Jun 23 Buonasera Mag
Day 120 of War: Ukraine EU candidate status, Moldova, Georgia, nuclear plant workers abducted, Himars, Zimin, Brics, Norway, telecoms, gas, Russia's oligarchs flee, Londongrad
I literally cried when this happened. I’m thinking of my friends in Ukraine who have fought for this since 2004 and who died on the Maidan and are dying today standing up for democracy and for all our values. Chapeau!
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing Ukraine up-date page along with news from around the globe. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
The mayor of Enerhodar, a city in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, has said that locals, including workers at the nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, are being abducted by Russian occupiers.
Three cruise missiles hit Mykolaiv today, while air defences shot down another two missiles near Odesa, the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement.
Mayor Vadim Boychenko of Mariupol said during a briefing that at least 22,000 people have died in the city since the beginning of the war.
US donations of its new “Himars” multiple launch rocket system, or MLRS, have arrived in Ukraine.
Russian and Russian-backed forces in the Donetsk region of Ukraine have suffered heavy casualties, according to UK intelligence officials. They estimate the Donetsk militia alone has lost 55% of its original force.
A television tower in Donetsk has been badly damaged by shelling and broadcasting has been interrupted, Russian state media cited the local Donetsk news agency as saying.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its staff has seen evidence of a “shocking level” of “indiscriminate violence” being inflicted on civilians in Ukraine.
Former Putin bodyguard Vadim Zimin, who carried his nuclear briefcase tried to commit suicide. The retired colonel in the Federal Security Service, was found in his house with a gunshot wound. The Russians have released news items saying he was wanted for ‘corruption’. LoL.
Putin at BRICS: “Only on the basis of honest and mutually beneficial cooperation can we look for ways out of the crisis situation that has developed in the world economy due to the ill-conceived, selfish actions of individual states, which, using financial mechanisms, in fact, spread their own mistakes in macroeconomic policy to the whole world.” The Brics group of economies is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Norway and the European Commission will “step up cooperation in order to ensure additional short-term and long-term gas supplies from Norway,” they said in a statement, after EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans and Norway’s energy minister Terje Aasland met in Brussels.
Telecoms equipment maker Cisco will wind down its business in Russia and Belarus. The US company stopped business operations, including sales and services, in the region in March.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has accused Putin of “wholly immoral” behaviour, saying the Russian president has “weaponised” food, energy and migration as part of his war effort.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would reiterate, together with his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi, the need for an EU-wide cap on the wholesale price of gas, he said on his arrival at the European Council summit.
Jonah Fisher, Europe told to prepare for Russia turning off gas
The head of the International Energy Agency has warned that Russia may stop supplying gas to Europe this winter.
Fatih Birol says he believes a complete shutdown is not the most likely scenario but that Europe needs to work on contingency plans just in case.
The Truth behind the Myth of Russia ‘Threatened’ by NATO
Facts give the lie to Russia’s claim to be defending itself against an expansionist NATO. Moscow has always been the biggest threat to its neighbours, to freedom and to the whole of humanity.
The regime of Vladimir Putin spends more than $300 million annually on disseminating its propaganda and disinformation in various languages around the world, an effort that is central to Russia’s hybrid war against the West.
NYT, The New Geography of the Russian Elite
By May, a new geography of the Russian elite had taken shape, data on nearly 2,000 flights analyzed by The New York Times shows. That world has one clear center: Dubai. Departures from Russia, Apr. 22 to May 8. They call it “Dubaisk.”
After the Russian invasion, the threat of closing borders, international sanctions and imprisonment drove tens of thousands to flee Russia. Journalists, activists and tech workers flocked to Armenia, Georgia and Turkey — relatively affordable, nearby countries that allow Russians to enter without visas. In Europe, countries like Germany and Latvia took in Russians fearing persecution at home.
Tortoise, Episode 6: Lord of the spies
Londongrad's finale – reveals the Met Police supplied the House of Lords Appointments Commission with information about Evgeny Lebedev that it got from the security services. And it shows the Lebedevs may be running out of cash...
Carole Cadwalladr, Arron Banks almost crushed me in court. Instead, my quest for the facts was vindicated
Last week, after a nearly six-month wait, I learned that I’d won the libel claim brought against me by Arron Banks, the main funder of the Leave.EU campaign. It has been a long, brutal haul and the stress over the three years since it began has been extreme. I’m not so much relieved as completely numb.
Programming Note:
On EuroFile@6 this evening we were joined by Dr Benjamin Schmitt (CEPA) on energy and what needs to be done to stop Putin’s war machine, along with Alisa Muzerguez, EU Neighbourhood Policy and Ukrainian EU policy implementation.
🕊 Maks