Russian Digest
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Kyiv is under attack. Air defense systems are working…
Several explosions in Kyiv as Russia launches air strikes overnight, 3 injured
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko reported that a missile's debris fell on the zoo's territory in Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Emergency services are on their way, Klitschko said.
Later, he added that a building was damaged due to the debris, and several cars caught fire in the Solomianskyi district. According to preliminary information, three people were injured.
Kyiv City Military Administration head Serhii Popko said debris of missiles also fell in the Obolonskyi and Darnytskyi districts of Kyiv. According to Klitschko, two cars were damaged in the Darnytskyi district.
There is no information about casualties and damages, he added.
Air raid alert is still on in all Ukrainian regions due to the threat of missile attacks.
The Kremlin has banned high-ranking officials from resigning during the war. Dissenters threatened with prosecution
High-ranking officials were forbidden to leave their positions during the war. Four sources told Important Stories about this: a former FSB officer, a political strategist working with the governor of one of the Russian regions, and two acquaintances of high-ranking officials of the presidential administration (AP).
“I am aware of at least two cases when governors tried to leave their posts, but in the UVP (the internal policy department of the AP. - Approx. Ed.) They were not just banned, but hinted at criminal cases,” says a former FSB officer. An acquaintance of the official from the Presidential Administration also heard about this ban: “There are many who want to [leave] after the start of the war. If everyone leaves, control will be lost.” In the Presidential Administration, the desire to leave the post is regarded as a betrayal, so the task of “demonstrating unity” was set before civil servants.
Previously, several FSB officers complained to "Important Stories" that because of the mobilization announced by Putin, they could not quit. According to a presidential decree, servicemen under contract (the majority of FSB employees also belong to them) cannot quit even after the end of the contract. However, the fact that the ban also applies to civil servants was not previously known.
Interlocutors of Important Stories emphasize that the ban on dismissal is informal and illegal, so there may be exceptions to it. For example, for health reasons or for corruption reasons: “Many are ready to pay well for the opportunity to quietly, unnoticed now,” explains the source of Important Stories.
Russia detains former US embassy employee - report
A former employee of the US Embassy in Russia has been detained in a Moscow detention center for "conspiracy", according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
Robert Shonov was arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service and "remanded into preventive custody," the outlet reported on Monday.
It said he faces up to eight years in prison.
The BBC has reached out to the US Embassy in Russia for comment.
The embassy told Reuters it was aware of the reports but had "nothing further to share at this time".
Mr. Shonov was detained in the port city of Vladivostok and, after questioning, he was charged with "collaboration on a confidential basis with a foreign state or international or foreign organization", according to the TASS report.
Officials have asked to detain Mr. Shonov for three months. No court date has been set, the news agency said.
Mr. Shonov is being held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison, a former KGB prison.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65605920
Mysterious tremors were recorded near the site of the Nord Stream explosion
Near the Danish island of Bornholm, not far from the place where the Nord Stream gas pipeline was blown up last year, anomalous tremors were recorded last weekend. Local authorities cannot explain their origin, writes Bloomberg.
The incident occurred on May 13 and greatly agitated the inhabitants of the island. At first, seismologists suggested that the shocks were the result of an earthquake or a controlled explosion in neighboring Poland, but later rejected these versions, following a statement by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland GEUS.
The tremors were likely caused by "acoustic pressure waves from one or more events somewhere in the atmosphere," GEUS said in a statement. However, researchers cannot explain what caused the underground impact.
Over the weekend, the inhabitants of the island heard deaf roars, windows rattled in their houses and there was pressure in their ears. Concerned islanders contacted the authorities. The force of the tremors was 2.3 on the Richter scale, which corresponds to a minor earthquake, writes Bloomberg.
The investigation into the explosions on two strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines that occurred on September 26, 2022, is still ongoing. The damaged sections lie in the exclusive economic zones of Sweden and Denmark. The incidents are being investigated by the law enforcement agencies of the two Scandinavian countries and Germany. All of them came to the conclusion that it was a sabotage, however, who is behind it is still unknown.
