Russian Digest
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Official: Russia holds over 20,000 Ukrainian civilians hostage
Russia is holding over 20,000 civilians hostage, according to the estimates from Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported by the Ukrainian state news outlet Ukrinform on May 4.
Lubinets predicted these estimates will increase after the liberation of the occupied territories since the residents have limited avenues to report arrests by Russian forces due to intimidation by the proxies.
“I am saying that this number is much bigger because I perfectly understand that those in temporarily occupied territories do not contact me or do so rarely. Even contacting the Ukrainian ombudsman is considered “spying” by the Russian Federation,” said Lubinets.
On May 2, the Ukrainian Reintegration Ministry launched a register of missing persons. The register will include basic information about the person, in addition to the circumstances and time of their disappearance.
According to Ukrinform, 23,760 people are documented to have gone missing due to Russia's war as of early May.
https://kyivindependent.com/official-russia-holds-over-20-000-civilians-hostage/
Russia rehearsed tactical nuclear strike after drone attack on the Kremlin
After the drone attack on the Kremlin, which Ukraine called a "staging" and Russian authorities called an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin, the Russian military rehearsed the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
In the Kaliningrad region on Wednesday, exercises of the Iskander complexes took place. Capable of firing both cruise and ballistic missiles, including those with a nuclear warhead, the Iskanders "performed electronic single and group launches," the press service of the Western Military District said.
The targets were targets imitating launchers, airfields, clusters of equipment and command posts of the “mock enemy”.
The missile men “performed a covert advance” into the positional area, and then worked out the removal of the Iskanders from a retaliatory strike, which, according to the idea of the exercises, could also be nuclear. After the launches, the crews of the Baltic Fleet "worked out actions in the conditions of radiation and chemical contamination of the area," the Defense Ministry said.
About 100 military personnel were involved in the maneuvers, and about 20 units of military and special equipment were involved.
After the drone raid, which Moscow described as a terrorist attack, the Kremlin threatened "retaliatory measures." Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin announced the need for "the use of weapons that can stop and destroy the Kyiv terrorist regime," and deputy Oleg Morozov called for a blow that would "deathly punish" the enemy.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified on Thursday that we can only talk about "thoughtful" steps that are in the interests of the country. He added that the decision to attack the presidential residence in the Kremlin was made in the United States, and Ukraine is only its executor.
The US believes that despite brandishing a nuclear saber, the real likelihood of Russia using nuclear weapons is "extremely low," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes told a congressional hearing.
The declared range of the Iskanders is 500 km. This will allow them from the Kaliningrad region to cover western Ukraine, Poland, and all the Baltic countries up to Estonia, reach Sweden, and East Germany, including Berlin.
The United States, however, believes that one of the missiles of the complex - 9M729 - is capable of flying much further and threatens Western European countries. That is why Washington in 2019 withdrew from the INF Treaty, which put an end to nuclear weapons in Europe in the second half of the 1980s.
Prigozhin recorded a video against the backdrop of corpses, where he called Shoigu and Gerasimov "bitches that live in offices"
Yevgeny Prigozhin recorded a video message to the military leadership of the Russian Federation against the backdrop of the corpses of Wagner PMC mercenaries. In the video, he stated that the shortage of ammunition reaches 70%, and criticized Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“We have a shortage of ammunition, 70%. Shoigu, Gerasimov, where the fuck is ammo. <...> You sit, creatures, in expensive clubs. Your children revel in life, shoot videos on YouTube. You think that you are the master of this life and that you have the right to dispose of their lives. You think that if you have warehouses from shells, then you have a right to it. There are elementary calculations - if you give the rate of ammunition, there are five times less "dead" ones. They volunteered here and are dying for you to fatten in your mahogany cabinets. Learn it."
In December 2022, presumably, Wagner PMC mercenaries published an appeal to Valery Gerasimov demanding to provide shells. They stated that they were experiencing great difficulties near Bakhmut due to the lack of weapons.
“To the Chief of the General Staff: you are a f*ck and a f*ck,” said one of the mercenaries. We have nothing to fight with, we have no shells. There, the guys are dying for us, and we are sitting here, fucking not helping. We need shells, we want to f*ck everyone. We are fighting against the entire Ukrainian army near Bakhmut. Where are you, help us, finally. There is nothing more to call you, bl * d. Except for one word - f * dor.
Recall that the recidivist criminal Yevgeny Prigozhin was tried under the articles “theft”, “robbery”, “fraud” and “involvement of a minor in criminal activity”. According to the materials of one of the criminal cases, he and his accomplices attacked a woman, strangled her, and when she lost consciousness, took off her earrings and boots. In 2022, Putin awarded Prigogine the title of Hero of Russia.
Bulgaria has already canceled 17 "golden passports", four of which belonged to Russians
A total of 17 foreigners, four of them Russian citizens, were deprived of Bulgarian citizenship after the cancellation of the so-called golden passport scheme in March 2022.
According to "Europeyska Pravda" with reference to Sofia Globe, such data was announced on Thursday by the Acting Minister of Justice of Bulgaria, Krum Zarkov.
The minister announced that among those whose "golden passports" were annulled, four were citizens of Egypt, four of Russia, four of Kazakhstan, three of China, two of Pakistan, and one of Jordan.
