Russia’s war effort and their development of next generation weapons,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “Our Office continues to work tirelessly to ensure that disruptive technologies do not fall into the wrong hands.”
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Sweden scrambles to project military strength ahead of NATO bid
Sweden seeks to reassure allies it can contribute to NATO as well as benefit from membership.
Inside the landing craft, the banter among the eight Swedish navy conscripts faded, replaced by a tense silence as they approached the Baltic Sea island of Korsö.
To the sound of spent blank machine gun rounds rattling off the boat’s roof, the young soldiers charged through a narrow hatch onto the rocky shore shouting “forward” as instructors watched.
The drill, in which they tried to seize the island from colleagues role-playing an occupying force, marked the end of the largest military training exercise held in Sweden since the end of the Cold War, testing Swedish forces and 14 allies across the mountains, flatlands and archipelagos of the Nordic nation.
Stockholm was signaling to both allies and foes: the Swedish military is back.
After decades of cuts, Sweden’s military is recruiting soldiers, opening bases and sourcing modern hardware as the region’s relationship with Russia freezes amid the Ukraine invasion.
Read More:
https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-scrambles-project-military-strength-nato-bid/
The French Senate recognized the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people
The French Senate - the upper house of parliament - recognized the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people. This is reported on their website.
327 senators voted in favor of the decision, and 16 opposed.
“Publicizing the atrocities and suffering that the Ukrainian people endured is part of the struggle against oblivion, for establishing accountability and legal compensation, and against the repetition of these tragedies in the future,” the resolution says.
In its resolution, the French parliament acknowledged that the famine, deportations, and methodical extermination of the local population of the 1930s in Ukraine were artificially caused and were aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity.
Earlier, the resolution was supported by the lower house of the French Parliament - the National Assembly.
In mid-December last year, a similar decision was made by the European Parliament.
“European Parliamentarians strongly condemn these actions, which killed millions of Ukrainians, and call on all countries and organizations that have not yet done so to follow this example and recognize them as genocide,” the European Parliament website says.
At the end of November, Germany also recognized the Holodomor as genocide. The Bundestag resolution says it constitutes a "crime against humanity". Similar decisions were made in 2022 by the parliaments of Iceland, Belgium, Romania, Moldova, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria.
Washington should assume that we will be providing F-16s sooner or later (on the assumption that Ukraine will be joining NATO) so what is the timetable to provide them? After the war?
I’m struggling to think of a reason for holding back the F-16s. We provide them to authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia. They are far from the cutting edge of technology. They could be invaluable to Ukraine. The idea that they are not needed is preposterous. All I can think is that they don’t like the idea of F-16s shooting down Russian planes and providing ground support against Russian military formations, but I like that idea very much.