Russia

Archived

Mounting economic hardship and growing public discontent could push Russia toward internal conflict, a senior Kremlin official has warned.

The stark message comes as inflation, war fatigue, and social divisions deepen across the country.

Alexander Kharichev, head of the Presidential Directorate for Monitoring and Analysing Social Processes, issued the warning in a state-run journal.

[...]

Military over social spending

Rising prices have hit ordinary Russians hard, with food costs climbing well above the national inflation rate. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat, and layoffs and bankruptcies loom large.

Despite the pressure, the Kremlin continues to prioritize military spending over social welfare.

At the same time, Russia’s workforce has been decimated by more than a million war casualties, mostly men of working age, worsening the long-term demographic decline and ageing population.

[...]

Kharichev warned of “fragmentation of society” and the “loss of Russia’s ability to fight for its survival.”

His analysis cited the growing erosion of public trust in government and widening rifts within Russian society.

[...]

Chinese provincial government-backed refiner Yanchang Petroleum is avoiding Russian oil in its latest crude oil tender for deliveries between December and mid-February，two traders with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Yanchang, located in the landlocked northern province of Shaanxi, has been a regular buyer of Russian oil, typically taking in one shipment per month, usually Far East export grade ESPO blend or Sokol, one of the traders said.

[...]

A raft of recent western sanctions on Russian oil shipments, including U.S. measures last month against Moscow's top two exporters, has led China's state oil companies and some Indian refiners to avoid buying Russian oil due to concerns about falling foul of secondary sanctions.

[...]

The members of St. Petersburg group Stoptime have been jailed a second consecutive time for their performances of anti-war songs.

As he appealed his arrest on Saturday, Stoptime drummer Vladislav Leontyev was photographed sitting between two masked police officers — one of whom was wearing a miniskirt and latex go-go boots.

The image quickly went viral, with some saying the image depicts two sides of Russia: the authoritarian state and the younger generations bravely resisting it.

Others compared it to late photographer Dmitry Markov’s iconic 2021 image of a masked security officer sitting in front of Putin’s portrait.

The Moscow Times

Archived

Two Siberian regions have become the 26th and 27th Russian regions to adopt legislation this week banning the “coercion” of pregnant women into terminating a pregnancy amid efforts by conservative figures to expand state pressure to boost birth rates.

The neighboring Kemerovo region and Altai republic adopted laws Monday and Tuesday banning “persuasion, requests, offers, deception, bribery or other actions” aimed at encouraging a woman to have an abortion.

[...]

Officials say the measure is designed to “protect pregnant women in a situation of reproductive choice” and improve demographic trends.

Both laws take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

The initiatives are backed by the pro-life Orthodox-aligned foundation Women for Life, which launched a chatbot encouraging women to report relatives, partners or medical workers who “advised” them to terminate a pregnancy.

[...]

Archived

Russia arrests the [Ukrainian] children’s parents, separates them from their families, and takes the children to Russia, preparing them for forced adoption. During this time, the children remain under the control of the Russian state, often in conditions of confinement. This propaganda might work on the Russian population — it may even be primarily targeted at them. Russia wants to present itself as morally upright, showing that it’s “rescuing” Ukrainian children through these evacuations. But I don’t really see this narrative gaining traction internationally. The real problem is different: on the international level, there is still very little awareness about this practice —especially in certain regions of the world, such as Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia. For many, this is entirely new information.

[...]

Authoritarian leaders tend to support one another situationally because they share a common worldview. They see people as objects to be governed. They deny rights and freedoms not only to others but also to their own citizens.

[...]

Archived

The Russian Central Bank has cut the key interest rate again from 17% to 16.5%, as most experts had predicted. The cut is symbolic: the Central Bank itself doesn’t even hide that it was forced into it. The main question now is whether this is a one-off concession or the regulator finally caved in to government pressure.

For now, it looks more like the first option. But the second cannot be ruled out.

[...]

The Central Bank’s chair, Elvira Nabiullina, said that the board discussed three options: keep it at 17%, cut it by half a percentage point to 16.5%, or cut it by a whole point to 16%. But Nabiullina’s remarks were as contradictory as the press release:

“The situation is developing overall within the bounds of our forecast. Monetary and credit conditions remain tight, which creates prerequisites for lowering inflation. Therefore, we decided to continue easing the policy. At the same time, since the last meeting, substantial inflation risks have materialized.”

