The declassified British intelligence memo about Russia's involvement in the poisonings in the EU has caused a lot of noise in the media, but even when it was happening, there were many people who pointed to Russia's involvement. Back then, everyone wanted to be friends with
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Russia and it didn't cause any response. It hardly does now. Today's plane crash in Vilnius happened 20 days after the WSJ wrote about Russia's plans to sabotage airlines. The investigation has just begun, but if it is established that the fire on board was caused by
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deliberate actions, Russia is the main suspect. After Trump's victory, Russia has stepped up its attacks on the European Union and continues to test how far it can go. So far, EU countries, especially its largest members, such as Germany and France, have never responded to
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the Russian threat properly. Because of this, Russia feels unpunished and continues its hybrid war. The West does not want to understand that war has been declared on it and the risk of casualties is only growing. Poisonings, arson, damage to Internet cables, cyber attacks,
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protests, riots - after the US elections, Russia is only increasing sabotage in the EU, because it seems to it at this point that the White House and the US are now under its control. And it is partly right. After a long pause, Polish farmers have become active again and are
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blocking the Ukrainian border, new sabotage of underwater communications, and now, perhaps, a plane crash. The reaction of the European Union - they will announce a response, but words are unlikely to be followed by actions. The ship that damaged the Estonian pipe a year
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ago has not been arrested, those involved in arson in European countries will be detained, but only the perpetrators whom Russia hires via the Internet in the EU. For almost 3 years of war, Western politicians have not dared to take tough measures, and Russia, meanwhile,
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continues to test how far it can go. And while it is allowed to do what it wants with impunity. Modern democracy has proven toothless when faced with a threat. Politicians travel from meeting to meeting, live in expensive hotels, eat in fancy restaurants on the money of EU
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citizens and discuss, discuss, discuss. In their reports, they write that solutions are proposed, steps are alienated, conditions are discussed, but no action follows from all this. The allies were not even able to send all the previously declared aid to Ukraine, and are
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already discussing its reduction. Russian propaganda has seeped into all spheres of life, but the Internet giants are not going to do anything about it, because it brings in money and there is no legislation yet that could control it. Estonia could serve as an example for
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the EU. We were able to create a "digital government". Decisions and actions are taken much faster, because it takes much less time to process new programs and documents, because everything is in digital form, as are the signatures to them. Estonia is under constant
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pressure from Russia, but successfully repels cyber attacks and other its actions. However, big EU countries still look down on "Eastern Europe", although "Eastern" countries could offer the right steps against Russia. If it turns out that Russia is involved in the crash
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of the DHL flight, this is another terrorist attack by the Russian authorities, but Russia will never be recognized as a country sponsoring terrorism because it has an atomic bomb and the US wants to leave a window for negotiations with the Russian Federation. North Korea
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also has a bomb, but it was recognized as a country sponsoring terrorism. If Russia is included in this list, its economy will be finished. It will be finished sooner or later anyway, but this would speed up the process several times.
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But for now the West is not even capable of admitting that Russia has declared war on it, and therefore the number of sabotage acts will only increase.
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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,”
Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that Greece and Malta have become the main obstacles to an EU proposal to replace the price cap on Russian oil with a ban on services necessary for transporting fuel. According to the agency’s interlocutors, the two southern European
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countries raised concerns about this step at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday, where the latest sanctions package against Russia was presented. They warned that such a shift could affect Europe’s shipping industry and energy prices. Both countries also requested
clarifications regarding proposals to impose sanctions on foreign ports handling Russian oil and to strengthen oversight of ship sellers in order to reduce the number of vessels entering Moscow’s fleet. A representative of the Greek government declined to comment.
The most unpleasant forecasts regarding the Russian economy are beginning to materialize. What analysts cautiously spoke about a year ago is now being discussed openly even by the most pro-government Russian economists: the safety margin is rapidly shrinking. While Putin talks
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about “stability” and “growth,” the reality looks far more prosaic: a country that unleashed a war of aggression against Ukraine is methodically burning through its own financial system. According to estimates by Germany’s BND intelligence service, Russia’s real military spending
reaches around 10% of GDP and nearly half of the federal budget. In fact, actual expenditures are 66% higher than officially declared, due to hidden budget lines, Defense Ministry construction projects, military IT infrastructure, and social payments to servicemen. In simple
According to BND estimates, last year Russia’s military spending may have amounted to almost half of the state budget and around 10% of the country’s GDP. According to the German intelligence service, Russia is spending significantly more on the war and its armed forces
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than it has declared in recent years. Since the start of the war against Ukraine in February 2022, Russia’s defense budget has increased sharply every year. In addition, Russia’s interpretation of “defense spending” differs significantly from the NATO definition, German
intelligence officials note. A comprehensive analysis of budget data conducted by BND shows that Russia’s defense budget in recent years was 66% higher than officially reported. Unaccounted expenditures include, for example, construction projects of the Ministry of Defense,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explained why he sharply criticized Europe at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He made these remarks during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv, according to a correspondent from European Pravda. Zelensky said he had grounds for critical
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statements toward Europe after a lack of funding led to a shortage of air defense missiles, allowing Russia to strike Kyiv’s energy infrastructure. Zelensky did not deny that his speech may have sounded overly harsh from European capitals and explained this by saying that
Ukraine and the rest of Europe live in different information spaces. He also acknowledged that the differences are not only informational but also emotional in how events are perceived. The president explained that his Davos speech was preceded by heavy strikes on energy
Putin is losing the game he himself started. His bet was placed on a return to the world of the 19th and early 20th centuries - a world of empires and spheres of influence, where Europe, America, Africa, and Asia are divided among several “superpowers.” In Putin’s vision of
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the world, there were supposed to be three such powers: the United States, Russia, and China. However, the real transformation of the global order is unfolding in a completely different way. The key failure is Ukraine. At the end of the fourth year of war, Russia has still
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been unable to subjugate it. The army is visibly degrading, human and technological resources are being exhausted, the economy is held together by military spending and gray schemes, and the state increasingly resembles an overextended empire losing its ability to govern
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