In March, several Western media reported at once that a “pro-Ukrainian group” could have been involved in the pipeline explosions. In Kyiv, they said that they had nothing to do with the incident and did not have information on this matter. The Kremlin considered the articles to be stuffed and an attempt to divert attention from the real organizers of the sabotage.
In addition, the publication Information reported that 4 days before the explosions, a Russian special vessel SS-750 with a mini-submarine on board was located near the gas pipelines.
U.S.-Made Technology Is Flowing to Russian Airlines, Despite Sanctions
Russian customs data shows that millions of dollars of aircraft parts made by Boeing, Airbus and others were sent to Russia last year.
Last August, Oleg Patsulya, a Russian citizen living near Miami, emailed a Russian airline that had been cut off from Western technology and materials with a tempting offer.
He could help circumvent the global sanctions imposed on Rossiya Airlines after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by shuffling the aircraft parts and electronics that it so desperately needed through a network of companies based in Florida, Turkey and Russia.
“In light of the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation, we have been successfully solving challenges at hand,” Mr. Patsulya wrote, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday with the U.S. District Court in Arizona.
Mr. Patsulya and his business partner were arrested Thursday on charges of violating U.S. export controls and international money laundering in a case that illustrates the global networks that are trying to help Russia bypass the most expansive technological controls in history.
The Russian nationals taken into custody on Thursday began setting up their scheme last May to send aircraft parts from the United States to Russia in violation of export regulations, according to the criminal complaint.
The men are accused of fielding requests for parts, including expensive brake systems for a Boeing 737, from at least three Russian airlines, including two that had been strictly barred from purchasing U.S.-made products through a so-called temporary denial order issued by the Commerce Department. F.B.I. agents raided a condo owned by the men’s company in the Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., on Thursday.
Read More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/business/economy/russia-airlines-sanctions-ukraine.html
Russia aims to obtain more attack drones from Iran after depleting stockpile, White House says
The White House on Monday said Russia is looking to buy additional advanced attack drones from Iran for use in its war against Ukraine after using up most of the 400 drones it had previously purchased from Tehran.
The Biden administration last year publicized satellite imagery and intelligence findings that it said indicated Iran sold hundreds of attack drones to Russia. And for months, officials have said the United States believed Iran was considering selling hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia, but Washington did not have evidence a deal was consummated.
“Iran also continues to provide Russia with one-way attack UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Since August, Iran has provided Russia with more than 400 UAVs primarily of the Shahed variety,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Read More:
https://apnews.com/article/russia-iran-military-cooperation-d982dd3faf78fbb17dfc8b9c1cb9dae7
State channels hid from the Russians the fall of planes and helicopters in the Bryansk region
The crash of two military planes and two helicopters in the Bryansk region on Saturday, the largest loss of aircraft in a single day since the start of the war, came under military censorship in the state-controlled media.
Federal TV channels ignored the incident near the border with Ukraine, which resulted in the death of all crew. The crash of the aircraft was not included in any of the 19 news releases shown over the past two days by Channel One, Rossiya-1, and NTV, Layout notes.
On Channel One there were seven news programs and the final "Sunday Time", on "Russia 1" - six news releases and the final "Vesti Nedeli", and on NTV - six regular news programs and two final ones ("Central Television" and "Results of the Week.")
All of the channels focused on the elections in Turkey, Ukraine's strikes in Luhansk, and the death of the founder of the TV-6 channel, Eduard Sagalaev. Dmitry Kiselyov, Director General of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA, included in the US and EU sanctions lists, spoke in Vesti Nedeli about how the Ukrainian economy fell after Russian missile and bomb attacks. Other TV channels filled the Sunday broadcast with news about the scallop festival in Primorye and weather anomalies in Asia.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also did not comment on the incident, which resulted in the loss of two Mi-8 helicopters, a Su-34 fighter bomber, and a Su-35 fighter.