Put simply, the Central Bank expected that inflation would resume its rise after the usual seasonal drop in August–September, understood that only tight monetary policy prevents it from running wild, and therefore is easing policy in light of new inflation risks. And Nabiullina, without batting an eye, lists these risks: a widening budget deficit, rising fuel prices, higher taxes.

And she is absolutely right. Moreover, none of these risks can be considered short-lived; there is no understanding of when these risks will not only disappear but also diminish.

[...]

You can’t explain the contradiction between the Central Bank’s words and actions with economic factors. But you can easily explain it politically. The draft federal budget for 2026 and for 2027-2028 clearly shows that revenues have no chance of matching expenditures. Expenditures have been cut to the minimum — the barest social spending so people won’t revolt, investments delayed or reduced. It’s all war, all hardcore — there’s no time for indulgence now.

[...]

As a side note: Russian Central Banker Elvira Nabiullina wanted to resign in early 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Putin rejected Nabiullina’s bid.

Archived

A list of more than 100 servicemen in the Russian army accused of carrying out extrajudicial executions against their own comrades has been published by the independent outlet Verstka. The outlet’s database includes 101 names (archived link to the report in Russian language).

The list features commanders of Russian Armed Forces units as well as the direct perpetrators of the killings. At least five of those named have been awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation.

“‘Nullifiers’ are what we call commanders and soldiers who practice such executions,” Verstka wrote. “This includes not only literal killings — shootings or torturing to death — but also deadly orders, such as sending soldiers into ‘meat assaults’ without weapons, support, or equipment.”

According to the outlet, there are credible accusations of murder involving at least 150 servicemen, but the real numbers are almost certainly much higher. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office has received around 12,000 complaints related to extrajudicial reprisals against military personnel, with a sharp rise starting from the second half of 2023.

The vast majority of the complaints have gone unanswered. According to Verstka, there is an informal ban within the military prosecutor’s office on reviewing complaints against field commanders, and criminal cases are opened only in rare instances. The outlet reports that only 10 criminal cases are known to have been launched and that a mere five “nullifiers” have been convicted.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44795387

Archived

Russia’s economy has proven remarkably resilient, despite years of sanctions and economic statecraft. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t deep cracks in Russia’s unstable economic foundation, with only a thin veneer masking increasingly severe shortages — especially of workers.

Russia is in a desperate labor bind. The country has a shrinking, aging population — a fact it ignores as it sends its young men into the meatgrinder of the war in Ukraine. To generate military manpower, Russia has gotten creative, recruiting criminals out of prisons, North Koreans, and mental health patients. Regardless, the endless need for fresh troops on the front line has taken bodies away from industry just as Russia’s military-industrial needs are expanding rapidly.

Russia now desperately needs to fill jobs on assembly lines that make war materiel, but it has a plan: exploiting the Global South, including its so-called friends.

BRICS members India, Brazil, and South Africa have all been recruitment targets for what appears to be forced labor. Russia issues to their citizens a siren song against which many young women are unable to steel themselves, with devastating results.

For at least two years, Russian company Alabuga Special Economic Zone has been luring young women from developing countries with the promise of good jobs and educational opportunities. When they arrive, they are pressed into drone production. They are made to work with corrosive chemicals for long hours, with restricted communications and few or no rights. The women have faced sexual harassment and seen “deductions” taken from their already meager pay for things like rent.

[...]

Educational institutions in Uganda and Burkina Faso have hosted Alabuga recruitment drives; economy-focused civil society organizations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Madagascar have met with Alabuga officials; and diplomats from African and Latin American states have visited and some have promoted Alabuga sites.

Alabuga SEZ has targeted 84 countries, prioritizing recruitment in Africa and Latin America. Although some countries have called out Russian labor fraud, it has been too little, too late. South Africa’s warning and investigation, which began in August, does little to help women already taken to these sweatshops.

[...]

Archived

Russia will need to bring in millions of qualified foreign workers to keep its economy expanding and achieve at least 3.2% annual growth, a top banking executive and close ally of President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday.

German Gref, head of Sberbank, Russia’s largest private bank, told members of the State Council for Demographic and Family Policy that the country’s future depends on either boosting productivity or expanding its workforce.

