Ukraine strategic attacks are forcing Russian forces to defend their supply lines, says UK, amid reports Moscow has forcibly removed more than 400,000 civilians to Russia
Continue reading...Category Archives: Russia
US charges four Russian hackers over cyber-attacks on global energy sector
Quartet accused in two major hacking campaigns between 2012 and 2018, indictment unsealed by justice department reads
The US has unveiled criminal charges against four Russian government officials, saying they engaged in two major hacking campaigns between 2012 and 2018 that targeted the global energy sector and affected thousands of computers across 135 countries.
In one now-unsealed indictment from August 2021, the justice department said three alleged hackers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) carried out cyber-attacks on the computer networks of oil and gas firms, nuclear power plants, and utility and power transmission companies across the world between 2012 and 2017.
Continue reading...Ukraine uses facial recognition software to identify Russian soldiers killed in combat
The defense ministry began using technology from Clearview AI which scrapes images on the web to match uploaded photos
Ukraine is using facial recognition software to help identify the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in combat and track down their families to inform them of their deaths, Ukraine’s vice-prime minister told the Reuters news service.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice-prime minister who also runs the ministry of digital transformation, told Reuters his country had been using software facial recognition provider Clearview AI to find the social media accounts of dead Russian soldiers.
Continue reading...EU leaders wrangle with issue of oil and gas imports from Russia at summit
Poland and Baltic states seek embargo, while other countries including Germany and Belgium want gradual measures
European Union leaders have laid bare their differences over whether to stop buying oil and gas from Russia, following a show of transatlantic unity in a series of summits with Joe Biden and an impassioned appeal by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for more military aid to defend his country.
In the third summit on a hectic day of diplomacy that began with an emergency meeting of Nato leaders, followed by the G7, EU leaders met the US president to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Continue reading...Trump sues Hillary Clinton, alleging ‘plot’ to rig 2016 election against him
Clinton, James Comey and others accused of orchestrating Russia conspiracy that makes Watergate ‘pale in comparison’
Donald Trump has sued Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and other people and entities tied to the investigation of Russian election interference in 2016, claiming that in a bid to rig the election they orchestrated a conspiracy which made Watergate “pale in comparison”.
The suit came a day after the release of a letter from a prosecutor in New York who said he believed Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations” in his business affairs, despite the district attorney in Manhattan choosing not to indict.
Continue reading...Mitch McConnell says he will not support Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination – as it happened
- Senate Republican leader says he will not back Biden’s nominee
- Biden hints he may meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy
- Trump sues Hillary Clinton and others over accusations of collusion
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the new sanctions on members of the Russian Duma would punish lawmakers who have “supported the Kremlin’s violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
“President Putin’s war continues to inflict horror and widespread suffering on the people of Ukraine,” Blinken said in a statement.
Continue reading...Russian troops blocking Sumy and Kharkiv – as it happened
This blog is closed
- Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 30 of the invasion
- EU leaders wrangle with issue of oil and gas imports from Russia
- How Russia is using tactics from the Syrian playbook in Ukraine
- Nato leaders agree to upgrade weapons supply to Ukraine
- Ukraine sinks Russian ship as Moscow accused of forcible deportations
- US expands sanctions and plans to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
The port of Berdyansk, a city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of south-east Ukraine, is reportedly on fire, according to local Ukrainian media outlets and a senior advisor to Ukraine’s interior ministry.
The city is located about 75km north-west of Mariupol.
Continue reading...UK politics live: P&O Ferries boss ‘should resign after admitting company knowingly broke law’, MP says
Latest updates: transport committee chair calls on Peter Hebblethwaite to resign after admitting company chose to sack staff without consultation
- P&O boss says 800 staff sacked because ‘no union would accept its plans’
- Private emails reveal Gove’s role in Tory-linked firm’s PPE deals
- Lavrov’s stepdaughter targeted in UK’s 65 new Russian sanctions
- Sunak says he ‘can’t do everything’ after spring statement criticism
- Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, has delivered his considered verdict on the spring statement at a briefing.
