January 29, 2024: Russian Digest

Top UN court to rule on Russia's objections to Ukraine genocide case

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' top court, will rule on Russia's preliminary objections to Ukraine's lawsuit over false genocide allegations on Feb. 2, the court announced Jan. 29.

Ukraine brought a case before the ICJ in February 2022, arguing that Russia violated international law when it used false claims about acts of genocide against Russian speakers in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to justify its full-scale invasion.

Kyiv "emphatically denies" that any acts of genocide have taken place, and aims "to establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing any purported genocide."

Russia submitted objections to Ukraine's suit during hearings in September, arguing that the Hague-based court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the case.

The ICJ will rule on those objections on Feb. 2. If the court agrees that the suit can advance, it may take months before hearings resume on the merits of the case itself.

Ukraine has argued that Russia's false allegations of genocide violate the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Over 30 countries have joined Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia, the largest number to join another nation's suit in the court's history.

Since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the parliaments of eight countries, including Ukraine, have recognized acts committed by Russian invading forces as genocide.

Putin and Lukashenko agreed to unite state propaganda

The Presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on the creation of the Union State media holding. According to RIA Novosti, the decision was made at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of Russia and Belarus, held in St. Petersburg.

The creation of a Union State between Russia and Belarus was agreed upon in December 1999, and 28 union programs were approved in November 2021. At the same time, Lukashenko expressed the idea of creating a media holding of the Union State. He proposed not to “spread the money allocated for state propaganda across existing newspapers, magazines, telegram channels” and other media, but to “gather it into a fist” within the framework of a single media holding.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russian authorities have been investing record amounts of money in propaganda, while simultaneously losing audiences. According to the data presented in the draft budget law for the next three years, in 2023 the cost of maintaining state media amounted to 122.1 billion rubles. This exceeds the budgets of several medium-sized Russian regions. In 2024, expenses will amount to 121.3 billion rubles.

According to VTsIOM, the share of Russians who do not watch television increased from 13% in 2018 to 31% in 2023. At the same time, the number of people who prefer traditional media and do not use the Internet decreased from 23% to 16%.

Read via Moscow Times: https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2024/01/29/serebryannie-rudniki-sibiri-i-dalnego-vostoka-peredali-pod-kontrol-omanskogo-sultana-a119856

Brazilian authorities have brought a new charge against a GRU officer who tried to get a job at the International Criminal Court in The Hague

Brazilian authorities have brought a new charge against GRU officer Sergei Cherkasov, who is already serving a five-year sentence in a Brazilian prison for falsifying documents. According to the Agency, he was accused of money laundering.

A similar charge was brought against Ivan Chetverikov, an employee of the Russian embassy in Brazil, who managed to leave the country last year. According to investigators, Cherkasov once a month withdrew funds from a bank in Rio de Janeiro that Chetverikov contributed. Law enforcement authorities considered this money laundering. At first, Cherkasov denied knowing Chetverikov, but then admitted that they communicated, but rejected the charge of money laundering.

As the Agency notes, due to the new charge, Cherkasov, who has already spent 20 months in prison, will not be able to apply for early release. It was assumed that after his release he would be sent to one of the countries that are seeking his extradition. In the United States, Cherkasov is suspected of espionage, and Russia is demanding his extradition in a drug trafficking case.

Sergei Cherkasov was detained in the Netherlands in 2022 and deported to Brazil, which put him on the wanted list. The Russian had been living in Brazil since 2010 using a fake Brazilian passport in the name of Victor Muller Ferreira; he later lived in Ireland and the United States and also signed up for an internship at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he tried to study how war crimes were investigated in Syria and Ukraine.

Trying to smuggle Cherkasov to Russia, Russian law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case against him for heroin smuggling and demanded his extradition from Brazil. At the same time, the Russian side denied that Cherkasov served in intelligence. The Insider and Bellingcat published a joint investigation that explains why the case brought against Cherkasov in Russia is false, and why he is really an employee of the GRU.

Via The Insider: https://theins.ru/news/268724

Another Russian Agent Exposed…

Exclusive Via The Insider: Latvian Member of European Parliament is an agent of Russian intelligence, leaked emails confirm

Tatjana Zdanoka MEP has spent decades openly advocating for Moscow from both Riga and Strasbourg. The Insider can today reveal that Zdanoka was working on behalf of the FSB’s Fifth Service, reporting to two different handlers from at least 2004 to 2017.

Tatjana Zdanoka, a Latvian member of the European Parliament, has been a trusted asset of Russian intelligence since at least 2005, The Insider, in collaboration with the news site Delfi Estonia, Latvia’s Re:Baltica investigative journalism center, and Sweden’s Expressen newspaper, can disclose. Leaked emails between Zdanoka and her two known Russian case officers include explicit, detailed reports from Zdanoka to her handlers describing her work as a European legislator, particularly as those official duties relate to fostering pro-Kremlin sentiment in her native Baltic region. Other correspondence involves arranging physical meetings in Moscow or Brussels between Zdanoka and her Russian handler, along with requests for funding from Russian sources to underwrite her political activities in Latvia and the European Parliament. At least once she requested money for organizing a rally to commemorate the Red Army’s victory in World War II.

Read Full Investigation: https://theins.ru/en/politics/268694

NATO Secretary General in Washington: aid to Ukraine is "an investment in our own security"

On Monday (29 January 2024) the Secretary General met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. In public remarks ahead of a bilateral meeting, Mr Stoltenberg underlined that Allied support is helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s brutal aggression, and that aid to Ukraine is not charity but an investment in our own security. He therefore welcomed both Secretary Austin and President Biden’s leadership in ensuring that US support continues.

Looking forward to the Washington Summit later this year, the Secretary General noted that Allies are set to take further steps to strengthen NATO, including with more defence spending, where he underlined that European Allies and Canada are stepping up and have invested 450 billion extra US dollars for defence.

