Russian Digest
Top weekly stories I'm keeping an eye on
Russia launches huge attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
Russia has launched a huge attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which authorities said was the 12th large-scale attack on energy facilities this year.
Ninety-three missiles and more than 200 drones were used - but 81 of the missiles were shot down, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The strikes targeted sites in western Ukraine, damaging energy facilities in several regions, some seriously. Authorities in Ivano-Frankivsk said it was the worst attack on the region so far.
Read More at BBC
Biden admin says it is surging deliveries to Ukraine as Trump criticizes decision to allow US weapons to strike inside Russia
The Biden administration is working to surge deliveries of weapons to Ukraine in its final days in office in a concerted effort to put Kyiv on a strong footing going into 2025, according to a senior administration official.
The push is in stark contrast to that of the incoming Trump administration, with President-elect Donald Trump sharply criticizing a recent US move to allow Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia in an interview with Time Magazine published Thursday.
In the latest show of support for Ukraine, the Biden administration on Thursday evening announced a $500 million aid package that will pull equipment out of the US military’s stocks.
Read More at CNN
Ex-FBI informant agrees to plead guilty to lying about Bidens’ Ukraine ties
As part of plea deal, Alexander Smirnov will admit he made up story at center of Republican impeachment inquiry.
A former FBI informant accused of falsely claiming that Joe Biden and the president’s son Hunter had accepted bribes has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to court papers.
As part of the plea deal with the justice department special counsel, David Weiss, Alexander Smirnov will admit he fabricated the story that became central to a Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.
The plea agreement comes just weeks after prosecutors filed new tax-evasion charges against Smirnov. The two sides will recommend a sentence of at least two years behind bars and no more than six years, according to the agreement.
David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, attorneys for Smirnov, said they will make their case for a fair sentence in court and declined to comment further.
Read More at The Guardian
Moldova Accuses Roman Abramovich of Election Interference
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich may be involved in violations related to the presidential elections and referendum on European integration in Moldova, Moldovan intelligence services say. A report by Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service (SIS), presented on December 13 by its director Alexandru Musteata, points to Russian interference in the electoral process. Among the facts revealed are vote-buying, thwarted cyberattacks on electoral infrastructure, and the activities of a network that spread pro-Kremlin propaganda through the Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube platforms.
According to the SIS document, an operational center was created in Moscow with the aim of discrediting the referendum and elections in Moldova. The leadership of this center was entrusted to the Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, who was given a wide range of resources: financial, media, technical and logistical. Among those who facilitated this activity, Roman Abramovich is mentioned.
The SIS report says that in 2023, Shor met Abramovich in France. It is alleged that Abramovich supported the Pobeda bloc, created by Shor to participate in the Moldovan elections. Legal support for this bloc was provided by Rola Brentlin, whom the intelligence services call the personal assistant of the Russian billionaire.
The presidential elections in Moldova were held in two rounds: October 20 and November 3. The incumbent President Maia Sandu won, beating the pro-Russian candidate Alexandru Stoianoglo and retaining her position. Simultaneously with the first round of elections, a referendum on joining the European Union was held, which ended with the majority of citizens supporting European integration.
The creation of the political bloc "Victory" was announced in April 2024 at a congress of Moldovan politicians in Moscow. However, in August, the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova rejected the bloc's application to participate in the elections and referendum.
Ilan Shor was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for bank fraud in 2017. However, after appealing the sentence, he was placed under house control. In June 2019, Shor fled Moldova. Last spring, it became known that he had received Russian citizenship.
Via The Moscow Times
Russia’s Military Found a Surprisingly Simple Way to Buy US Chips
A cache of internal Russian documents reviewed by Bloomberg reveals how Putin’s forces have been able to keep purchasing American semiconductors.
Ever since the US and its allies imposed sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have been frustrated by Moscow’s continued ability to get its hands on American technologies to help power its war efforts. Russian weapons recovered from battlefields in the region are chock full of gear from firms like Intel Corp. and Analog Devices Inc., much to the frustration of officials in Washington, Brussels and Kyiv. The nagging question: Why are trade controls failing?
A cache of records obtained by Bloomberg reveals new details about this surprisingly resilient supply chain from Silicon Valley to Moscow. They show many of the steps that suppliers to Russia’s military take to acquire components from US chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc., unbeknownst to the Dallas-based company. They also identify Russian distributors handling thousands of shipments bound for the country’s military contractors, including several companies under US sanctions. They help produce drones, glide bombs, precision communication systems and the Iskander missiles that Moscow uses to hammer Ukraine’s cities.
Read More at Bloomberg
Photos of Birmingham DHL fire suggest device could have downed plane
Images consistent with fire from magnesium-based device, suspected to be part of Russian sabotage plot
Photographs of the fire caused by a suspected Russian incendiary device at a DHL facility in Birmingham in July have backed up intelligence assessments that the blast was strong enough to have brought down a cargo plane.
One image appears to show when the booby-trapped item, hidden in a massage device, caught fire. A distinctive bright light emerges from the top of a crate of parcels being moved around the site on an electric vehicle.
A second image shows the crate a few metres away being engulfed by the blaze, the light of which is consistent with a fire caused by a magnesium-based device, on the ground just outside the warehouse in Minworth, Birmingham.