He dismissed Rishi Sunak as a “fiscal illusionist” and warned that public sector workers face “hefty” real-terms pay cuts in the future under Sunak’s plans. He said:
Mr Sunak has proved to be something of a fiscal illusionist. He told us that he cut taxes yesterday. In a sense he did. He increased the floor for NICs and promised a cut in income tax in 2024. So Mr Sunak’s statement contained big new tax cuts. But it also allowed taxes to rise. He can now expect to raise more in tax as a share of national income by 2025 than he expected last October. In fact, taxes are set to rise to their highest level as a fraction of national income since Clement Attlee was prime minister. Not my comparison, that comes directly from the OBR.
[Sunak] is also effectively cutting spending on public services in real terms relative to previous plans. Yesterday he offered them no extra cash at all to deal with higher inflation. The exact scale of this cut relative to previous plans is a little uncertain, but it is significant. It will almost certainly mean some more hefty real pay cuts across the public sector, coming on top of cuts both in real terms and relative to the private sector over the last 12 years.
This is a tax raising chancellor. The tax burden is the highest it’s been since the 1940s.
The chancellor can say as many times as he likes that he’s a tax-cutting chancellor but it’s a bit like a kid in his bedroom playing air guitar – he’s not a rockstar.
The problem is for this chancellor, is that by the end of this parliament seven out of eight people will be paying more taxes – only one in eight will be paying less taxes.
That’s a disaster for working people, for the poorest people in society who are struggling with rising food prices, rising petrol prices and most of all the big increases in tax and electricity bills.
Continue reading...War in Ukraine could lead to food riots in poor countries, warns WTO boss
Exclusive: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says impact of conflict on food prices and hunger could be substantial
Rocketing global food prices as a result of the war in Ukraine could trigger riots from those going hungry in poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned food-producing countries against hoarding supplies and said it was vital to avoid a repeat of the Covid pandemic, when rich countries were able to secure for themselves the bulk of vaccines.
Continue reading...US expands Russian sanctions and plans to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
- US targets more than half of members of Russia’s parliament
- Country to step up assistance for Ukrainians fleeing war
The US has announced new sanctions on more than 400 Russians deemed to be part of the country’s elite – including more than half the members of parliament – as part of campaign to increase the price Moscow pays for the invasion of Ukraine, while stepping up assistance to Ukrainians.
The administration also announced it would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, almost as many as the current cap for the total number of refugees the US accepts from around the world.
Continue reading...Lloyd’s moves to cancel insurance cover of Russian firms hit by sanctions
Action comes as Lloyd’s of London returns to profit but warns Ukraine war will present ‘major claim’
• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Lloyd’s of London has said it is working with the UK government to implement sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine as fast as possible, including cancelling Russian firms’ insurance cover.
Announcing a swing back to an annual profit as it recovers from the pandemic, the world’s biggest insurance market warned that the war will present a “major claim” for the insurance market this year, but said it was “manageable”.
Continue reading...Military supplies depleted on both sides but Russia retains advantage
Analysis: Russia is facing logistical constraints while Ukraine is reliant on supply from the west
It has been a month since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, and such has been the intensity of the first phase of the fighting that both sides in the conflict have increasingly depleted their stocks of ammunition and other military supplies.
But while Ukraine is willing to claim that the Russian invaders have only three days of supplies left, while warning that its own troops are running out of anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems, the reality is hard to measure.
Continue reading...Joe Biden arrives in Europe in effort to keep pressure on Russia
US president will take part in an emergency Nato summit, G7 summit and European Council meeting
Joe Biden has arrived in Europe for a four-day trip with the aim of keeping up pressure on Russia in the face of sanctions fatigue and splits over energy sanctions among US allies.
It will also, to some extent, be a lap of honour for the US president’s success so far in keeping allies and partners together in confronting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Russian reporter killed in Kyiv shelling is fourth journalist to die in conflict
Oksana Baulina was killed with another civilian while reporting for the independent Russian news website the Insider
A Russian reporter has died after coming under Russian shelling while she filmed destruction at a shopping centre in Kyiv, becoming at least the fourth journalist to die since the conflict began almost a month ago.
Oksana Baulina, who previously also worked for the Russian opposition leader Alexander Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, was killed alongside another civilian on Wednesday while reporting for the independent Russian news website the Insider.