While in Washington DC Mr Stoltenberg is also meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, Democratic Leader of the House Hakeem Jeffries, Republican Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell, as well as other Democratic and Republican Representatives and Senators. On 31 January, the Secretary General will deliver a speech at the Heritage Foundation.

As part of his visit to the US, the Secretary General will travel to Troy, Alabama to visit the Missiles and Fire Control Facility of Lockheed Martin. He will conclude his trip by visiting the headquarters of the US Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida.

Via NATO: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_222205.htm

Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid

The EU will sabotage Hungary’s economy if Budapest blocks fresh aid to Ukraine at a summit this week, under a confidential plan drawn up by Brussels that marks a significant escalation in the battle between the EU and its most pro-Russian member state.

In a document drawn up by EU officials and seen by the Financial Times, Brussels has outlined a strategy to explicitly target Hungary’s economic weaknesses, imperil its currency and drive a collapse in investor confidence in a bid to hurt “jobs and growth” if Budapest refuses to lift its veto against the aid to Kyiv. Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s premier, has vowed to block the use of the EU budget to provide €50bn in financial aid to Ukraine at an emergency summit of leaders on Thursday. If he does not back down, other EU leaders should publicly vow to permanently shut off all EU funding to Budapest with the intention of spooking the markets, precipitating a run on the country’s forint currency and a surge in the cost of its borrowing, Brussels stated in the document. “This is Europe telling Viktor Orbán ‘enough is enough; it’s time to get in line. You may have a pistol, but we have the bazooka’,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director at Eurasia Group, a consultancy.

Suwayda 24: Russia Recruiting Syrians to Send to Ukraine

“Happy guys.” Before they were sent to the hell of war in Ukraine, a group of Syrians obtained Russian citizenship, after volunteering with the Russian forces. Appeals spread asking to return them to Syria because the conditions were not as they expected or as they had been led to believe. Suwayda 24 sources confirm the continuation of flights from Syria to Russia, as a flight scheduled to leave today includes about 40 Syrians. Suwayda 24 obtained nominal lists for them after the Russian authorities approved them. Suwayda 24 had revealed, in numerous reports during the current and last months, recruitment operations for Syrians with the aim of sending them to Russia. The network also broadcast a video clip of the moment a group of Syrians and Egyptians received their military uniforms, in one of the recruitment offices of the Russian army.

Via Twitter/X: https://x.com/suwayda24/status/1751658394564370451?s=20

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Kadyrov's associates could become the "shadow owners" of Russian McDonald's

People close to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, could take part in the purchase of the McDonald’s restaurant chain in Russia. State Duma deputy and Kadyrov’s closest associate Adam Delimkhanov showed interest in buying out the assets of an American company that decided to leave the country because of the war in Ukraine, a source familiar with the progress of the transaction told the Project publication.

The publication’s interlocutor could not say for sure whether Delimkhanov received a share in the company or not. However, this is indicated by indirect evidence. Thus, one of the GetContact users listed businessman Sergei Kropachev in his contact list as a “shareholder of ViT” (ViT is an abbreviation for Tasty and Period, a company that controls Russian McDonald’s restaurants through a chain of owners). At the same time, other users list Kropachev as “Adam Delimkhanov’s assistant,” writes “Project.”

The publication also found out that one of the co-owners of “Tasty - period” was the senator and ex-head of Kabardino-Balkaria Arsen Kanokov. In particular, this follows from the company’s audit reports for 2022.

Kanokov is also close to the head of Chechnya. He is not technically allowed to run a business, but his family company controls many important assets, including Starbucks and OBI. On the board of directors of Vkusno - period, two of the five chairs are occupied by people from the Sindika holding he founded: company president Oleg Eskindarov and vice president Yegor Solomatin.

At the same time, the officially declared buyer of the McDonald’s restaurant chain in Russia, entrepreneur from Novokuznetsk Alexander Govor, owns only 51% of “Tasty - period.” The BBC Russian Service previously wrote that Govor was unable to buy the entire chain of fast food restaurants on his own. According to the publication’s calculations, the authorized value of the network in Russia alone was 9.7 billion rubles. At the same time, over the past three years, the revenue of all Govor’s companies was at the level of 76.6 billion rubles, but most of them operated at a loss: over the same period, the net loss of all businesses of the entrepreneur reached 18.7 billion rubles.

In December 2023, the Times of Israel published a transcript of a recording of a telephone conversation between businessman Magomed Musaev, from which it followed that he informally participated in the deal, and also reported the participation of Senator Kanokov. “I have debtors - Arsen Kanokov, for example. I helped him get McDonald's, the coolest company. Kanokov is under sanctions, but he bought all these assets: McDonald’s, OBI,” said Musaev, claiming that the senator owes him $10 million for this.

Via Moscow Times: https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2024/01/29/tenevimi-vladeltsami-rossiiskogo-mcdonalds-mogli-stat-soratniki-kadirova-a119817

Spain Extends Probe into Russian Involvement in Catalonian Independence Plans

The Spanish judge investigating Russian interference in the Catalonian independence process has extended the probe for another six months after receiving an anonymous letter containing an article that identifies the Russian who offered Catalonian separatists US$500 billion and a small army if they break away from Madrid.

The investigation, published in May 2022 by OCCRP and the Spanish newspaper El Periódico, revealed that former Soviet and Russian diplomat Nikolau Sadovnikov met in Barcelona with former separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on the eve of Catalonia’s independence vote in October 2017.

Washington, DC Rally for Ukraine

#JoinRally4Ukraine

February 24 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. On this solemn day, we honor the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for our free and democratic future, and thank all those who stood with us throughout this time: http://tinyurl.com/yae9tjkp