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Morning Headlines
The Insider: Tatjana Zdanoka, a Latvian member of European Parliament, has been an agent of Russian intelligence for at least twenty years, The Insider can reveal, based on emails between Zdanoka and her FSB handlers.
FT: In a document drawn up by EU officials and seen by the Financial Times, Brussels has outlined a strategy to explicitly target Hungary’s economic weaknesses, imperil its currency and drive a collapse in investor confidence in a bid to hurt “jobs and growth” if Budapest refuses to lift its veto against the aid to Kyiv (archive).
CNN: Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is conducting offensive operations along much of the frontline, with Ukraine’s military trying to hold its positions as its ammunition begins to run low and United States funding remains stalled in Congress.
ISW: Kremlin officials and mouthpieces continue to set information conditions to destabilize Moldova, likely as part of efforts to prevent Moldova’s integration into the EU and the West among other objectives.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia has introduced an educational retraining program for Russian military personnel who can no longer participate in the war in Ukraine to transition into roles as school teachers, the National Resistance Center reported.
28.01.2024
Reuters: Moldova's top negotiator in resolving the three-decade-old dispute with its pro-Russian Transdniestria separatist enclave on Sunday ruled out any role for Russia in finding a solution as long as it was engaged in its war in Ukraine.
AFP: US military funding for Ukraine carries a key deterrent message for China, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg argued Sunday at the start of a Washington visit aimed at lobbying Congress to continue funding the war against Russia.
GAU: Ukraine is introducing yet another drone. The German drone manufacturer Quantum-Systems has started the delivery of 100 Trinity drones of various models on schedule.
The Guardian: Ukraine’s SBU security service has arrested five people who allegedly tried to steal nearly $40m that was supposed to be used to buy shells for the country’s military in its war against Russia.
Bloomberg: Members of a self-exiled Russian rock group known for opposing Moscow’s war in Ukraine face possible deportation home after being arrested in Thailand for breaking immigration rules (archive).
Reuters: Mongolian Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene said construction of Russia's planned new Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline to China, which was expected to start this year, may be delayed, the Financial Times reported on Sunday
Reuters: India is seeking to distance itself from its largest arms supplier after Russia's ability to supply munitions and spares was hobbled by the war in Ukraine, but must step carefully to avoid pushing Moscow closer to China, Indian sources said.
BBC News: Beauty giant Avon has come under fire for maintaining links with Russia despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. The BBC has discovered the firm is still recruiting new sales agents in the country and continuing production in a huge plant in the Moscow region.
Reuters: Hungary's far-right Our Homeland party would lay claim to a western region of Ukraine that is home to about 150,000 ethnic Hungarians if Ukraine loses its statehood due to Russia's invasion, the party's leader said late on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian Navy Commander Oleksii Neizhpapa told Sky News that the state of the war would have been very different if allies had not given restrictions to Kyiv on the use of Western weapons.
27.01.2024
Euronews: US President Joe Biden will host German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on 9 February as the West struggles to provide new aid for Ukraine in the war against Russia.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is attempting to deepen its economic and diplomatic ties with China and the Global South to allow it to challenge the international financial system dominated by the U.S. and to undermine the West, the Washington Post reported.
AP News: Officials in Ukraine said Russia has provided no credible evidence to back its claims that their own forces shot down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be swapped for Russian POWs.
Reuters: A young man has died after being detained this month in Russia's Bashkortostan region after it was jolted by a series of rare protests, a rights group said on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine and Lithuania have determined joint steps in scaling up drone production for Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during the press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart, Gabrielius Landsbergis, in Kyiv on Jan. 27.
The Insider has unmasked the GRU officer helping the Kremlin evade sanctions from his base in the heart of Europe. Brussels-based Viktor Labin is helping Russia buy coordinate-measuring machines needed to make missiles for its attacks on Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's military intelligence agency launched a cyberattack against the IPL Consulting company, which provides services to the Russian heavy industry and military-industrial complex, the agency said on Jan. 27.
AP News: The Biden administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Turkish government’s ratification this week of Sweden’s membership in NATO. The move is a significant development in the expansion of the alliance, which has taken on additional importance since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: The Biden Administration is reportedly working on a long-term plan for supporting Kyiv that does not anticipate significant territorial gains by the Ukrainian military from Russia in 2024, the Washington Post reported on Jan. 26, citing unnamed sources. The new plan will seek to de-emphasize winning back territory and instead focus on fending off new Russian advances while strengthening the country's defense and economy.
26.01.2024
The Insider: Despite its publicly pro-Ukrainian position, Taiwan has become Russia’s most important supplier of high-precision metalworking machines.
The Kyiv Independent: The European Union is preparing to rule out a renewal of a deal between Kyiv and Moscow that has allowed Europe to receive Russian gas through Ukraine when it expires at the end of the year, Bloomberg reported.
Reuters: Ukraine has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in a planned "peace summit" of world leaders in Switzerland, a top diplomatic adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as Russia's invasion approaches its second anniversary.
LRT: The heads of the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian customs authorities have agreed on uniform controls in the implementation of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
Reuters: More than a dozen tankers loaded with 10 million barrels of Russia's Sokol grade crude oil have been stranded off the coast of South Korea for weeks, so far unsold due to U.S. sanctions and payment issues.
RFI: Ukraine said Friday that Russia had returned the bodies of 77 soldiers, days after the downing of a Russian military plane threw doubt on the future of such exchanges.
The Local: Germany has uncovered a major "pro-Russian disinformation campaign" using thousands of fake accounts on X to try and stir anger at Berlin's support for Ukraine, a media report said on Friday.
The Kyiv Independent: An international commission is needed to establish the cause of the Russian Il-76 transport plane's crash, but Moscow currently rejects this option, Ukraine's military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov said on air on Jan. 26.
Meduza: Former Russian prisoners who were recruited into the Storm Z unit and sent to fight in Ukraine wrote to Putin on their return, saying that they didn’t receive their promised salaries or compensation for injuries and that their criminal records weren’t expunged.
Bloomberg: European Union leaders are moving toward an agreement next week to transfer some €50 billion in aid to Ukraine, Latvia’s leader said (archive).
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