Continue reading...Madeleine Albright, first female US secretary of state, dies at 84 – as it happened
- Albright served as senior US diplomat in the Clinton administration
- Biden to attend Nato, G7 and EU talks over Ukraine crisis
- Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill for third day of hearings
- Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email
In a sign of life slowly returning to normal, public tours of the US Capitol will resume on Monday in a limited capacity for the first time since March 2020, when the building closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
We are pleased to announce that on Monday, March 28, 2022, public tours of the Capitol will resume with a limited number of member-led, staff-led tours, and school groups,” sergeant-at-arms William Walker and attending physician Brian Monahan wrote in a memo to lawmakers and Capitol staff.
“Since March 2020, the US Capitol, and the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) has been closed to tours. The decision to reinstate limited tours has been made in coordination with Congressional Leadership, the US Capitol Police Board, the Attending Physician, Capitol Visitor Services, and the US Capitol Police. We appreciate your continued patience and cooperation as we work together to resume public tours of the Capitol for the American people in a way that protects the health and safety of visitors and institutional staff alike.”
Continue reading...Zelenskiy calls on Japan to impose trade embargo on Russian goods
The Ukrainian president thanked Japan for ‘leading the way’ in virtual address to MPs
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on Japan to increase pressure on Russia by imposing a trade embargo on Russian goods, in a virtual address to MPs in Tokyo.
Zelenskiy, who has delivered carefully tailored speeches to lawmakers in the US, UK and other countries, thanked Japan for “leading the way” among Asian countries in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and imposing sanctions.
Continue reading...Israel blocked Ukraine from buying Pegasus spyware, fearing Russia’s anger
Revelation of denial offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Moscow has undermined Ukrainian objectives
Israel blocked Ukraine from buying NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware for fear that Russian officials would be angered by the sale of the sophisticated hacking tool to a regional foe, according to people familiar with the matter.
The revelation, following a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Russia has at times undermined Ukraine’s offensive capabilities – and contradicted US priorities.
Continue reading...UK minister in BVI for urgent talks on sanctioning Russian oligarchs
Amanda Melling’s visit follows fears UK tax havens may offer loophole for those trying to avoid clampdown
A Foreign Office minister has flown to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to hold urgent discussions on how sanctions against Russian oligarchs with cash stored in the secretive islands can be implemented, amid fears. UK tax havens may provide a loophole for those trying to escape the international clampdown.
Amanda Milling’s visit follows news that a succession of oligarchs appeared to have hidden their assets in trusts based in the BVI in a bid to put them beyond reach of UK sanctions. British sanctions laws apply in the overseas territories, and enforcement officers are supposed to have full access to registers of beneficial ownerships.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Nato puts Russian death toll ‘as high as 15,000’, as US says occupiers on the defensive outside Kyiv – live
Latest updates: death told could be as high as entire 1o-year Afghanistan campaign of 1980s; while the US says Ukraine has pushed Russian forces outside of Kyiv back
- Chernihiv running out of water as Russia accused of taking city hostage
- Israel blocked Ukraine from buying Pegasus spyware, fearing Russia
- Russia’s war in Ukraine: complete guide in maps, video and pictures
- Tell us: how have you been affected by the situation in Ukraine?
Russian troops continue to advance on key cities across Ukraine.
The latest conviction of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday reflects the Russian government’s intensified crackdown on dissent and free expression, Human Rights Watch has said.
This verdict is apparently intended not only to silence Navalny but to serve as a warning to Russian civil society and anyone who dares to stand up to the Kremlin’s policies.”
The cases against Navalny are part of the Kremlin’s grim landscape of repression against Russia’s civil society and peaceful dissent, which has drastically intensified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin seems determined to isolate Russian society from the outside world to cut Russians off from uncomfortable facts, including about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So it’s hardly surprising that Russian authorities are doubling down on smearing and silencing Navalny and others who can tell people not to believe the Kremlin’s lies and that the world is watching.”
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 28 of the invasion
Volodymyr Zelenskiy voices concerns for seized humanitarian convoy and decries ‘constant bombing’ of besieged Mariupol
Continue reading...