Apr 29 Buongiorno! Up-date
Buongiorno….
This is a quick catch-up with some overnight news. I’ll be meeting with my Uni students in a few minutes, but wanted to reach out with some stories.
Thanks to all those who came along to our EuroFile@6 Spaces yesterday evening. Our guests Ivana Stradner (AEI) and Natia Seskuria (RUSI) walked us through the security issues in the Balkans, Transnistria, and Georgia. We also touched on UN Sec General Guterres’s visit to Moscow as well as Russian disinformation campaigns in Italy and France.
I’ll be posting the recording once it’s available for those who missed it.
Catching up…
Kyiv was hit by Russian rockets yesterday evening. Mayor Vitali Klitschko the city's Shevchenkivskyi district was hit twice. Casaulties unclear. UN Sec Gen Guterres and Bulgarian PM Kiril Petkov as well.
MoD Reznikov: “While the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting Kyiv, a permanent member of the UN Security Council - Russia - is launching missile strikes on the city. This is an attack on the security of the Secretary General and on world security!”
Kyiv Independent - Moldova to join EU sanctions on Russia, provide aid to Ukraine. Advisor to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry Anton Herashchenko said on April 28 that Moldovan President Maia Sandu has decided to provide Ukraine with humanitarian aid and sappers to demine liberated settlements.
Ivana Stradner: Montenegro has a new government. Russia has been destabilizing Montenegro (a NATO member state) via Russia’s proxy but it will be more difficult to do it as of today. See how Russia uses the Church to destabilize the Balkans.
US House of Representatives passes the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 by a vote of 417-10.
Biden's proposals also will extend the statute of limitations to 10 years for the prosecutions of foreign money laundering crimes, giving U.S. investigators more time to follow the money & pursue complicated cases in which oligarchs transfer wealth across multiple jurisdictions..
Possible scams underway? We’re following this story.
And this one…the fires continue in Russia…
Belarus- we can’t forget them…
Via the BBC: Around 8,000 British Army troops will join a series of exercises across Europe this summer, in one of the largest deployments since the Cold War. The Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described the move as "a show of solidarity and strength" that will "deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century".
I’ve yet to listen to Foreign Sec Liz Truss’s speech, and will comment on it once I have. I’ll leave this here for anyone who would like to have a go at it.
Kyiv Independent - EU: Russian demands for gas payment in rubles ‘breach’ of sanctions. The Financial Times reported, citing sources with knowledge of the preparations, that gas distributors in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia were planning to comply with Russia’s demands.
Campaign update…
Journalists and activists from a few quarters are now starting to question the presence of ‘Russian experts’ invited to participate in Italian political talk show.
After Dugin, Zakharova, Fridrikhson, Khrusheva, and a slew of Italian ‘opinionists’ touting Russian talking points, we were all left scratching our heads in dismay. This has prompted MP Andrea Romano to file for a joint audience with COPASIR (Joint Parliamentary Security Committee) and the AGCom (state communications regulator) to look into the matter.
Julia Davis: “Russian TV keeps threatening nuclear strikes against Western nations, desperately trying to deter them from continuing to help Ukraine. On a side note, this is the first state TV host who doesn't seem to be eager to die for the Motherland, arguing with a trigger-happy lawmaker.”
I’m signing off for now…thanks for reading…
Mo