The speaker of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, claimed the day before that the Russian air defense forces had attacked Russian aircraft, but later retracted his words and said that he was joking.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner PMC, also hinted at the “miss” of his own air defense. He referred to the fact that the combat vehicles fell "exactly in a circle," the diameter of which is about 20 km, and the center is located in the Bryansk region. “Go online and see what kind of air defense weapon could be in the center of this circle,” Prigozhin urged.
According to Kommersant, Russian aviation could have been ambushed, and it was hit by air-to-air missiles. According to another version, at least one of the helicopters that crashed near Klintsy could have been shot down by a rocket from the ground. After his fall in the Bryansk region, the "Interception" plan was put into effect, but the police failed to find the alleged saboteurs.
According to preliminary data, the fighters of the air group were supposed to launch a missile and bomb attack on the Chernihiv region in Ukraine, and the helicopters were supposed to support them.
Putin signs decree on simplified citizenship for those going to war
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that allows foreign citizens who signed contracts for military service in the Russian Armed Forces during the period of the so-called "special military operation" to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified way.
Source: Russian Internet portal of legal information
Details: The document amends the decree on the simplified admission of foreign citizens and stateless persons who sign contracts for military service to Russian citizenship.
The contract must be concluded for a period of 1 year.
Spouses, children, and parents of those foreign citizens who agree to serve in the Russian army can also apply for simplified acquisition of citizenship.
The decree was signed on 15 May and it took effect immediately.
Ukrainian security agency says it suspects tycoon Firtash of embezzlement
Ukraine's state security agency has served businessman Dmytro Firtash and top managers of companies he controls with "notices of suspicion" of embezzlement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Monday.
The SBU said that acting with the Economic Security Bureau (BEB), it had uncovered the alleged theft of up to $485 million between 2016 and 2022 as part of a "large-scale scheme" involving Ukraine's gas transit system.
"Effectively we are talking about the embezzlement of money from ordinary Ukrainians who paid their utility bills," the statement said.
A statement issued by Firtash's company, Group DF, "firmly and categorically" rejected all the allegations as without legal foundation and "part of an ongoing campaign of corrupt pressure directed at its business operations."
Read More:
France Calls on the EU to Designate Wagner as a Terrorist Group
The French Parliament unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday urging the European Union to classify Russia's mercenary group Wagner as a terrorist organization.
Wagner has been involved in various conflicts across Africa and has fought alongside the Russian army in Ukraine and Syria.
The resolution detailed multiple allegations of human rights abuses attributed to the private army. These include its alleged participation in the murder and torture of civilians in Ukraine's Bucha, as well as indiscriminate killings of civilians in the Central African Republic and Mali.
According to the resolution, Wagner has been a destabilizing force in many African nations, taking advantage of political unrest and orchestrating predatory actions against civilian populations.
Read More:
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/17618-france-calls-on-the-eu-to-designate-wagner-as-a-terrorist-group
Pentagon confirms 31 Abrams tanks delivery to Germany, training of Ukrainian troops to begin soon
The U.S. has delivered 31 Abrams tanks to Grafenwoehr, in Germany, where training of Ukrainian forces will begin in the next few weeks, Pentagon spokesperson General Patrick Ryder said during a press briefing on May 15.
“As we’ve discussed previously, this extensive training program for Ukrainian crews and maintainers is intended to prepare them for their critical roles ahead in effectively operating the M1 tank and defending Ukrainian people,” he said.
In late January, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he would be sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, in response to a call from U.S. lawmakers to provide Kyiv with the tanks. The purpose of this was alleged to pressure Germany into authorizing the delivery of their own Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Later, the Pentagon said that the U.S. would supply Ukraine with 31 M1-A1 Abrams tanks instead of the newer M1-A2 version it had pledged before.
According to AP, around 250 Ukrainian soldiers will be trained on how to maintain and use the tanks.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that by the time Ukrainian forces complete a roughly 10-week training, the Abrams tanks currently being built for Ukraine will be ready.
The tanks that will be sent to Ukraine are being modified to its military specifications and are expected to arrive in Ukraine by early fall, a U.S. official told the AP on the condition of anonymity.