Russia

‘Wholly unremarkable’: the suburban couple in Sweden accused of spying for Russia

For the leafy Stockholm suburb of Nacka, it was a rude, pre-dawn awakening: wailing sirens, two Black Hawk helicopters clattering overhead and special forces in combat gear fast-roping through the windows of an imposing white villa – all at 6.01am.

The raid late last month by Sweden’s security service, police elite units and army, lasting little over a minute, targeted a Russian couple suspected of carrying out “illegal intelligence activities” against Sweden and the US for more than a decade.

It took place just days before the trial began in Stockholm of two Swedish brothers arrested last autumn and accused of selling secrets to Russia’s intelligence services.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Sweden

Putin Wants Fealty, and He’s Found It in Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic — In early March, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its third week, a Russian diplomat nearly 3,000 miles away in the Central African Republic paid an unusual visit to the head of this country’s top court. His message was blunt: The country’s pro-Kremlin president must remain in office, indefinitely.

To do this, the diplomat, Yevgeny Migunov, the second secretary at the Russian Embassy, argued that the court should abolish the constitutional restriction limiting a president to two terms. He insisted that President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who is in his second term and surrounds himself with Russian mercenaries, should stay on, for the good of the country.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAfrica, Russia

Germany arrests intelligence employee suspected of sharing secrets with Russia

German authorities said on Thursday they had arrested an employee of the foreign intelligence service BND, on suspicion of the person sharing state secrets with Russia this year and thereby committing treason.

Police arrested the suspect, a German citizen identified as Carsten L, on Wednesday, in Berlin, the federal prosecutors office said, adding that the police also raided his flat and workplace as well as those of another person.

“The accused is suspected of state treason,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. “In 2022, he shared information that he came by in the course of his work with a Russian intelligence agency. The content is considered a state secret.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inEspionage, Germany, Russia

‘Santa Putin’ swaps child’s same-sex parents for a mother and father and gives a football, toy cars and a drum kit to boy being raised as a girl in anti-West propaganda video

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been portrayed as Santa in an anti-Western propaganda video released on the country’s social media.

The film – made by a production company called Signal – depicts ‘Santa Putin’ swapping a photograph of a child’s same-sex parents for one of a mother and father, and gifting the boy being raised as a girl a football, toy cars and a drum kit.

The video feeds into Russian prejudices about Europe and the United States which have been fuelled by pro-Kremlin propagandists during the war in Ukraine to frame the conflict as a clash of values between Russia and Ukraine’s western allies.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, WTF?

Moscow accuses Ottawa of leading effort to undermine soldiers, summons ambassador – Cites destruction of CAF as proof of expertise

OTTAWA — Russia’s ambassador to Canada says Ottawa is at the vanguard of a social media effort he argues is meant to demoralize Russian soldiers.

In an interview with Russian state media, Oleg Stepanov chided Canada’s foreign affairs department for frequently posting unflattering information about the war in Ukraine, particularly recent tweets about Russian men fleeing a military draft.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Russia, WTF?

US charges seven with military technology plot on Russian orders

The US has charged five Russians and two Americans with conspiracy related to procurement and money laundering on behalf of the government in Moscow.

The justice department said they were suspected of trying to obtain military-grade and dual-use technologies from US firms for Russia’s defence sector.

They are also believed to have conspired to smuggle sniper ammunition in violation of US sanctions.

One of the Russians is thought to be a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, USA

‘Alarming escalation’ of espionage, foreign interference in Canada since pandemic: CSIS

OTTAWA — Canada’s spy agency has noted an “alarming escalation” of espionage and foreign interference since the beginning of the pandemic, with countries like China threatening or intimidating people in Canada into namely supporting a specific electoral candidate.

“These activities are real, they’re persistent, they’re increasing, and it’s not hypothetical, we see it everyday in our work. And these activities will be targeting all level of governments, whether it’s federal, municipal, provincial,” veteran CSIS intelligence analyst Noura Hayek told attendees of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws conference Monday.

Can’t they identify the perps?

Can’t they deport them?

Why do CSIS’ hands seem to be tied?

Or is Canada’s China class preventing that action be taken?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada's China Class", "China - Communist Slave State", Canada, Canada's Corporate Welfare Class, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Canada's Corrupt Political Class, Russia

License to kill: How Europe lets Iran and Russia get away with murder

BERLIN — On a balmy September evening last year, an Azeri man carrying a Russian passport crossed the border from northern Cyprus into southern Cyprus. He traveled light: a pistol, a handful of bullets and a silencer.

It was going to be the perfect hit job.

Then, just as the man was about to step into a rental car and carry out his mission — which prosecutors say was to gun down five Jewish businessmen, including an Israeli billionaire — the police surrounded him.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inEurope, Iran, Russia

Russkies Whack ‘Race-Baiting’ Pope Francis

Perhaps they’re most upset that in a remarkable new interview the pope still wouldn’t mention Vladimir Putin by name.

Pope Francis has walked on eggshells to avoid the wrath of Vladimir Putin and, likewise, of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long presented an altogether intractable if not impossible set of challenges for the Roman Catholic Church, recently rearing its ugly head yet again in the Ukraine war (that’s a separate column altogether). Francis has repeatedly and delicately prayed for the people of Ukraine and of Russia, each step of the way carefully avoiding poking a stick at the bear in the living room: Vladimir Putin.

That appears to have changed.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inPope Francis, Russia

The Russian-Turkish Bond to Harm the West

If they had met as presidents of other countries, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin would probably have hated each other. Historically, Turkish Islamists have hated both Tsarist and Soviet Russia. Similarly, Russians have never been fond of the Turks. Today, however, Erdogan, with a foot in NATO, is exhibiting a pro-Russian tilt never seen before. What is the secret of this ostensible marriage?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Turkey

MH17: Three guilty as court finds Russia-controlled group downed airliner

A Dutch court has found three men guilty of murder for shooting down a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 people.

The court found that a Russian-made missile supplied from Russia and fired by an armed group under Russian control brought down flight MH17.

The men – two Russians and one Ukrainian – were found guilty in absentia and sentenced to life in jail. A third Russian was acquitted.

The missile attack was one of the most notorious war crimes in Ukraine before allegations of atrocities there became an almost daily reality.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia

Russia bans 100 Canadians including Margaret Atwood, Jim Carrey

MOSCOW – Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday that 100 Canadians have been added to the list of people banned from entering the country in response to sanctions against Russia by Canada.

A ministry statement said author Margaret Atwood, actor Jim Carrey and Amy Knight, a noted historian of the KGB, were on the banned list.

Lucky Buggers!

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Russia, WTF?

The tragedy of Russia

Russia was not always destined to be so bitterly opposed to the West.

Russia draws little sympathy these days, and quite right, too. It launched a misguided and ill-prepared war, which has already devastated many Ukrainian cities and cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives.

Russia, too, is paying a price, though perhaps not yet as high a price as Ukraine and its Western allies might hope. It has likely suffered more casualties than Ukraine. It has lost many of its best-educated young people to exile, and seen its post-imperial weakness mercilessly exposed. But there is another dimension to Russia’s tragedy that is less obvious, but which may become clearer over time.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia