Russia has declared a counter-terrorist operation in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions. The decision was made by the Director of the Federal Security Service of Russia, Alexander Bortnikov. By calling it a "counter-terrorist operation," Russia is once again trying to
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downplay the seriousness of the situation. On the other hand, under a counter-terrorist operation, the FSB is handling the situation, not the Defense Ministry, which Vladimir Putin has long since lost confidence in. A breakthrough in the Kursk region will most likely provoke
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Putin to finally purge last from Shoigu's team. Gerasimov made decisions regarding the defense of these regions, and even seeing the concentration of Ukrainian troops in the Sumy region over the past 2 months, he did not consider them a threat. Perhaps, there will be quick
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resignations. They will look for those to blame. Ukraine has learned its lessons from its last attempt at a massive offensive and this time tried to determine the most vulnerable parts of the front. They turned out to be Russia's border territories. Previous sabotage and
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reconnaissance groups have scouted out how easy it is to penetrate the defenses in these areas, and this offensive was prepared with these factors in mind. Also today there were reports of Ukrainian troops appearing in the Belgorod region. Soldiers posted a video from
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the village of Poroz. Whether this is the site of another major breakthrough or rather a diversionary maneuver will become clear later. It is also possible that the offensive in the Kursk region is also a diversionary maneuver. There are many theories now. There are some
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about capturing the nuclear power plant and exchanging it for Zaporizhzhya, there are some about exchanging the Kursk region for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the return of the 1991 border. Possibly. But it seems that Ukraine is not very inclined to
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bargain with Russia, and its main goal is to completely overthrow the Russian Army. Perhaps Ukraine will be able to issue an ultimatum in some point. Ukrainian special forces are supplying weapons to local resistance movements, stirring up the heat for a civil war. Russia
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entered Ukraine under the pretext of a popular uprising in Donetsk and Lugansk, and in response it will receive its own civil war. Something interesting is happening on the Internet. Apparently, there is also a massive information operation going on there. Firstly, before
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the operation, many information platforms covering the war received a warning to maintain complete silence. There is almost no information from the Ukrainian side. Rare videos and photos, which are most likely carefully selected and play a role in the overall strategy of
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the information part of this war. Secondly, Russian channels are littered with messages that greatly fuel panic. There are reports of sabotage and reconnaissance groups working or military equipment stolen by Ukrainians. In some messages, Russian soldiers were called upon
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to shoot to kill. In the confusion, the Russians could have started shooting at their own. In general, at the moment, Z-channels are in a fever and in the morning they write that the offensive has been stopped, and by the evening they write in panic that everything is
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lost. And so on in a circle. Also, a video has spread across the Internet that created the impression that the Ukrainians have access to surveillance cameras in the Kursk region. Russian publics have spread the news, apparently the cameras have been turned off. It turned
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out later that the video is old. The Ukrainians also faced a problem in the Kursk region - they lack transport to transport those who surrendered. However, Russia has also made progress, these are the same Toretsk and Pokrovsk. However, the progress is minimal and the
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intensity is falling. On the other hand, columns of equipment have already been noticed not only from the Kharkiv region, but also from the Donbas and other parts of the front, sent to reinforce the Kursk region. How long Russia will have enough resources to continue the
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offensive, which has already been going on for three months in the Avdiivka direction, is an open question. Ukraine expected the exhaustion of Russian resources to begin its offensive. Russia wore them down in the Donetsk region. The offensive on Kursk has greatly raised
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the morale of Ukrainian soldiers, and it has also restored faith in Ukraine in the West. Ukraine can advance, Ukraine can win. The success of this operation remains to be determined in the future, until there is objective data on what is happening and what the scale is.
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Russia’s war around Iran may provide only a temporary reprieve through higher oil prices but it cannot fix its deep economic problems - for higher oil revenues to meaningfully support the budget, prices would have to remain extremely high almost all year, which is unlikely
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given global pressures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On this backdrop the Russian budget has already entered a crisis phase - the deficit for the first two months was about 3.5 trillion rubles against an annual plan of 3.8 trillion rubles, meaning almost the entire planned
deficit accumulated in January–February, and much of the current spending now goes to servicing past obligations and debt rather than development. Additional confirmation of systemic crisis came unexpectedly from Vladimir Solovyov - in a broadcast seen in the Russian Far East
The Baltic states and Finland are increasingly considering the use of natural landscapes as an element of defense on NATO’s eastern flank. The idea is not only to build traditional fortifications, but also to make the terrain itself less passable for a potential advancing
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force. Among the measures being discussed is the restoration of bogs, peatlands and other wetlands that could serve as natural barriers for heavy vehicles and slow the movement of troops. The idea is being actively discussed in Lithuania, Latvia and Finland. For example,
Latvia is considering restoring former peat extraction sites along its eastern border. After drainage canals are closed, such areas quickly fill with water and turn into bogs and water bodies. This approach would both repair environmental damage caused by past extraction and
Investigative journalists, together with European security services, have established that Russian leader Vladimir Putin instructed a group of political technologists and Russia’s military intelligence to interfere in Hungary’s parliamentary elections in April in order to
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secure the victory of incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Putin assigned responsibility for "handling" Hungary to Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, who is considered the architect of Russia’s entire infrastructure of political
influence, both domestically and abroad. Kiriyenko was also behind the Russian interference campaign during Moldova’s 2024 presidential election. At that time, Russia used vote-buying networks, troll farms, and local activists to shape public opinion against the pro-Western
Another large anti-corruption operation is underway in Ukraine. Law enforcement officers exposed the Commander of Logistics of the Ukrainian Air Force, Andrii Ukrainets, and the head of the Security Service department in Zhytomyr region, Volodymyr Kompanichenko, over
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corruption during the construction of aircraft shelters. This was announced by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. "This was the largest special operation in recent years. Documentation of the criminal activity lasted about two months. The most difficult task was
ensuring full confidentiality of the process. One of the suspects - a high-ranking SBU official - had a deep understanding of the tactics and algorithms of investigative and covert investigative actions. Given this, it was necessary to act with maximum caution, using methods
In Russia, "import substitution," like many other things, has long turned not into technological development but into a convenient way to siphon off budget funds. The state allocates money for the creation of "domestic developments," after which companies take ready-made
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Western solutions, slightly adapt them, and present them as their own innovations, keeping subsidies and reporting an alleged technological breakthrough. A telling example is the case of the company Newco. The Ministry of Industry and Trade attempted in court to recover
177.6 million rubles, arguing that hearing aids developed with state funding were in fact based on technology from the Danish company Oticon and did not constitute an independent development. However, the Moscow Arbitration Court sided with the business, ruling that
A wave of property confiscations that swept across the regions and affected officials, security officers, and judges has brought the state an amount comparable to the annual budget of a small region. In total, over the past 5-7 years, property worth 100 billion rubles has been
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seized in corruption cases, Accounts Chamber auditor Andrei Baturkin reported in the State Duma. The confiscations have reached such a scale that, according to Baturkin, a “road map” is now required to coordinate the relevant agencies that will have to deal with seized companies,
houses, land plots, and collections of luxury cars and watches. It is necessary to “establish communication between the power bloc and Rosimushchestvo so that there is more feedback regarding what property is to be transferred into the ownership of the Russian Federation,”