Europe just welcomed Russia's #3 official—the woman who personally signed off on invading Ukraine—to a conference in Geneva.

While ordinary Russians can't get tourist visas, sanctioned war enablers flew freely through EU airspace.

🧵So... who is Valentina Matviyenko? Matviyenko ranks third in Russia's hierarchy after Putin and Prime Minister Mishustin. She's been speaker of the Federation Council since 2011 and a permanent member of Putin's Security Council.

He orchestrated the annexation of Crimea. He predicts NATO's death. He funds European extremists and works with expelled Russian spies.

Right now, he's in Geneva as a legitimate "parliamentarian"

🧵 Here’s what you should know about Leonid Slutsky The 6th World Conference of Parliament Speakers is happening in Geneva under the theme of "parliamentary cooperation for peace, justice and prosperity."

Russia sent 10 delegates, led by the speaker of the Russian Senate Valentina Matvienko. Most in the delegation are under Western sanctions.

Russian military came to collect deserter Semyon Subbotin from Armenian custody and haul him back to fight in Ukraine — local police saw them and drove him to safety instead.

🧵It's a commendable decision that shows how isolated Putin's regime has become Subbotin had fled military service and was wanted in Russia for “unauthorized abandonment of a military unit”, or in other words, refusing to take part in the illegal war

Whistleblower recruited by Russian intelligence exposes how Putin's spies pose as Ukrainian officials to trap dissidents.

@dossier_center publishes his firsthand account and the complete list of fake accounts and channels Last August, Russian programmers suspected that some websites posing as Ukrainian intelligence resources were actually traps. They were right. And the man behind many of them was Semen Ryzhakov, a coerced informant for the FSB’s Tomsk branch

Another Putin official dead: Roman Starovoit, ex-Transport Minister, allegedly shot himself.

Since 2022, over 20 high-ranking officials have died: falling from windows, "suicides," mysterious heart attacks.

1/19 🧵Here's the long list of names July 7 2025. Roman Starovoit, just fired as Transport Minister, was found in his car with a gunshot wound.

The official hypothesis is that he took his own life.

How do you attack a NATO country without firing a shot?

For the last two years, Russia has been giving a masterclass in the Baltic Sea. The Kremlin utilized ghost ships, anchor-dragging, spy drones.

🧵Here is how the West is starting to fight back. The campaign began in October 2023. The Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia suddenly lost pressure. A Chinese-flagged ship with Russian ties, the Newnew Polar Bear, dragged its anchor for miles along the seabed. news.err.ee/1609161313/anc…

Apple warned Russia's First Deputy Defense Minister his iPhone was compromised by state-sponsored hackers.

He kept using it anyway

🧵@dossier_center reveals a catastrophic security breach at the heart of Putin's war machine On June 22, 2023, Ruslan Tsalikov—the second most powerful man in Russia's defense ministry—got an urgent message from California. Apple warned him that hackers backed by a foreign government were trying to compromise his iPhone linked to personal email ruslantsalikov@ya.ru

Putin and Xi proclaimed a "limitless partnership," but a leaked FSB memo reveals the truth: Russian intelligence calls China "the enemy" and warns of Beijing's espionage, military theft, territorial ambitions in Siberia.

The alliance is a trap and Putin knows it.

🧵Read on The FSB believes China is trying to recruit disaffected Russian scientists and officials, steal military secrets (especially from the Ukraine front) and lay the groundwork for future territorial claims in the Far East. All while publicly calling Russia its ‘partner’

Putin ordered his officials to "strangle" foreign internet services. "I say that without any hesitation," he declared.

In January, they accidentally strangled the entire Russian internet. Banking apps died. Government sites crashed.

🧵Here's the list of apps they blocked — Signal (August 2024)
— Discord (October 2024)
— Viber (December 2024)
— 150+ VPN services
— 700+ materials about VPNs

The Russian Anti-War Committee demands an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine to stop the senseless bloodshed.

But let's be clear: stopping the fighting doesn't end the war. The war comes from the very nature of Putin's regime.

🧵Russian opposition's warning to the world (1/9) 2/ Stopping the fighting in Ukraine will end the senseless deaths on both sides of the frontline. But a ceasefire does not mean the war is over. The war stems from the very nature of Putin's regime and will continue as long as that regime exists.

A Moscow court sentenced Anastasia Burakova to 7.5 years in prison in absentia.

@KovchegLive (The Ark) — the organization she runs — housed 4,000+ Russians fleeing mobilization and helped 160,000 navigate emigration since 2022.

