NEWSLINK: “At Site of U.K. Poisoning, Doubts About Case Creep In” – New York Times/Ellen Barry
“… along Salisbury’s shopping streets, residents and businesspeople compare notes on the questions that remain unanswered. …”
» Read moreTag: Britain
JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Pushes NATO to Ready More Forces to Deter Russian Threat” – Reuters
“The United States is pressing European allies to ready more NATO battalions, ships and planes for combat … to shore up NATO’s deterrence against a potential Russian attack. … seek[ing] broad agreement for the plan … when … defense ministers meet, laying the ground for endorsement by NATO leaders at a [July] summit …. [envisioning] 30 land battalions, 30 air […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Londongrad oligarchs are being forced back to Russia’s embrace; As sanctions bite, tycoons feel hemmed in by Vladimir Putin’s power” – Financial Times/Max Seddon
“…. once ideal go-betweens between Russia and the west. … [s]uddenly, oligarchs are too Russian for a west eager to clean up its act and too western for a Russia hunting for ‘enemies of the people.’ … the nature of oligarchy … has changed dramatically …. Putin shifted the power dynamic …. under an unwritten rule: they were allowed to […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “The Battle Against Kremlin Propaganda Network RT” – Daily Beast/Jamie Ross
“The Kremlin-funded news channel RT is facing an existential threat in one of its most important target markets. An onslaught of 10 simultaneous investigations into alleged breaches of impartiality laws leave it in serious danger of losing its broadcasting license in the United Kingdom. After years of broadcasting a pro-Russian take on the day’s news to a small but loyal band […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “MI5 chief: Kremlin is ‘chief protagonist’ in campaign to undermine west” – The Guardian (UK)
“Andrew Parker accuses Russian state of interfering in elections, cyber-attacks, disinformation and criminal thuggery ….”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “England fans at World Cup ‘at risk of blackmail from Russian mafia hookers’; There are fears gangsters could threaten to send incriminating pictures to fans’ wives or post them on social media” – The Daily Mirror (UK)/Tom Davidson
“… ‘It’s not just the Russian government we have to be fearful of when it comes to England fans. It is also the Russian mafia who we know exploit sex, and use the internet and dating, to offer women in order to blackmail customers.’ …”
» Read moreMary Dejevsky: “re Gessen’s article [‘The Quiet Americans Behind the U.S.-Russia Imbroglio’]”
Subject: re Gessen’s article Date: Wed, 9 May 2018 From: Mary Dejevsky <marydejevsky@gmail.com> [Mary Dejevsky is a writer and broadcaster. She is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow, Paris and Washington, and a special correspondent in China and many parts of Europe.] Who makes US Russia policy and why is it in such a mess is the question Keith Gessen […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Revealed: UK’s push to strengthen anti-Russia alliance; Exclusive: ministers will use series of summits to pursue containment strategy and urge rethink of diplomatic dialogue” – The Guardian (UK)/Patrick Wintour
“The UK will use a series of international summits this year to call for a comprehensive strategy to combat Russian disinformation and urge a rethink over traditional diplomatic dialogue with Moscow, following the Kremlin’s aggressive campaign of denials over the use of chemical weapons in the UK and Syria. British diplomats plan to use four major summits this year – […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Nobody is safe from Russia’s colossal hacking operation; Russia hackers have targetted ‘millions’ of connected devices in the UK and US. It’s all part of Putin’s grand plan to disrupt the west” – Wired (UK)/Nicole Kobie
“… this week U.S. and U.K. authorities teamed up to issue a joint warning about communications infrastructure, including home-office routers. The rare joint alert noted that routers, switches, firewalls and network intrusion detection systems at government and businesses were the main targets of Russian hackers, but it added that even “small-office/home-office customers” should take more protective action, as should Internet […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Is Russia Sponsoring Terrorism?” – New York Times/Senator Cory Gardner
“… The State Department should consider adding [Russia] to its list of state sponsors of terrorism, alongside its close allies Iran and Syria. … Russia has invaded … Georgia and Ukraine … supports the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad and our enemies in Afghanistan … is engaged in active information warfare against Western democracies, including meddling in the 2016 United […]
» Read moreBritish Media Regulator Probing RT’s Impartiality After Salisbury Poisoning
(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – April 18, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/british-media-regulator-probing-rt-s-impartiality-after-salisbury-poisoning/29174828.html) Britain’s media watchdog has started probing whether Russian news channel RT broke impartiality rules in its programs after a former Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned in the English city of Salisbury last month. Media regulator Ofcom warned on […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Russia World Cup: Kremlin SEX THREAT to England players. GORGEOUS Russian girls will be lined up by Russia to ‘honey-trap’ England players at this summer’s FIFA World Cup, a security expert has claimed.” – The Express (UK)/Joey Millar
NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s Frantic Parade of Lies” – Washington Post Editorial
“Russia longs to be taken seriously in matters of global affairs, but … Putin has demonstrated … disdain for the rules-based post-World War II order. What does Russia want instead? In two recent incidents involving the use of outlawed chemicals[, the assassination attempt on Skripal in Britain and a chemical weapons attack in Syria], Russia’s answer has been a frantic […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Russia Trained ‘Special Units’ on Door Handle Poisonings, U.K. Says” – New York Times/Ellen Barry
“Russia has been researching the application of chemical agents to door handles as a way to assassinate its enemies, and has been training personnel ‘from special units’ to carry out such attacks, said Mark Sedwill, Britain’s national security adviser … in a letter to the secretary general of NATO. … Sedwill’s letter, the most detailed account of British intelligence on […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Why Expelling Russian Diplomats Isn’t Enough” – Atlantic Council/Jakub Janda
“So far, twenty-eight nations have sent home more than 140 Russian diplomats and spies in a coordinated response to the Russian nerve agent assassination attempt in Salisbury, England. Symbolically, this unprecedented expulsion of Russian officials constitutes an important show of unity, but its practical impact in terms of hindering Russian subversion operations is limited. With the exception of the United […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: Interfax: Moscow urges London to explain situation surrounding visa for Victoria Skripal – Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged United Kingdom officials to explain what is happening about the issuing of a visa to Victoria Skripal, cousin of Yulia Skripal, who is undergoing treatment at a Salisbury hospital after being poisoned, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. London’s refusal to comment on the situation is outrageous, Zakharova […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Poisoned Russian Agent Sergei Skripal Is Getting Better Fast, Hospital Says” – Reuters
“Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is no longer in critical condition and his health is improving rapidly more than a month since he [and his daugter were] poisoned with a nerve agent …. Britain said they were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent first developed by the Soviet Union. Russia has denied it had anything to do with the first […]
» Read moreInterfax: Nebenzya: Skripal posed no threat to Russia
NEW YORK (UN). April 6 (Interfax) – Former colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Sergei Skripal posed no threat to Russia, and Moscow had nothing to do with his poisoning, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council. “Clearly, he [Skripal] was no threat to Russia […] We have a number of questions. […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Porton Down experts unable to identify ‘precise source’ of novichok that poisoned spy; The lab’s boss says a ‘state actor’ made the novichok and also rubbishes claims that it could have come from his facility.” – Sky News (UK)/Paul Kelso
“… Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, told Sky News they were not yet able to prove it was made in Russia. … ‘We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify that it was military-grade’ … he confirmed the substance required ‘extremely sophisticated methods to create, something only in […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Was nerve agent spy poisoned by his breakfast? Police quiz daughter’s friend who brought £1 bag of cereal from Russia as a gift” – The Daily Mail (UK)
“Police quiz daughter’s friend who brought £1 bag of cereal from Russia as a gift; Yulia, 33, was asked by Sergei Skripal to bring home his favourite porridge; She forgot and instead asked a friend who was travelling later to buy it instead; Metropolitan Police have questioned the unnamed woman over buckwheat …”
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Poisoned Door Handle Hints at High-Level Plot to Kill Spy, U.K. Officials Say” – New York Times/Ellen Barry, David E. Sanger
“British officials investigating the poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal … former Russian double agent, believe it is likely that an assassin smeared a nerve agent on the door handle at his home. … so risky and sensitive that it is unlikely to have been undertaken without approval from the Kremlin …. Skripal … was freed in a spy swap with […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: Interfax: “UK takes West’s anti-Russian campaign to new level with Skripal case – Zakharova”
[Interfax reports that Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, appearing on Russian television, has accused Britain of using the Skripal case to give a new boost to the anti-Russian campaign:] MOSCOW. March 31 (Interfax) – The United Kingdom has used the Skripal case to give a new boost to the anti-Russian campaign in the West; the absence of information and non-disclosure […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “We must avoid new Cold War: German government’s Russia expert” – Reuters
“Germany wants to keep up a dialogue with Moscow despite joining Western expulsions of Russian diplomats and must avoid a new Cold War, the German government’s coordinator for Russia said …. [EU] member Ireland [and]Moldova … joined the list of countries expelling Russian diplomats over the attack on [Sergei] Skripal, a former double agent. The list includes 22 EU states; […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH VIDEO: “How will the global effort to expel diplomats affect Russia? [with Victoria Nuland and Paul Saunders]” – PBS Newshour
