Rosja

For decades, Finland has been using society as a whole to prepare for the possibility of a conflict with Russia. If the war in Ukraine spreads to Russia's other neighbors, Finland will be ready, reports the Financial Times.more

Russia has changed its strategy and is focusing on trying to take control of the Donbas and other areas of eastern Ukraine to declare success during the Victory Day celebrations on May 9, CNN reported today, quoting sources familiar with the US intelligence findings.more

The Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, stated that she "did not rule out" her country joining NATO. According to commentators, the head of government's statement may indicate a change in the attitude of the authorities in Stockholm.more

Gazprom is withdrawing from German business in connection with a dispute over payments in rubles. The company announced that it had terminated its stake in Gazprom Germania GMBH and all its assets, including Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd.more

Vladimir Putin is often visited by a doctor who specializes in the surgical treatment of cancer; in Sochi alone, he visited the Russian leader at least 35 times, according to a report by the Russian independent portal Projekt, quoted by Radio Swoboda.more

From April 1, foreign contractors from "hostile countries" will have to pay for natural gas supplies from Russia in rubles. Otherwise, the export of gas from Russia will be stopped, according to a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin. Great Britain has explicitly rejected the possibility of complying with this requirement.more

It is an illusion that Russia's behavior can be changed, because the problem is not only Vladimir Putin, but the fact that the vast majority of its population is permeated with imperialist chauvinism, says Edward Lucas, British columnist and expert on Russia.more

The largest jewelers, including Tiffany, Pandora and Chopard, have announced that they will stop sourcing Russian-derived minerals used in the production of jewelry, reported the British daily The Guardian.more

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a "huge mistake in assessing the situation in Ukraine, including the capabilities of his troops, and his advisers are afraid to tell him the truth about the war," said Jeremy Fleming, the head of British electronic intelligence GCHQ.more

US astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two cosmonauts from Russia - Anton Shkaplerov and Petr Dubrov - landed in Kazakhstan yesterday after completing their mission to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA announced on its website.more

Several European countries yesterday announced the expulsion of diplomatic staff from Russian embassies. The Czech Republic expelled one employee. The Netherlands expelled 17. Belgium decided to expel 21 Russian diplomats accused of espionage. And Ireland reported that four senior Russian embassy staff will leave the country.more

"The words that Putin cannot remain in power were an expression of moral indignation and I am not withdrawing them. This was not a policy to overthrow Putin," said US President Joe Biden, translating his Warsaw speech. Biden did not rule out that he might meet Vladimir Putin if he was ready to end the war.more

Today, brewer Heineken announced that it is pulling out of Russia altogether due to the war in Ukraine and expects to incur €400m in losses as a result.more

The Spanish daily El Pais, describing yesterday the unrest in Russia's neighbouring countries during its invasion of Ukraine, notes that one of the most sensitive places is the Suwałki isthmus between Poland and Lithuania.more

Arms deliveries from France to Russia were contrary to the rules adopted by the EU. Those responsible for continuing the deliveries during the embargo were the governments and prime ministers under Presidents Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron, says the author of a journalistic investigation into these deliveries from the Disclose website and NGO, Ariane Lavrilleux.more

The head of British diplomacy is of the opinion that pressure on Russia and Vladimir Putin should be increased to force this country to negotiate. "We have to tighten the sanctions, we have to support Ukraine with arms supplies," said Liz Truss in an interview for the Sunday Telegraph.more

Russian Sperbank announced yesterday that Apple has closed the loophole that allows the use of Russian MIR cards in the Apple Pay payment system. In the next few days, Apple will suspend all operations on previously added cards, Reuters reported.more

The British government yesterday clarified the content of sanctions on Russia's central bank, its finance ministry and its sovereign wealth fund, explaining that the ban on transactions with them also applies to gold.more

Polina Kovaleva, the British-sanctioned 26-year-old stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Ministry chief Sergei Lavrov, has a flat in central London that she bought for £4.4 million in 2016 without credit, while still a student at the time, British media wrote today.more

The French concern Renault has announced the closure of its factory in Moscow. Trade unions and management indicate that the company made 12 percent of sales in Russia, and the closure of operations means losses in the billions.more

The Internal Security Agency has applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the expulsion of 45 people who, under so-called diplomatic cover, have been conducting intelligence activities in Poland, the spokesman for the minister coordinating special services, Stanisław Żaryn, said today. more

The US ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, the Russian diplomacy ministry informed in a press release on its website. The American ambassador was told that the current tensions were bringing relations between Moscow and Washington on the brink of severance.more

Russia could smuggle female agents into the UK among Ukrainian refugees to carry out biological or chemical terror attacks, home secretary Priti Patel has claimed.more

The Russian state was responsible for hoax calls to Ben Wallace and Priti Patel, pretending to be the Ukrainian prime minister, Downing Street has said. In its first statement attributing blame for the video calls, No 10 said it believed Russian state actors were responsible, without giving more details on who linked to the Kremlin had been identified as being behind the attempts.more

According to the weekly magazine 'Spiegel', the German Ministry of Economic Affairs has opened an investigation into the electronics company Bosch. The aim is to clarify whether the company has violated the export ban on goods. Components from this company were to be used in Russian wax vehicles.more