Russia wanted her on Interpol's list. Interpol said no. (Read on) Burakova was convicted for a speech at an anti-war rally in Tbilisi where she said Russian forces were "destroying Ukrainian cities, torturing people in occupied territories, killing civilians."

The world has fallen back 50 years

Europe's military budgets are set to reach 5% of GDP. Smart leaders know — Putin will start new wars within 3 years.

🧵Yet, they lose sight of another threat: Russia's irreversible drift into China's orbit (Read on)

From today's session of the Russian Anti-War Committee on European Security and Peacemaking We've returned to the 1970s, and this is exemplified by the escalation already built into Western military budgets: Europe finally awakens to this uncomfortable reality of a Cold War-style military threat at its doorstep and increases military spending.

Soviet Union lost 27 million people fighting Nazis in WWII. Now Putin exploits their sacrifice to justify bombing Ukrainian children.

He tries to equate the Great Patriotic War and his fascist aggression. But the comparison fails on every level — here are the facts: The Great Patriotic War began when Germany invaded the Soviet Union without warning. Hitler's goal was clear: destroy the Soviet state and its people.

In 2022, at 4 AM on February 24th, Kyiv was bombed - but Russia was doing the bombing. No one attacked Russia. Putin ordered his troops to invade a neighboring country without provocation.

Putin's spies are building a hit list of journalists, politicians, and public figures across Europe.

GRU agents are ordered to collect home addresses of Kremlin critics for potential "active measures," @dossier_center reveals

🧵Here’s why they’re doing it — and please RT According to Dossier Center sources, Russian military intelligence agents received urgent orders in early 2025 to gather information on critics who influence public opinion against the Kremlin.

While the world watched tanks roll toward Kyiv in February 2022, Putin launched a second offensive.

Not against Ukraine, but against Europe itself.

🧵Russian intelligence blowing up the EU: watch and share the @dossier_center investigation now In just three years, Moscow has been officially linked to 59 cases of sabotage, espionage and assassination attempts across Europe. That’s what has been confirmed. Imagine what has gone unnoticed

In a shocking public statement, Putin on record confessed to the Sumy missile strike that killed 35 civilians: "Is it a civilian object? Yes..." In a shocking public statement, Putin on record confessed to the Sumy missile strike that killed 35 civilians: "Is it a civilian object? Yes..."

Trump made it clear: "We're talking to Russia. We'd like him to stop. I don't like the bombing."

As the US pushes for peace, Putin responds with strikes on Zelensky's hometown — and shows what he truly fears: diplomacy, not sanctions.

🧵Read on to understand his logic Putin deliberately targeted Zelensky's hometown precisely when peace discussions are emerging. His aim is transparent - force Ukraine's leadership to either abandon peace negotiations or sacrifice public support at home.

Harvard Researcher Kseniia Petrova has been detained when returning to the U.S. on February 16, 2025.

She had frog embryos and she didn’t properly declare them. Border agents decided this warranted taking away her J-1 visa and deporting her.

🧵Petrova was arrested in Russia for protesting invasion of Ukraine. Here’s her story According to Petrova’s attorney, upon her detention, CBP officials asked her whether they should notify the Russian government, to which she clearly responded: “I am scared to go back to Russia. I am afraid the Russian Federation will kill me for protesting against them.”

Ukraine is dominating the Black Sea after crippling Russia's fleet.

But new US-brokered maritime deals could jeopardize that.

Here's why this isn't looking like the "second grain deal" everyone wanted: 👇 The US last week announced agreements with both Russia and Ukraine aimed at reducing tension in the Black Sea. The idea is to ensure safe navigation and prevent commercial ships from being used for military purposes.

As I've warned all along: Putin is a bandit.

When talking to bandits, you must always show the club behind your back. Because if you don't, they think you have none.

🧵Read on to understand how he thinks Promising 25% tariffs on those who buy Russian oil means imposing tariffs on China and India, with unpredictable consequences. The response may be surprising to Trump's team if there are no prior agreements.

As Putin proposes "external administration" for Ukraine, he's not seeking territory—he's measuring how far he can go while America contemplates its role in the conflict.

The current stage of peace talks is revealing more than it seems.

🧵Here are 3 things that stand out—and what they mean going forward. 1. Escalation is deliberate, not reactive

Putin's announcement about external administration of Ukraine says one thing – he is being traditional about testing the sharp rise of stakes. Judging by the rules presented to the US and Trump in that same speech, there's an expectation that the current US administration favors increased pressure on the Ukrainian authorities.