Europe

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43885905

Archived

[...]

Over the last several years, the Chinese government has issued high-level statements about the importance of peace and positioned itself as a broker between Russia and Ukraine, the Myanmar junta and armed groups, and Iran and Saudi Arabia.

But at the same time, they have allowed the export of arms and materiel to Sudan and Myanmar and of censorship and surveillance technologies to Pakistan, Kazakhstan and the Solomon Islands, just as examples.

They have made it clear that, when it comes to Russia, the two countries are “true friends” and “good neighbours” — and that China’s markets remain open to Russian business.

[...]

Nowhere else is the contradiction between lofty Chinese diplomatic ideals and calculated action more clear than in Taiwan [which] is facing escalating military threats from the Chinese military, as fighter jets and warships routinely cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait and large-scale blockade drills are staged around the island.

[...]

If China truly understands the devastation of World War II — as it claims in its commemorative reflections — it should recognise that threatening the lives and freedom of millions in Taiwan is a betrayal of the very lessons it proclaims to have learned.

Another measure of China’s commitment to dialogue and cooperation is the extent to which those activities — inherent in the “genuine multilateralism” that the government claims to uphold — actually result in concrete improvement at home.

[...]

Key examples include the repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the criminalisation of the defence of human rights across the country, the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong and the ongoing efforts to curtail cultural and linguistic rights of Tibetans.

These are not isolated incidents — they are systemic violations that demand international scrutiny. And yet when European countries seek dialogue on these issues — on the occasion of bilateral visits, or for the EU-China Summit — China consistently dismisses efforts to raise human rights concerns as “interference in internal affairs” and attacks on its sovereignty.

[...]

China’s narratives of partnership will remain hollow until it ceases its threats against Taiwan and others and addresses the human rights abuses within its own borders.

Only by confronting these contradictions can we build a future grounded in genuine peace, justice, and mutual respect.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43830353

Archived

[...]

Proposals include arming surveillance drones used to collect intelligence on Russian military activities, and lowering the bar for pilots patrolling the eastern border to take down Russian threats. Another option is to conduct Nato military exercises on the border with Russia, especially in more remote and unguarded parts of the frontier.

Donald Trump said last month that Nato should open fire on Russian aircraft that breach allied territory.

[...]

Dozens of unidentified drones have caused massive disruptions at airports in Belgium, Denmark and Germany, with some officials attributing them to the same hybrid war carried out by Moscow and which includes cyber attacks and sabotage attempts.

Matthew Whittaker, the US ambassador to Nato, said last week that he was “working every single day” with allies to ensure “we have better options on the asymmetrical . . . and hybrid war”. He said it was paramount “to make sure that we have enough rungs on the escalation ladder”.

[...]

The Nato discussions come as the EU prepares to take its own steps in response to Russian provocations.

These include curbing the travel around Europe of Russian diplomats, who are suspected by intelligence agencies of running agents and sabotage operations in countries other than where they are officially posted, and using EU funding to help put in place anti-drone defence systems.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43814870

Archived

The UK’s terror law watchdog has insisted China is a “threat to national security” and he is investigating the matter after the collapse of the trial of alleged Chinese spies.

Jonathan Hall KC suggested the explanation given on the matter was inadequate and the public deserved fuller clarity, as Sir Keir Starmer meanwhile insisted no ministers were involved in the pulling of the case.

The Prime Minister reiterated that responsibility lay with the previous Conservative administration which was in power at the time of the alleged offences.

It came after two former top civil servants questioned his explanation for the pulling of the prosecution of Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher.

[...]

Former cabinet secretary Lord Simon Case said intelligence chiefs had warned of the threat from China for years, while his predecessor Lord Mark Sedwill expressed puzzlement about why the trial fell apart because Beijing was “of course” a threat to the UK.

[...]

Critics have pointed to Sir Keir’s attempts to build relations with the world’s second-biggest economy as a possible reason for the Government’s reluctance to label China an “enemy” or threat.

Lord Sedwill, who served as national security adviser from 2017 to 2020, during which time he was also Cabinet secretary, said he was “genuinely puzzled” about the collapse of the trial.

“The truth is that of course China is a national security threat to the UK directly, through cyber, through spying and so on, and indirectly because of some of their aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea and elsewhere,” he added on The Crisis Room podcast.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43788090

Archived

From mega-embassies to alleged spies, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is struggling to recast the U.K.’s relationship with China to create a best of all worlds situation. But the U.K. doesn’t have the clout to pull this off successfully, and Labour doesn’t seem to realize this. It wants to both cooperate and challenge, without any plan for what happens when Beijing won’t play ball.

