Russian Digest
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Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia, leaked U.S. document says
President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi in February planned to produce 40,000 rockets for Russia and instructed officials to keep production and shipment secret ‘to avoid problems with the West’
President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi of Egypt, one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East and a major recipient of U.S. aid, recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, according to a leaked U.S. intelligence document.
A portion of a top secret document, dated Feb. 17, summarizes purported conversations between Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials and also references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder. In the document, Sisi instructs the officials to keep the production and shipment of the rockets secret “to avoid problems with the West.”
The Washington Post obtained the document from a trove of images of classified files posted in February and March on Discord, a chat app popular with gamers. The document has not been previously reported.
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The State Duma will legalize electronic subpoenas to the army. And it will forbid “deviators” to leave Russia and take loans
On April 11, State Duma deputies will consider amendments that legalize summonses to the military registration and enlistment office in electronic form. This, according to RBC, was announced by the head of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov,
“[All subpoenas] will have exactly the same legal force. It doesn’t matter how you received this summons,” Kartapolov said.
According to him, the Defense Committee proposes to keep traditional paper summonses and notifications through the employer, as well as to introduce notification by registered mail and their duplication in electronic form through the State Services or at the MFC.
The amendments to the bill include "interim measures" for those who are not on the agenda, including the electronic one, Kartapolov said. “So, if a person does not receive a summons or pretends that he does not receive it, then he will be obliged to voluntarily appear at the military commissariat within two weeks during the next call. If he does not do this, then he will receive a notification, digitally signed by the military commissar, that travel restrictions are being introduced and other restrictive measures will follow,” the deputy said.
According to him, if the conscript does not appear again, then, according to the amendments, after 20 days he will be banned from driving, concluding real estate transactions, registering individual entrepreneurs, and taking loans.
Kartapolov also said that the military registration and enlistment offices will have a unified register of persons liable for military service, which will minimize calls to the military registration and enlistment office to clarify military registration data, RIA Novosti writes.
Last week, on April 6, the State Duma voted to reconsider in the second reading a bill that allows summons to be sent by registered mail, as well as obliging conscripts to appear at the military registration and enlistment office without a summons. The document was adopted in the second reading on February 22, 2022, on the eve of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The third reading was planned to be held in March 2022 but was postponed.
In March, the General Staff of the Russian Federation announced that the military registration and enlistment offices were tasked with notifying citizens “in electronic form” during the draft campaign. On the same day, Gosuslug users noticed that it was no longer possible to delete an account on the site. The Russian Ministry of Digital Development reported that the account can be deleted at the MFC - and the deletion will not be considered evasion from military service.
Military registration and enlistment offices in the Tula and Rostov regions, as well as in Moscow, said they would not send electronic summonses to conscripts. At the same time, for example, in the Vladimir region, the authorities announced that they would completely abandon paper summonses.
Against this background, Deputy Head of the State Duma Defense Committee Yuri Shvytkin said that an electronic notification from the military registration and enlistment offices would be equated to handing the summons in person, which, as noted by senators Viktor Bondarev, Andrey Klishas, and State Duma deputy Andrei Kartapolov, does not comply with applicable laws.
The State Duma proposed to unblock Twitter after removing restrictions on pro-Kremlin accounts
The authorities should consider removing the blocking from Twitter due to the fact that the social network has returned access to the accounts of Russian government officials and departments, said Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy.
“The American platform Twitter has changed leadership, and now we see them heading for neutrality: they unblocked the accounts of our government departments. This is a very important signal. <…> We can start a dialogue. We have a regulator, Roskomnadzor, who can today discuss sore points with Twitter, and if they find common ground, then why not?” the deputy said.
According to Gorelkin, the social network "can again become a convenient platform" for domestic government agencies, so that they can "explain Russia's position to Western audiences."
The MP also approved Twitter's decision to tag Western media that are funded by the state. Previously, only the accounts of the Russian and Chinese press were marked in this way.
Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Safe Internet League, agreed with Gorelkin. In her opinion, "Russia can start work on reviewing the decision" to block the site. “Twitter policy regarding the distribution of prohibited content has changed. In addition, censorship of Russian official accounts has been removed (which causes resentment in the US). The platform demonstrates new approaches to work after the purchase by Elon Musk,” Mizulina said.
She also drew attention to the fact that Twitter is one of the most popular platforms and "an extremely popular communication tool" around the world. “I believe that this is an important resource for working with a Western audience and conveying our, Russian position. Which we do not use to its full potential. I plan to open an account there in the near future,” Mizulina added.
Roskomnadzor said that there were no grounds for removing the block from Twitter, since "the service did not remove 1,300 prohibited materials."
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation also opposed the unblocking of Twitter. According to State Duma deputy Alexander Yushchenko, the American social network, owned by Elon Musk, "is conducting an absolutely hostile policy" towards Russia. “As for the audience <…> on Twitter, it is quite rabid and mostly pro-Ukrainian. Therefore, I do not see an urgent need [to unblock],” Yushchenko told RTVI.
He believes the authorities should consider unblocking Instagram instead, as there are still a "quite large number" of Russian users, including small businesses, there.
After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Twitter said that accounts affiliated with the Russian authorities would not be recommended in search, on the home page, or in other parts of the social network. However, these restrictions have now been lifted. Users can see in the recommendations the accounts of the presidential administration, the Foreign Ministry, and other Russian government agencies.
Last week, it became known that Twitter removed restrictions from the accounts of Russian state propaganda - Russia Today publications began to appear in the recommendations. The social network introduced restrictions against the publication back in 2020.
Moreover, a study of the source code of Twitter, which Musk recently published, showed that the social network underestimates the rating of publications about the war in Ukraine. This means that they are less likely to come across in the feed.
Roskomnadzor blocked Twitter in March 2022 "for spreading illegal information."
U.S. Deems WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich ‘Wrongfully Detained’ by Russia
The State Department on Monday designated Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested by Russian security services last month, as ”wrongfully detained,” launching a broad U.S. government effort to exert pressure on Russia to free him.
Mr. Gershkovich is held on an accusation of espionage that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. His case now shifts to a State Department section known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which is focused on negotiating for the release of hostages and other Americans classified as wrongfully detained in foreign countries.
“Journalism is not a crime,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement. “We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Gershkovich.”
The department also called on Russia to release another American, Paul Whelan, whom it has also declared wrongfully detained. He was sentenced to serve 16 years in a Russian penal colony and remains incarcerated. His family says the charges are bogus.
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You don’t scare us: Slovakia shrugs off Kremlin energy retaliation for arming Ukraine
Slovakia will continue to support Ukraine “regardless” of the risk of the Kremlin cutting energy exports in retaliation for Bratislava sending fighter jets to Ukraine, a senior government official told POLITICO.
“We have supported Ukraine in the past and we plan to support it also in the future regardless of this risk that exists,” said Peter Gerhardt, Slovakia’s state secretary for energy.
But with his country among the most dependent in the EU on Russian crude, gas, and nuclear fuel, he admitted it “would be a problem” if Moscow decided to immediately slash oil supplies in particular.
"We are aware of this risk of course,” he said, noting that Slovakia has already seen cyberattacks on government institutions, but added that “we have to deal with it.” Bratislava’s “support of Ukraine is a matter of principle,” said Gerhardt, speaking in Brussels late last month.
The nation of 5 million last month allowed four Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to fly to Ukraine, as part of a pledge to donate the 13 in its armory — making it the first country to send warplanes to Kyiv. Poland has also pledged to send its MiG-29s to Ukraine.
A furious Kremlin has vowed to destroy all donated jets.
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https://www.politico.eu/article/slovakia-russia-energy-fossil-fuel-retaliation-war-ukraine-jets/
The microfinance company of Putin's ex-wife increased profits by one and a half times during the year of the war
The microfinance organization CarMoney, until recently owned by the ex-wife of President Vladimir Putin, Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, increased its net profit by 140 million rubles in 2022. About this writes the publication "We can explain."
In total, last year CarMoney earned 391.3 million rubles - 66.7% more than a year before the start of the war. At the same time, the microfinance organization paid 58 million rubles from the profit to Ocheretnaya.
The company was founded back in 2010, but before Ocheretnaya became its owner, the organization almost did not develop. Since 2017, CarMoney has been taken over by the Cypriot offshore Carmoney CY LTD, which, according to We Can Explain, is controlled by Meridian. She, in turn, is owned by the ex-wife of the Russian president, Ocheretnaya owns 99% of the company.
However, at the end of 2022, Cypriot offshore formally ceased to be the owner of the microfinance organization. Its new owner was Smarttechgroup LLC. Thus, the company was able to avoid Western sanctions, under which Lyudmila Ocheretnaya herself partially fell.
However, Putin's ex-wife could retain control over the microfinance organization, the newspaper notes. So, the CEO of the new owner of CarMoney, Anton Zinoviev, is a partner of Ocheretnaya in the Easy Smartphone Rental business. The IFC office is located in a building owned by Ocheretnaya and her husband Artur Ocheretny.
A company linked to Putin's ex-wife has increased its profits amid a boom in microcredit among Russians. At the end of 2022, microfinance companies increased the number of clients by 3.1 million people. In general, as of the beginning of 2023, the number of Russians with microcredit reached a record 17.1 million people or 23% of the working-age population. As a result, according to the Central Bank, IFC increased profits by almost 40%.
Russia’s new guided bombs pose increasingly serious threat to Ukraine
Still unable to achieve air supremacy, Russia is nevertheless finding ways to threaten Ukraine from the sky.
Early this year, Russia introduced guided bombs — essentially, the regular gravity bombs modified to be dropped by multirole fighter-bombers from safe distances and deal precise and very damaging strikes in front-line areas and beyond.
Along with the specifically designed sophisticated smart munitions, Russia has been using the modified version of simple 500-kilogram air bombs that it has in vast numbers.
It poses an especially serious threat to Ukraine. By turning simple bombs into guided ones, Russia is unfolding a tactical weapon that is much cheaper, more massive, and more effective than cruise and ballistic missiles, the stockpile of which is largely depleted now. And it can at least partially substitute the lack of air support for its troops on the ground in Ukraine.
The use of Russian-guided bombs already has a perceptible effect along the front line, particularly on the Ukrainian defenses of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast.
The Ukrainian Air Force calls this a dangerous situation. Russian-guided bombs are launched from beyond the effective ranges of Ukrainian air defenses, and as of now, Ukraine has little to no instruments to counter them.
The Ukrainian air force again insists it must be provided with Western fighter jets operating modern longer-range air-to-air missiles — so that Ukrainian aircraft could push Russian carriers farther away from front lines beyond the effective range of their guided bombs and thus neutralize the threat.
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https://kyivindependent.com/russias-smart-bombs-pose-increasingly-serious-threat-to-ukraine/
A Fake Bank Was Shut Down in Spain. Now a New One Has Popped Up in the U.K.
In 2017, Spanish authorities cracked down on over two dozen shell companies, masquerading as a bank in Madrid, that were allegedly laundering money for criminal clients. Since then, figures linked to that operation, which used the name “Bandenia,” have gone on to open hundreds of new companies in the U.K. and other jurisdictions — even one that pretends to be a thriving British bank.
Key Findings
The “Bandenia” operation busted in Spain in 2017 allowed drug traffickers and alleged fraudsters to launder money through major financial institutions using 27 shell companies.
Reporters found hundreds of other companies registered around the world that can be linked to people who were involved in this Spanish money-laundering operation.
A Spanish investigator who worked on the case raised the question of whether they might represent the same Spanish operation, reconstituted in a larger form.
One company set up by a figure involved in the Spanish operation even calls itself Bandenia Challenger Bank — but still nabbed an invitation to address a U.K. parliamentary working group last year.
Bandenia Challenger Bank is not a bank at all, but a U.K. shell company using a fake license from the tropical island of Mwali.
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