“Without economic growth, there will be nothing. We will not be able to solve social problems or any other. We need to grow at a pace that is not below the global average. That means at least 3.2% annually until 2030,” Gref said.

[...]

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has faced severe labor shortages across multiple industries. Hundreds of thousands have joined the armed forces, while many skilled professionals have fled abroad to avoid mobilization.

Generous payments to military volunteers have fueled wage inflation, making it harder for civilian employers to hire. Sberbank expects growth to slow to just 0.8% in 2025, compared with 4.3% last year.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44544691

Archived

Flows of Russian oil to major Indian refiners — a boon for both countries’ economies over the past three years — are expected to fall to near zero after the US imposed sanctions on crude giants Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC.

Senior executives at the processors said the blacklisting of Russia’s largest producers would make it all but impossible for that supply to continue. They asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. Transactions involving the two firms need to be wound down by Nov. 21.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44529566

• Report alleges China and Russia tried to block funding
• China and Russia may gain influence as US retreats, report says
• Chinese mission to UN says resources of human rights have grown
• UN human rights budgets under strain amid funding crisis

A small group of countries led by China and Russia has repeatedly tried to block funding for human rights-related work at the United Nations over a five-year period, according to a report by the non-profit International Service for Human Rights.

The report cited proposals for major cuts to the U.N. Human Rights Office and for the elimination of funding for some U.N. investigations, in what it called a weaponisation of the budget process.

While those attempts, made in closed-door U.N. meetings, did not succeed, the authors voiced concern about them at a time when the United Nations is suffering from a financial crisis and as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump steps back from multilateralism.

"The proposals that China and Russia have put forth are clearly about crippling OHCHR (the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)," said Angeli Datt, one of the authors of the 97-page report titled "Budget Battles at the U.N.".

[...]

Archived

[...]

With the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian educational institutions began receiving hundreds of propaganda manuals from the authorities, says Pavel Talankin, a former social educator at a school in the Chelyabinsk region and co-author of the film Mr. Nobody vs. Putin, which explores the militarization of Russian education.

“The documents came down to us from all sorts of organizations — not just the Education and Enlightenment Ministries, but also the Distance Learning System, the Ministry of Social Relations, and [state youth development watchdog] Rosmolodezh,” Talankin recalls. “About 50 manuals a month. If some agency urgently needed to stage a patriotic event to meet its reporting quota, they made us organize it.”

According to the teacher, his school was one of the “lucky” few where new propaganda techniques were “tested.” Political lessons appeared there even before the nationwide rollout of “Conversations About Important Things.”

Schoolchildren are indeed vulnerable to propaganda, Talankin believes. He recalls a lesson for fourth graders titled “Hero of Today,” which he observed. A special manual had even been developed for the topic. At first, the teacher talked about people who help the elderly cross the street or love animals, but then abruptly switched to speaking about Putin — about his respect for nature and the older generation. At the end of the class, students were asked whom they considered a hero of Russia, and most named the president.

[...]

Archived

“Mother Land, white birch-tree / For me, it’s Holy Rus, for others a splinter,” Tatyana Kurtukova sang from the stage at Moscow’s Poklonnaya Gora, the site of a museum dedicated to the Soviet victory in World War II.

Thousands of voices from the crowd chimed in as she sang the folk-inspired hit “Matushka” a capella.

Kurtukova was performing at a festival marking Moscow’s birthday, where one of the co-headliners was Lyube, the rock band widely believed to be President Vladimir Putin’s favorite.

“People don’t listen to this ironically anymore — they genuinely enjoy it. Everyone is starting to look back at our roots, at Russia’s cultural values,” one woman who attended the concert told The Moscow Times.

“Mostly the younger generation — they’ve begun to identify themselves with Russia and its culture. They’re paying more attention to traditional Russian songs,” she added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Now in the fourth year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Russian authorities appear to be fostering loyalty in more subtle ways — seeking to entertain and appeal to Russians’ cultural roots rather than relying on the overtly militaristic propaganda that dominated the war’s early months.

Experts note that cultural content celebrating collective identity often gains traction during periods of social upheaval and crisis.