“Sixty Russian diplomats are being kicked out of the U.S. in a bid to punish the Kremlin for an attack on a former Russian spy in the UK. Is that the right response? Nick Schifrin gets reaction from two former State Department officials, Victoria Nuland of the Center for a New American Security and Paul Saunders of the Center for […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Factbox: Diplomatic Moves Against Russia After Nerve Gas Attack” – Reuters
“Following are diplomatic measures announced against #Russia by the United States, Canada, several EU countries and Ukraine in response to the poisoning of a former Russian double agent with military-grade nerve agent in the English town of Salisbury. …”
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Trump Orders Expulsion of 60 Russians Over Poison Attack in Britain” – New York Times/KATIE ROGERS, EILEEN SULLIVAN
“… Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials on Monday, joining a coordinated campaign by two dozen countries to retaliate for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain …. The mass expulsion of Russian personnel stationed in the United States was the largest ever, eclipsing even the darkest days of the global showdown with the Soviet Union. […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Why did Russia poison one of its ex-spies in Britain?” – Washington Post.Maria Snegovaya
“With Putin returning to office after this election, Moscow appears poised to continue disrupting world politics for years to come.”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “MAPPED: Russia’s nuke targets in Britain – is your town safe?” – Daily Star (UK)
“Russia would turn Britain into an uninhabitable wasteland if Vladimir Putin decided to launch a nuclear attack. …”
» Read moreRUSSIALINK Interfax: “Russia ready to probe Skripal’s poisoning together with UK – Nebenzya”
NEW YORK (UN). March 15 (Interfax) – Russia is not involved in the poisoning of former Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom and stands ready to investigate this situation together with the UK, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said. “Russia has nothing to do with this incident. […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Does Putin’s Russia reject the West?” – BBC/Sarah Rainsford
“Amid the furor over a nerve agent spy attack in the UK, Russia is holding a presidential election. … Putin is expected to win yet another term in office. Do ordinary Russians share his outlook? …”
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Russian Spy’s Poisoning: Where Does PM May Go from Here? Russia’s apparent attempt to murder Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom leaves Her Majesty’s Government with no good choices” – David Johnson/The National Interest
“Russia’s apparent attempt to murder Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom leaves … [the UK] with no good choices. Unlike the murder of … Litvinenko … London had no choice but rapidly and publicly to accuse [Russia] of … incompetence in losing control of a nerve agent it invented or attempted murder on British soil. …” British Prime Minister May […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Russian cyber attacks ‘could cripple UK'” – The Daily Mail (UK)
“Intelligence chief warns Kremlin agents have the capacity to shut down power supplies, hijack air traffic control and even disable air conditioning”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Spy chiefs ‘suspect Russia targeted ex-double agent with poison so rare military scientists still don’t know what it is'” – The Mirror (UK)
“A secret military lab in Porton Down has been unable to ‘definitively’ identify the substance – raising fears it could be the heavy metallic chemical Thallium”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Bedroom hackers bigger threat than Russia, regulator says” – Daily Telegraph (UK)/Hayley Dixon
“Government departments should be more worried about teenage bedroom hackers than state-sponsored cyber terrorists, the Information Commissioner has warned. In a speech to the heads of the civil service and other public bodies, Elizabeth Denham said that most breaches are preventable and bosses should consider the reputational damage as well as financial losses. But rather than panicking about rogue states such as […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Steele boasted to friends of his ‘professional’ work on Russia-Trump dossier” – Washington Times/ Rowan Scarborough
“… On Friday, two Republican senators made a criminal referral to the Justice Department. An investigation revealed that … Steele misled the FBI, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The FBI told lawmakers that the bureau had not confirmed the dossier’s core collusion charges since … Steele’s first briefing in […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “The Left’s Fear Of Criticising Russia Is Cowardice; If you can blame everything on one group, you don’t have to ask questions of the other. And that really is the problem when it comes to the left and Russia” – Huffington Post (UK)/ Rabbil Sikdar
NEWSLINK: “Did Russia Meddle in Brexit? A Social Media Study Casts Doubt” – New York Times/ David D. Kirkpatrick
How did 1917 change the west? Failed utopias lead to the death of idealism, and the likes of Putin and Trump are symbols of this process. As we watch Russia struggle with history, the U.S. and U.K. cannot afford to pretend that this history doesn’t affect us too.