[...]

The U.K, along with the rest of its allies, is supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion, the worst conflict on European soil since World War II. China, whatever its denials, is aiding and abetting Russian aggression.

[...]

China has escalated this economic pressure into an explicit threat. [...] Back in the spring, China warned the U.K. that it would retaliate if Labour decided to classify China as a top-tier threat under the foreign influence registration scheme, which would have heightened the risk of criminal penalties for anyone who failed to disclose their activities with a Chinese state entity. In the end, Labour did not classify China as a top-tier threat.

[...]

It’s not hard to make the leap that China is likely applying similar pressure on the Starmer government to approve its proposed “mega-embassy” at the heart of London. Even though the application was shot down by the Tower Hamlets Council in 2022, China resubmitted an identical version of the application after Starmer became prime minister.

[...]

The irony is, it is because both Whitehall and the Chinese diplomatic staff in London mismanaged their handling of the alleged spy case that it may be politically impossible to approve the new embassy this autumn. And if what currently looks like a brewing scandal comes to the boil and there is a high-level resignation or firing, the ramifications could be more long-term.

Gray Sergeant, a research fellow in Indo-Pacific Geopolitics at the Council on Geostrategy, recently wrote a Substack post about the U.K.’s position on Taiwan, pointing out that last month Chinese jets practiced attack runs on a Royal Navy frigate in the Taiwan Strait. China-U.K relations, he concluded, “cannot, and should not, be good.”

The question is, when Labour will realize this?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43722647

Archived

[If you happen to be in Amsterdam on 9 October 2025, you may be interested in Bill Browder's lecture: Being Russia’s Public Enemy]

Once a leading investor in Russian markets, U.S.-born British financier Bill Browder has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin since the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Russian prison in 2009.

Browder is best known for championing the Magnitsky Act, legislation enabling sanctions against Russian officials involved in corruption and human rights abuses.

[...]

Bill Browder: [Sanctions are] not doing the trick completely. In my opinion, the main bottleneck is oil. Oil is the main export commodity from Russia. Russia generates hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the sale of oil. And if that were to somehow be curtailed, then that would actually prevent Putin from having the resources in the future to continue his reign of terror on innocent people.

[...]

"The Magnitsky Act has been a very much greater success than I could have ever imagined when I started the campaign. I could have never imagined that 35 countries would have the Magnitsky Act and that it would create such troubles, not just for Russian human rights violators, but for human rights violators all over the world — China, Iran, Turkey."

[...]

The fact that we've frozen $300 billion of Russian Central Bank reserves is a really helpful thing [...] Russia has done $1 trillion of damage to Ukraine. So the [frozen] money should be confiscated and should be given to the Ukrainians for either their defense or, if the war were ever to end, for their reconstruction. Up until a few weeks ago, I was very frustrated with the position that many governments were taking, which is that somehow they believed that Russia was protected, or that money was protected by sovereign immunity, when at the same time Russia wasn't respecting the sovereign borders of a neighboring state. [...] But it seems now that there has been a new development, initiated by the German government, which would effectively come up with a solution which allows the money to be used for Ukraine. That's really an important thing.

[...]

Since Trump has pulled out, [Europeans] are the main funders of Ukraine. Either the British, French, German taxpayers will pay or Putin will pay [by a preparation loan back by Russian frozen assets]. I think it's a much easier pitch to the people of Germany, France and the U.K. for Putin to pay than to raise taxes.

[...]

[In case of Russia retaliates over the use of its frozen assets;] Let me put it this way: Anyone who continues to have assets in Russia deserves to have those assets taken away. So I've had no sympathy for those people when it comes to this situation and I can guarantee you that the numbers are nowhere near $300 billion.

[...]

I think that if there ever was a major ceasefire agreement [between Ukraine and Russia], the political prisoners [in Russia] should be part of that agreement. I think they’re an important part of the whole terror that Putin has inflicted. It’s not just against Ukraine — it’s against his own people.

[...]

Israel just attacked nine ships from latest wave of the flotilla, kidnapping its crews in international waters just north of Suez. There are reports that a ship carrying 100 aid workers was attacked in the open seas using military helicopters. Other videos show the water fascists boarding from boats with their assault weapons, as we have grown somehow used to. The entire flotilla was taken out within an hour, far from the coast of Israel.