“People are tired of this endless, dead-end war and militaristic patriotism has given way to escapism,” music critic Artemy Troitsky told The Moscow Times. “Most people, especially the young, are fed up with war propaganda. Instead, entertainment and nostalgic themes are taking center stage.”

[...]

Archived

Russia’s leading domestic violence support center announced Wednesday it was shutting down over intensifying government pressure and a loss of resources due to its “foreign agent” designation.

Founded in 2015 and formally registered in 2018, Nasiliu.net (“No to Violence”) had been the country’s most prominent organization supporting survivors of domestic violence.

The organization says it has provided direct assistance to more than 10,000 people.

It handled nearly 8,000 individual cases at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022-2023, including legal support, therapy, emergency shelter and online counseling.

“This November, Nasiliu.net would have turned 10. We wanted to mark the anniversary with you to remember everything we’ve done and to gather strength to keep going,” founder and director Anna Rivina wrote in a farewell letter.

“But unfortunately, that’s no longer possible. Nasiliu.net is closing,” she said.

Throughout its existence, Nasiliu.net ran nationwide public-awareness campaigns that brought the issue of domestic violence into the mainstream, developed Russia’s first dedicated mobile app for victims and launched a comprehensive website with resources and legal guidance.

Russia’s Justice Ministry labeled Nasiliu.net a “foreign agent” in December 2020. The ministry also designated Rivina as a “foreign agent” in early 2023, accusing her of distributing “false information” about the Russian military.

[...]

Archived

[...]

On Oct. 16, the Moscow City Court upheld a six-year prison sentence against 20-year-old Yevgenia Lomakova, who was previously convicted of attempting to distribute narcotics. Lomakova suffers from cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disease that affects the respiratory and endocrine systems and is included on the Russian government’s official list of illnesses that prohibit pretrial detention and imprisonment — making both the Oct. 16 ruling and her sentence, issued in June of this year, unlawful.

According to The Insider’s correspondent, who was present in the courtroom, the court left the original verdict unchanged and rejected the appeals from the defense. Lomakova’s lawyers now plan to challenge the ruling in a cassation court.

[...]

Lomakova herself joined the hearing via video link from a pretrial detention center, where she has been held since she was sentenced in June. During the session, she delivered a final statement. It is available in full at the linked report.

I want to draw your attention to the fact that I have had a permanent disability since childhood. I don’t need to have it re-certified, because my disease is chronic and incurable. It can only be managed for a while, to slightly delay death. The end is always the same — a painful death. It happens like this: the lungs gradually stop functioning, and I start suffocating, choking on pus-filled mucus.

To delay that moment and live a bit longer, I take pills to support my liver and kidneys, because these organs suffer the most from the large number of medications I must take. I use a stationary inhaler at least three times a day, undergo intravenous therapy with antibiotics, mucolytics, and bronchodilators, and do breathing exercises to help the mucus clear at least a little ...

[...]

Archived

[...]

Regional budgets collectively ran a deficit of 397.8 billion rubles ($4.93 billion) in the first half of 2025, a figure that ballooned to 724.8 billion ($8.99 billion) by the end of September.

One in three regions saw nominal revenue declines, while inflation-adjusted income fell in 53 of Russia’s 89 federal subjects (including annexed Crimea and the four partially occupied Ukrainian regions). A total of 67 regions ended the first half of the year in the red.

The worst deficits were recorded in the Kemerovo (34% of revenues), Arkhangelsk (31%), Komi (30%), Murmansk (28%), Vologda (25%) and Irkutsk (24.6%) regions, according to economist Natalia Zubarevich.

The Irkutsk region has already begun cutting spending, announcing a 4.9-billion-ruble ($60.76 million) reduction in education and healthcare budgets in September.

Teachers have faced pay cuts in 12 regions, while local authorities in Yaroslavl, Ulyanovsk and Dagestan are considering tax hikes on small businesses to offset deficits.

Lawmakers in the Orenburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk regions have introduced bills to raise vehicle taxes.