(opendemocracy.net – Sam Greene – November 22, 2017) Samuel A. Greene is Reader in Russian Politics and Director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London Revolutions – and their centenaries – are best dealt with in the first person. That, of course, creates a certain awkwardness for an academic, whose stock in trade is meant to be distance from […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier” – Washington Post/ Adam Entous, Devlin Barrett, Rosalind S. Helderman, Julie Tate
“The … Clinton campaign and … Democratic National Committee helped fund research … result[ing] … in a now-famous dossier … alleg[ing] … Trump[] connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin …. [T]he Clinton campaign and the DNC[] retained Fusion GPS [with the help of law firm Perkins Coie] … to conduct the research. … [Fusions GPS] hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British […]
» Read moreRussians Mull Movie Ban On British Farce ‘Death Of Stalin’
(Article ©2017 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW – Sept. 20, 2017 – also appeared at https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-death-stalin-movie-ban-outrage/28747021.html) The Russian Culture Ministry has warned it may ban a British satirical film about Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s death amid an outcry from Communist Party lawmakers who call it the latest example of Western “psychological warfare.” Adapted […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Will the cliche of the ‘Russian baddie’ ever leave our screens? With James Norton starring in McMafia, an upcoming BBC drama about a mob family, the country’s criminal image shows no sign of disappearing” – The Guardian (UK)/ Stuart Jeffries
“… Will McMafia buck or conform to the stereotypes? On the lawn of Munden House, James Norton tells the Guide that he hopes his performance will remind us that Russians are different to what is considered the norm on cinema and TV. He says that one reason he wanted to play Alex, the Anglo-Russian who’s both revolted and seduced by […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Boris Johnson is about to perform a policy U-turn as he becomes the first foreign secretary to visit Russia in five years.” – The Independent (UK)/Mary Dejevsky
“… first … it amounts to an enormous foreign policy U-turn, one of the most definitive by any UK government in many years. Second … it is that rare creature in the currently grim world of diplomacy: a move in the right direction that could play a small part in the making of a better world. This is not, of […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “‘VLAD WILL SMASH BRITAIN IN ONE DAY!’; Russians plot to turn UK into Siberian-style labour camp over claims Putin could defeat British Army ‘in a single afternoon’; Report slating the state of the army was met with glee in Moscow and by Russian internet users” – The Sun (UK)/WILL STEWART
“A report claiming Russia could wipe out the British Army in one day was met with glee in Moscow – with some Russians admitting they want to turn Britain into a giant gulag. … * * * A paper by the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR) … at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, warned that severe […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Foes of Russia Say Child Pornography Is Planted to Ruin Them” – New York Times/Andrew Higgins
“… steeled by a dozen years in the Soviet gulag, decades of sparring with the KGB. and a bout of near fatal heart disease … Bukovsky, a tireless opponent of Soviet leaders and … Putin of Russia, is not a man easily put off his stride. But he got knocked sideways when British police officers … informed him that they […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Soviet dissident had thousands of child abuse images, UK court told; Vladimir Bukovsky downloaded indecent images and films over 15-year period, Cambridge crown court hears” – The Guardian (UK)/Luke Harding
“… Bukovsky, 73, is charged with 10 counts of making and possessing indecent photos and one count of possessing an indecent computer-generated graphic. He denies all charges. * * * Bukovsky has been a longstanding opponent of Soviet and Russian power. He began his struggle against the Soviet regime in the early 1960s. Soviet authorities eventually kicked him out of […]
» Read moreRussian Central Bank Chief Nabiullina Named European Banker of the Year
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 4, 2017) The British finance journal The Banker has named Russian Central Bank Head Elvira Nabiullina as the European Central Bank Chairman of the year. The journal highlighted Nabiullina’s success in controlling Russia’s inflation rate. “The efforts of the Central Bank head has led to the fact that the rate of inflation by the […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Kremlin-Backed Broadcaster RT Says Loses UK Banking Services” – Reuters
Russia accused Britain of political censorship … after a British state-owned bank withdrew its services from Kremlin-backed Russian broadcaster RT. … A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May distanced the British government from the row, saying it was up to NatWest who it offered services to based on its own appetite for risk. … British broadcast regulator Ofcom has ruled […]
» Read morePutin Making the Same Mistake Hitler Did, Piontkovsky Says
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 4, 2016) After meeting with the leaders of Britain and France, Adolf Hitler concluded that he was dealing with non-entities and that he couldn’t possibly lose a war against them, forgetting not only that these countries could and would change leaders but also that the outcome of conflicts reflects not just […]
» Read moreDespite Putin Jibes, Russia Places Hope In ‘Brexiteer’ Boris Johnson
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, July 14, 2016) In a single sentence, he once called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “manipulative tyrant” and likened him to the big-eared, bug-eyed “house elf” from the Harry Potter series. But the surprise appointment of Boris Johnson to head the British Foreign Office is being cautiously welcomed by Moscow — and […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: Ukraine’s Poroshenko: “‘We believe in Europe’; Memories of war and oppression are short in the EU, as Brexit shows. Not in Ukraine.” – Petro Poroshenko/Politico.eu
Writing in Politio.eu, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addresses the UK’s exit from the EU and Ukraine’s professed ongoing commitment to European unity. These aren’t the easiest days for a united Europe. Both Eastern and Western Europe are suffering from Brexit fever. The destiny of those who want to be out has been decided – just like the destiny of those […]
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