He added that an audit by the Ministry of Justice found cases where "golden passports" were issued without investment by a foreigner - which is a condition of his participation in the scheme. These situations are being investigated further, assured Zarkov.
"As for the family members of these persons, it is assessed in each specific case whether an application for obtaining citizenship was submitted on a non-existent legal basis. The problem with "golden passports" has been resolved," he stated.
In March 2022, Bulgaria's parliament abolished the "golden passport" scheme, which allowed wealthy foreigners to buy citizenship in the EU country if they invested just 1 million leva ($562,366).
Selling citizenship to non-EU citizens allows such investors to become EU citizens, gaining freedom of movement and access to the bloc's financial systems.
Both the European Commission and the United States have previously said they would take action to stop such sales of "golden passports" to wealthy Russians as part of a series of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/news/2023/05/4/7161042/
Drones attack oil refineries in Russia's Krasnodar, Rostov regions
A drone attacked the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery overnight, says Vasily Golubev, the governor of Russia's Rostov region.
“An unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the constructions of the inter-workshop flyover of the plant, after which it exploded. The fire that resulted from the explosion was immediately extinguished. Firefighters were not involved in extinguishing the fire, the fire was put out by the local personnel,” he said. Golubev also added no casualties had been recorded, and the attack caused but minor damage.
The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery is the largest plant of its type in south Russia.
The Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region also caught fire. Veniamin Kondratyev, the local governor, reported that he had been put out at around 5:30 in the morning local time. He also noted that there were no casualties.
The cause of the fire was not named, however, according to a TASS source in emergency services, it happened as a result of a drone attack. Baza wrote that eyewitnesses heard explosions before the fire started. According to Shot, the tank that caught fire had diesel fuel in it, and another tank was damaged and dented.
Ilsky, the settlement where the oil refinery is located, is just 30 km from the regional capital Krasnodar.
Another drone was taken down over the Voronezh region, says local governor Alexander Gusev. “Today, early in the morning, the air defense system detected and successfully destroyed a UAV in the sky over the Voronezh region. There are no casualties or destruction. Nothing threatens the life and health of the locals. The situation is under my personal control,” he wrote.
U.S. denies Kremlin accusation of involvement in drone incident
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Thursday strenuously denied Russian allegations that Washington played a role in explosions at the Kremlin the day before.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Thursday that the United States and Ukraine’s denials of involvement — in what Moscow alleged was a drone attack on the Kremlin targeting the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin — were “absolutely ridiculous.” Decisions “about such terrorist attacks are made not in Kyiv, but in Washington, and Kyiv does what it is told,” Peskov said.
“One thing I can tell you for certain is that the United States was not involved in this incident in any way, contrary to Mr. Peskov’s lies,” Kirby told reporters Thursday. “We’re still looking at this. We haven’t come to any conclusions,” he said, adding that Russia had shown it didn’t need “pretexts” for attacking Ukraine.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/04/russia-ukraine-war-news/
Exclusive: India, Russia suspend negotiations to settle trade in rupees
India and Russia have suspended efforts to settle bilateral trade in rupees after months of negotiations failed to convince Moscow to keep rupees in its coffers, two Indian government officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
This would be a major setback for Indian importers of cheap oil and coal from Russia who were awaiting a permanent rupee payment mechanism to help lower currency conversion costs.
With a high trade gap in favour of Russia, Moscow believes it will end up with an annual rupee surplus of over $40 billion if such a mechanism is worked out and feels rupee accumulation is 'not desirable', an Indian government official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.
India's finance ministry, the central Reserve Bank of India and Russian authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The rupee is not fully convertible. India's share of global exports of goods also is just about 2% and these factors reduce the necessity for other countries to hold rupees.
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Russian charged with money laundering and illegally transmitting more than $150 million
Feliks Medvedev has been indicted on one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and 39 counts of money laundering.
“Medvedev allegedly used the American banking system to illegally transmit more than $150 million,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “These types of criminal actions pose a serious danger to the integrity of our financial system.”
“Money laundering is not a victimless crime.” said FBI special agent in charge Keri Farley, “The FBI is committed to the fight against money laundering and to find those who are trying to hide right in our own backyard and illegally send cash overseas.”
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Feliks Medvedev allegedly registered eight companies in Georgia that were used to transmit over $150 million in a series of 1,300 transactions. The companies were purportedly headquartered in Buford, Georgia, and Dacula, Georgia. But the companies did not generate typical business expenses or maintain employees. The money was used, in part, to purchase more than $65 million in overseas gold bullion. Medvedev, a Russian citizen who resides in North Georgia, allegedly transferred millions overseas from multiple bank accounts in Georgia.
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EU Aims to Target Nations Through Which Russia Evades Sanctions
Bloc could limit trade of key items to affected countries
Officials cite unexplained trade spikes of goods to Russia
The European Union is discussing a new sanctions mechanism to target third countries it believes aren’t doing enough to prevent Russia from evading sanctions, particularly those that can’t explain spikes in trade of key goods or technologies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The primary aim of the tool would be to deter countries from helping Russia and crack down on trade channels that Moscow may be exploiting, the people said. If that doesn’t work, the bloc would have the option as a second step of imposing targeted restrictions on key goods.
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