“The situation with regional budgets is serious and will only worsen by year’s end,” Zubarevich said, warning that December’s surge in payments for government contracts will deepen the shortfall. The Finance Ministry estimates that regional spending will exceed revenues by 370 billion rubles ($4.59 billion) in December and by another 300 billion ($3.72 billion) next year.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44392730

• European Union energy ministers agreed a joint position on plans to ban all gas supplies from Russia by the end of 2027.
• A qualified majority of officials supported the ban, which starts by prohibiting Russian supplies under existing short-term contracts by mid-June, with an exemption for landlocked countries.
• The EU is pursuing a two-pronged strategy to finally end its addiction to Russian fossil fuels after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

European Union energy ministers agreed a joint position on plans to ban all gas supplies from Russia by the end of 2027, as the bloc looks to definitively end its reliance on energy from Moscow.

A qualified majority of officials meeting in Luxembourg Monday supported the ban, which starts by prohibiting Russian supplies under existing short-term contracts by mid-June, with an exemption for landlocked countries such as Hungary and Slovakia. A prohibition on long-term deals follows 18 months later. Hungary and Slovakia did not support the ban.

The deal on Monday was a procedural step on the RePowerEU regulation, which aims to permanently end Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Negotiations with the European Parliament, which is calling for a faster exit from Russian gas and a halting of oil imports from the start of next year, can now start. The aim is to reach a final deal before the end of the year.

The EU is pursuing a two-pronged strategy to finally end its addiction to Russian fossil fuels after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. The second strand involves a separate proposal to impose sanctions on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas from the start of 2027. It requires unanimity and is still being discussed.

[...]

“This is not just for the present conflict,” Dan Jorgensen, the EU’s energy commissioner, said at the start of the meeting on Monday. “It’s for the future. Never again should we make this mistake.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44334107

Archived

At least 130 people in 12 European countries have been suspected of cooperating with Russia. Poland recorded 47 espionage cases, Estonia 20, Latvia 19, Germany 12 and the United Kingdom 10.

[...]

Europe has ejected close to 700 Russian intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover.

[...]

These assignments can include arson or distributing pro-Russian or provocative leaflets, the agency said.

The largest diplomatic expulsions occurred in Bulgaria (82), followed by Germany (65), Poland (58), Romania (52), Slovakia (39) and the Netherlands and Slovenia (34 each), according to the service.

Recruiters are tapping the internet, social networks, religious communities, sports clubs and mass events to find “single-use” helpers, often for one task or limited information gathering, the agency said.

At least 130 people in 12 European countries have been suspected of cooperating with Russia. Poland recorded 47 espionage cases, Estonia 20, Latvia 19, Germany 12 and the United Kingdom 10, the service said.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44322530

[...]

Today, the Kremlin’s strategy increasingly favours hybrid means – drones, cyberattacks, disinformation, and energy blackmail – over warfare. These are not random provocations, but a coherent campaign of testing.

Each incursion and attack serves a diagnostic purpose: Can Europe detect? Can it coordinate a joint response? Can it enact this response swiftly and efficiently?

As Belgian officials admitted after a recent spate of drone sightings, the continent needs to “act faster” in building air-defence systems. Every such admission emboldens Moscow’s conviction that Europe is unprepared and divided.

Back home, these moments are curated into propaganda clips for state television, where pundits mock European “weakness” and frame the continent’s disarray as validation for the Kremlin’s confrontational stance. This manufactured crisis, in turn, is the latest application of a well-honed strategy.

With regard to the West, the aim is exhaustion, not conquest – a “permanent test” designed to drain resources and unity through constant, low-level pressure.

[...]

In a landscape of heightened tension, even a minor incident – a drone shootdown, a cyberattack gone wrong – could spiral into wider confrontation. A deliberate war between Nato and Russia is still improbable, but no longer unthinkable.

[...]

The Kremlin seeks to force the West to accept a redrawn security order through a blend of coercion, probing, and perpetual testing. The tools may vary – from tanks to drones, from overt invasion to a hybrid war of attrition – but the aim endures: to undermine European unity and restore the sphere of influence lost by Russia in 1991.

Europe’s challenge is equally clear. It has to resist the fatigue of endless crisis and demonstrate that resilience, not fear, defines the continent’s future.

Moscow’s provocations will continue until the costs become prohibitive. Only a unified, prepared Europe can make that happen.

Archived

The fascist gathering was preceded by a massive religious procession in St. Petersburg, led by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Participants included activists from Malofeev’s Tsargrad and Double-Headed Eagle, as well as the Academics Brotherhood and far-right members from at least two foreign groups: Hungary’s 64 Counties Movement (HVIM) and Belgium’s Nation.