Here are appeals from the Danish delegation @thousandmadleensdenmark@radikal.social, including a MP:
https://radikal.social/@thousandmadleensdenmark/115336951519266835

The French delegation is posting updates at @1kmadleenfr@mastodon.social.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43656968

Archived

EU governments have agreed to limit the travel of Russian diplomats within the bloc, in response to a surge in sabotage attempts that intelligence agencies say are often led by spies operating under diplomatic cover.

Moscow-sponsored intelligence operatives have been blamed for escalating provocations against Nato states — from arson and cyber attacks to infrastructure sabotage and drone incursions — in what EU security services call a co-ordinated campaign to destabilise Kyiv’s European allies.

The proposed rules will force Russian diplomats posted in EU capitals to inform other governments of their travel plans before crossing beyond the border of their host country.

The initiative, championed by the Czech Republic, is part of a fresh set of sanctions being drawn up by Brussels in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The package requires unanimous support to be adopted. Hungary, the last country opposed to the measure, has dropped its veto, two people briefed on the negotiations said.

[...]

EU intelligence agencies say that Russian spies, posing as diplomats, often run assets or operations beyond their host countries, in order to better elude counter-espionage surveillance.

“They are posted to one place — but work in another,” said a senior EU diplomat, citing intelligence reports. “The host country intelligence services know what they are up to but, if they cross the border, it can be harder for that country to keep tabs on them.”

[...]

’’There is no ‘Schengen for Russia,’ so it makes no sense that a Russian diplomat accredited in Spain can come to Prague whenever he likes,’’ he told the FT. ‘‘We should apply strict reciprocity to the issuance of short-stay, diplomatic visas under the Vienna Convention.”

In 2014 the Czech Republic suffered one of Russia’s worst sabotage attacks on EU soil when explosions at an ammunition warehouse in Vrbětice killed two people. Prague attributed the attack to agents from Russia’s foreign intelligence agency GRU.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43649678

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43649677

Archived

• South Africa seeks to join global EV supply chain
• Europe is South Africa's largest export market for cars
• South African auto leaders urge coordinated national EV strategy

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43639347

Archived

Construction of Putin's infamous Black Sea palace and the surrounding vineyards began in 2005, but the inspiration came two years earlier, when Putin visited the Sardinian Villa Certosa of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The Russian leader was so taken with it that he hired Berlusconi's architect, Lanfranco Cirillo, to build him his own — only bigger. Some features, like the amphitheater in classical style, the artificial lake, and the vineyards, were simply copied, while others were adapted to Putin's taste — the football pitch, for instance, was swapped out in favor of an ice rink. Berlusconi's estate, with its 48 hectares of vineyards and olive groves, was already considered extravagant for a politician in Italy. Putin, unsurprisingly, decided he needed more: the vineyards on his palace grounds cover 300 hectares.

Even after Alexei Navalny drew widespread public attention to Putin's palace, the winery business carried on almost unchanged. However, one of the palace estates, Stary Provence, was renamed Krinitsa. In 2023, the Krinitsa winery began welcoming tour groups and remains open to visitors today. Meanwhile, the Usadba Divnomorskoye winery, located west of the palace in the village of Divnomorskoye, remains reserved for a select circle of privileged guests.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43639017

Archived

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While China’s agents ride roughshod over Britain’s national security interests on a daily basis, it is extremely rare for the damage they do to be publicly exposed. So the recent fiasco that prevented two Brits, accused of spying for China inside Parliament, from coming to trial is of grave concern. Both suspects are now able to assert their innocence in public, the case dropped on the basis of insufficient evidence.

This decision is reported to reflect last-minute sabotage by UK ministers.

[It is a] false assumption that Britain could deepen economic ties with China while remaining critical of its actions in areas such as human rights abuses and belligerence in the Asia-Pacific. We have prioritised expediency. In 2021, UK MPs of all parties passed a motion declaring China’s persecution of Uyghurs to be genocide; yet the present Government has since adopted a less critical position.

The 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) highlights growing Chinese pressure on the rules-based international order, both unilaterally and in collusion with Russia and North Korea. It warns that Britain is likely to face increasing Chinese espionage, cyber and other risks to sensitive IP and other defence interests. Meanwhile China has developed nuclear and other missiles that can reach the UK and Europe, and is modernising its capabilities in areas including space warfare.

[...]

The risks of Chinese involvement in UK key national infrastructure – steel, nuclear, wind and solar energy amongst them – have been under-played. The risk of digital data capture and system sabotage are likewise minimised. But this complacency merely boosts China’s existing political influence, while leaving key social and military infrastructure vulnerable to hybrid warfare sabotage; a situation that Beijing has taken great pains to build up in many less well-governed client states.

So, given the ground truths of China’s geopolitical agenda, how do Britain’s security and other key interests benefit from the last-minute collapse of the case against alleged spies in Parliament? They don’t. The only beneficiary is a ruthless authoritarian state which wishes to become the global hegemon. It must not be repeated.

Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43532044

Russian satellites have been stalking British military satellites, according to the head of the UK Space Command.

In an interview with the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman has for the first time set out the level of interference from Moscow against the UK's space-based assets.

He said Russia had also been trying to jam the UK's military satellites with ground-based systems every week.

[...]

Gen Tedman said Russia and China had both tested anti-satellite weapons. Both the UK and the US have warned that Russia has been developing the capability to put nuclear weapons in space.

While the US sees China as the pacing threat, Gen Tedman sees Russia as the more immediate danger: "I would say the Chinese have by far the more sophisticated capability but the Russians have more will to use their counter-space systems."

Gen Tedman said he was "really worried" about what was happening in space – not just the threats but the increasing congestion. There are currently about 45,000 objects in orbit including around 9,000 satellites. This year will see another 300 rocket launches into space.

[...]

Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43526886

Archived

Kyiv has evidence that China has provided Russia with satellite data which has been used to target missile strikes on Ukraine, including strikes on facilities used by foreign companies, a member of Ukraine's foreign intelligence service (SZRU) said on Oct. 4.

SZRU employee Oleh Alexandrov told Ukrinform that there is evidence of "high-level cooperation between Russia and China in conducting satellite reconnaissance of Ukraine's territory."

According to Alexandrov, the goal of reconnaissance is to identify strategic targets for attacks.

"At the same time, as we have seen in recent months, these targets may belong to foreign investors," he added.

[...]

China officially claims neutrality in Russia's war against Ukraine, but has indirectly supported Moscow's war through continued trade and by providing dual-use goods to Russia.

During Russian President Vladimir Putin's last visit to China, where he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the two countries signed more than 20 cooperation deals in energy, technology, and other sectors, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Putin lauded the relationship between the two countries, saying they have reached an "unprecedented level."

Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43526405

Archived

British prosecutors suspected that China’s fifth most senior official was in receipt of intelligence from Westminster in a controversial and now-abandoned espionage case, the Guardian understands.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in April 2024 that a “senior member of the Chinese Communist party and a politburo member” had received “politically sensitive information” from two British researchers who were charged with spying for China.

That person is understood to be Cai Qi, a member of the standing committee of the CCP politburo. The committee is the ruling body of the CCP and is headed by Xi Jinping, China’s all-powerful leader.

Cai, a Xi protege, is the fifth-ranking member of the seven-man committee, making him one of the most powerful men in China. A former party secretary for Beijing, Cai is also a director of the CCP’s general office, making him de facto chief of staff to Xi.

Last month the CPS dropped the charges against Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash, citing a lack of evidence.

[...]

Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43487984

AFP counted between 7,000 and 8,000 protestors who set off from the city centre at around 2:00 pm local time (1200 GMT).

"I am here today because unfortunately, this demonstration is no longer just about the LGBTQ community but about the restriction of our fundamental human rights," student Bence Toth, 18, told AFP.

"I am not directly involved in any LGBTQ organisations or the community, but many of my students and friends are," teacher and psychologist Edit Sinko, 58, said. "And I don't understand why we should ban them."

The crowd sported colourful flags as well as anti-government signs bearing slogans such as "Hungary is a dictatorship".

Organisers circumvented a ban on pro-LGBTQ protests by declaring the parade's purpose was to draw attention to "the overpopulation of wild animals" and the accidents they cause, Peter Heindl, a lawyer and human rights activist, told AFP.

Police banned the Pecs Pride march on September 6, followed by the Supreme Court on September 15, and participants could face fines.

[...]

More than 200,000 people attended the capital's latest Pride march in June -- also defying a police ban.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony was summoned by the police in August after he authorised the event.

