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Morning Headlines
Reuters: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Tuesday its board has approved a 4 billion euro capital increase that will enable the bank to double its Ukraine investments once reconstruction there begins.
AP News: President Joe Biden’s push to have Congress replenish wartime aid for Ukraine as part of a deal on border and immigration policy changes will almost certainly drag into next year.
WSJ: The Russian government and its proxies attempted to denigrate the Democratic Party and undermine voter confidence ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, an operation that most likely sought to weaken U.S. support for Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies said.
ISW: A combination of artillery ammunition shortages and delays in the provision of Western security assistance is likely causing Ukrainian forces to husband materiel and may delay future Ukrainian counteroffensive operations.
AP News: The Western powers in the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran accused Tehran on Monday of developing and testing ballistic missiles, transferring hundreds of drones to Russia, and enriching uranium to an unprecedented 60% level for a country without a nuclear weapons program — all in violation of a U.N. resolution endorsing the deal.
Reuters: Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Monday that Moldova needed an upgraded anti-aircraft defence system to counter threats from Russia heightened by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, its eastern neighbour.
The Guardian: A Russian banker who has been placed under sanctions sold more than £15m of shares in a cryptocurrency firm chaired by the UK's former chancellor Philip Hammond in a transaction that experts say could have attracted scrutiny from US sanctions enforcers.
More News
Reuters: More than 40 former top U.S. and NATO diplomats and defense officials on Monday urged Congress to approve new aid for Ukraine, warning that losing its war with Russia would be disastrous for Ukraine and threaten the security of the United States and its allies.
AP News: The European Union said Monday that it has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine, targeting the lucrative diamonds industry, more than 140 officials and organizations, and closing loopholes that Moscow has used to bypass previous punitive measures.
Reuters: The United States will push shippers to disclose more information about their Russian oil dealings in a bid to enforce sanctions, U.S. officials said on Monday, while acknowledging that a big chunk of the trade has already escaped Western oversight after Russia built a parallel fleet.
CBS News: As the war in Ukraine approaches its two-year mark, some of the attention of U.S. officials and their NATO allies has been pulled toward another pressing issue: Russia's military buildup in the Arctic Circle. The expansion includes the recent unveiling of two nuclear submarines by Putin, signaling a major strategic shift in the region.
The Defense Post: Denmark will contribute financially to Sweden’s donation to Ukraine of CV90 infantry fighting vehicles as well as the production of new vehicles for Kyiv’s fight against Russia, for a total of 1.8 billion Danish kroner ($264 million), it said on Monday.
RFE/RL: Putin signed a decree on December 18 simplifying naturalization of Belarusian, Kazakh, and Moldovan citizens.
AFP: Putin on Monday urged traditionally male professions to employ more women, to reduce major labour shortages exacerbated by thousands of soldiers being called up to fight in Ukraine.
The Insider: Almost one in ten cases of trade-based money laundering from Russia over the past ten years has involved companies from the UK, according to a recent study by Transparency International-Russia.
A UN expert raised her concerns with the Russian authorities on Friday about the enforced disappearance of prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, whose whereabouts and wellbeing have been unknown for over 10 days, including his failure to appear at a scheduled court hearing last Friday.
POLITICO: European leaders will reconvene for a special summit in Brussels on February 1, 2024 to discuss new financial aid to Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel announced Monday.
The Moscow Times: “Let us live in peace! Or go to the front line yourself and die there,” the group of soldiers' relatives told Putin in a message shared on Telegram.
Meduza: Some European officials are considering invoking Article 7 of the E.U. Treaty against Hungary, which could lead to the suspension of Budapest’s voting rights, to pass a new 50-billion-euro aid package for Ukraine, The Financial Times reported on Monday.
POLITICO: Bulgarian lawmakers on Monday voted in favor of scrapping an exemption to EU sanctions six months early amid outcry that the measure is raising millions for Putin's war effort in Ukraine.
BBC News: Ukraine has warned it is already being forced to downsize some military operations because of a drop-off in foreign aid.
Bloomberg: The Pentagon said it will run out of money to replace weapons sent to Ukraine by Dec. 30 unless Congress approves new funding, for the first time giving a precise date for when it will have exhausted its cash.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia has "nationalized" properties that belong to 77 individuals and companies in occupied Crimea because of their owners' supposed "anti-Russian activities," Russian-installed official Vladimir Konstantinov wrote on Dec. 18.
Reuters: A permanent German brigade of about 4,800 soldiers in Lithuania, on the Russian border, will be combat-ready in 2027, defence ministers of both NATO members said on Monday after signing an agreement on German troops' first permanent foreign deployment since World War Two.
Meduza: Russians who fled to Serbia to escape the war against Ukraine now find themselves persecuted by local police and hunted by Moscow’s intelligence community.
The Kyiv Independent: Latvia is considering expelling more than 1,000 Russians for failing to comply with the necessary steps to extend their temporary residence permit, Latvian news outlet Delfi reported.
worth mentioning
Erdogan, Orban pledge deeper ties in Budapest
Russia adds writer Boris Akunin to terrorist list over criticism of war
Turkey saves $2 billion on Russian oil as imports soar despite sanctions
Bulgaria to end Russian oil imports from March
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