The congress at the Mariinsky Palace was opened by Konstantin Malofeyev and far-right ideologue Alexander Dugin. A greeting from Alexander Belsky, speaker of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, was read aloud at the opening, though Belsky himself did not attend. Despite the scale of the event, the first reports of the gathering appeared only on Sept. 22-23, ten days after it had wrapped up. The event’s organizers and participants differed on the key statistics: Malofeev and Double-Headed Eagle claimed delegates came from 15 organizations, while HVIM reported that representatives of 20 groups from 14 countries attended.

At the conclusion of the meeting, delegates announced the creation of the International Sovereigntist League “Paladins” (known in Russian as the “International Anti-Globalist League”). Its declared goals included “defending Christian values and traditional foundations” while opposing migration, globalism, and the so-called “LGBT movement.” The published declaration said members intend to coordinate their actions, exchange political and media experience, and provide mutual support in legal and financial matters.

The name “Paladins” references a group founded in the 1970s by former SS officer Otto Skorzeny and linked to the World Anti-Communist League. Skorzeny’s Paladin Group was a paramilitary organization responsible for kidnappings, assassinations, and a terrorist attack at Rome’s airport that killed 32 people.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43942599

[...]

Sahil Majothi, 22, from the Indian state of Gujarat, went to Russia to study computer engineering two years ago. His mother claims he was falsely accused in a drug case last April.

Mr Majothi joined the Russian army to avoid imprisonment over drug charges, according to a video released by Ukraine's army on Tuesday.

The Indian foreign ministry says it is investigating the case and has not received formal communication from Ukraine.

[...]

• Cutting costs, firms aim to trim work days, not jobs
• Railway, construction, auto and mining sectors affected
• Move highlights pressure on Russia's war economy
• Non-military sectors shrank 5.4% since January

From railways and automobiles to metals, coal, diamonds and cement, some of Russia's biggest industrial companies are putting employees on furlough or cutting staff as the war economy slows, domestic demand stalls and exports dry up.

The efforts to reduce labour costs show the strain on Russia's economy as President Vladimir Putin and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance square off in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two.

[...]

Russia's Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-term Forecasting - an influential research non-profit - said sectors of the economy not connected with the military had contracted by 5.4% since the start of the year. The Center forecasts a major slowdown in GDP growth to 0.7%-1.0% this year.

[...]

Russia's nominal GDP is now $2.2 trillion, about the same level it was in 2013, the year before Russia annexed Crimea.

[...]

Russian Railways, which has 700,000 employees, has asked staff in its central office to take three additional days off per month at their own cost, in addition to normal holidays and non-working days, two sources told Reuters.

[...]

Across plants in the metals, mining, timber and coal industry there have been cuts to the working week, staffing or production, according to industry sources and company statements.

[...]

Signs of stress are appearing in Russian state statistics.

Overdue salary arrears in Russia at the end of August amounted to 1.64 billion rubles, an increase of 1.15 billion rubles, or 3.3 times, compared to the same period last year.

[...]

The current economic strains have already forced the government to intervene across the economy, from shoe manufacturers to coal and metals, offering discounts on rail transport, deferral of taxes and targeted state support.

[...]

In Russia's vast steel industry, too, there are signs of trouble. Russia is considering a moratorium on bankruptcies in the metals industry and a host of other measures, according to a protocol from the government's Financial Stability Commission meeting on August 28.

[...]

Archived

On Oct. 8, the Black Mirror hacker group released the second part of an archive belonging to Russian state-owned defense corporation Rostec. This tranche contains more than 300 documents, including internal memos, contracts, and letters.

Most notably, a document addressed to Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov includes a proposal to establish contacts with “a group of companies from the People’s Republic of China” for the development, production, and supply of electronic warfare (EW) systems.

The document does not name specific companies, but it notes that the group includes a manufacturing enterprise, a logistics firm, an insurance company, and, most notably, a research institute that is involved in developing modern EW technologies.

According to a file that appears to be based on a request from the Russian Defense Ministry, Chinese-made systems were tested during the war in Ukraine. Chinese scientists were also tasked with developing systems capable of detecting drones operating on 4G mobile communication frequencies and countering Starlink systems.

[...]

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.

[...]