Viktor Orban's ultraconservative government adopted a law banning LGBTQ parades in mid-March.

[...]

Viktor Orban's ultraconservative government adopted a law banning LGBTQ parades in mid-March.

[...]

Several counter-protesters attempted to block the Pecs parade on Saturday but quickly gave up.

Members of the European Parliament including independent Romanian MEP Nicolae Stefanuta and Luxembourg's green MEP Tilly Metz showed up to show solidarity with the LGBTQ community.

Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43463017

There are now almost daily attacks on critical infrastructure. In the same week that drones were spotted over several European airports, a cyberattack against security software used by many of those same hubs, including Berlin Airport, left passengers and personnel scrambling. At the same time, Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail service experienced the latest in a series of high-level sabotage incidents.

Similar cyberattacksare experienced by private companies with increasing regularity — costing the economy €289 billion ($339 billion), according to Bitkom, the umbrella organization for the digital economy in Germany. While about 68% of the time, the perpetrator is thought to be a crime syndicate, half of the survey companies said they could trace at least one attack to Russia. A similar number said they linked the incidents to China.

[...]

Germany's Munich airport has halted flights for the second time in 24 hours, after more unconfirmed drone sightings.

In a statement on Friday evening, the airport said that flights were suspended at 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), with around 6,500 passengers affected.

At least 17 flights were also grounded in Munich on Thursday evening due to multiple drone sightings in nearby airspace.

It's the latest in a series of incidents involving drones that have disrupted aviation in Europe in recent weeks.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43404420

Archived

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While constituting a fraction of total incident volume, their potential for strategic disruption remains a primary concern for the Union, according to the ENISA Threat Landscape report, covering incidents documented between July 2024 and June 2025, to provide actionable intelligence for EU policymakers and defenders.

Key statistics from the analysis reveal a concentrated threat:

• 7.2% of total incidents recorded were identified as cyberespionage campaigns, the primary objective of state-aligned activities.
• 46 distinct state-aligned intrusion sets were observed to be active against targets within the European Union.
• The top five targeted NIS2 sectors were public administration, transport, digital infrastructure, energy, and health, demonstrating a clear focus on sectors vital to national and EU-level functioning.

A persistent challenge in countering these threats is the difficulty of definitive attribution. The source material highlights that "cyberespionage campaigns are typically documented with a delay spanning from 6 months to more than 4 years," meaning defenders operate with a historical, incomplete picture of the threat. This is reflected in a significant attribution gap, with unidentified intrusion sets accounting for 47% of Russia-nexus, 43% of China-nexus, and 36% of DPRK-nexus activities. This gap hinders the development of precise situational awareness and complicates the formulation of effective, tailored defensive strategies.

[...]

Russia-Nexus Adversaries

Intrusion sets aligned with Russia were the most active state-aligned threat actors targeting the EU, conducting sustained cyberespionage campaigns designed to undermine European security and support Moscow's strategic objectives. The most frequently documented groups were APT29, APT28, and Sandworm. Their targeting patterns indicate a concerted intelligence effort to map and disrupt NATO's logistical supply lines to Ukraine and to gauge the political resolve of key Member States like Germany and France.

[...]

China-Nexus Adversaries

China-nexus intrusion sets executed a consistent operational mission to acquire strategic data and intellectual property. This demonstrates a systematic, state-directed campaign of industrial espionage designed to close China's technological gap and erode the EU's competitive advantage in key high-tech sectors. The top five most active groups were UNC5221, Mustang Panda, APT41, Flax Typhoon, and Salt Typhoon.

[...]

DPRK-Nexus Adversaries

DPRK-nexus intrusion sets pursued a dual mission of cyberespionage and illicit revenue generation to fund the regime. The most active groups targeting the EU were Famous Chollima, Lazarus, and Kimsuky. Their campaigns focused on Belgium, Italy, Germany, and France, with a heavy emphasis on private sector organizations in the Human Resources, financial services (including cryptocurrency), and technology sectors.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43400342

Archived

The hacker collective Black Mirror has released the first portion of an archive of documents from the Russian state defense corporation Rostec. The tranche contains more than 300 items. The materials detail Russia’s military and technical cooperation with foreign clients, pricing for military items, and logistics schemes aimed at evading sanctions. The published documents also include internal correspondence, presentations on overseas helicopter service centers, and agreements with international partners.

The files show that Russian companies have faced difficulties receiving payments for contracts with Algeria, Egypt, China, and India. Russian banks have been unable to issue guarantees or conduct transactions through the SWIFT system, forcing them to search for alternative settlement schemes in yuan, rubles, and euros.

The archive also contains information about an international network of service centers for Russian helicopter equipment. The documents describe existing and planned maintenance facilities in the UAE, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and other countries. Particular attention is paid to the creation of an international regional logistics hub in Dubai, near Al Maktoum Airport, designed as a central node for supplying spare parts and components.

Among the materials is a letter from the Rostec holding company Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (CRET) on pricing for military products in export contracts. The document proposes a simplified formula for setting wholesale prices, profit margins, transport expenses, and currency risks. It also discusses possible legal changes to allow more flexible use of revenues from military-technical cooperation.

The hackers said this is only the first portion of the Rostec archive, which they are releasing in what they called “fuck off exposure” mode. Black Mirror claims the documents include a list of “reliable trading partners” in several countries.

[...]

[Edit to insert link without amp.]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43400129

Archived

Spain’s public prosecutor has closed a pretrial investigation into MaxamCorp International S.L. that was opened after a report by The Insider exposed the company’s Russian factories, which continue to produce explosives despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian antiwar activists living in Spain filed a complaint that prompted the probe in June. Three months later, the prosecutor at Spain’s National Court dropped the investigation, despite the factories not halting their operations.

[...]

In the decision declining to press charges [...] the prosecutor, without citing specific sources, said Maxam did not export explosive substances to Russia in 2024-2025 and that in 2024 the company lost control of its Russian subsidiaries.

The Insider asked an independent sanctions-compliance lawyer to comment on the prosecutor’s ruling.

Alex Prezanti, [an independent sanctions-compliance lawyer and] co-executive director of the nonprofit State Capture Accountability Project (SCAP), said the prosecutor examined the evidence selectively:

“In his decision to close the investigation against Maxam International, the Spanish prosecutor appears to have only examined events in 2024-2025 — once Maxam had lost control of its Russian subsidiaries. However, the complaint and the Insider's reporting also allege that Maxam International provided its Russian subsidiaries with materials and intellectual property for the production of explosives between 2022 and 2023.

The reporting also alleges that in 2023, Maxam appears to have accepted dividends on profits accrued by its subsidiaries in Russia from a direct supplier to the Russian military industrial complex. It is therefore unfortunate, in my opinion, that the Spanish prosecutor omitted the events of 2022-2023 from his examination. Whilst I have not seen enough evidence to conclude whether there was criminal conduct, on the face of it these allegations would justify a full investigation to determine whether Maxam International broke the law during the first two years of Russia's full scale invasion.”

[...]

Maxam has operated in Russia since 1999 through four subsidiaries: the management company Maxam Rusia LLC ((ООО «Максам Русия»), along with three explosives plants — “High-Tech Initiation Systems” JSC (AO “VSI”) in the Samara Region, “Eastern Mining Services” LLC (ООО «ИМС») in the northern Murmansk Region, and YUII-Sibir LLC (ООО «ЮИИ-Сибирь») in Krasnoyarsk Krai in central Siberia. The ultimate owner of those firms was Spain’s MaxamCorp International S.L.

All three production sites continued operating after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43399256

Archived

China is curbing the use of European telecom kit suppliers Nokia and Ericsson in its networks as President Xi Jinping pushes to decouple the country’s critical tech infrastructure from the west.

Two people familiar with the matter said Chinese state-backed buyers of IT equipment — which include mobile network operators, utilities and other industries — have begun more closely analysing and policing foreign bids.

That process has required contracts by Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia to be submitted for “black box” national security reviews by the Cyberspace Administration of China where the companies are not told how their gear is assessed.

[...]

“If China is doing this for national security reasons, the question is why Europe does not reciprocate by applying the same standard,” said one of the people, who asked not to be named.

[...]

Beijing’s efforts to phase out European equipment deepened after a 2022 update to the cyber security law, which required operators of “critical information infrastructure” to submit any purchase with potential security risks for review by CAC.

State buyers of telecom equipment now require bidders to include detailed documentation on every component in their systems and the portion of local content, said the people familiar with the process, noting foreign groups were even including the details of Chinese R&D efforts to try to bolster their applications.

[...]

The EU Chamber of Commerce in China recently said the localisation requirements in IT and telecom posed an “existential threat” to the continent’s tech groups. Nearly three quarters of respondents to the chamber’s recent member survey said the restrictions had lost them business.

