Russian Digest
Week of 7/20: Top stories I'm keeping an eye on
Romania summons Russia’s ambassador after downing third drone since Friday
Romania has said it is summoning Russia’s ambassador after the Nato member’s military shot down a third drone in as many days.
Romania has experienced frequent drone incursions since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but had not shot down any until Friday.
On Sunday, a Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone over the Black Sea, five minutes after it entered the country’s airspace, Romania’s defence minister, Radu Miruță, said on Facebook.
The foreign minister, Oana Țoiu, said Romania was summoning Russia’s ambassador after “repeated violations”.
The Romanian president, Nicușor Dan, said that according to an investigation, a drone shot down on Friday was a “Shahed model used by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine”
Read More: The Guardian
Ukraine strikes Iranian vessel used for military cargo transport in Caspian Sea
Ukrainian forces struck an Iranian vessel transporting military cargo between Iran and Russia in the Caspian Sea, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said on July 25.
President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media that Kyiv’s forces “achieved very good results from long-range strikes in the waters of the Caspian Sea,” reporting early morning strikes on an unspecified number of vessels, including a ship “transporting military cargo in cooperation with Iran.”
The SBU confirmed that the vessel, which was operating while evading international sanctions, shipped military cargo between the two countries.
Read More: Kyiv Independent
Iran strikes on CIA facilities prompt questions about possible Russian role
Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf have prompted U.S. intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or advanced drone technology, said four people familiar with U.S. intelligence.
These people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters, said U.S. intelligence officials have not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities. But they cited the strikes’ effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia’s broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.
Read More: Reuters
Russia wants 30,000 more troops from North Korea, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow wants to bring in 30,000 additional troops from North Korea to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
“We also see Russia’s cooperation with North Korea. Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday evening. “Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them.”
According to estimates, Pyongyang already has transferred about 12,000 troops to Russia’s Kursk border region, under a mutual defense pact signed with Moscow in 2024.
Read More: Politico EU
Russia may use captured Ukrainian drones against Poland and Baltics, Warsaw warns
Russia has captured a large number of Ukrainian drones and may be planning to use them against NATO or to stage a false flag attack, Polish defense minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said, adding to earlier warnings of a potential escalation.
The senior official’s statement comes after more than a month of unusual public warnings by several Eastern European countries that Russia was planning some form of a provocation or hybrid attack, with government officials citing numerous pieces of intelligence that pointed them to this conclusion.
Read More: Defense News
New warnings that Russian operatives are targeting the emails of US nuclear scientists and defense contractors
A group of Russian hackers has spent the last year targeting nuclear scientists, defense contractors, and government employees in a cyber-espionage campaign, according to private-sector researchers and warnings from spy agencies released Thursday.
Their targets suggested an interest in nuclear fusion technology and intelligence that may aid in the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine.
US email security firm Proofpoint, which investigated some of the activity, said the hackers went after email servers used by “nuclear installations and the defense industrial base” in the US. The hackers were “targeting entities and users with an interest in nuclear fusion,” Proofpoint researcher Greg Lesnewich told CNN. That was likely “to see what advancements [Russia’s] peers in the space have made,” he said.
Read More: CNN
Wildberries removed the “Everything for the SVO” section, but continued selling military goods.
Following a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on Wildberries warehouses, the marketplace removed the “Everything for SVO” tag, which previously listed over 200,000 products. Now, when attempting to search for this search term on the website or in the app, a message appears: “No matching products found.”
Meanwhile, military-grade products themselves remain available on the marketplace. Body armor and protective helmets are still available in the “Sports” section, FPV drones and accessories are in the “TV, Audio, Photo, Video Equipment” category, and other search queries—for example, “SVO Products” or “SVO Kit”—lead to military first aid kits, radios, backpacks, chevrons, and flags.
Since July 18, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have attacked at least ten Wildberries logistics centers, including warehouses in Elektrostal, Kotovsk, Koledino, Krasnodar, Nevinnomyssk, Voronezh, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and occupied Simferopol.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that these facilities were used “to supply the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment, and gear.” Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim called the attacks on the company’s warehouses “an act of international terrorism,” and the Investigative Committee made a similar assessment.
Source: Moscow Times (Russian Edition)
FBI Director Kash Patel plans Russia trip
FBI Director Kash Patel is planning to visit Russia later this year, likely in mid-October, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the situation.
It would be an unusual and sensitive trip for an FBI chief to one of America’s top adversaries. The plans come as Washington and Moscow continue to be at odds over the war in Ukraine, with U.S. lawmakers demanding the imposition of heavy new sanctions on Russia.
Patel has a history of involvement in controversial Russia-related matters dating to President Donald Trump’s first term, including trying to cast doubt on investigations into whether Trump colluded with Russia to help him win the 2016 election — an episode he now calls the “Russiagate hoax.” Patel also is developing a track record of taking eye-catching trips in his role atop the FBI, drawing scrutiny from Congress.
Read More: Politico
Apps Marketed to US Troops Are Shipping Chinese and Russian Code
A recent examination of hundreds of mobile apps marketed toward US military personnel found more than one in eight contained software built by companies in China, Russia, or other foreign nations, raising fresh concerns that adversary governments could harvest data revealing where service members live, work, and deploy.
According to researchers at Purdue University, the US Military Academy at West Point, and Florida International University, one popular app used by service members to rate living conditions on their own bases include code from Huawei, the Chinese telecom that US regulators flagged as a national security threat in 2020. Two others were built by Russian companies and incorporate the Russian ad service Yandex.
The largely unregulated advertising industry that tracks Americans online treats civilians and service members mostly the same—unless there is profit in telling them apart—despite evidence that exposure can reveal troop deployments, unit movements, and the routines of personnel within intelligence facilities and hardened shelters where nuclear weapons are believed to be stored.
Read More: WIRED
Popular EU Mobile Apps with Security Gaps Lead to Belarus and Russia
A Belarusian businessman with a background in spyware has launched a dozen mobile apps that are purportedly based in Lithuania. But technical analysis indicates that the apps send data to companies in Belarus and Russia, raising the risk that they could be used to surveil political exiles.
Over 50 million people downloaded Nicegram, which allows users to access channels on the messaging service Telegram that have been blocked. More than one million people have downloaded eSIM Plus, which provides users with mobile data and virtual phone numbers.
The listed developer for both those apps is Appvillis, a Lithuanian company. But OCCRP’s Belarusian member center Buro found evidence that raises questions over where Appvillis products are actually developed.
Read Investigation: OCCRP
Ukraine agrees to export drones to US for Pentagon plan, source says
Ukraine has agreed to export drones to the United States to participate in the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance programme, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
The agreement comes as Kyiv and Washington have been negotiating a wider drone deal for Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, whose success in the war against Russia has driven high demand from other countries to learn from their experience and purchase models for testing.
Six Ukrainian companies have received permission to export about 100 drones each, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Read More: Reuters
If Ukraine Can Make This Big Gun, Patriot Missiles May Be Next
Ukraine has struck an agreement to manufacture a howitzer designed by defense giant BAE Systems, a deal that provides a potential blueprint for Kyiv’s goal to produce other Western-designed weapons, including Patriot missiles.
A domestic arms maker in Ukraine will launch production on BAE Systems’ L119, a lightweight howitzer that is towed into position or moved by helicopter and fires shells in a range of up to 10.5 miles. The weapons, a class of mobile, long-barreled gun that fires shells, have been a stalwart of Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Several Western defense companies have discussed manufacturing weapons in the war-torn country. But only a handful of smaller foreign drone makers have managed to launch production.
Read More: Wall Street Journal
Russian disinformation network Storm-1516 accused of targeting French presidential candidate Édouard Philippe with fake health claims
A French security source told AFP that the Russian disinformation network “Storm-1516” targeted former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, one of the declared candidates for the French presidency, as part of an effort to interfere in France’s presidential election.
According to the source, false claims about Philippe’s health began circulating on social media this week. It remains unclear exactly what the posts alleged or how they were tied to the Storm-1516 network.
The source stressed that this was the first such operation against a declared presidential candidate, adding that these campaigns often escape notice because they promote narratives that are easy to debunk.
Read More: Meduza
Russia cancels St. Petersburg Navy Day parade for second straight year amid Ukrainian drone threat
Russia has canceled its annual Navy Day parade in St. Petersburg for the second year in a row, as Ukraine’s increasing deep-strike capabilities put even the country’s heavily defended major cities at risk.
Navy Day is a national holiday in the Russian Federation traditionally observed on the last Sunday in July. Since 2017, the standard celebrations have involved elaborate displays of Russian naval might, including a major review of combat vessels from the Baltic, Black Sea, Northern, and Pacific fleets in St. Petersburg.
But this year, the event was considerably drier. For the second year in a row, the main parade was canceled due to security concerns. Russian President Vladimir Putin instead delivered an address to sailors at the Amiralty, the Navy’s headquarters in St. Petersburg.
Putin’s visit coincided with large-scale internet blackouts in St. Petersburg, city residents reported.
Read More: Kyiv Independent
Thank you as always, Olga
Thank you Olga. I suggest that for every single russian drone that invades NATO airspace, one billion dollars in frozen russian assets be turned over to Ukraine.