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Morning Headlines
AP News: International Olympic officials have told counterparts in the United States that their figure skating team will receive Olympic gold medals now that Russian skater Kamila Valieva has been disqualified for doping at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
Bloomberg: Russia, in a new push to expand its influence in Africa, is recruiting for an armed force to replace the Wagner group’s mercenaries across the continent (archive).
BBC News: After months of fierce fighting, small groups of Russian troops have reached the heavily damaged eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and are trying to gain a foothold there.
ISW: Russia appears to be fueling and seizing on neo-imperialist and nationalist sentiments in Europe in order to drive wedges between Ukraine and its western neighbors.
More News
FT: EU member countries have backed a plan to set aside billions of euros of profits arising from the freezing of assets of Russia’s central bank in a first step towards their possible use for Ukraine’s reconstruction (archive).
POLITICO: The European Parliament on Monday launched an investigation into allegations that Tatjana Ždanoka, a Latvian member of the EU legislature, has been working as a Russian spy for years.
AFP: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday issued a dire warning that Ukraine's territorial gains against Russia were at risk without new aid approved by Congress.
AP News: A years-long diplomatic conflict between Ukraine and Hungary took a step toward resolution on Monday during a meeting of their foreign ministers, but no breakthrough was reached on Hungary’s blocking of a crucial European Union financial aid package for Kyiv.
The Moscow Times: Putin is believed to own a highly-guarded residence near Russia's border with Finland, the investigative outlet Dossier Center reported Monday.
POLITICO: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday kicked off a critical trip to the U.S., where he’ll meet with Biden administration officials, lawmakers and allies of former President Donald Trump in a high-stakes bid to unlock $60 billion in funding for Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: The Netherlands has allocated €122 million to support Ukraine's ammunition supply, equipment, and cybersecurity, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced on Jan. 29.
Public broadcasting of Latvia: The ruling coalition has agreed to ban imports of Russian and Belarusian grain into Latvia, Latvian Television reports January 29.
Reuters: British foreign minister David Cameron on Monday called on Moscow to provide Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza's lawyers with his whereabouts, following reports he had been moved from a Siberian penal colony to an unknown location.
NY Times: Amid crumbling U.S. support for Ukraine and Donald Trump’s rising candidacy, European nations and NATO are making plans to take on Russia by themselves (archive).
AP News: The leaders of Russia and Belarus met Monday to discuss ways to further expand their close alliance that has seen the deployment of some of Russia’s nuclear weapons on the territory of its neighbor.
The Moscow Times: Authorities in three regions in northwestern Russia have turned off internet access at night to improve anti-drone technology, the business newspaper Kommersant reported Monday, citing three anonymous sources with Russia’s telecom operators.
Kyiv Post: An engineer employed at a Russian defense plant has reportedly taken his own life after a missile which he was involved in creating struck an apartment building in Kharkiv and killed his grandmother.
Reuters: Slovakia wants to discuss buying a Patriot missile defence system from the United States as part of longer-term plans to defend its airspace, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said.
Bloomberg: Russia is considering an indefinite extension of wartime capital controls introduced to ease pressure on the ruble, despite objections from the central bank, people familiar with the discussions said (archive).
Reuters: Putin has signed a decree to allow organisations the authorities deem economically significant to avoid disclosing information about their activities as Moscow seeks to limit its exposure to Western sanctions.
CNN: Russia has adapted to the wide range of sanctions imposed by Western nations. Far from buckling under their weight, the Russian economy is in fact 1% larger than it was on the eve of the invasion. But the longer-term outlook is far less rosy. War is distorting the economy and sucking resources into military production at an unsustainable pace.
Reuters: The United Nations' highest court will rule on Friday whether it will hear a case in which Ukraine has accused Russia of violating international law by saying its invasion was launched to stop an alleged genocide.
The Kyiv Independent: NATO should be prepared for the prospect of Russian missile strikes in Europe in the event of an all-out war with Russia, said Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, a commander of NATO's military logistics center in Germany in an interview with The Times published on Jan. 28.
worth mentioning
New anti-Ukraine disinfo campaign aims to bog down Western media
Is China sincere about peace in Ukraine?
EU sanctions Russia’s chief denunciator Mizulina over free speech abuses
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