European policymakers have also voiced security concerns about Chinese telecom vendors, warning of espionage risks and potential backdoor access. But most capitals have been slow to impose bans, deterred by the low cost of Chinese equipment and the desire to avoid provoking Beijing.

Around five years after the European Commission urged member states to bar high-risk suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE, only 10 of the EU’s 27 countries had introduced restrictions as of June 2025, according to regulatory research firm Cullen International.

[...]

Huawei and ZTE have retained 30 to 35 per cent of the European mobile infrastructure market, down only 5 to 10 percentage points from 2020, data from Dell’Oro Group shows.

Germany has 59 per cent of installed 5G gear sourced from Chinese groups, according to John Strand of Strand Consult, even though the country plans to phase out some equipment from high risk Chinese vendors by 2029.

“All the mobile network equipment in Berlin is Chinese,” said Strand. “Germany has big industries like chemicals and cars that don’t want relations with China to be hurt.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43355075

Archived

The European Union plans to hike tariffs on its steel imports to 50%, according to a draft proposal seen by Bloomberg. The move will align the bloc’s rate with the US, which has sought to push back against overcapacity from China.

The EU currently has a temporary mechanism in place to safeguard its steel industry, which imposes a 25% duty on most imports once quotas are exhausted. That mechanism expires next year and the EU has been working to replace it with a more permanent instrument, which it plans to unveil next week.

The European Commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, plans to boost the tariff rate to 50% “to minimize the risk of trade diversion,” according to the draft. The higher rate would apply to imports once a certain quota is reached.

The plans outline quotas for specific product types based on historical averages. The commission is also seeking powers to set out country-specific quotas for the various thresholds.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43354389

Archived

• Australia's A$1.2 billion reserve will provide partner countries priority access to critical minerals.
• The exchange for this access includes joint funding and guaranteed demand from partner countries.
• This is a strategic initiative representing a bold market intervention.
• The goal is to create a more resilient and collaborative international supply chain for critical minerals.

[...]

Australia is taking an unprecedented step to reshape the rare earth supply chain: it plans to sell stakes in a new Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve (opens in a new tab) to allied nations. This initiative, as reported by Reuters – essentially inviting partners like the UK, US, and France to co-invest in Australia’s stockpile of critical minerals – comes as Western governments scramble to end reliance on China for rare earth elements (REEs) and other “minor” but vital metals. Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) has investigated this bold gambit, which could mark a turning point in how the world secures these strategic resources.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43352808

Archived

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized American intelligence agencies to provide Ukraine with targeting data for strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, pipelines and power plants, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous American officials.

The order, which directs the Pentagon and intelligence services to supply the information, came shortly before Trump said that he believed Ukraine could win the war and reclaim all of its territory from Russia, the report said.

Trump has voiced increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin as his efforts to mediate an end to the war have flatlined, and the intelligence-sharing is the latest signal that he is now deepening his support for Kyiv.

Washington has also asked NATO allies to provide Kyiv with similar support, according to the sources.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43308219

Archived

President Nicusor Dan said that Romanian authorities finally have solid proof of Russian involvement in Romania’s cancelled 2024 presidential elections. He also estimated that far-right candidate Călin Georgescu benefited from EUR 20 million in dark money.

Dan argued that authorities did not have proof that Russia interfered through advertising in the electoral campaign until the Prosecutor’s Office report. The latter showed that accounts and companies from Russia were used in the disinformation process.

“We now have proof of the fact that there were several sites that acted so that their advertising would reach a large number of people. Accounts and companies from Russia were used in this disinformation process, and I will inform our partners,” the president also said, cited by News.ro.

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Aside from online disinformation, the president estimated that Călin Georgescu’s electoral campaign could have benefited from funding worth EUR 20 million, although prosecutors have data regarding EUR 1 million paid by businessman Bogdan Peschir. Officially, Georgescu's campaign had declared zero funding for the 2024 presidential campaign.

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Nicusor Dan said he will inform EU partners of the proof of Russian involvement in Romania’s cancelled 2024 presidential elections during the informal meeting of EU leaders in Copenhagen on Wednesday, October 1.

EU and Western allies are also more aware of these destabilizing attempts coming from Moscow, according to the Romanian official. “Russia is waging a hybrid war in Europe, including in Romania, to install friendly governments or amplify fears,” Dan argued.

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