Read More at The Guardian
Dutch authorities arrest Russian engineer over industrial espionage in microelectronics
A 43-year-old Russian national and employee of the microchip-producing company NXP, German A., has been detained in the Netherlands on charges of industrial espionage, according to local media reports late last week. The Insider has verified that the individual in question is Russian engineer German Aksyonov.
Online newspaper NU.nl wrote that Aksyonov's criminal trial was set to begin in Rotterdam on Monday, Dec. 9.
At different times, Aksyonov was employed by the Dutch companies ASML and Mapper. According to the investigation, he spent several years stealing critical company documents, such as microchip operation manuals, and transferring them to Russia in exchange for payments totaling tens of thousands of euros. In addition to facing criminal charges, Aksyonov has been banned from entering the Netherlands for 20 years — a measure local journalists note is typically applied in cases of national security threats.
Mapper, which eventually went bankrupt and was acquired by ASML, was part of a deal reportedly influenced by pressure from the Pentagon, as the U.S. military leadership had expressed concerns that Mapper's laser technologies could fall into Russian or Chinese hands as a result of the bankruptcy.
Leaked Russian database records reveal that in 2016, Aksyonov also worked for JSC NIIME and Mikron (ОАО «НИИМЭ и Микрон»), a Moscow-based company focused on developing multi-electron beam lithography technology. Dutch media further reported that Aksyonov had been employed at LLC Mapper (ООО «Маппер») — the company’s subsidiary in Russia.
As previously reported by The Insider, LLC Mapper is one of five Russian companies using ASML’s lithography equipment to produce microchips. While domestic production remains economically impractical and technologically behind, the Russian military may have its own reasons for favoring local manufacturing. Since 2018, LLC Mapper has no longer been affiliated with its Dutch parent company and is now owned by Astrohn (Астрон), a company that produces drones and thermal imaging equipment, among other products.
The Insider also discovered that in 2023, LLC Mapper imported an American-made argon laser — the KLA-Tencor Surfscan 6200 — used for scanning semiconductor wafers to detect defects as small as 200 nanometers.
Via The Insider
EU to impose first sanctions on Russian intelligence over disinformation campaigns, Bloomberg reports
The European Union is set to impose its first sanctions targeting Russia for disinformation and hybrid activities.
The proposed measures target more than a dozen individuals and three entities, including Russian intelligence officers and media entrepreneurs, according to Bloomberg. The sanctions aim to counter destabilizing operations globally.
In addition, the EU plans to sanction around two dozen Belarusian individuals for alleged human rights violations or ties to President Alexander Lukashenko’s government, as part of a broader package expected to be approved by EU foreign ministers on Dec. 16 in Brussels.
The proposals follow EU ambassadors' approval of a 15th sanctions package against Russia, targeting its "shadow fleet" of aging tankers used to bypass oil export restrictions, the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council announced on Dec. 11.
Read More at Kyiv Independent
The war in your pocket – disinformation in the digital age
Truth is the first casualty of war, as the old saying goes, and in the information age this adage has never rung truer.
In November, Poland’s government launched a public campaign highlighting the dangers of online disinformation and fake news. A deputy digital affairs minister described it as a direct threat to “social stability and democratic order.”
Experts widely agree that much of this threat originates from Russia.
“In Russia, disinformation has been elevated to a weapon used for political strategies,” a report by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) says.
The prevalence of Russian disinformation spiked following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though it is far from a new phenomenon. For decades, Russia—and before it, the Soviet Union—has deployed dezinformatsiya as a strategic tool. In the lead-up to the Ukraine war, Moscow intensified these efforts.
Read More at TVP World
Protests in Georgia continue unabated on eve of presidential election by college
As Georgia gears up for Saturday's presidential election, which is not a popular vote but one by electoral college, antigovernmental protests in the capital continue unabated into their third week.
Protesters have been demanding a new parliamentary election and chanting anti-Russian slogans, expressing their discontent with the government's recent stance on EU negotiations.
The protests began two weeks ago when Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Tbilisi would not begin negotiations to join the EU until 2028.
This delay has angered many citizens who are eager for closer ties with the West.
Read More at Euronews
Russia packing up military equipment at base in Syria, satellite images show
Russia appears to be packing up military equipment at a military air base in Syria, according to satellite images released by Maxar following rebels' overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad last weekend.
The images taken on Friday show what appear to be at least two Antonov AN-124s, one of the world's largest cargo planes, with their nose cones open at the Hmeimim air base in Syria's coastal Latakia province.
Read More at Reuters
From Assad's Backer to His Sanctuary, Russia Has Been Humiliated
The Syrian people achieved what once seemed impossible. They rid themselves of the brutal dictator who massacred hundreds of thousands in one of the most repressive states. Bashar al-Assad, infamous for his chemical attacks, war crimes, and alliances with Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah in his violent crackdown, fled to Russia as his regime crumbled.
This marked a monumental achievement for Syrians, whose resilience matched their relentless opposition to a brutal regime propped up for over a decade by foreign powers. Chief among them is Russia.
Syrian rebels seized Damascus unopposed after a lightning advance through the country, forcing Assad to seek asylum in Russia after a 13-year conflict and six decades of his family's autocratic rule. Assad now joins treasonous former Ukrainian president Yanukovych, another pro-Kremlin leader who fled to Russia.
Read More at The Moscow Times